Gasoline Prices

[REWahoo]

So why are you swapping the bus for a 5th wheel?

We really liked the bus, but there are three reasons we decided to go a different direction:

1. Age and reliability issues (yes, both me and the bus). The MH is 10 years old and I was growing concerned about the potential inconvenience and expense of mechanical problems, especially while on the road.
2. Size issues (no, not me, just the bus ). We found our MH was too big to get into some state parks and older camping areas designed when RV's were much smaller. Even worse, some areas say they are "big rig friendly" but are really challenging for a mere mortal to maneuver into a camping spot. Unfortunately you don't find this out until you're already committed...
3. Safety concerns. I was always a little worried about driving something offering little crash protection beyond a fiberglass shell. A metal truck cab with front and side airbags is a big improvement.

 

[devans0]

I can't even imagine parking a truck that big.

To WTR. Parking isn't too hard. When you feel the bump on backing up, you are getting close to having the room to park, just gun it and it will fit.

 

[W2R]

To WTR. Parking isn't too hard. When you feel the bump on backing up, you are getting close to having the room to park, just gun it and it will fit.

Oh, NOW I see!

 

[brewer12345]

We really liked the bus, but there are three reasons we decided to go a different direction:

1. Age and reliability issues (yes, both me and the bus). The MH is 10 years old and I was growing concerned about the potential inconvenience and expense of mechanical problems, especially while on the road.
2. Size issues (no, not me, just the bus ). We found our MH was too big to get into some state parks and older camping areas designed when RV's were much smaller. Even worse, some areas say they are "big rig friendly" but are really challenging for a mere mortal to maneuver into a camping spot. Unfortunately you don't find this out until you're already committed...
3. Safety concerns. I was always a little worried about driving something offering little crash protection beyond a fiberglass shell. A metal truck cab with front and side airbags is a big improvement.

Will a monster pickup hauling a 5th wheel be easier to maneuver than a moho? I ask having only ever driven a smallish class C and the minivan towing my stubby lil trailer.

I hear you on reliability and safety. I always figured the mohos would be ok in a wreck simply due to size and weight.

 

[REWahoo]

Will a monster pickup hauling a 5th wheel be easier to maneuver than a moho?

The articulated design of the truck/5th wheel trailer configuration definitely improves stability and maneuverability over that of a 40' bus. I never measured the actual turning radius but with a 24' wheelbase, our motor home needed a lot of room to turn a corner.

To be clear, I'm not trying to bad-mouth motor homes. Our bus had lots of creature comforts and was a very quiet and comfortable ride cruising down the highway. We had a lot of good times over the 3 1/2 years we owned it. (Just checked, we spent 148 nights in it. Should have used it more...)

 

[brewer12345]

Sounds like you will be putting more nights into the 5th wheel, which is great.

We have had a ball with our trailer even though we only seem to manage 30 nights or so a year. When I am eventually free it will be a lot more.

 

[martyb]

Personally, I will be just waiting for the next big gas price spike to buy a nice truck at a cheap price.

I'm thinking that's my plan too...

 

[Martha]

I just dont get it. A VW polo tdi in UK and Australia gets 73/79 miles per gallon. The festiva there also has a tdi option that gets over 80 mile per gallon. Best we can do here is 42 mpg.

why would anybody want a hybrid? Just give us the tdi's.


I want to know why we can't get it here.

Frustrating, isn't it? I have a 10 year old diesel jetta and at some point in three to five years will want to replace it with another high mileage vehicle. I looked at the current jettas and the upcharge for the diesel is now ridiculous. Might as well buy a gas car.

Reasons that I recall for fewer diesels available in the US:

1. There are substantially higher taxes on diesel fuel than on gas, driving up the fuel price.
2. There is a perception that US buyers don't want them, think that they are low tech, and people do complain about things like the smell of the fuel.
3. There have been changes in fuel standards which required changes in engines. California had banned jettas for sale for several years.
4. Factories in the US must retool to build diesels here, which will be costly and that cost will be passed along to diesel customers who won't want to pay a huge amount more for a diesel vehicle. (Why not build the engines elsewhere? Apparently that is expensive too?)



I want a diesel electric hybrid myself.

 

[audreyh1]

OK...but they all kinda look the same.



TBD. The RV is still at the dealer. I'm having a second A/C unit installed 'cause it gets might hot in TX - but ya'll already knew that...

I'm hoping for 12 but expecting 10. Either way it will be an improvement over the 7.5 - 8 I got in the bus.

Wow - I can't believe my eyes! You switched from motorhome to 5th wheel while I wasn't looking? I wondered why you bought a big truck, but then I figured lots of folks in TX like to own big trucks.

Audrey

 

[REWahoo]

Wow - I can't believe my eyes! You switched from motorhome to 5th wheel while I wasn't looking? I wondered why you bought a big truck, but then I figured lots of folks in TX like to own big trucks.

Yep. Been retired a little over 5 years. Time for a "redesign"...

 

[audreyh1]

Yep. Been retired a little over 5 years. Time for a "redesign"...

Oh - that five year cycle!

I get some of your mh issues. But as for RVs we wouldn't consider anything other than maybe downsizing to a largish class C (which would improve the passenger safety) now that we are no longer full-timing. I don't like big trucks for tooling around in. I much prefer to tow a smaller passenger vehicle. Fortunately our 37" motorhome has been able to fit many places so size has been fine with us.

Well - our motorhome is not quite 6 years old, so we have a ways to go (knock on wood !!).

Congrats on taking your motorhome to 10 years!

Audrey

 

[Westernskies]

Fortunately our 37" motorhome has been able to fit many places so size has been fine with us.Audrey

I dunno, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable in a 37-inch long motorhome, though I'm sure it would fit into many places...YMMV...

 

[devans0]

I would have chose a 48 incher for the extra storage, but I admire what the tiny house movement can do with efficient use of space.

 

[freebird5825]

Latest [-]ripoff[/-] price is $3.67/gallon.

The little 92 Honda Accord [-]winter rat[/-] is getting a lot of use versus the Jeep Grand Cherokee. I drive it only enough to keep the rotors free of rust. Mr B and I are "carpooling" every single day, combining normal errands and his periodic Legion meetings in 1 trip.
I bring my Kindle or Jumble puzzle book along and wait around until the meetings are done.
My PNC cashback card is taking some of the pain away with 4% cashback on gasoline and automotive purchases.

 

[audreyh1]

I dunno, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable in a 37-inch long motorhome, though I'm sure it would fit into many places...YMMV...

Oops! Hit the shift key, dang it! LOL!

 

[Westernskies]

Oops! Hit the shift key, dang it! LOL!

We're with the Punctuation Police and we're here to help....

(FWIW, they have visited me a few times as well...)

 

[Independent]

Looks like the consensus is just over $5 per gallon.

If I plan to drive my new care 100,000 miles, the difference between a 20 mpg car and a 25 mpg car is about 1,000 gallons or $5,000. Not trivial compared to the initial cost.

Another view is that 20 mpg vs. 25 mpg represents an extra 5 cents per mile. At 60 mpg, I'd be spending an extra nickel per minute to drive the lower mpg car.

 

[Isadora]

The sweet days when we moved to Texas in 1972 and gasoline was 21 CENTS per gallon. I buy it by the liter now but $2/liter? Ouch, that's close to $8 per gallon. More than innocence was lost so many years ago.

Things always make me nervous when I see something clearly and wonder why those in charge of such things are blind to it. Can anyone understand why we don't have fields of wind turbines and solar panels instead of nuclear power Safe, as abundant. Perhaps there is no mystery that allows them to charge outrageous prices for? I don't know, but it is sad for many reasons.

 

[Independent]

Can anyone understand why we don't have fields of wind turbines and solar panels instead of nuclear power Safe, as abundant. Perhaps there is no mystery that allows them to charge outrageous prices for? I don't know, but it is sad for many reasons.

I live in Iowa, and we do have fields of wind turbines here. Any time I drive to Minnesota or Nebraska I'll pass wind farms. I regularly see the huge windmill blades transported on the interstate, presumably going to new farms. My town power coop was an early experimenter with wind energy.

But, the only reason we have as much as we do is that the federal government subsidizes wind power. It's still cheaper to dig coal out of the ground than to build high tech windmills.

 

[REWahoo]

The RV is still at the dealer. I'm having a second A/C unit installed 'cause it gets might hot in TX - but ya'll already knew that...

I'm hoping for 12[MPG] but expecting 10. Either way it will be an improvement over the 7.5 - 8 I got in the bus.

Follow up:

We finally picked up our new-to-us 5th wheel from the dealer today. The 35 mile trip home was on curvy, very hilly two-lane secondary roads. I got 11+ MPG! That means on "real" roads I should average 12 or maybe 13! Wow!

 

[travelover]

I found this article interesting. Even as gas prices rise, people are shying away from economical cars

Sales of fuel-efficient autos stall despite high gas prices | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Automakers are spending more than $50 billion to meet the government's 2016 fuel economy law, but consumers aren't buying enough of the fuel-efficient vehicles necessary to allow automakers to achieve the required 35.5 miles-per-gallon average.
Despite rising gas prices and new electric cars and hybrids, the fuel economy of Americans' new vehicles stagnated last year.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

So CAFE laws are making the kinds of cars we want to buy more expensive, so the car companies can afford to shuttle out cars no one's buying but makes the environmentalists feel better?

 

[BigNick]

I replied "more than $7", because I don't anticipate gas going down 15% from its current level of $8/gallon here any time soon.

500 million Europeans look at Americans - many of whom, these days, drive cars almost as economical as ours - complaining about gas prices, and murmur "I wish".

Spare a special thought for Turkish drivers, paying $11 a gallon.

 

[M Paquette]

Spare a special thought for Turkish drivers, paying $11 a gallon.

I have this suspicion that gas prices like that might just alter American new car buying habits a bit.

 

[W2R]

Follow up:

We finally picked up our new-to-us 5th wheel from the dealer today. The 35 mile trip home was on curvy, very hilly two-lane secondary roads. I got 11+ MPG! That means on "real" roads I should average 12 or maybe 13! Wow!

Hey, that's terrific! Congratulations on your new 5th wheel and truck.