I guess we are a lot alike after all! I am 90% British, but alas don't live in Great Britain. My friends all do the same thing. Price dips down to $3.80? Everyone scrambles to get the "cheaper" price. I even hear people whine if it drops down to $3.70. They're like "I CAN'T BELIEVE I PAID 10 extra cents/gallon!!!" And I'm just sitting there like "wow." Hahahah
Once again I don't know if it's a fundamental difference of perception or opinion between Europe and America but I'm on my second Prius and apart from being jokingly accused of driving a milk float by a friend I haven't encountered any negativity at all.
A good deal of the ambivalence in the US has been due to the wild swings in petrol prices. Over the past 5 years the national average price has varied from $1.61 to $4.12/US gallon and those two extremes were only 6 months apart (July '08 for the high and January '09 for the low. A little predictability would go a long way to help people make long term purchasing decisions.
This is true. I remember when I visited Long Island (a few hours south of me here in New York), the price of petrol was $4.99/gallon. In some areas it still is above $4, and some below $3 (some parts of the deep south near refineries). So all in all, it is very different across the US, as we are a very large nation.
Another thing to think of is the idea of the chicken and the egg and which came first because many countries debate whether to enhance their electrical grid and create charging stations (to encourage hybrid and electric car markets), or to push legislation to make cars more efficient so there are more hybrid/electric cars (then resulting in the need for the optimised grid).
I get called that all the time. It's like, come on lads take the piss, but when you're all moaning about the cost of petrol, I don't care. It doesn't bother me, it could go to £2.00 a litre before I'll break out in a sweat. Oh, and I can still beat most of them off the line
lol I wish. I do 50 miles a day and average 60 mpg per tank. Assume others get 30-40 mpg and whinge. Fuel could continue on the up and not adversely affect me. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't like it, but could cope. The other savings are the free road tax. A normal car would be £200 per year or £17 a month. Ok, £17 is neither here nor there, but it's quarter tank of juice and if one is whinging about fuel costs, then £17 extra juice for free is worthwhile. I don't understand why people whinge about fuel costs when there are many cars out there that can cut their costs in half. Even the road tax saving is not to be sniffed at if your finances are that pushed. Each to their own I guess.
Agreed and to add to that if you need to drive into London on a regular basis the £10 per annum for the Prius vs £10 per day for most others represents a major saving.
Drive into central London? lol you'd have to pay me more than £10 to do that again. Feckin madness. I thought I was a nutter driver until I went there
How congested is London these days? Don't they have incentives for riding bicycles or driving smaller cars like the Smart Car? I know any major cities have incentives in doing so.
yes but you'd need to be SERIOUSLY committed to use them. I don't live near London but I drove into the center a couple times last year. Imagine a narrow European two lane, one way road. Now imagine 3 lanes of traffic squeezed into it, bumper to bumper and not moving. Then imagine you're in the left lane and your satnav pipes up "In 100 yards, turn right" Now attempt to cross to the right lane. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Indicator/turn signal on, wind window down, stick arm out and don't what ever you do make eye contact. Get's the ol' ticker beating that's for sure.
And I thought we had it bad here! (New York). Well, that is definitely extremely congested. I always thought Europe was so seamless with transportation because you have much more public and mass transit then we do. We don't have as many metros and you also have the double decker buses. Don't those buses take a lot of people? I always picture Great Britain as super glorious, then again I am a loyalist who loves Britain. haha
The historic cities you admire were designed before everyone had cars. We drive small(er) cars for many reasons; one is that fuel is expensive but the second is that the cities are smaller and parking is a nightmare. I often find the Prius too big for street parking in the city where I work. London has great public transport but other cities are not so lucky and people still like to drive a car.
Yes there are but don't be thinking this will prevent a van from trying to kill you on the main roads. There are other cycle routes that take you through the parks and so on and are much safer and pleasant. On the whole cycling in London is encouraged and there are even short term bicycle rental schemes in place where you pick up a bike in one location and drop it off at another etc
