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That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday, - Page 5

post #121 of 2203
8/18/05 at 9:26am
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Don't americans want more efficient cars? Are we all just convinced that cars HAVE to be this inefficient?
It's never about efficiency, as much as it is vanity.

Why be seen in a Prius when you can be seen in a Mustang
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post #122 of 2203
8/18/05 at 9:32am
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his Toyota Supra, which does 0-60 in about 5 seconds gets about 35mpg


Not to make fun of you... But your friend is BSing here... Maybe 24mpg at max... ~20 in city if your lucky.
http://www.fast-autos.com/supra.html

Sports cars are what I do
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post #123 of 2203
8/18/05 at 9:48am
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Pint of milk 16oz for $ 1.59 $ 12.72 per gallon






Whoever wrote that hasn't been to the grocery store in a while. It's more like $3/gal., but point taken.

Oh, and at that price, the cows must be colluding agaist us. Moooooo!
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post #124 of 2203
8/18/05 at 10:12am
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It's never about efficiency, as much as it is vanity.


Also size, comfort and the ability to travel farther with a load of vacation gear. Americans travel by car, Europeans do not. The average European uses the car to travel to and from work and to go around town. The maximum average leisure travel is a day trip. The size and capacity of their vehicles reflect this. Americans, having no country wide mass transit, have two options (no, Amtrak is not one of them ), by plane or by car. A 2-week camping trip to the Berkshires or a week long vacation on the Cape or Long Island is nothing for a family of 4 to take. So for anyone but a childless couple, a bigger vehicle is necessary.

My sister used to drive a fuel efficient Escort station wagon when it was herself, husband and 3 yr. old son. Fast forward 3 years and she also has a 2 yr. old set of twins and an infant. Try to fit 3 child seats in the back of an escort...You can't. So it was either a mini-van or an SUV, both with much worse mileage than an Escort.
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post #125 of 2203
8/18/05 at 10:24am
Our news channel did a story about a guy who drives a car that runs on natural gas. Only costs him .85 cents per gallon! Sweet!

- Colton
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post #126 of 2203
8/18/05 at 10:40am
http://automobiles.honda.com/models/...rDetected=True
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post #127 of 2203
8/18/05 at 10:59am
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So for anyone but a childless couple, a bigger vehicle is necessary.



My wife and I just learned that the hard way. We are trading in our 03 Subaru Impreza for a Ford Escape today because of our new baby. We can barely drive the Impreza with the baby seat in the back because the seats have to be so far forward. When I drive I can almost lick the windshield!

We did choose to buy the Escape over a larger SUV because of its "relatively" efficient 3.0 Liter engine. 19MPG City and 23 MPG Highway, not toooo bad for a 4X4 SUV.
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post #128 of 2203
8/18/05 at 12:01pm
Americans tend to drive trucks and vans far more than Europeans/Japanese do (I seem to recall reading that non-farmers owning a pickup truck is almost unheard of outside North America). Milage isn't as much of a concern in trucks' design, so they might be pulling the average down.

(Note: pedestrian who takes the bus to work each day, reading this thread to be amused by others' suffering)
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post #129 of 2203
8/18/05 at 1:40pm
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(Note: pedestrian who takes the bus to work each day, reading this thread to be amused by others' suffering)
Not unless the transportation company decides to raise the fares for commuters.
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post #130 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:04pm
Sure, that'll happen eventually, if this goes on long enough (although the trains are electric, as are some of the buses, while others are CNG), but even then, I suspect it won't proportionally be as much of a hit as it is for people driving.

And, still, listening to people at work who can take public transportation but choose not to complain about gas prices? Funny.
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post #131 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:11pm
Just be careful not to cast too wide of a net as in MANY cities in the US there is no public transportation and that is not the average one-off citizen's fault. In most cases the city is too spread out and/or their isnt the population to merit it but often that doesnt mean that the people are driving less than people in major metropolitan areas. My wife drives 70-80 miles a day in Omaha, but there is no public transporation.
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post #132 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:20pm
Oh, absolutely... Although I still feel free to mock people driving SUVs and trucks they don't need 90% of the time, or who don't realize how stunningly boring their constant talk of cars, driving and parking are to those of us without.
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post #133 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:28pm
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Oh, absolutely... Although I still feel free to mock people driving SUVs and trucks they don't need 90% of the time, or who don't realize how stunningly boring their constant talk of cars, driving and parking are to those of us without.
Oh for sure, I need my truck at least 15% of the time and I never "brag" about how hard it is to park Actually, I know exactly what you are talking about. I know people that are like "man I never would have fit in that spot" or "haha, I just would have pulled out, people always slow down for me". You can tell they are bragging even though they say it casually. Its like yes, thank you for reminding me how big your dick errr truck is.
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post #134 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:28pm
Jason, I too get quite annoyed with people who constantly complain about the price of gas. It KILLS me when people drive around, looking for the gas station that has gas 1 penny cheaper than the other. I drive 100 mile a day and can't put anything less than 91 octane in my car. While I may not like it, I suck it up because who am I to complain? No one forced me to buy the car I did (that won't take cheaper gas), no one forced me to drive 100 miles a day.

As was stated, if you didn't make a conscious effort to buy an economical vehicle, don't give me your gas gripes...well, you can complain, but not to the extent that some do.
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post #135 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:38pm
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As was stated, if you didn't make a conscious effort to buy an economical vehicle, don't give me your gas gripes...well, you can complain, but not to the extent that some do.
The only thing about people arbitrarily saying who can and cant complain about gas is that I just pulled gas retail price history from here (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petro...s_history.html) and gass is $1 a gallon more than it was when I bought my pickup truck. In fact, if you go back and look at 2002 and 2003, people who bought Trucks and SUVs had NO WAY of knowing that gas was going to go from $30 a tank to $50-$60 a tank as soon as they bought their vehicle. According to that site, the AVERAGE price of gas from May 1992 to June 2004 is $1.22 a gallon, so people that bought SUVs and Trucks during the early 2000s arent as stupid as people would have you belive. The person that bought a Prius is no better than the person who bought the Dodge Ram, they're just luckier. I have NO problem with $1.50 gas but I did NOT sign up for $2.60 gas and potentially $3.00 gas. In fact, for consumers my age, this price jump is unprecidented in the history of our lives so saying we should have been more careful is a cop out.
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post #136 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:51pm
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saying we should have been more careful is a cop out.
I too bought a car that's not the greatest on gas mileage. Should I have bought something that was better? SURE I should have! It doesn't matter that gas was "cheap" when I bought it. Using THAT as an excuse, as to why you bought a non-economical vehicle, would be a "cop out".

But we all know that gas prices go up. If you lived in the 80's you know that there may even be a time where you weren't ALLOWED to buy gas. Shit happens. Just because your non-economical was ok back when gas was cheaper, I still think you should realize that when you buy a non-economical vehicle, you are buying a "non-economical" vehicle.

IMHO, I don't think there should be much of a shock when you realize that your non-economical vehicle is "non-economical".


It's kinda like the guys who used to say "Why should I worry about the extinction of the buffalo? There are PLENTY of them!"
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post #137 of 2203
8/18/05 at 2:58pm
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potentially $3.00 gas

You lucky bastard!
I dream of 3 bucks a gallon!!
Most of the ones by my house hit that figure awhile ago
The Shell down the street is over $3.50 for premium
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post #138 of 2203
8/18/05 at 3:14pm
When I bought my 2001 4wd Toyota Tacoma I knew full well that it burned at least twice as much gas as Ford Escort that it was replacing. Although I don't like paying close to $3 a gallon for gas at this point it's a hell of a lot cheaper than getting another vehicle. If the $100 a month I spend on gas were to be cut in half it would take me 17 years to break even on a $10,000 vehicle.
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post #139 of 2203
8/19/05 at 3:56am
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Although I still feel free to mock people driving SUVs and trucks they don't need 90% of the time, or who don't realize how stunningly boring their constant talk of cars, driving and parking are to those of us without.

You could say that about anything. How often do you NEED 50,000 watts of power on your home theater and brag to someone who cares less about it? For me it comes down to I like big vehicles. I don't complain about the gas because I know that's one of the expenses for my love. Just like upgrading speakers every year for some or paying 100 bucks for a round of golf.
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post #140 of 2203
8/19/05 at 6:20am
Not to make fun of you... But your friend is BSing here... Maybe 24mpg at max... ~20 in city if your lucky.
http://www.fast-autos.com/supra.html

Sports cars are what I do

The Toyota Supra, that is available here in the states is a very different car to the Toyota Celica Supra that is available in the UK. It's a British car, by which I mean a car available in Britain. The British version isn't a sports car it's a sports coupe, not as high performance but still pretty quick.

I can't find the celica supra on Toyota's UK web page. It may just be called the celica now, it looks pretty much the same. Anyway, they claim average milage of 33mpg. That's considered pretty low milage in Britain.
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post #141 of 2203
8/19/05 at 6:32am
Ok, I do see what you are saying...
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post #142 of 2203
8/19/05 at 6:52am
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According to that site, the AVERAGE price of gas from May 1992 to June 2004 is $1.22 a gallon, so people that bought SUVs and Trucks during the early 2000s arent as stupid as people would have you belive. The person that bought a Prius is no better than the person who bought the Dodge Ram, they're just luckier. I have NO problem with $1.50 gas but I did NOT sign up for $2.60 gas and potentially $3.00 gas.


I suppose it depends on whether people bought the MOST vehicle they could afford (get a loan for) or bought something more within their means. My car gets OK, but not great mileage (WRX) & I don't care if I have to pay $5 a gallon. Now I could have bought a twice as expensive car but would have been up to my eyeballs in debt (like many of the giant SUV drivers in my area) and then it would be a different story.

I realise that I'm lucky enough to be able to afforded a nice car while still staying well below the maximum I could have spent on the vehicle and many others are not so lucky & I do have sympathy for those people. I don't, however, have any sympathy for the many people round here (a very yuppie suburban area) who went out and bought the biggest thing they could get a loan for just for the image/status of it & not because it was the only vehicle that fits their needs.
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post #143 of 2203
8/19/05 at 7:03am
I guess I should clarify that most of the people who piss me off (about bitching about gas prices) are the ones who could afford a more economical car, but didn't. I feel really bad for the teens who are making minimum wage and can only afford the gas-guzzlers as a way of getting around.

As far as those who bought SUV's when gas prices were 'ok', Charles made a great point:
Quote:
I don't, however, have any sympathy for the many people round here (a very yuppie suburban area) who went out and bought the biggest thing they could get a loan for just for the image/status of it & not because it was the only vehicle that fits their needs.
My brother is one of the BIGGEST complainers of $$. A few years back, he bought a giant Chevy Blazer and only a few months ago, he bought a truck. He bitches about $$ ALL THE TIME and it pisses me off. If you aren't going to TRY and save money, don't go bitching about it. That's why most SUV owners piss me off when they bitch.

In other words, if raising the price of gas put my brother in a position where he's finding it hard to pay for gas, then why did he stretch himself so thin with the SUV pruchase? Wouldn't he have faired better with a more economical car? But I guess the vanity was more important to him, and now that gas prices are up, I say to him "Quit your bitching and deal with it! It's your decisions that put you in this position."
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post #144 of 2203
8/19/05 at 7:37am
The most recent posts seem to understand my point, and I appreciate it. I dont actually complain that much about it to be honest. I am more complaining about the SUV bashers that dont seem to understand the concept of capitolism and freedom of choice and seem to think people should buy vehicles based on the greater good. Yes, if you have a hummer, do NOT bitch about gas prices, but I drive a dodge ram, a normal pickup truck, not expensive and not an uncommon vehicle choice in the midwest. Its not a hummer or an escalade, or navigator or yukon denali and it sure as shit isnt a status symbol. Its a fucking basic pickup truck without expensive accessories, and I DO use the bed to haul stuff on a pretty regular basis (landscape materials, wood for DIY projects etc). Its at least on a monthly basis. I just get tired of people making wild assumptions about why people buy a vehicle and then on TOP of which make fun of them for the misfortune of high gas prices. Its an arrogant, assuming, petty and jackass move.
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post #145 of 2203
8/19/05 at 8:11am
Crap! Gas just went up three more cents! From $2.46 to $2.49! Aaaaagghhh!!

- Colton
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post #146 of 2203
8/19/05 at 9:37am
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I am more complaining about the SUV bashers that dont seem to understand the concept of capitolism and freedom of choice and seem to think people should buy vehicles based on the greater good...I just get tired of people making wild assumptions about why people buy a vehicle and then on TOP of which make fun of them for the misfortune of high gas prices. Its an arrogant, assuming, petty and jackass move.
Oh, I understand capitalism and freedom of choice plenty, but I figure that cuts both ways: People made a conscious decision to prioritize the occasional ability to haul cargo, the desire to sit higher above the road, or just how snazzy their new beast looks over fuel-efficiency, and you know what? Probably not the greatest of choices even before gas prices shot up, and now it's just being put into sharp relief. And, yes, that amuses me, because lord knows I've taken enough crap in my life about not wanting anything to do with cars.

Besides, I'm a pedestrian. From my perspective, pretty much everyone in a car is a speeding jackass who doesn't look where he's going and can't seem to grasp the concept of keeping their front bumper behind the crosswalk. They and their mechanical monstrosities have it coming.
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post #147 of 2203
8/19/05 at 6:09pm
Gas actually dropped 5 to 10 cents here this week, back into the $2.40-ish range
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post #148 of 2203
8/20/05 at 8:39am
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Besides, I'm a pedestrian. From my perspective, pretty much everyone in a car is a speeding jackass who doesn't look where he's going and can't seem to grasp the concept of keeping their front bumper behind the crosswalk. They and their mechanical monstrosities have it coming.


I know EXACTLY what you mean. I have never owned a car and never had a licence.

I'm a cyclist...in Boston.

Charles J P,
You are right of course, you have a perfect right to be selfish if you want to be, but I, like many other people, consider selfishness to be a character flaw.

Making a purchase and not considering the greater good is being selfish. That's the definition of it.

Cpaitalism is a system of property ownership, not a moral imperative.
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post #149 of 2203
8/20/05 at 9:48am
> I'm a cyclist...in Boston.

I hope you don't ride on the road, since clogging up the streets with a bike is pretty selfish.


> Making a purchase and not considering the greater good is being selfish.

What is this, third grade?
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post #150 of 2203
8/20/05 at 11:10am
>I hope you don't ride on the road, since clogging up the streets with a bike is pretty selfish.

Are you serious?

I'm in two minds as to whether you're trying to wind me up or you really are one of those people who think bikes aren't or shouldn't be allowed on the road.

FYI, they are not only allowed on the road but not allowed on the sidewalk. We're vehicular traffic, and comuters just like everybody else.

Also, in stop-go traffic, most of use can more than keep up. Below 10mph, I have faster acceleration and and braking than any car. I spend most of the time waiting for drivers to get out on my way, not the other way arround.

The biggest contributing social ill for grid-lock is people driving to work in single occupancy cars, or even worse SUVs.


>What is this, third grade?

Apparently
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