Presbyterian Deacon
Puritan Board Graduate
keep going up......
and up.......
what's next?
and up.......
what's next?
Gas Prices!!! Wow!
- Thread starter Presbyterian Deacon
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We just got back to the States. Although the prices were pretty close to what we were paying on Base, they're pretty high as we're in California right now. Just to make you guys feel better, my Pastor in Okinawa (and all who lived on the economy) were paying about $6.50 per gallon.
What makes things a bit more expensive now is that we have our Suburban again that doesn't exactly get great gas mileage but it's paid for and more economical than buying a new car. We also love it.
I think gas prices are high but, frankly, it's hardly deserves some of the attention it gets. What it represents for most Americans is less disposable income. I haven't noticed any decrease at the Starbucks where people are paying about $24/gallon for coffee. I also never understood why people pay for bottled water that costs nearly as much depending on where you buy it. I just drink out of the tap.
What makes things a bit more expensive now is that we have our Suburban again that doesn't exactly get great gas mileage but it's paid for and more economical than buying a new car. We also love it.
I think gas prices are high but, frankly, it's hardly deserves some of the attention it gets. What it represents for most Americans is less disposable income. I haven't noticed any decrease at the Starbucks where people are paying about $24/gallon for coffee. I also never understood why people pay for bottled water that costs nearly as much depending on where you buy it. I just drink out of the tap.
Backwoods Presbyterian
Puritanboard Amanuensis
$3.84 in Pittsburgh, PA...
Ivan
Pastor
Same where my parents live in Southern Illinois.
Reformingstudent
Puritan Board Junior
It was $3.77 the other day at the gas station next to Wal-Mart. $0.14 cheaper than it was a week ago. Still too high but any drop in price helps.
Rich, you're looking at gas prices as a commuter. Some of us have different circumstances. I average about 750-1000 miles per week on my car for business. I absorb all expenses. Before this rapid rise in prices I was spending about $150 a week on gas. Now I spend about $249. That's $99 a week more. That's nearly $400 a month on a four week month! When you're a one income family $400 is not just disposable income. I'd love to charge some of this back to my customers but competition is fierce and I can't afford to lose revenue. I've chosen this line of work so I have to accept the good and the bad. But the increase in fuel prices has had a real impact in our life.
blhowes
Puritan Board Professor
Now that's an interesting way of putting things into perspective. I'd never thought of it that way before.
JonathanHunt
Puritan Board Senior
Here in the UK we are paying anywhere between £4.40 - £5.00 a gallon (US)
That's up to nearly $10 a gallon. You got it easy.
How long before someone pipes up 'oh but we have to drive further than you our country is so big'. Well folks, you've always boasted about how great 'big' is, but small can be beautiful too. Over here, a 2 litre engine is a luxury - that's only a matter of readjustment. In the old days (20 or so years ago) average middle class folks would easily have a 3.5 litre engine - but no more.
I have a 1.6 litre vauxhall zafira (GM) 7 seat small MPV. I can get about 350 miles for £60.00 - up to $120.00 travelling long distances, less about town. How does that compare with what you can get from your motors?
That's up to nearly $10 a gallon. You got it easy.
How long before someone pipes up 'oh but we have to drive further than you our country is so big'. Well folks, you've always boasted about how great 'big' is, but small can be beautiful too. Over here, a 2 litre engine is a luxury - that's only a matter of readjustment. In the old days (20 or so years ago) average middle class folks would easily have a 3.5 litre engine - but no more.
I have a 1.6 litre vauxhall zafira (GM) 7 seat small MPV. I can get about 350 miles for £60.00 - up to $120.00 travelling long distances, less about town. How does that compare with what you can get from your motors?
Amen! What Rich said! Some of us remember the 70's "gas lines" we got through it, God provides.
Ivan
Pastor
I have a Hyundai Elantra Hyundai Motor America - 2008 Hyundai Elantra Sedan .
I can get about 40 mpg combined driving and 44 mpg highway. Of course, one must be willing to drive the way I do...normally five to ten mph under the speed limit and sometimes slower than that. I also employ the use of hypermiling... Hypermiling :: No more need to compare gas prices .
I'd estimate that I can go around 600 miles on a tank.
With a fuel stingy car, living much closer to work and hypermiling, I have drasticly reduced my fuel consumption...and cost.
Presbyterian Deacon
Puritan Board Graduate
Wow! Interesting discussion---
I did the OP just because the picture made me laugh when I saw it.
I was just trying to share a laugh. Didn't expect all this!
I did the OP just because the picture made me laugh when I saw it.
I was just trying to share a laugh. Didn't expect all this!
Ivan
Pastor
I did the OP just because the picture made me laugh when I saw it.
Serious days...
Ivan
Pastor
Me too.
kvanlaan
Puritan Board Doctor
Have any of you guys (especially Bill) checked out Hypermiling :: No more need to compare gas prices?
Maybe you're already doing these sorts of things, but if not, it's worth checking out.
Maybe you're already doing these sorts of things, but if not, it's worth checking out.
Reformingstudent
Puritan Board Junior
Now it's at $3.67 here. Down ten cents from the other day.
Can you pass along your license plate just in case I get behind you while you are going 10 mph under the speed limit so that I may extend .... grace to you.
Doing those slow speeds shouldn't you be driving a Buik with a quilt in the back window?
Kevin, hypermiling won't work for me. I work on tight time schedules. Often times I am leaving one appointment with little time to get to the next. Plus, once get into my sales territory it is all stop and go driving.
Go big oil!
Ivan
Pastor
Can you pass along your license plate just in case I get behind you while you are going 10 mph under the speed limit so that I may extend .... grace to you.
Doing those slow speeds shouldn't you be driving a Buik with a quilt in the back window?
When I drive on the interstate there is another lane...they can use it! When driving two lane highways I drive the speed limit....and I don't break the law.
Seb
Puritan Board Junior
I'm also hypermiling. I'm seen the city mileage in my little old Ford Escort increase by almost 50%.
I drive easy, no abrupt starts / stops, I'm doing the speed limit (or a little less), and no A.C. It's actually kinda fun, I like the challenge.
And of course I'm always mindful of not interfering with the people around me, don't need any bullets flying at me.
Grymir
Puritan Board Graduate
Another alternative is to have a few vehicles.
1. For work, a 40 mpg Toyota tercel. I pay more of course, but its not detrimental to my budget.
2. For sport, a 20 mpg Mazda RX-7 (1st. gen). At high acceleration and quick response, who care what the gas milage is? (Of course it's waiting for me to rebuild the engine, so it gets great gas milage. One fill up has lasted 2 yrs. No hybrid or Prius can touch that!)
3. A big old Ford van. Used for camping and hauling stuff. Gas mileage is irrelevant.
4. Our newest addition, a Mobilux RV!! About 10 mpg. See, my wife and I live within our budget. The 'rich' have to sell their toys off because of the high prices. So us poor people get to pick up some good toys dirt cheap. And since we camp local, it doesn't cost us much either.
By having a good ecconomical car for work, we are not to bad effected by the gas prices. People would die if they knew we can run our A/C all we want, and only pay about $150 electric or less. Usually less. $120 last month. Ah, the value of not living in a house we can't afford. Or mobile home in our case. When the minimum wages started going up from $3.35, I noticed and paid attention to how far my money went, and because of forced minimum wage increases, that has affected my budget far worse than this gas price stuff. But I digress, as it's all a matter of perspective.
Presbyterian Deacon, That's a great picture by the way!! I bet that's good for business, I would fill up there!
1. For work, a 40 mpg Toyota tercel. I pay more of course, but its not detrimental to my budget.
2. For sport, a 20 mpg Mazda RX-7 (1st. gen). At high acceleration and quick response, who care what the gas milage is? (Of course it's waiting for me to rebuild the engine, so it gets great gas milage. One fill up has lasted 2 yrs. No hybrid or Prius can touch that!)
3. A big old Ford van. Used for camping and hauling stuff. Gas mileage is irrelevant.
4. Our newest addition, a Mobilux RV!! About 10 mpg. See, my wife and I live within our budget. The 'rich' have to sell their toys off because of the high prices. So us poor people get to pick up some good toys dirt cheap. And since we camp local, it doesn't cost us much either.
By having a good ecconomical car for work, we are not to bad effected by the gas prices. People would die if they knew we can run our A/C all we want, and only pay about $150 electric or less. Usually less. $120 last month. Ah, the value of not living in a house we can't afford. Or mobile home in our case. When the minimum wages started going up from $3.35, I noticed and paid attention to how far my money went, and because of forced minimum wage increases, that has affected my budget far worse than this gas price stuff. But I digress, as it's all a matter of perspective.
Presbyterian Deacon, That's a great picture by the way!! I bet that's good for business, I would fill up there!
It's funny how things come around. I was doing the same thing during the first big gas crisis in the 70s. I was 2500 miles from home on a road trip when gas went from $0.43 per gallon (Montana) to over a dollar a gallon on the east coast in something like two weeks. I had about $120 on me and no credit card.
But that 1973 Subaru got 44 mpg without trying, and I pushed her up to 60 mpg on the trip home by driving steadily around 50 mph. It also had a 17 gallon tank if you pushed it to fumes. 1000+ miles a tank (and 20 hours or so of driving per fill up). By the time I got to Nebraska I felt like I could live it up and start buying things like food.
Ever since, even in good times, I mostly practiced what they call hypermiling. I used to get 49 mpg in a Chevy Celebrity on the highway. But on the I5 corridor it's impossible. Speeds range from 5 mph to 70 mph in the space of a few miles. Really wrecks the whole scheme.
Reformingstudent
Puritan Board Junior
$3.57 Now at the Wal-mart station 5 miles from here. $3.72 down the street where I live.
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