When will gas prices alter driving habits??

[janeeyre]

While I enjoy the ride and comfort of my Acura, I am not happy with its gas mileage. However, like most Americians, I have not altered my driving habits as prices have risen above $3.00 (premium) per gallon.

So, what happens when gas reaches $4.00? At what dollar amount do you truly change your own driving habits. I see a hybrid in my future.

 

[FinanceDude]

I guess I altered my habits a little. I got rid of a Buick Rendenvous and bought a 4-cylinder Accord. Last year I saved a LOT of money.........

 

[Khan]

I'm already driving fewer than 1500 miles per year.

 

[macdaddy]

At $3 I consciously tried to alter my habits to drive less, and it worked... more exercise... I think I was happier.

 

[happy2bretired]

I traded in my SUV for a 2006 Honda Civic last year. I no longer drive every day since I have retired, so I feel that I am saving some miles too. I remember when there were lines at the gas pumps back in the 70's and every one was trading in larger cars for the smaller ones. I would hate to see that happen again, but, I really would like to see more small cars on the roads instead of those HUGE SUVs....and Hummers too....those things are ridiculous.

 

[dex]

I remember a guy getting shot in the 70s for cutting in a gas line.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

My Prius has a display which shows MPG either instantaneously or cumulatively for a given trip. The effect of changes in driving habits provides immediate feedback. I am astounded at how it has changed my driving, even without an active effort on my part. I now routinely get 55-60 MPG on my daily commute, 27 miles round trip.

What has changed the most is that I keep a greater distance between me and the car in front. Their brake lights are on and off all the time, mine almost never as I simply let up then gently accelerate, closing and opening the distance as needed. I also tend to drive more slowly, yet arrive in the same amount of time (it all evens out in the last stretch of road with about 3 miles of frequent traffic lights). Another big change is that I accelerate pretty moderately, a big gas saver.

OK, I admit that until I sold my BMW K1200LT motorcycle a few months ago I did get some kicks from uhh.. well.. let's just say spirited riding, but now it's just me and the Prius.

 

[FinanceDude]

My Prius has a display which shows MPG either instantaneously or cumulatively for a given trip. The effect of changes in driving habits provides immediate feedback. I am astounded at how it has changed my driving, even without an active effort on my part. I now routinely get 55-60 MPG on my daily commute, 27 miles round trip.

What has changed the most is that I keep a greater distance between me and the car in front. Their brake lights are on and off all the time, mine almost never as I simply let up then gently accelerate, closing and opening the distance as needed. I also tend to drive more slowly, yet arrive in the same amount of time (it all evens out in the last stretch of road with about 3 miles of frequent traffic lights). Another big change is that I accelerate pretty moderately, a big gas saver.

OK, I admit that until I sold my BMW K1200LT motorcycle a few months ago I did get some kicks from uhh.. well.. let's just say spirited riding, but now it's just me and the Prius.

I don't fit in a Prius.............

I guess the Accord is about all I can do............don't fit in a Vibe pr Matrix either............

I guess Toyota sells a hybrid minivan in Japan............I think that would be a HUGE HIT in America, but they have no plans to sell them here......

 

[Goonie]

I have ALWAYS loved cruisin'......I still love it! I don't care what the price of gas is, I'm going to keep on cruisin', because that is one of the things that is on my FIRE "To Do" list. It's a habit. It's a joy. It's what I like to do! So, the price of gas? I don't really care. If it really did get down to the cost.....I guess I would just cut back in some other area.....like maybe cut back on eating out. (or not!) :

KEEP ON TRUCKIN'

 

[mathjak107]

im the same way i enjoy my cars to much to get shoe horned into a skateboard on wheels. i drive maybe 12,000 miles a year and regardless what gas cost within reason im not trading performance,comfort ,reliability and safety for a few extra mpgs

 

[JustCurious]

I have ALWAYS loved cruisin'......I still love it! I don't care what the price of gas is, I'm going to keep on cruisin', because that is one of the things that is on my FIRE "To Do" list. It's a habit. It's a joy. It's what I like to do! So, the price of gas? I don't really care. If it really did get down to the cost.....I guess I would just cut back in some other area.....like maybe cut back on eating out. (or not!) :

KEEP ON TRUCKIN'

Goonie, what if gas was $50 a gallon, and it cost you $1,000 to fill up your tank, would your answer be the same?

 

[ex_CFO_now_RVer]

Thirty-five years ago, when we paid 30 cents a gallon for gasoline, we never imagined 50 cent per gallon gas. Now that it hovers close to $3 per gallon, we still ponder about at what price will it alter driving habits. I really dont have an opinion, but I agree with Goonie. Yesterday, i paid $350 to fill my motorhome with diesel fuel, maybe when it costs a $1,000 i will have an opinion.

Dave

 

[audreyh1]

According to my personal "Fuel Cost Spreadsheet" for my diesel motorhome, every 25 cent increase in fuel prices means it costs me $3 more to drive 100 miles. In those terms it doesn't seem so daunting.

At $3/gal, it costs us $3,750 to fuel our motorhome for a year's worth of travel (assuming 10,000 miles and 8mpg)

At $4/gal it would cost $5,000 or $1,250 more per year. That may sound like a lot, but it translates to only $104 more per month, and I'm not likely to change my habits for only $100 per month.

You have to put rising fuel costs in perspective.

Audrey

 

[kcowan]

I remember reading a paper that said it is not the price but the increase that matters. If gasoline suddenly doubled, people would change but if it doubles over 5 years, we do not react. (Like the frog in boiling water)

Obviously the more frugal among us have already adjusted. But the success of SUVs came after the oil shock caused by OPEC.

 

[loosechickens]

As fulltime RVers ourselves, it's certainly a consideration for us, and we plan our routes more carefully, and tend to drive less, but I agree with Audrey, the several hundred dollars difference in a cross country trip would not prevent us from traveling.

Although I do notice that we are more inclined to cook at home, and save in other ways as we watch fuel costs climb.

We also recognize that since we rarely have hookups, and produce our own electricity with solar photovoltaic panels, use minimal amounts of water, etc., that ways we save in one area allows more leeway in others, such as fuel costs.

We get 9 to 9.5 mpg of diesel on our motorhome, but we drive no faster than 55 mph which makes a huge difference. At 65, fuel efficiency drops to 7.5-8 mpg. And we're retired, we're not in a hurry, we move aside on narrow roads to allow other traffic around.....we call it our "mira las flores" speed.

LooseChickens

 

[MikeD]

I remember a guy getting shot in the 70s for cutting in a gas line.

I don't know if it's the one you remember but one of those incidents happened at a gas station two blocks from my apt in Riverdale, MD.

Mike D.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

KEEP ON TRUCKIN'

i'm with goonie on this ride. in fact just got back from a top down, drive fast so it don't rain in the car, drive down to south beach and back. just for the fun of it. the new stang rides beautifully. like it much better than the t-bird. fast fast fast. 300 horsies and i let them all out of the corral. fun fun fun. drove for maybe two hours and probably burned a whole quarter tank. cost of gas? 12 bucks. the look on the guy's face who tried to block me? priceless.

 

[kumquat]

LGFNB:

As the owner driver of an 05 Mustang GT I can't agree with you more about mileage. My GT gets far better miileage than my two (British) economy cars of the 50's and 60's. They get about 25 mpg. GT gets 30+ if my foot is light. Note: all gallons are Imperial.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

oh, i'm pretty sure i never averaged better than 18 mpg today. i'm pretty sure i heard it flowing at about 12 or 13 mpg during a few of those maneuvers. i'm both hard-headed & lead-footed. if i average 19-20 i'll be happy.

 

[chinaco]

So far the higher prices has not caused us to change our habits. We make enough money where the pain is tolerable at this point. Of course, our main expense is the drive to work. The type of changes we could make are for me to drive DW to work and pick her up... The problme is that she will be at work longer. I suppose that we could take public transportation... This results in the same trade-off, more time getting to and from work.

I suspect that $5/gal would cause us to make some changes. The first change would be to get more fuel efficient vehicle when we buy in a few years. We will probably do this anyway. Our current cars are not hogs, but we could trim costs a little that way.

We figure that when we ER in 4.x years, our driving expenses will decrease because we both will not need to drive to work. However, we will take some extended driving vacations. I still believe that the # of miles driven in a year will be less. Right now, between DW and I we clock about 24k miles/yr. I have not done an actual calculation but I think we are spending about 3k/yr on gas... depending on the flucuations in prices.

 

[uncledrz]

Price has not changed our habits, nor has it changed the driving habits of those with less income than ours. That's what I find so very interesting, that the use of gasonline does not seem to change much with price. People will turn the thermostat down to 55, will put in wood stoves, but won't stop taking the trip to the store for just a few items, pick up the kids at soccer/baseball/judo/dance practice, or just go out for a drive. At one time we thought that 2, then 2.50, then 3 a gallon would start to bite. Hasn't yet.

 

[dumpster56]

Price will not change the behavior until I see 5 dollars a gallon. americans love their rides. Plus credit card charges for gasoline hide the price to some extent. Yes there are people building up significant balances on their credit cards when the prices go up. That will bite them in the rear some day.

I believe the driving habits will change when there are shortages of gasoline, which could happen any month. Hurricane in the gulf that hits Houston, War with Iran, terror attack in Saudi oil field etc.

 

[FinanceDude]

Price will not change the behavior until I see 5 dollars a gallon. americans love their rides. Plus credit card charges for gasoline hide the price to some extent. Yes there are people building up significant balances on their credit cards when the prices go up. That will bite them in the rear some day.

I believe the driving habits will change when there are shortages of gasoline, which could happen any month. Hurricane in the gulf that hits Houston, War with Iran, terror attack in Saudi oil field etc.

Agree............ Also, I wonder why Toyota sells a hybrid minivan in Japan but not the US?? Perhaps the price of gas is higher in Japan??

 

[terminator]

At $4/gal it would cost $5,000 or $1,250 more per year. That may sound like a lot, but it translates to only $104 more per month, and I'm not likely to change my habits for only $100 per month.

You have to put rising fuel costs in perspective.

Exactly. 10,000 miles in a 20mpg average car/SUV is 500 gallons per year. Changing where I go and what I do probably wouldn't happen until gas hit $10/gallon . . . even then it's an extra $3,500 per year ($5,000 total) which probably wouldn't make me change my driving habits significantly. Short term $5 or $6 gas sounds astronomical but I can't imagine driving less to save $1,000 per year or so.

Not to mention that my oil stocks would probably be soaring by then so I might actually drive more then . . .

 

[Andre1969]

I don't know if it's the one you remember but one of those incidents happened at a gas station two blocks from my apt in Riverdale, MD.


Hey Mike, where in Riverdale was that apartment? When I was an infant, we lived in an apartment complex right off East-West Highway that bordered the B-W Parkway. I was too young to remember living there though, and can't recall the name of it. My Granddad and Dad still live over that way, so I go by there fairly regularly. Heck, I might even know the gas station if you named it!