$4 Gas: At What Point Do You Change Your Habits?

One of my college roommates is learning how to turn his soybeans into diesel. If he doesn't blow himself up, I'll give him a more in depth listen.

The fuel I can understand, they want their cut. They're pretty hardcore about it here too.

Interesting tack the government is continuing to take on unpasturised milk though, hell most people heat it anyway to free the butterfat to make butter, or at least we always did.
There's some truth to the feed tainting the product's flavor though, I remember Pop talking about it when I was a kid. They had a special grass seed they used in their pastures, I can't remember what it was. Great grandparents had a dairy in NC and he spoke of it often.

I was pleasantly surprised that the wife's Volvo got 33 mpg driving around Montreal and back down through the Adirondacks today.

Mary's Mini gets about 35. She only fills up every other week. She was getting the SUV owners in her office real upset telling them that last week.

I've thought about that...cost is an issue of course, plus the fact I've never driven one. At all.

You're lucky, but that's still almost $8.00 USD a gallon, which is about twice what Americans are paying. Here in France, it is about 1.5 euros/liter, which works out to well over $9.00 a gallon!

And people haven't changed their driving habits much. The public transportation system was more widespread thirty to fifty years ago when gas was dirt cheap. Today, less and less towns are accessible by rail, ticket costs have gone up so much, service is so much less dependable because of strikes and other problems, and more people drive than ever. And they are driving bigger and bigger cars. I'm seeing a lot more SUVs here now than I did even ten years ago.

What I find is that people change their habits when prices go up, then adjust and everything comes back to normal. I remember in the 70s when prices went up so high they were getting near to a whole dollar a gallon! People were so worried about that and said that everything would change. 35 years later, things haven't changed much. Alternate energies have not been developped the way people said they would, cars are back to nearly the size they were before, and people are driving just about as much, and flying even more.

My guess is that within two or three years, people will be so used to paying four or five dollars a gallon for gas in the States that it won't bother them much any more, and habits will come back to what they always were. As long as there is plenty of petrolium, prices are not the most important. They just mean you budget a bit more for this and a bit less for that.

What we need is for the world to really run short of petrolium (which, contrary to the doomsayers' continual prophecies, is not happening--each year there are more proven reserves than there were the year before), so we do some serious work on alternate energies.

$71.01 to fill up the Jeepie.

Uncle Albert must be putting holes in the wall!

Look for a mid 90 middle weight bike 200-600 cc and you can usually find one cheap. Don't get a heavy bike like a harley or one of their imitations, they cost too much and don't do that well on gas and are real heavy and that makes them hard to swing in an emergency. I wish I lived closer and I would let you practice with my little bike.

Less than 20 to fill up my midget last time and its lots funner than a Jeep

That's certainly a possibility... one which I hope doesn't happen. People for the most part don't like change. They don't want alternative energy and they like their internal combustion engines... You have over 100 years of societal pressure to keep the status quo.

My concern is that this will cause inflation. I know that wall street geniuses have seen it fit to discount fluctuations in food and fuel prices, but in the real world, we still have to pay for it. I am afraid that unless we see a rebound by the dollar within the next 6-8 months to 2000 levels, $3-$4 gasoline is here to stay. We've already demonstrated that the demand is there at $4, so what incentive is there for OPEC to increase supply?

I'd love to get a bike, but even in the summer time, I'm afraid that the mountainous region I live in would be too risky for me to travel such a long distance.

I've made a few changes already, when gas hit 3/gallon me and my gf started taking her Prious everywhere instead of my SUV. My Explorer is starting to get old, I'm looking at getting something new(er). Maybe a Camry or some other Toyota.

The biggest change however is that I now work for big oil. If you can't beat'em, join'em. With discounted stock purchasing as a perk of the job the price of a barrel of oil going up = in my pocket.

Prices help with alternate energies, people really only have a choice when it comes to their cars. Yeah it will take a true shortage to change that. However when it comes to the majority of our energy usage, the energy coms make the decisions, and you can bet they're gonna switch to alternative the second it becomes .000001 cent cheaper than fossil fuels.

Anne has a company car and they pay for gas. She took a pay cut for this job b/c of the car (a year and change ago, before they got redunculus), which now days is a fucking godsend.

I drive my Honda to and from work, nowhere else. It gets mid 20s, but thats still $50 every 4 (work) days.


As to future changes, when we move to NC proximity to post is a huge factor. Also I plan on using the move to sell her Kia up here and then buy me a bike down there.

Now I've just gotta convince her a CBR is the best thing out there for commuting...

OK, just filled up bitches. Been for a ride on the blue ridge parkway, and if you don't know what that is, then I feel sorry for you. I went 187 miles on 2.3 gallons. Just a bit over 80 by my caculations. What a waste of fuel. Oh, and the views were beautiful. Did not bring my camera, maybe next time.

You fucking lie and you bloody well know it. It is a killer bike but a serious nono for gas mileage and a ticket getter. 250 ninja will get it there and plus with mileage. I have done some research and I will tell you the best bike for mileage.

250cc?????

Yeah, a Vespa would get better mileage, but 60+ ain't bad!

The 250 ninja puts out 50hp and weighs only 300 lbs. It is not a toy.

The Kawasaki 125 eliminator is 2699 brand new and has enough power to run the highways and still deliver great gas milage. That CBR is going to run you much more than that and it has way too much horsepower for street driving. It won't get 60+ the way most people drive them. It will be down in the 30s. 60+ is running a steady 60 mph on the highway which nobody does with that kind of power.

Well, it costs me about $45-$50 to fill up the 'stang, but the good news is I only have to do it about 1.5 times per month. I only drive 'to' and 'from' work twice per month, realistically speaking, and when I'm gone the car sits in the garage unless the wife feels like taking it out for a spin.

You let her drive your car????

You allows soft drinks in the car!?!

Geeez, man! You don't really want that car, do you?!

How much of that is tax ours is 60 pence out of the 120 pence per litre, It's going to go up another 2p soon too.

Motor fuel taxes vary by state. See : http://www.api.org/policy/tax/stateexcise/index.cfm

Also, there is a US government tax of 18.4 c/gal gasoline, 24.4 c/gal diesel.

My round trip to work is about 32 miles each day. I seem to be going through about $35-40 per week for gas. The town I live in is small enough that there's nothing in the way of public transportation. Not much to do to lower fuel costs except make fewer trips, and look into getting a more fuel efficient car when I can.

Today is a milestone for me... Today, my 14 gallon tank cost me over $60 dollars to fill.

For the 93 octane, it was $4.28/gal.

I inherited my mom's 1993 Plymouth Acclaim & fixed it up. I haven't had a car payment in 10 years. Any repairs (& the new paint job) are still cheaper than a regular payment & I average 28 mpg so I'm not in panic mode yet.
I still plan trips to store, etc. in advance. I live outside the city (Salisbury, NC) and work (Kannapolis, NC) too far for a scooter.