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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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Replying to: fintail (Jul 14, 2008 3:57 pm) I've noticed other bills affecting me worse than gas bills, too. Groceries, for one. And home heating oil's going to be real killer this year. My current contract is at $3.55 per gallon and renews at the end of Oct. I called the other week though, and the guy said that people whose contracts were renewing at the time were getting locked in at $5.62 per gallon! I'm seriously considering converting to a heat pump.
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 14, 2008 3:50 pm) i used to put super unleaded in the mustang, but a couple of years ago, i switched back to regular. the gas mileage hasn't seemed to suffer. checking the book, since october 2002, it has gone 1700 miles and averaged 20.1 mpg. anyways, 17 years, 33k miles, no tuneups. can you top that?  in my fusion, i drive with the mpg readout front and center. that is one of my concessions to high gas prices.
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Replying to: explorerx4 (Jul 14, 2008 4:16 pm) I've tried switching to a lower grade, but the LeMans will spit it up almost immediately. Now if I started off with a full tank of hi-test, and then around a half tank put in some 89, it might be okay, but it will clatter running on a full tank of 89, and would probably go menstrual on 87. The New Yorker can tolerate 89, but seems a bit happier with hi-test. Sometimes I'll try to just let it run down to a half tank, and then alternate fill-ups between 87 and 93, which should stabilize the mixture to around 90. What kind of economy have you been averaging with your Fusion? |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 14, 2008 4:12 pm) I am glad I live in a small place with electric heat, and it faces south. I think I ran my heat maybe once or twice last winter. The tradeoff is that I am running the AC a bit now, but it's much cheaper to run than heat. |
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Already I see a pattern here; people have cut back a little here, sacrificed a little there ..... but they say that it's no big deal. I say it IS a big deal because we're not only lowering our standard of living, but we're also paying more for everything we still buy and still do because fuel prices are creating inflation everywhere. We're all going backwards on both scales. When we forego a distant vacation for an in-state one, or we forego a trip to the lake in favor of an evening in the hot tub, or we forego a drive to a friend's house in favor of a phone conversation with him, at a basic level we're surrendering our freedom. Traveling around our own country, enjoying recreation, and associating with our friends when and where we like is the essence of freedom. We can't just give it up easily, even a little bit at a time. That's how many once-thriving societies wound up losing all their freedom -- a little bit at a time. I'm not saying I know how to stop this giant oil scam, or even how to fight it. I'm just saying that we can't get complacent about it. If we do, we're working against ourselves.
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before gasoline is $8 a gallon. We're planning on visiting the Rockies of Colorado, thence West to I-5 & up to home for a few days before striking out for Banff, Lake Louise, Jaspar, Prince George, Whistler, & home. Both cars drink 89 & we'll take the 4.6 T Bird to Colorado, just the two of us. The Canadian trip will include another couple so then the Town Car gets the action. The AC in the T Bird is more effective as the cabin is smaller to cool. Mileage should be better as it weighs 500 lbs less than the Town Car. Speed on both trips will be 60 tops.
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jul 14, 2008 7:03 pm) In the meantime, I don't feel like I've surrendered any freedom by getting take-out once or twice less per week - in fact, I've probably improved my health! |
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I've been driving my 1988 Buick Park Avenue almost exclusively due to it's phenomenal fuel economy and that it's happy with Regular. I've also done a lot fewer driving trips and cut down on my availability at my second job because it involves a lot of travel. I'm contemplating quitting if fuel prices climb any higher as it is becoming less cost-effective. It's kind of sad because I've been there 15 years and made a lot of friends. I'd hate to leave them behind. If they also quit, it would make my decision a lot easier. 
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Two things have cut into one of my pleasures. I am a real shopper for the best price. I used to go to Lowes, Home Depot, Costco, WalMart etc to get the best deal. Then I moved 15 miles from those places just a year ago. At the same time the price of gas shot up. So I do more online shopping. With free shipping from both Costco and Amazon I really save time and money. I shop more at the local hardware store that is only 2.8 miles from the house. We have decent grocery shopping so that is not a problem. I have not been in a computer store for over a year as they are all about 25 miles away now. I probably have enough stuff to build 5 computers in my workshop. Plus 4 laptops that are all still good to go. I just hole up here on the mountain and enjoy the peace and quiet. With loads of peaches and plums my wife has gotten back into canning. We have made several batches of plum jam and brandy. So maybe high gas prices are a blessing for those of us that do not need it to commute.
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A recent study found the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon. Kind Of Makes You Proud To Be An American.
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Automotive News & Views How does gas at $4 and higher impact you?
