Gas Prices

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Last week, I spent $49.00 filling up my Jetta with regular ! WTF ?! I was pretty stunned.

On a side note, who else remembers sitting in those stupid gas lines in the 70's? Yeah, yeah....when they lowered the speed limit from 65 to 55 to conserve fuel...... poor Bix.
 
And we're aren't at peak oil either. (I think.)

Y'all will jump all over me, but I think the spiking BEFORE peak oil is a good thing. Will cause people to rethink things before it is too late. Will motive alternative energy devellopment. Will cause more gas-efficient cars to be sold. Will cause more coal fired and nuclear plants to be built, hopefully with all necessary environmental controls.

After all, peak oil was going to happen within our lifetimes in 20-40 years, anyway.
 
Trooper, I can only imagine how much gas the V-8 five-oh mobile takes to fill up, $80 ??

As for us we haven't filled up in a while so I think we're going to hit sticker shock soon.
 
Trooper, I can remember the gas lines and the odd/even days at the Chevron station on the corner of Culver & Michelson. I also remember my Mom buying a Honda Passport to commute to work.

A Honda Passport in 1981:

carden%20015.jpg


A Honda Passport 20 years later:

2001-Honda-Passport-01802111990001.jpg
 
I'm around $80/tank right now on a couple premium-only cars with 24-gallon tanks. Put in perspective though, for most people gas is still a minority cost of ownership. You can buy a new car and suffer 50% depreciation in 3 years or, like me, you can buy used cars and spend hundreds on maintenance per month, averaged out. Performance tires alone can cost upwards of 10 cents per mile. Add in insurance, fees, car washes, smog checks etc, and the difference between $2 gas and $4 gas is not catastrophic for most people. An extra $1000/year could be used in other ways, but at the same time most here could save just as much by changing a habit or two, such as eating out less often or substituting home-made coffee for the daily Starbuck's. Compared to most other industrialized nations we still have it pretty good. Imagine if gas went from $8 to $10 a gallon--it wouldn't sting quite as much, would it?
 
It'd be ironic, if 200 years from now, people would remember these bad economic times as a blessing that allowed us to cut back on the fossil fuels long enough for the green tech stuff to catch up, somehow prevent global warming meltdown...

AP Centerpiece: As Americans Cut Their Driving, Gas Prices Will Drop, but When?

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080319/gas_prices_tipping_point.html?.v=1&.pf=family-home

With these changes, U.S. consumers caused a remarkable 1 percent drop in gas consumption the last eight-week-period over a year ago. Gas use should be rising 1.5 percent annually just to keep up with the population. The last time a drop that length was recorded was in early 1997.
 
Troop!

Naa, I'm not too unhappy about the extreme cost. My commute is just 6 miles in the morning and remember I drive a Focus. So I just putt along between 35-50. Besides this is Irvine, I'm stuck driving defensively because there are... uhh... new foreign drivers. ha ha! The focus costs about 40 to fill up and I get about 350 for every 10 gallons.

Yes, the mustang is a hungry, hungry little beast, but I have to put octane booster and or 100 octane in it anyways. So 12-13 gallons cost between 60-80 anyways and I get 130ish per tank. Still its much cheaper than a 13,000 motor.... again. Its not a daily driver anyways. I'd also have to agree with Deadalus, the Mush-stang costs about 1.50-2.00 per mile to use. The Focus is in something like .37 cents per mile. It was CHEAPER for me to go out and BUY a second car than to drive the mush (in fuel costs alone).

But yes, I remember waiting in the lines and driving 55 (it took FOREVER to get anywhere).

Good luck

-bix
 
biscuit,

My gripe is the freaking signal lights in Irvine. 50 mph speed limits and unsynced lights lead to a desire to mutilate something. . . . Stop and go driving is a killer on MPGs.
 
bix quipped driving 55 (it took FOREVER to get anywhere).

You mean you could actually reach 55 on the Freeways in those Days? That must have been fantastic!! (that was me saying that)
 
Try keeping it under 2000 RPMs on the tach. It feels lame, but then who's getting 40mpg for the whole tank on the Civic? Me, that's who.

I also read some fwd about filling up the gas tank in the morning because gas expands with the heat of the day, so you get less for your money. Sounds like bull, but can't hurt I guess.
 
In the city, most damage to fuel economy happens on the brake pedal, not the gas pedal.

The gas pedal propels you towards your destination -- not a bad thing. The brake pedal pisses away kinetic energy in the form of heat and brake pad dust. That is bad. Learn to drive in a manner that minimizes braking. That means watching traffic lights and coasting as much as you can. Flying up to a red light at warp 9 is the ultimate fuel eater.
 
Good point Effen. I cruise, when I see me a red light or some stale green. On Irvine streets, you've got no excuse not to try to really take advantage of this. My favorite thing? Big Mama Real Housewife in the Escalade passes up the Soul Brother en route to a red light, and I get to watch those LEDs tail lights light up a football field in front of me, and then I pull up along side 10 sec later and I give a look that says, "How hot is that engine and are those brakes on that guzzler?" while I lean back in the Civic, smirking. I smirk a lot while driving. Anyway, yeah, use the brake less too.

J-dub-- I've seen the HX's around. What's it like having that CVT?
 
It's true that gas is sold by volume, and it does expand when heated. But the numbers are pretty small. Underground tanks maintain a fairly constant temperature throughout the day. I would be more concerned with pumping gas that just came out of a transport truck that has been in the sun for a few hours. But even moderate temperature swings won't produce much difference, ~1% for a 20*F temp swing, or 80 cents for an $80 fillup.

If you really want to be outraged consider the reformulated gas that we're forced to buy every summer. Fuel economy takes a hit and the stuff is harsh on fuel injection components in some older cars.
 
Well, maybe one option is to drive a car that does not require premium gas? I drive a premium-only car, but I figure I can't complain (except to myself) since I asked for it by buying such a car. I actually am encouraged because maybe consumers in the U.S. will finally demand alternative fuel vehicles that U.S. automakers have been so resistant to manufacture. Korea and Brazil use these vehicles extensively, and they seem to be humming along just fine.
 
PeterUK,

I lived in the southwest.... If you wanted to you could set the cruise control at 120. In the double nickle days (55), though the regular officers were out there always RADARing everybody and their dog to raise revenue. Again, it took forever to get anywhere.

So far the Focus get something like 35mpg with me driving like and idiot. The best i've squeezed out is something like 42, but I was driving 50 and under for about 200 miles (along the coast).

-bix
 
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