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Automotive News & Views How does gas at $4 and higher impact you?
2183 messages, Last post on Nov 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Last time around, I had a car with marginal gas mileage, and every fill up hurt. On our turbo forester, we even disconnected the factory boost control to keep boost at the minimum, although that did not help much. Now, I drive less and in a more efficient car, so, its bad, but not terrible. The other interesting thing about last time around is diesel was freaking expensive. Over $5 in many cases. Now with prices often under regular, it seems the clear future for the US, and hopefully we can get some of the high efficiency diesels from europe like the Polo blue. Top gear got over 70mpg in it which crushes hybrids and at a decent price. Should gas go up there and stay there, this would become a real consideration for many people and push the diesel cause further. |
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Replying to: bumpy (Jun 12, 2009 7:06 am)  When gas hits $4 you could trade your Smart car in for Smart Brabus Electric Drive. http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10001035.html?tag=nefd.gallery |
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Last year when gas was $4 a gallon I started riding a bike. This year I upgraded to an electric bike so I could make it up the hill. Works rather well. I still use the car about half the time to commute, but the electric bike is more fun to ride. 
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3.5 acres = 1.5 gallons a week every week for six months. A good diesel tractor would cut that at least in half (and more with a wider mowing deck). The smart ED is tempting, but I'd need a 15 kwh battery pack to make it work for me, which would probably mean stacking batteries to the roof behind the seats. So, looks like I'll be keeping the plain old smart for a while.
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Replying to: bumpy (Jun 12, 2009 7:06 am)  ok, now i see your explanation. |
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Replying to: bumpy (Jun 12, 2009 2:38 pm)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jun 12, 2009 3:54 pm) The gas station up the road has a non-ethanol pump so I've been putting that in the mower this year, on the theory that the alkygas would kill it before its time. |
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For those of you mowing a bazillion acres I have one word - Xeriscaping. Goats work too.  No wonder prices for gasoline are going up, its not SUVs and pick-um-ups, its all those dang mowers.
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Replying to: avalon02wh (Jun 13, 2009 5:30 am) Don't forget the boats and big rig RVs in use at this time of year also. Filling up my 5-gallon plastic gas can was very painful last year with $4+ gallon/reg. Today, its close to $15 for a fillup and apparently headed up higher. I am getting "less" fuel economy on current gas 48" rider than on previous 38" rider. But, the 48" JD is heavier machine with more HP, Cruise, Tilt, Power deck lift, Power Steering, Cup Holders, etc. I don't use the Cruise, maybe that would help conserve fuel on long runs that don't have tree obstacles. Wonder if our govt controlled media is allowed (today) to complain about gas prices as they did prior to 2009. Gas has gone up maybe 70+ percent since last Jan 20 and barely a peep out of the media. |
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Replying to: avalon02wh (Jun 13, 2009 5:30 am) Well I haven't done too bad, so far. I have a 5-gallon gas can I use for the lawn equipment, and I think I've had to fill it up three times, and it's still about half-full. So, about 12-13 gallons so far. We have two tractors, a 1969 and a 1990 Montgomery Ward. The "new" one was out of commission for about a month, so we were relying on the old one. It's a bit of a guzzler compared to the new one. Heavy sucker, too. There's a low spot in my grandmother's yard that sometimes stays wet. The new tractor would just go right over it, or, at the worst, get a little stuck, to where the wheel would lose traction, and I'd just have to get off and push it. The old one sunk right in, though! And despite having some form of posi-traction (both wheels spin, rather than just one) it just dug itself in deeper, and pushing it out was a 2-man job!
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