$3.00 gas?

[JOhn Galt]

There was a time when I thought my driving would
decline in ER. Never happened. I drive more than ever
now. On the evening news tonight, someone opined that it would take gas at $3.00 a gallon to get Americans to cut back on their consumption. I thought about that
and decided I agree. If gas hit $3.00 I would make some serious changes.

JG

 

[laurence]

Gas is ~$2.25 here in San Diego, that was enough for a coworker and I to start carpooling. In fact, I would say most people I know at work either chose their home very close to work (2-3 miles) or are carpooling.

 

[haha]

If gas hit $3.00 I would make some serious changes.JG  

No doubt it at all, gas will hit $3.00, in today's dollar. In fact, it will probably sail through $3.00. When is a harder question. A serious recession could put if off for several years.

Mikey

 

[Nords]

Our driving has dropped by about half in retirement. And that's despite logging 3000-4000 miles/year of bicycle commuting.

$3 hasn't stopped Europe drivers. And it hasn't stopped Hawaii's drivers in the more remote sections of the state!

 

[renferme]

Hasn't stopped European drivers because they drive tiny cars that get excellent gas mileage.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Buy yourself a nice chunk of vanguards energy fund. Based on my ownership experience, when oil and gas go up, so does the fund. And that 10-20c a gallon increase is usually more than offset by a 4 figure boost in my holdings

Lets face it, the stuff isnt going to get any cheaper or more widely available. So profit off of the inevitable.

 

[jarrob]

In the UK petrol is the equivalent of $8 per gallon

Continually rising petrol prices hasn't made any real impact on the amount people use cars. The cars have been getting more efficient but at a much slower rate than petrol prices have been rising. Most people here view a car as a necessity - not a luxury.

In mainland Europe (and the UK to some extent) the diesel engined car is becoming king. The current crop of common rail diesels are very efficient - they produce virtually the same power output as the same size petrol engine and consume about 25% less fuel. I have a large 2.5 ton SUV and it gets around 33mpg from a 2.9litre 170HP diesel engine (it drops to around 28mpg when towing a 1.5 ton trailer).

Most Europeans just shake their heads when they look at the typical US car. They see them as a gas guzzling, under powered monster that burns fuel with little or no real benefit to the driver - which is why US cars don't sell in Europe! Anything over 2 litres is considered a big engine here!

I suspect that what will hapen in the US as petrol prices reach more realistic levels is that you will buy more efficient cars rather than cut back on mileage.

BTW What so Americans ask for when they want gas gas instead of petrol gas? In Europe you can run your (converted) car on LPG gas which is available at most filling stations alongside petrol and diesel.

 

[haha]

BTW What so Americans ask for when they want gas gas instead of petrol gas?  In Europe you can run your (converted) car on LPG gas which is available at most filling stations alongside petrol and diesel.

A few fleets run on natural gas, which is mostly or completely fueled in-house. Some rural and suburban gasoline (petrol) stations also have propane tanks, mainly for carry-away for grills, RVs, etc. There are also some few cars and pick-ups that have been retrofitted to run on propane. There may be tax issues though, since the propane in the tanks usually would not show road use tax.

I personally hate propane or LPG; I believe it to be dangerous. But I would really like a diesel with decent get up and go. Especially if it were well enough designed so that it didn't go through a head gasket every few months.

Mikey

 

[Martha]

I love my 2002 diesel VW Jetta. It gets 55 miles a gallon regularly. No bells and whistles--it has a manual transmission which helps a lot with the mileage. Great torque. I did see in another thread complaints about repair costs and reliability of VWs, but so far no problems with ours except two recalls (which I suppose is bad enough). My husband doesn't like it because it is too small. Fits me perfectly though. They also make a Passat diesel which might be better for the taller or wider.

I probably won't like the motorhome so much if gas goes to $3.00. We had a good day today, got 10 miles a gallon.

 

[Dawg52]

I love my 2002 diesel VW Jetta.  It gets 55 miles a gallon regularly.  No bells and whistles--it has a manual transmission which helps a lot with the mileage.  Great torque.    I did see in another thread complaints about repair costs and reliability of VWs, but so far no problems with ours except two recalls (which I suppose is bad enough).  My husband doesn't like it because it is too small.  Fits me perfectly though.  They also make a Passat diesel which might be better for the taller or wider.

I probably won't like the motorhome so much if gas goes to $3.00.  We had a good day today, got 10 miles a gallon.

If it gets to $3.00 anytime soon, I may buy some kind of VW. I had a Beetle in high school. A 1960 model and it didnt even have a gas gauge. Had to use a dip stick to check the gas. Didn't have to check it often as it never needed much gas. The good old days.

 

[Martha]

Hey DOG50, my first car was a 1967 beetle. It used more oil than gas. In the cold of winter I had the pull the clutch up with my foot, and constantly scrape the inside of the windshield with my driver's license. Loved that car!

 

[rapoole]

In the cold of winter I had the pull the clutch up with my foot, and constantly scrape the inside of the windshield with my driver's license. Loved that car!

Brings back fond memories of my 56 beetle. Had to pull the clutch up because the caked snow around that clutch stalk kept it from fully engaging. 6 volt battery, so jump starting was always an adventure. Manual choke. No fuel guage, but if you ran out of gas, you flipped a switch on the floorboard for a lower fuel feed allowing another 30 miles.

When I sold it (circa 69) it found a new life as a purple metal flake dune buggy. I should do as well.

rapoole20000

 

[renferme]

When my Camry, currently 4.66 years old, won't run anymore, I'll buy a replacement that gets really really good gas mileage. If the hybrids are still a lot more money than the conventional cars, it won't be a hybrid. And it won't be a dirty, smelly, noisey diesel either. Will probably be a Corolla that gets 30+ mpg.
It takes too many years to recoup the extra cost of a hybrid; I just won't pay the extra money.

 

[Patrick]

$2.43/gallon yesterday here in southern Nevada. I'm gonna have to get my electric car going! I did a lot of research recently and the best car I could find for gas mileage vs. purchase price was a used Geo/Chevy Metro with the manual transmission. Huge mileage at a decent price. Of course the hybrids are better, but you'd have to drive one about 500,000 miles to save the price difference in fuel.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Those huge optional engine costs can be pretty counterproductive to saving energy. When I bought my expedition I had every intention of getting the diesel engine option...until I saw the $4000 option cost. I'd never recover that through the life of the vehicle in fuel cost savings.

One thing I do note about high gas costs, while they suck it up in european countries, the average car there looks like a roller skate.

When polled, americans usually pick $3 a gallon as the price at which they'd consider mileage a major factor in making a purchase decision...so we may be headed towards much smaller cars as the price gets driven up.

 

[unclemick]

I remember the grumpy old phart engineers I worked with in Denver in the 70's - bought old used Detroit iron - the cheap price 'would buy a lot of $5/gal gas' or so their reasoning went - of course it never went that high and the turds rationed the stuff. So much for theory.

I was young,single, go chase women, own a sports car phase back then.

 

[Nords]

When polled, americans usually pick $3 a gallon as the price at which they'd consider mileage a major factor in making a purchase decision...so we may be headed towards much smaller cars as the price gets driven up.

I'll believe it when we see it.

I think most SUV owners are like Jason Alexander's character on "Listen Up"-- cheering at the gas pump when it rolls over a $100 fillup.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I gave the gas pump the one finger salute the first time it went over $50. Good thing I only fill it up every 4-6 weeks.

 

[sgeeeee]

I remember watching a local TV news show many years ago. A reporter was interviewing people at a gas station during a period when gas prices were spiking upward. The reporter asked people if there was a price that would make them stop buying gas. Several people answered that if gas exceeded $1/gallon, they would stop driving.

We don't have many options here in the US. A bike ride of a couple of miles (to the nearest grocery store or pharmacy) would be acceptable to me from the point of view of time and exertion. I would actually enjoy it. But if I try to ride more than 1/2 mile in any direction from my home, I get to a major 5 line road with traffic that is a significant danger to non-motorized vehicles. I would have to travel about 3 miles to get to the nearest bus stop -- and the busses don't go anywhere I need to go. I'm pretty much stuck driving and paying for gas.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I have a related problem. Where I lived before 2001
(10 miles downstream) the dog and I could just leave the house and head in any direction. No need for a
leash and we could walk for miles in many directions.
Now, we have the river on one side and a highway
about 150 yards behind us. Thus, if we want to do
some serious walking, the dog and I have to get in a vehicle and drive somewhere. The result is that we don't
walk as much, which is too bad as we both need the
exercise.

Recently I opined (to DW) that we could "probably"
get by with one vehicle (right now we have 3). I am
not sure this would hold down the gas expense, but
it would surely cut down on a bunch of other stuff.

JG

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I can relate to that. We used to have 5 vehicles between us. I had a Q45, a BMW convertible and an expedition, she had a corvette and a toyota pickup. I spent half my life doing maintenance and car cleaning.

Down to the expedition and a rav4 now. Much better.

Quick...whats the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?

 

[Hyperborea]

Quick...whats the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?

I thought that the joke was originally a Porsche and a porcupine?

 

[laurence]

salary Guru, you bring up an interesting point. The economists, whenever gas price spikes, always trot out "when factoring in inflation" that gas prices are still well below all time highs, and that compared to 1981, we are paying about 90 cents a gallon vs. $1.35 back then. I guess the math looks right, but I'm not sure if I smell something fishy here. I was far too young (7 years old) to remember what it was like back then, just how bad was it compared to now? How did gas prices "feel" back then as to now?

 

[MJ]

We don't have many options here in the US. A bike ride of a couple of miles (to the nearest grocery store or pharmacy) would be acceptable to me from the point of view of time and exertion. I would actually enjoy it. But if I try to ride more than 1/2 mile in any direction from my home, I get to a major 5 line road with traffic that is a significant danger to non-motorized vehicles.

That's too bad.
Where I currently live in the NY metro area, I commute to work 18 miles (RT) in city traffic and shop some 3 miles from home. In a couple of years, I may want to leave this area because of climate and cheaper health insurance and would want to be in an area that is bicycle friendly, at least by my standards.

MJ

 

[MJ]

JG,

I see you are now an official member of the club.
Of course, that is assuming that someone is not impersonating you, MR.GALT2U. I guess we'll see if the your posts continue to have the wit and charm, you have been known for.

MJ