Gas Prices.........

[JOHNNIE36]

Our (really DW's) new Honda CRV does not get the mileage as stated on the sticker. It's averaging about 23 overall. I'll garantee you that if I did all the driving, it would be getting 26 or 27 mpg. Why? DW's driving habits. Not that she drives fast, rather from a dead stop she wants it going 35-40mph right now. Too much lead foot from the light or stop sign. I like to drive by the tachometer, never letting the needle go over 3000rpm. An expert once said, drive as if there is an egg between your foot and the accelerator. In DW's case, there would be scrambled eggs all over the floor mats. I don't say much as she gets irritated and stays pi**ed the rest of the day. For the miles we drive in a year, it's not worth the bother. I'm not going to change her.

 

[brewer12345]

So we have 75 posts, mostly by folks who are (at least) millionaires. The vast majority include bellyaching and handwringing over what amounts to something like $50 a month of incremental expense which can largely be avoided by said posters if they wish. I wonder what this thread would sound like to the average Merkin?

 

[REWahoo]

So we have 75 posts, mostly by folks who are (at least) millionaires. The vast majority include bellyaching and handwringing over what amounts to something like $50 a month of incremental expense which can largely be avoided by said posters if they wish.

Hey! If we had wanted beevercheeze with our whine we would have ordered it!

 

[Dennis]

-WE just consolidate our Trips better..
-Cut other Luxuries to accomidate..
-and Aggravate our State Leaders to Institute a Extra Tax for Those who Are Running Gas Guzzlers..( Private Cars/Boats/Private AirPlanes,etc)
I think the rest of us are subcidizing them .. Just like The Big Homes using Twice the Energy ..Why should they be paying the same Price per Gal/KW/BTU as the rest of us?
Just another form of Dem. Socialisum.. Like the Cable TV racket..
and Get all New Homes to be built with 6" walls and min ave. of R 40..and 20% sell Powered.. by Windmills or Solar..

Paul Ryan & Rush Limbaugh Agree...!

Got a Modified -Local Street legal -Nat. Gas Powered Golf Cart- with side curtains and use it 9 mos yr.. for local trips.. ave 50 mpg.. & Use a Elec. Fishing Trooling Mtr on our Pontoon Boat past 3 yrs.. Use only ave of 1 tank (10 gal) of gas a yr on it eversince..
-Got a Mini Windmill. for the house. @ 200 watt hr..
-Using CFL's...
-Took off Inside Sheet rock, add 2x2's , extended The Walls to 6" and Added new High Density Foam Insulaiton, = R-40 walls , R 60 attic and back to Adding Sliding Storm windows ...cut energy use by 38% last yr.. saved over $900., ought to break even in 4 yrs at that rate.. sooner as rates go up.. and they will.

Get our Cigs from overseas.. Save $150/mo..

Hope the New "Bloom Box" power system as seen on 60 min. Show works as it says.. Could put everyother Green Energy system out of business, inlcuding Nukes..

If the Power & Oil Co.'s don't buy him out and Keep it off the market..

 

[Zathras]

So we have 75 posts, mostly by folks who are (at least) millionaires. The vast majority include bellyaching and handwringing over what amounts to something like $50 a month of incremental expense which can largely be avoided by said posters if they wish. I wonder what this thread would sound like to the average Merkin?

That is what I find so interesting. It seems to me a much larger group complains than the number of people that will actually do something about it.
People have complete control over:
driving aggressively or efficiently (10-15%)
Checking the inflation in their tires (2-4%)
car selection when driving (0-100%)
Combining trips/car pooling (25-40%)

Yet most people that complain blame the government, OPEC, or some grand conspiracy

 

[ERD50]

So we have 75 posts, mostly by folks who are (at least) millionaires. The vast majority include bellyaching and handwringing over what amounts to something like $50 a month of incremental expense which can largely be avoided by said posters if they wish. I wonder what this thread would sound like to the average Merkin?

Not being concerned about $50/month is what keeps them "average"!

-ERD50

 

[Westernskies]

And yes, I do expect some accomodations when I am driving at night because I don't want to be blinded and create a hazard for everyone else, whether they are driving a small car or a large one. I don't want to blind others, they should not want to blind me, either.

What "accomodations" would you propose? All those folks driving countless SUV's, pickups, minivans, and trucks aren't deliberately trying to blind you; they're just operating their vehicles as designed by the manufacturers and approved by the DOT ( the occasional high-beam driver or jacked-up monster truck excluded, they p*ss me off, too).

With all due respect, have you seen an opthamalogist to determine if your night vision is becoming a problem? Continuing to drive at night knowing you will be blinded by most vehicles on the road constitutes a real hazard to yourself and others, IMO; YMMV.

This reminds me of the story about the guy who was watching a breaking TV news story, showing helicopter footage of a car driving the wrong way on a busy interstate, and cars swerving to get out the way.. Knowing that his wife would probably be driving that route on her way home, he called to warn her. She was frantic when she answered her cell phone "It's not just one car, it's all of them!"

 

[KingB]

This reminds me of the story about the guy who was watching a breaking TV news story, showing helicopter footage of a car driving the wrong way on a busy interstate, and cars swerving to get out the way.. Knowing that his wife would probably be driving that route on her way home, he called to warn her. She was frantic when she answered her cell phone "It's not just one car, it's all of them!"

.
And talking on the cell phone on top of that.

 

[scrabbler1]

What "accomodations" would you propose? All those folks driving countless SUV's, pickups, minivans, and trucks aren't deliberately trying to blind you; they're just operating their vehicles as designed by the manufacturers and approved by the DOT ( the occasional high-beam driver or jacked-up monster truck excluded, they p*ss me off, too).

With all due respect, have you seen an opthamalogist to determine if your night vision is becoming a problem? Continuing to drive at night knowing you will be blinded by most vehicles on the road constitutes a real hazard to yourself and others, IMO; YMMV.

This reminds me of the story about the guy who was watching a breaking TV news story, showing helicopter footage of a car driving the wrong way on a busy interstate, and cars swerving to get out the way.. Knowing that his wife would probably be driving that route on her way home, he called to warn her. She was frantic when she answered her cell phone "It's not just one car, it's all of them!"

Accommodations? How about not tailgating other vehicles. Yes, tailgating is bad no matter what you are driving, but vehicles which have these headlights pose an additional hazard to the leading vehicle, one that vehicles with ordinary headlights don't pose. These heavier vehicles require longer stopping distances than smaller cars, so tailgating poses this extra hazard, too. And when one of these vehicles is behind me at a stop sign or red light, don't get so close behind the leading vehicle. Stay back a few extra feet so your headlights don't needlessly blind the other driver. [A similar accommodation I do is when I am at a red light or stop sign when the leading car is uphill from me - I stay back a few feet in case the vehicle ahead of me has a standard shift (I used to drive one). That car is likely to roll backward a little bit as the driver releases the clutch to more forward.] I find that I am more likely to be tailgated by an SUV or light truck than I am from an ordinary car (except for sports cars), hardly the way the vehicle was designed to be operated.

My night vision is just fine, I don't need any eye doctor, thank you. I need to have fewer extra-bright headlights from these vehicles not blind me at a needlessly close distance, that's all.

So if higher gas prices keep some of these extra hazardous vehicles off the road, I am all for it.

 

[Westernskies]

Accommodations? How about not tailgating other vehicles. Yes, tailgating is bad no matter what you are driving, but vehicles which have these headlights pose an additional hazard to the leading vehicle, one that vehicles with ordinary headlights don't pose. These heavier vehicles require longer stopping distances than smaller cars, so tailgating poses this extra hazard, too. And when one of these vehicles is behind me at a stop sign or red light, don't get so close behind the leading vehicle. Stay back a few extra feet so your headlights don't needlessly blind the other driver. [A similar accommodation I do is when I am at a red light or stop sign when the leading car is uphill from me - I stay back a few feet in case the vehicle ahead of me has a standard shift (I used to drive one). That car is likely to roll backward a little bit as the driver releases the clutch to more forward.] I find that I am more likely to be tailgated by an SUV or light truck than I am from an ordinary car (except for sports cars), hardly the way the vehicle was designed to be operated.

My night vision is just fine, I don't need any eye doctor, thank you. I need to have fewer extra-bright headlights from these vehicles not blind me at a needlessly close distance, that's all.

So if higher gas prices keep some of these extra hazardous vehicles off the road, I am all for it.

Keep up the good fight, let us know how it works out for you.

 

[floatingdoc]

Guess what kiddies, to hell with fuel prices, I will be splashing my 50 silverton convertible in 2 weeks which pulls in an impressive 1/2 mile per gallon of diesel! Now that is some fuel economy for ya!

 

[ls99]

Accommodations? How about not tailgating other vehicles. Yes, tailgating is bad no matter what you are driving, but vehicles which have these headlights pose an additional hazard to the leading vehicle, one that vehicles with ordinary headlights don't pose. These heavier vehicles require longer stopping distances than smaller cars, so tailgating poses this extra hazard, too.e was designed to be operated.
all.
..........
So if higher gas prices keep some of these extra hazardous vehicles off the road, I am all for it.

Fuel cost thread drifted a tad. I bolded a section re: stopping distance.

Here is a bit of relevant info from:

Auto Stopping Distance
Stopping Distance for Auto

Assuming proper operation of the brakes, the minimum stopping distance for an automobile is determined by the effective coefficient of friction between the tires and the road. The friction force of the road must do enough work on the car to reduce its kinetic energy to zero (work-energy principle). If the wheels of the car continue to turn while braking, then static friction is operating, while if the wheels are locked and sliding over the road surface, the braking force is a kinetic friction force.

To reduce the kinetic energy to zero:

so the stopping distance is

Show calculation Note that this implies a stopping distance independent of vehicle mass. It also implies a quadrupling of stopping distance with a doubling of vehicle speed.
__________________


Regarding the gas costs, I have no intention of changing driving habits of my monster Suburban at 12 MPG, nor my Jaguar XJ6 @ 22 MPG.

 

[REWahoo]

Damn. Facts? Again? Sheesh...

 

[ls99]

A beautiful theory wrecked by ugly facts.

 

[ls99]

Guess what kiddies, to hell with fuel prices, I will be splashing my 50 silverton convertible in 2 weeks which pulls in an impressive 1/2 mile per gallon of diesel! Now that is some fuel economy for ya!

Yeah but hard to beat the $hit eating grin while guzzlig all that dino juice.

 

[cho oyu]

Note that this implies a stopping distance independent of vehicle mass. It also implies a quadrupling of stopping distance with a doubling of vehicle speed.
__________________

Independent of vehicle mass, yes, but there is a potentially poor assumption that the coefficient of static friction (or traction) is the same between light and heavy mass vehicles. (We'll also make the reasonable assumption that all vehicles are able to lock up their tires and skid at any nominal speed.)

The coefficient of friction is a function of tire compound, effective contact area (one might consider this to be the bearing surface area), and tire tread design.

So a car with soft rubber, large tires, and lower tire pressures will have a much larger coefficient of friction than a vehicle with relatively smaller tires relative to mass, a harder rubber compound, and possibly higher tire pressures to accommodate extra vehicle mass.

If we consider a sports car and a work truck, this difference in coefficient of friction can be quite large and definitely results in a difference in stopping distance. I'd posit that one could draw a statistically significant correlation between vehicle mass and stopping distance based on expected vehicle use and tire choice.

 

[FUEGO]

So we have 75 posts, mostly by folks who are (at least) millionaires. The vast majority include bellyaching and handwringing over what amounts to something like $50 a month of incremental expense which can largely be avoided by said posters if they wish. I wonder what this thread would sound like to the average Merkin?

They wouldn't be able to hear the thread over the rumble of their pickup's Hemi 6.4L V8.

 

[HFWR]

Maybe it's just me, but if you don't mind sending your sons and daughters and tax dollars to the ME to defend corrupt dictators who fund terrorism and promote radical Islam, then feel free to drive anything you want, because, by god, we're Americans, and you can't tell us what to do...

Damned socialists!

 

[FinanceDude]

Guess what kiddies, to hell with fuel prices, I will be splashing my 50 silverton convertible in 2 weeks which pulls in an impressive 1/2 mile per gallon of diesel! Now that is some fuel economy for ya!

Now THAT'S a nice boat!!!

 

[FinanceDude]

Maybe it's just me, but if you don't mind sending your sons and daughters and tax dollars to the ME to defend corrupt dictators who fund terrorism and promote radical Islam, then feel free to drive anything you want, because, by god, we're Americans, and you can't tell us what to do...

Damned socialists!

Tell us how you REALLY feel!

 

[HFWR]

Tell us how you REALLY feel!

Coffee [-]depraved[/-] deprived...

 

[Westernskies]

Coffee [-]depraved[/-] deprived...

Switch to Tea... I hear they like to party....

 

[FinanceDude]

I drive 18,000 miles or so a year, DW only 10,000. So that's why I have the 4 banger and give her the 2 ton terror (minivan) to drive..........

Europe has loads of diesel and other high mileage cars, yet most of them never see the US shores, that's a shame.........

 

[Texas Proud]

Fuel cost thread drifted a tad. I bolded a section re: stopping distance.

Here is a bit of relevant info from:

Auto Stopping Distance
Stopping Distance for Auto

Assuming proper operation of the brakes, the minimum stopping distance for an automobile is determined by the effective coefficient of friction between the tires and the road. The friction force of the road must do enough work on the car to reduce its kinetic energy to zero (work-energy principle). If the wheels of the car continue to turn while braking, then static friction is operating, while if the wheels are locked and sliding over the road surface, the braking force is a kinetic friction force.

To reduce the kinetic energy to zero:

so the stopping distance is

Show calculation Note that this implies a stopping distance independent of vehicle mass. It also implies a quadrupling of stopping distance with a doubling of vehicle speed.
__________________


Regarding the gas costs, I have no intention of changing driving habits of my monster Suburban at 12 MPG, nor my Jaguar XJ6 @ 22 MPG.

The problem with what you present is "the minimum stopping distance for an automobile is determined by the effective coefficient of friction between the tires and the road." You seem to think that this friction is the same for all vehicles...


If you look at the stopping distance of most trucks/SUVs they are a bit longer than a sports car.... and almost all 18 wheelers take a lot longer to stop... sure, you can have more tires or wider tires etc. so a truck can stop quicker... but most do not...

 

[Texas Proud]

Independent of vehicle mass, yes, but there is a potentially poor assumption that the coefficient of static friction (or traction) is the same between light and heavy mass vehicles. (We'll also make the reasonable assumption that all vehicles are able to lock up their tires and skid at any nominal speed.)

The coefficient of friction is a function of tire compound, effective contact area (one might consider this to be the bearing surface area), and tire tread design.

So a car with soft rubber, large tires, and lower tire pressures will have a much larger coefficient of friction than a vehicle with relatively smaller tires relative to mass, a harder rubber compound, and possibly higher tire pressures to accommodate extra vehicle mass.

If we consider a sports car and a work truck, this difference in coefficient of friction can be quite large and definitely results in a difference in stopping distance. I'd posit that one could draw a statistically significant correlation between vehicle mass and stopping distance based on expected vehicle use and tire choice.

OK... saw this after I posted... but I will leave my other post alone..