Gas Prices Driving My Prius Queries Up Again

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"73753)</div>

Tony:

Red alert!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"73753)</div>

Better take the wife with you ...

 

I have gotten more inquires. My nurse is trading in a 3 year old minivan for a Prius today! Gas is between 2.10 and 2.17 here but goes up every other day. I would guess 2.50 before summer even arrives.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"73753)</div>

:lolup:

Oh, you evil, evil man.

 

News on TV showed how gas was over $3/gal. I think this was near the Bay Area, California.

 

I was expressing my disappointment that the Honda Accord Hybrid only got 2mpg higher than the non-hybrid version when my husband said, "Well, if all the cars in the world got 1/2mpg better then we wouldn't need to drill for oil in the Alaska preserves." I disagreed heartily - even 2mpg is not good enough when one considers the growth in automobile sales worldwide. I don't think it even breaks even. It feels like we Prius and other real hybrid owners are trying to save the world by ourselves sometimes.....

BTW, bought gas yesterday at 2.249.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman\";p=\"73867)</div>

I'm hoping for $6. Sometimes you have to slap people in the face before they pay attention.

I mean, c'mon, a good 9 out of 10 Suburbans I see on my morning commute are occupied by a sole driver. If the owner can "afford" to get deeply in debt buying something giant like that, they had better not p*** and moan about high gas prices.

I say let's jack the fuel prices evenly, the "excess" being used to fund mass transit, retrofitting homes for energy efficiency, etc. But I guess I'm preaching to the converted here ...
[/b][/quote]

If gas went up to $6, I wouldn't be able to afford to go to work, not even in the Prius. That would really crush the economy

 

It'd only crush the economy like a really bad hangover. You're binging at the moment, and you'll have to stop some time. But once you get over the hangover you'll survive.

Our average unleaded price is nearly exactly $6 per US gallon here, and it's not doing us any harm.

One of the main benefits is that we're cushioned against upcoming crude oil price rises by the high taxes. A large rise in crude prices will only affect our fuel prices by a small percentage. The high fuel taxes have raised money for public services while steering the economy's development away from wasteful use of fuel, avoiding a sudden shock when oil prices go up.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO\";p=\"73935)</div>

Exactly. If the price of gasoline here in North America had been kept more in line with the EU, one h*** of a lot more public services could have been funded.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman\";p=\"73939)</div>

Exactly. If the price of gasoline here in North America had been kept more in line with the EU, one h*** of a lot more public services could have been funded.
[/b][/quote]

You just made the finest argument against raising fossil fuel taxes. We already have far more government than I want, and vastly more than what we actually need. And the German unemployment rate is in double digits. There is very little about the EU that I would want to import into America, and that includes the Jew hatred, church burning, dictator appeasing, over-regulated ham strung economy and low growth rate.

The urge to appease there is the worst part, when the film director was murdered by Muslims, the response was to banish his works. Dhimmitude is the rule there.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"74030)</div>

Tony:

Of course you had the wife along too. Right?

Right??

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Robert Taylor\";p=\"73948)</div>

Robert:

Sorry I should have gone into my usual excruciating and boring "detail posting mode."

I meant that the fuel taxes could be used to relieve traffic congestion by building better roads, and by replacing existing roads in poor shape due to expansion joints, rough surfaces, and potholes, all of which tear up cars in the process and greatly add to operating and maintenance expenses.

The fuel taxes could also be used to produce more mass transit options, like the Trax light rail system in SLC.

They could also do research on road surface composition vs fuel consumption. Around here a lot of secondary roads and even parts of the Trans Canada are comprised of a macadam-like surface.

That's a very cheap way to make roads, but the rough texture of the road really kills your fuel economy.

For example: with the cruise at 100 km/h (62 MPH), on a fresh section of smooth pavement my MFD will claim around 4.6 L/100km (61 MPG). Once I hit that rough macadam texture surface, my MFD will claim 5.8 L/100km or more (49 MPG).

A gradually higher overall fuel price will also tend to "correct" a lot of purchasing mistakes, as Price always does. For example, folks will tend to move closer to work, thus commute less and more likely to ride mass transit.

If you live in a "bedroom community" suburb at least 30-60 miles from work, then you have to commute, more than likely as a single occupant. That just doesn't make any sense.

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I was in a bit of a rush when I sent the reply.

 

Going back a few posts, I too live in NC (live in Durham, work in Chapel Hill - Go Heels!). However instead of watching basketball I just spent the last week and a half on vacation in Germany. I didn't look to see how expensive the gas was, but I suspect that it was far more expensive than here. While there I only saw one Prius (in Mönchengladbach-Wickrath of all places; none in Heidelberg or Wiesbaden), however the country is full of all kinds of funky, tiny cars that look like they would get great mileage, such as the Smart ForTwo, Ford Ka, Renault Twingo, Nissan Micra or Mercedes A class. It seems like every other car there was a Diesel. I only saw a very few pickup trucks and SUVs and only one Suburban (in Heidelberg), which in comparison to the rest of those tiny cars looked downright surreal. Heck, even a Honda Civic sedan looked like a large car!

Now, I did see some things I liked in the EU that I wouldn't mind importing: Far better food and plentiful excellent beer! Public transportation that actually works; you practically don't even need a car at all (I could get anywhere in Germany by train without waiting more than an hour for a train, with greater punctuality than I experienced with the airlines, usually in greater comfort than with the airlines, and for far less cost than flying. The "ICE" (InterCity Express) between Cologne and Wiesbaden was a pure joy at up to 270 km/h). Far less obese and out of shape people that in the US. Far better bike lanes and sidewalks than I have seen most anywhere in the SouthEast, and designed in such a way that cyclists and motorists generally don't get in each others way like they do here. More extensive recycling and reusing and a lifestyle that generates less waste than in the US, regarded by the mainstream as a matter of course and not just something practiced by liberal tree-hugging hippies.

- Bill

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ltu1542hvy\";p=\"74055)</div>

Bill:

With the Price of gasoline so high for so long over there, bad habits were "corrected." So naturally there are incentives to drive small fuel-efficient cars. Registration is also based on emissions or weight or engine size, usually anything over 1.8 litre has heavy surcharges.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ltu1542hvy\";p=\"74055)</div>

Excellent public transportation is *really* expensive. Higher fuel taxes here could be used to fund good mass transit and also better roads. Much better than subsidizing low fuel prices that encourages everybody to purchase a giant SUV.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ltu1542hvy\";p=\"74055)</div>

It sure does help when folks get off their fat a** and move around a bit. There is a lot of nonsense out their about fats in food, fat this and fat that trans fatty this and blah blah that.

Again our Car Culture and cheap fuel has encouraged a lot of us to just sit in our car and drive around. This has indoctrinated very bad habits. Combine that with refined sugar so plentiful in our diets, and we turn into walking blimps.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ltu1542hvy\";p=\"74055)</div>

What I wouldn't give for a good bike lane system in Durham! I lived in La Crosse, WI for 3 years when I was in college and spent almost no money on gas because I would only have to drive to the grocery store. Everywhere else I was going, I biked. I was also in much better shape then... :roll:

After moving to Durham last fall I stopped biking, the result of nearly being hit by pickup trucks going 60 mph down the road and not giving me any space. It's always the damn pickup trucks.

There is a small group of (largely ignored) people in Durham working to improve awareness of biking. I only live 2.5 miles from Duke and yet I have to drive every day. That's just stupid. A good bike lane would fix that and reduce a lot of traffic. Then maybe they could get around to fixing all those damn potholes on Erwin Road.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"74058)</div>

Tony:

:lol:

I can see why you picked Zapp Branigan as your avatar.

"Sweet sweet candy ... BAM!"

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee\";p=\"74061)</div>

I hear you! I wouldn't even attempt to bike in Durham - or Chapel Hill/Carrboro - either. In fact, there is a grocery store and a movie theater less than a 10 minute walk from here, but I always drive there, since getting there involves crossing University Drive, and if I did that on foot on a regular basis it wouldn't be a question of if, but rather of when I would get killed doing that. And I could walk to the Target where South Square Mall used to be in less than 10 minutes too, but to do thta I would have to cross MLK, which is even worse than trying to cross University Rd. on foot.

Just having returned yesterday from that trip to Germany left me rather disgusted with the culture here in the US that encourages so much needless and mindless waste and which makes it very hard NOT TO become a fat a**!.

</Grump mode>