No kidding. Gas here is E1,55 / liter, so that's about E 6,50 / gallon, that'd be $10 / gallon or so.
There's a reason you see a lot of small cars in europe (although parking space / city streets count too, many old cities simply weren't built for american sized cars).
Having your RPM's too low is hard on your engine though.
Well, yeah... I try to max out at about 3k rpm, maybe a bit less. It's the whole "I don't need to shift until the engine is getting ready to redline" mentality that really bothers me. My tach shows redline at like 6500 rpm, NOBODY needs that kind of acceleration outside of a race track.
I have never driven a standard with a tach. I just used engine noise. If it sounds right you are in teh right gear. Neither chugging or sounding like a wound up sewing machine is about right.
I have never driven a standard with a tach. I just used engine noise. If it sounds right you are in teh right gear. Neither chugging or sounding like a wound up sewing machine is about right.
Mostly, that's what I do too, but I like to keep track of exactly where that point is. That may be my latent OCD talking, though.
Nerissa on
0
TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
I drive just as much as I did before, I just bitch about it more. Gas prices as a way of getting people to drive less is horseshit. It's just about bleeding money from the taxpayer by taxing something that it's incredibly difficult to avoid buying.
I'd say it's much more a way of gouging consumers at the expense of tax collectors. I don't know about Oceania, but in the US our fuel prices are rising pretty dramatically, and our fuel tax is pretty static.
But I agree that it's pretty difficult to reduce consumption, especially in countries that are prone to sprawl and rural areas. Driving is pretty much a necessity in 95% of the US, and it's bullshit that the government acts like it's doing you a favor by letting you drive on the roads that you already pay for.
Due to living downtown, and only a ~20 minute walk to and from work, I don't drive at all. I don't even own a car, as the ocassional taxi or subway/bus/streetcar ride usually covers anything I need that falls outside of convenient (or even slightly inconvenient) walking distance. I need the exercise, and it saves me a significant amount of money per year.
While I recognize that not every city is set up in such a fashion, having lived with convenient mass transit for over half a decade now, I can't imagine moving to a city that would require me to spend excessive amounts of money on a car, gas, maintenance and whatnot, unless the pay was substantially higher to compensate.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
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ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
edited June 2008
It's now about $70 for me to fill my tank. It costs me close to $15 to drive to work and back each day, and I don't have that far a commute (about 70 miles round-trip, including dropping kids off at daycare). It absolutely affects my decisions. We visit out families less, because it's now about $80 to do so, just in gas. We were thinking of hitting San Francisco this weekend to do something fun and frolicky, but then we remembered that it would be something like $60 in gas, so we decided to do something local.
We have an SUV (albeit a 4-cyl, non-4WD thing that gets 20mpg) because we have to lug around two kids and their gear everywhere, but we're looking for alternatives. The problem is that getting a new car would mean a bigger car payment, and there's an inverse relation between roominess and fuel efficiency. To be worth it, we need at least 30+mpg, but most cars that get that would be a nightmare to cart the family around in, especially if we wanted to go on a trip.
Of course, I heard that certain dealers around here are offering to "lock in" your gas prices for the next 3 years at $2.99/gal if you buy a car from them. I have no idea how that works, but I plan to look into it, because... yeah, that would be fuckawesome.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Yeah, fuel prices over here are having some serious effects. I work for a company that relies heavily on contractors for our haulage. We've seen some huge rates increases recently (~5% a month on average, I'd say, over the last six), which are getting harder and harder to either absorb or pass on to our customers.
On a more personal level, I've taken to filling up less and less at service stations. If I do, it's only because my fuel light's come on and I'm not sure I can make it to work. Last time I did, I only put £5 worth in (3.76 litres ).
I do all my refuelling at work, now. We have a small diesel tank here that used to be used exclusively for the boss's car and the small 4T lorry we use for local deliveries. Now pretty much every employee uses it (with the amount taken out of their wages), because it works out cheaper. Every penny is beginning to count.
We had a break in a couple of weeks ago. They drained the tank, and took nothing else.
One thing: I heard (on Top Gear, I think) that modern engines actually use less fuel if you keep them in gear rather than free-wheeling for short distances, like up to a junction or something. Something about them needing to use a little fuel to keep them ticking over when disengaged, while when in gear the motion keeps them going... I don't know, but I have a 3 mile stretch on my route to work that's almost entirely downhill. It'd be handy to know whether I should be in gear or out.
edit: Woah, 20mpg? Scary. I think I'm getting 45-50 at the moment, in a diesel Mazda 3. With the prices as they are, it's probably working out the same, but 20 just seems crazy inefficient.
Sunday_Assassin on
0
syndalisGetting ClassyOn the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Productsregular
edited June 2008
The 2.99/gal thing is a great fucking deal, because chances are we are going to see 6/gal in a year or two.
syndalis on
SW-4158-3990-6116
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
I don't drive but whenever one of my neighbours comes home with a great big shiny new truck or SUV, I laugh. Especially when four months later they realize what a retarded idea that was and try to sell it, unsuccessfully.
-Coast to red lights
-Don't speed in town. A lot of places, if you do the speed limit or slightly below, you can hit it green after green.
-In general, try to drive like you have no brakes.
Unless you live in my stupid town where the lights on main street are synched to punish people who go the speed limit. If you go 20 you will hit pretty much every single one. I find if I go about 24 and get the timing right I can just barely make it through most of them. It helps if my wife is in the car. She's lucky.
Tofystedeth on
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syndalisGetting ClassyOn the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Productsregular
I've been thinking of getting a used scooter. Not really other than that.
There are a lot more people biking these days than there used to be. I'm thinking of asking the town to put in bike lanes, because I'm sure they don't feel safe and I certainly don't feel that safe driving around them.
Speaker on
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ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
edited June 2008
I wish I lived close enough to work to bike.
I also wish my kids were old enough to not require daycare. Or that we had a live-in nanny. Also: a mansion.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
The problem is that getting a new car would mean a bigger car payment, and there's an inverse relation between roominess and fuel efficiency. To be worth it, we need at least 30+mpg, but most cars that get that would be a nightmare to cart the family around in, especially if we wanted to go on a trip.
How much stuff do you need with your family? My family used to routinely go between Texas and Kansas/Oklahoma. Two adults + two kids 5-9 hours, and we almost always just had a sedan. Hell, we made the trip several times in a shitty old Toyota Tercel that didn't have air conditioning and heat cause it was all we had at the time.
After checking the actual size of my fuel tank rather than just guessing, it turns out my car only got ~40mpg on my trip to Coventry this weekend. But then, that was mostly motorway driving around the 90mph mark.
It's the same thing as cash back though, it just sounds better, no?
well, it's variable cash back. You are kind of gambling...
If they offer 2000 cash back, or 2.99/gal gas for the length of the lease/loan... I would go with the 2.99/gal. Odds are you will save more.
It's not that variable; there is an upper limit on how many gallons you get the good price for: http://www.dodge.com/en/refuel/
It varies from 1500 - 2400 gallons over three years, depending on how inefficient the vehicles are. If the average price over the 3 years is $5/gallon, you are "saving" from $3,000-$4800 total. Of course, the reason you "save" more is because you are buying a car that's getting horrid gas mileage (15mpg for the best "savings"), which fuck you big time if/when you go over your gallon allotment.
I also wish my kids were old enough to not require daycare. Or that we had a live-in nanny. Also: a mansion.
Haha, yeah, it's sure a good thing my parents had an SUV to cart us around in instead of a 15-year-old Mazda GLC, and a mansion instead of a 3-bedroom apartment in East Van. It's pretty much the only way to raise children. I don't know how we would have survived without those luxuries.
"I have preschool kids, therefore I need a twenty mile per gallon truck and a mansion." LOL
I also wish my kids were old enough to not require daycare. Or that we had a live-in nanny. Also: a mansion.
Yeah, we've got an SUV for pretty much the same reasons as you do. Whoever is in front of the car seat in the Jetta gets VERY little leg room (ends up being the passenger because you don't want to cramp the driver), so taking the kids anywhere requires a larger vehicle.
Also, the 12-year-old isn't seeing as much of her dad as we all would like, since he's 2 hours away, and can't afford to come up to get her (and we can't afford to be driving her out there) nearly as often.
Of course, for me, it's harder to distinguish which changes in our lifestyle are as a result of higher gas prices and which ones are a result of me cutting back my work hours. (Rising prices + less income is a fun combination. :P )
If you don't think they're charging you enough up-front to make up for their likely losses over time with that "$2.99 gas for two years" thing, you're insane.
I actually love it, because those vehicles that you're paying $30,000 for now with that locked-in gas price are going to be worth roughly as much as you can get out of the scrap from them two years down the line, when gas is $6 a gallon. But hey, obviously, you're looking to buy an SUV, so thinking ahead (or thinking in general) isn't exactly your strong suit.
As for me, I haven't really changed my habits over the past year, because when I moved to Seattle, I changed from being a car-centric person to being a bus-centric person. I fill up about once a month, now, if that, and I really don't worry about it.
Thanatos on
0
ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
The problem is that getting a new car would mean a bigger car payment, and there's an inverse relation between roominess and fuel efficiency. To be worth it, we need at least 30+mpg, but most cars that get that would be a nightmare to cart the family around in, especially if we wanted to go on a trip.
How much stuff do you need with your family? My family used to routinely go between Texas and Kansas/Oklahoma. Two adults + two kids 5-9 hours, and we almost always just had a sedan. Hell, we made the trip several times in a shitty old Toyota Tercel that didn't have air conditioning and heat cause it was all we had at the time.
Maddie (4) doesn't need much. Riley (7 months) needs a stroller (we use a tandem) and a diaper bag. Those two things eat up most of a small trunk. When we had Maddie, we had a Civic. We decided to get an SUV when we went grocery shopping one day and realized we had nowhere to put the actual groceries.
So yeah, once Riley is a little older, we can ditch the diaper bag, move to an umbrella stroller, and it wouldn't be too bad. Right now having a smaller car would sort of suck, but it may be worth it for the savings.
Also, I'm fully aware that we technically could get by with a tiny car. People do it all the time, and so could we. But the convenience of a big ol' car when you're carting around kids is huge, and so we're willing to pay a premium in order to do so. Just not as big a premium as we're paying now.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
0
ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
If you don't think they're charging you enough up-front to make up for their likely losses over time with that "$2.99 gas for two years" thing, you're insane.
As I understand it, car dealerships are eating it because nobody is buying cars right now, because the economy is shit. So I don't think they're secretly gouging the customers so much as begging people to please give them some business. The former is certainly possible, though, which is why I said I wanted to look into it. Right now I know nothing about the deals other than some guy said they were doing it.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
0
ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
I also wish my kids were old enough to not require daycare. Or that we had a live-in nanny. Also: a mansion.
Haha, yeah, it's sure a good thing my parents had an SUV to cart us around in instead of a 15-year-old Mazda GLC, and a mansion instead of a 3-bedroom apartment in East Van. It's pretty much the only way to raise children. I don't know how we would have survived without those luxuries.
"I have preschool kids, therefore I need a twenty mile per gallon truck and a mansion." LOL
Wow, you're sort of a douche, huh?
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
My gas usage? Well I'm pretty frugal to begin with, and about a year and a half ago when we moved into the area that we live in now we chose this apartment complex because with the extra amount we pay in rent was because my walking to work would save us on gas, here we are a year and a half later, and despite getting pay raises over the time we're still paying about $160 a month in gas on my wife's commute, so we're in fact going to play the same game again... While I walk half a mile to work right nowshe drives an hour in city traffic, so out lease ends in July and come August first we're moving to a place that'll be a bit more expensive, but we'll save about $80 a month in fuel costs...
What about moving costs? First month rent is free, and will cover that. What about my walk to work? I'm transferring stores and it adds an extra half mile to the trek, I'll probably just ride my bike more...
My wife and I are currently in the market to try and get a more fuel efficient vehicle as she currently makes a 4 hours drive to Georgia on a bi-monthly basis to spend time with her grandmother sho's significant other recently passed... If I could curb that down to once a month we'd be made in the shade.. Though I'm hoping that by getting a more fuel efficient vehicle everything will balance out... And on top of that, if gas prices ever go back down, we'll still come out on top in terms of cost...
The reality here folks is that if gas ever drops in price again we'll all start winning because of all the fuel efficient things we've been doing....
I am one of the lucky ones to live in a city with a very good public transportation system, Portland, Oregon.
I currently do not have a car, and I am lucky enough to get by with needing to rent one once or twice a month to get large groceries from Costco, like bulk toilet paper, dog food and cat litter. As is, I walk to work which takes me about twenty-five minutes. I can walk in fifteen minutes to several different grocery stores. And I walk to the light rail to go to school.
If you don't think they're charging you enough up-front to make up for their likely losses over time with that "$2.99 gas for two years" thing, you're insane.
As I understand it, car dealerships are eating it because nobody is buying cars right now, because the economy is shit. So I don't think they're secretly gouging the customers so much as begging people to please give them some business. The former is certainly possible, though, which is why I said I wanted to look into it. Right now I know nothing about the deals other than some guy said they were doing it.
It hasn't really been a "secret" that the markup on SUVs is ridiculous. If you think they're selling them at a loss, well, I have a few things I'd like to sell you at a "loss..."
I bought a Prius almost as soon as they were available in 2001, so that seems to have worked out well, but I really can't see myself buying another one. The car is just so small and terrible in the snow that I found myself literaly unable to drive home from work on at least one occation this past winter. I need something a bit bigger, but I don't know what. Ford has a hybrid Explorer that goes for 25,000 or so that gets 30ish, which is still a lot less then what I get now and I don't want to give up filling up once a month.
I'm with Jeffe, though, but I want to be rich so I can buy a Tesla Roadster and flip off gas stations as I speed silently by.
chamberlain on
0
ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
edited June 2008
My mom has that Hybrid Explorer, and it's a pretty nice car. Who knows what'll happen in two years when the warranty wears off, though.
@Than: Are they still marking them up, though? As I understood it, the market for SUVs in particular has tanked in the past year or so. Nobody wants a 15mpg SuperTank anymore.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
My mom has that Hybrid Explorer, and it's a pretty nice car. Who knows what'll happen in two years when the warranty wears off, though.
@Than: Are they still marking them up, though? As I understood it, the market for SUVs in particular has tanked in the past year or so. Nobody wants a 15mpg SuperTank anymore.
Well, they're offering you $3000 cash back, or 2000 gallons of gas over 3 years, so there's your price cut. Probably from "outrageous" all the way down to "you're just way overpaying."
Thanatos on
0
TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
Yeah, fuel prices over here are having some serious effects. I work for a company that relies heavily on contractors for our haulage. We've seen some huge rates increases recently (~5% a month on average, I'd say, over the last six), which are getting harder and harder to either absorb or pass on to our customers.
On a more personal level, I've taken to filling up less and less at service stations. If I do, it's only because my fuel light's come on and I'm not sure I can make it to work. Last time I did, I only put £5 worth in (3.76 litres ).
I do all my refuelling at work, now. We have a small diesel tank here that used to be used exclusively for the boss's car and the small 4T lorry we use for local deliveries. Now pretty much every employee uses it (with the amount taken out of their wages), because it works out cheaper. Every penny is beginning to count.
We had a break in a couple of weeks ago. They drained the tank, and took nothing else.
One thing: I heard (on Top Gear, I think) that modern engines actually use less fuel if you keep them in gear rather than free-wheeling for short distances, like up to a junction or something. Something about them needing to use a little fuel to keep them ticking over when disengaged, while when in gear the motion keeps them going... I don't know, but I have a 3 mile stretch on my route to work that's almost entirely downhill. It'd be handy to know whether I should be in gear or out.
edit: Woah, 20mpg? Scary. I think I'm getting 45-50 at the moment, in a diesel Mazda 3. With the prices as they are, it's probably working out the same, but 20 just seems crazy inefficient.
Just over 20mpg is not unusual for "light trucks". In America, people by and large avoid carpooling, public transportation, and driving small cars if they have the money to do so. The wealthy cite safety concerns, arguing that their driving a fucking sherman tank is justified in the event of an accident.
It took me over 2 weeks to find a decent car in my area that was a manual transmission and not a 6-cylinder race car. The shitty thing is that the public's focus will be on fuel economy for the time being, and as a result prices for small cars are ridiculous.
HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
edited June 2008
Where I'm from we pay $8.78* per gallon as of todays newspaper, which is a all time high nationally (Sweden). It's been rising at a pretty constant rate but stopped around $7,55* for about a year between 2006-2007.
*(Calculated from SEK per liter to USD per gallon for easy reference).
I do however still drive just as much (every other day), I use a bike too though.
It sucks that, at the moment, the environmental costs can be higher than just using a regular fossil fueled car but I am overjoyed that someone is putting the technology out there so people can wrap their head around the inevitability of this new technology.
It sucks that, at the moment, the environmental costs can be higher than just using a regular fossil fueled car but I am overjoyed that someone is putting the technology out there so people can wrap their head around the inevitability of this new technology.
Yeah, we need more nuclear/solar/hydro/geothermal/biomass power plants. However, the good thing is that it's way easier to do a much better job at scrubbing the aerosol waste from one fossil fuel power plant than it is to scrub the aerosol waste from a few thousand cars.
It sucks that, at the moment, the environmental costs can be higher than just using a regular fossil fueled car but I am overjoyed that someone is putting the technology out there so people can wrap their head around the inevitability of this new technology.
Yeah, we need more nuclear/solar/hydro/geothermal/biomass power plants. However, the good thing is that it's way easier to do a much better job at scrubbing the aerosol waste from one fossil fuel power plant than it is to scrub the aerosol waste from a few thousand cars.
^ This is nothing but truth.
electricitylikesme on
0
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
edited June 2008
God yes.
In Massachusetts (where I live), the traffic going down to Cape Cod on Memorial Day Weekend was a tenth of what it normally is because people didn't want to spend the gas.
My habits have completely changed- most of my friends live by school (I live with my parents about 25-30 miles out from school) and I no longer drive down there to hang out with them. I really only drive to the mall a couple miles away, to disc golf parks, and to shows. And that's real sporadically- my car's been in the same spot for about 3 days now.
Posts
There's a reason you see a lot of small cars in europe (although parking space / city streets count too, many old cities simply weren't built for american sized cars).
Well, yeah... I try to max out at about 3k rpm, maybe a bit less. It's the whole "I don't need to shift until the engine is getting ready to redline" mentality that really bothers me. My tach shows redline at like 6500 rpm, NOBODY needs that kind of acceleration outside of a race track.
Mostly, that's what I do too, but I like to keep track of exactly where that point is. That may be my latent OCD talking, though.
I'd say it's much more a way of gouging consumers at the expense of tax collectors. I don't know about Oceania, but in the US our fuel prices are rising pretty dramatically, and our fuel tax is pretty static.
But I agree that it's pretty difficult to reduce consumption, especially in countries that are prone to sprawl and rural areas. Driving is pretty much a necessity in 95% of the US, and it's bullshit that the government acts like it's doing you a favor by letting you drive on the roads that you already pay for.
While I recognize that not every city is set up in such a fashion, having lived with convenient mass transit for over half a decade now, I can't imagine moving to a city that would require me to spend excessive amounts of money on a car, gas, maintenance and whatnot, unless the pay was substantially higher to compensate.
We have an SUV (albeit a 4-cyl, non-4WD thing that gets 20mpg) because we have to lug around two kids and their gear everywhere, but we're looking for alternatives. The problem is that getting a new car would mean a bigger car payment, and there's an inverse relation between roominess and fuel efficiency. To be worth it, we need at least 30+mpg, but most cars that get that would be a nightmare to cart the family around in, especially if we wanted to go on a trip.
Of course, I heard that certain dealers around here are offering to "lock in" your gas prices for the next 3 years at $2.99/gal if you buy a car from them. I have no idea how that works, but I plan to look into it, because... yeah, that would be fuckawesome.
On a more personal level, I've taken to filling up less and less at service stations. If I do, it's only because my fuel light's come on and I'm not sure I can make it to work. Last time I did, I only put £5 worth in (3.76 litres
I do all my refuelling at work, now. We have a small diesel tank here that used to be used exclusively for the boss's car and the small 4T lorry we use for local deliveries. Now pretty much every employee uses it (with the amount taken out of their wages), because it works out cheaper. Every penny is beginning to count.
We had a break in a couple of weeks ago. They drained the tank, and took nothing else.
One thing: I heard (on Top Gear, I think) that modern engines actually use less fuel if you keep them in gear rather than free-wheeling for short distances, like up to a junction or something. Something about them needing to use a little fuel to keep them ticking over when disengaged, while when in gear the motion keeps them going... I don't know, but I have a 3 mile stretch on my route to work that's almost entirely downhill. It'd be handy to know whether I should be in gear or out.
edit: Woah, 20mpg? Scary. I think I'm getting 45-50 at the moment, in a diesel Mazda 3. With the prices as they are, it's probably working out the same, but 20 just seems crazy inefficient.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
People in the suburbs just don't get it.
Unless you live in my stupid town where the lights on main street are synched to punish people who go the speed limit. If you go 20 you will hit pretty much every single one. I find if I go about 24 and get the timing right I can just barely make it through most of them. It helps if my wife is in the car. She's lucky.
well, it's variable cash back. You are kind of gambling...
If they offer 2000 cash back, or 2.99/gal gas for the length of the lease/loan... I would go with the 2.99/gal. Odds are you will save more.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
There are a lot more people biking these days than there used to be. I'm thinking of asking the town to put in bike lanes, because I'm sure they don't feel safe and I certainly don't feel that safe driving around them.
I also wish my kids were old enough to not require daycare. Or that we had a live-in nanny. Also: a mansion.
How much stuff do you need with your family? My family used to routinely go between Texas and Kansas/Oklahoma. Two adults + two kids 5-9 hours, and we almost always just had a sedan. Hell, we made the trip several times in a shitty old Toyota Tercel that didn't have air conditioning and heat cause it was all we had at the time.
Guess who's going to stick to 70 next time.
Emma has embarked on her career as a housewife.
I have to say, it's nice if you can afford to live on one income.
It's not that variable; there is an upper limit on how many gallons you get the good price for:
http://www.dodge.com/en/refuel/
It varies from 1500 - 2400 gallons over three years, depending on how inefficient the vehicles are. If the average price over the 3 years is $5/gallon, you are "saving" from $3,000-$4800 total. Of course, the reason you "save" more is because you are buying a car that's getting horrid gas mileage (15mpg for the best "savings"), which fuck you big time if/when you go over your gallon allotment.
"I have preschool kids, therefore I need a twenty mile per gallon truck and a mansion." LOL
Yeah, we've got an SUV for pretty much the same reasons as you do. Whoever is in front of the car seat in the Jetta gets VERY little leg room (ends up being the passenger because you don't want to cramp the driver), so taking the kids anywhere requires a larger vehicle.
Also, the 12-year-old isn't seeing as much of her dad as we all would like, since he's 2 hours away, and can't afford to come up to get her (and we can't afford to be driving her out there) nearly as often.
Of course, for me, it's harder to distinguish which changes in our lifestyle are as a result of higher gas prices and which ones are a result of me cutting back my work hours. (Rising prices + less income is a fun combination. :P )
I actually love it, because those vehicles that you're paying $30,000 for now with that locked-in gas price are going to be worth roughly as much as you can get out of the scrap from them two years down the line, when gas is $6 a gallon. But hey, obviously, you're looking to buy an SUV, so thinking ahead (or thinking in general) isn't exactly your strong suit.
As for me, I haven't really changed my habits over the past year, because when I moved to Seattle, I changed from being a car-centric person to being a bus-centric person. I fill up about once a month, now, if that, and I really don't worry about it.
Maddie (4) doesn't need much. Riley (7 months) needs a stroller (we use a tandem) and a diaper bag. Those two things eat up most of a small trunk. When we had Maddie, we had a Civic. We decided to get an SUV when we went grocery shopping one day and realized we had nowhere to put the actual groceries.
So yeah, once Riley is a little older, we can ditch the diaper bag, move to an umbrella stroller, and it wouldn't be too bad. Right now having a smaller car would sort of suck, but it may be worth it for the savings.
Also, I'm fully aware that we technically could get by with a tiny car. People do it all the time, and so could we. But the convenience of a big ol' car when you're carting around kids is huge, and so we're willing to pay a premium in order to do so. Just not as big a premium as we're paying now.
As I understand it, car dealerships are eating it because nobody is buying cars right now, because the economy is shit. So I don't think they're secretly gouging the customers so much as begging people to please give them some business. The former is certainly possible, though, which is why I said I wanted to look into it. Right now I know nothing about the deals other than some guy said they were doing it.
Wow, you're sort of a douche, huh?
What about moving costs? First month rent is free, and will cover that. What about my walk to work? I'm transferring stores and it adds an extra half mile to the trek, I'll probably just ride my bike more...
My wife and I are currently in the market to try and get a more fuel efficient vehicle as she currently makes a 4 hours drive to Georgia on a bi-monthly basis to spend time with her grandmother sho's significant other recently passed... If I could curb that down to once a month we'd be made in the shade.. Though I'm hoping that by getting a more fuel efficient vehicle everything will balance out... And on top of that, if gas prices ever go back down, we'll still come out on top in terms of cost...
The reality here folks is that if gas ever drops in price again we'll all start winning because of all the fuel efficient things we've been doing....
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I currently do not have a car, and I am lucky enough to get by with needing to rent one once or twice a month to get large groceries from Costco, like bulk toilet paper, dog food and cat litter. As is, I walk to work which takes me about twenty-five minutes. I can walk in fifteen minutes to several different grocery stores. And I walk to the light rail to go to school.
It saves me roughly $texas every month.
I'm with Jeffe, though, but I want to be rich so I can buy a Tesla Roadster and flip off gas stations as I speed silently by.
@Than: Are they still marking them up, though? As I understood it, the market for SUVs in particular has tanked in the past year or so. Nobody wants a 15mpg SuperTank anymore.
Just over 20mpg is not unusual for "light trucks". In America, people by and large avoid carpooling, public transportation, and driving small cars if they have the money to do so. The wealthy cite safety concerns, arguing that their driving a fucking sherman tank is justified in the event of an accident.
It took me over 2 weeks to find a decent car in my area that was a manual transmission and not a 6-cylinder race car. The shitty thing is that the public's focus will be on fuel economy for the time being, and as a result prices for small cars are ridiculous.
Hopefully this will work out well.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
*(Calculated from SEK per liter to USD per gallon for easy reference).
I do however still drive just as much (every other day), I use a bike too though.
It sucks that, at the moment, the environmental costs can be higher than just using a regular fossil fueled car but I am overjoyed that someone is putting the technology out there so people can wrap their head around the inevitability of this new technology.
In Massachusetts (where I live), the traffic going down to Cape Cod on Memorial Day Weekend was a tenth of what it normally is because people didn't want to spend the gas.