If gas is $ 5.00 dollars a gallon?

The majority of americans have HUGE engine'd cars, instead of driving your 3, 4 or 5 litre engines vehichle, buy a smaller engine'd car i,e, 2litre. That will save ou a lot of money!

I use my bicycle more for short trips. The exercise is good for me. Also, the higher gas prices go, the more I drop my speed on the highway to the most efficient speed for whichever car I am driving ( I have 3 and have worked the numbers out on each one). Example... at 75mph my VW Passat gets 24-25mpg whereas at 55-60 I get 32-34mpg. I also do my errands at non-peak traffic times. Sitting in traffic or at lights idling really burns up the gas. I also computed that the VW burns the same amount of fuel idling as it does at 60mph.

MidnightTide

Hit the nail on the head, gas prices had a big impact in the economy crashing last time.
Food and other products will rise in cost across the boards. People who work in low paying jobs will break even just buying gas. The trickle effect of high gas prices is what really stings.

US economy is not up to the task of $5 gallon gas certainly not at this time.

I've begun walking and biking to many areas that I need to go to. I unfortunately still need my car for some things so I will continue to drive for long distances and important events where I have to take quite a few things. I'm also doin what I can to get energy efficiency devices. What I'm surprised about is that no one has yet to burn down any BP or Exxon/Mobile gas stations - unless I've missed out on that headline.

Originally posted by smallblockchevy
I understand AHAMARLIN about people having to do without, my folks are from hungary and floated over on the boat to come to this great nation during the war so i know that part. But if its 8.50 in the uk its the gov fault, not like our gov is any better. Never understood the fact that your closer and pay more. I have no choice but to drive myself , I live the farthest out and cant carpool so im stuck. I say motorcycle for me and a small one at that.

Here in the UK 80% of pump price is tax thats why our fuel cost is so high. Tax is the reason it is expensive in other Euro countries too.

So for our $10 gallon the government gets $8, the other 2 goes to the retailer, manufacturer and distributer.

Fuel tax keeps this country running right now!

My Harley gets 40-50 miles to a gallon depending on highway or intown...........so it wouldnt effect me much

Anyone who buys a big car these days is rich......or challenged

Look at the whole pic...if ,say 50% of your income goes to various taxes,15% goes to food,25% to home and other daily living expenses,that doesnt leave a lot for everything else...if the cost of getting to work goes up,you have nothing and THAT is control of you and your daily life...do the math of you own household and see what an increase of 50 cents a gallon does to your entertainment budget...JMO

In Australia we are paying $1.50 per litre. So as 1 US Gallon = 4 litres australian or thereabouts, so we are paying about $6.00 per gallon and our dollar is on par with the US now. People just put up with it. I find I put less in the tank, so I may put in $30 which used to fill my small car but now only goes to about half a tank.

Originally posted by smallblockchevy
I would like to hear some input. If the price surges uncontrolably what are you going to do about it. Will you cut back driving leaving only essentials, will you look for thriftier transportation, small car , bicycle , car pool. Would you look at an electric vehicle or even attempt a conversion to an existing one. Lots of ways to look at it. Maybe even a small community ran methane plant, or electric generation. Just looking for opinions not to start an argument. thanks

If it goes there, I won't buy it

I will walk

F U Oil Monkeys

reply to post by smallblockchevy


I will retrofit my small pickup to use HAMSTER POWER. The trick is in the very low gear ratio, and having two hamsters. When one bails, the other takes over:



Also need hi-octane hamster fuel.

I hope it hits $6.00 and not $5.00. Now the reason isn't for oil company gain but to put an end to the Govt. subsidies which keep the prices down at the levels that they are now. This rise in price will help people make better decisions in life like not driving alone to work, they'll carpool or take mass transit. Maybe they will stop buying $45K new cars with 20 mpg and get something practical and smaller to use less resources.

I tele-commute, so I don't spend much on gas. But I do drive the kids around and use up gas at about one tank every two weeks or so. Fill up of 17 gallons of regular last night was $60 in my 27 mpg car. I won't buy a new car to get better gas mileage - it's dumb to buy something to replace an existing car as the money you spend on that car is a money-dump all by itself even if it is a lower-priced used model. The sooner we get to the right price for gallons of gas, the sooner we can get on to what is inevitable anyway. Get to it and plan now instead of waiting and reacting. The easier you face that we will see $5.00 and 6.00 gas within 2-3 years, the better you will feel when it happens. People complaining here about gas prices don't know what the prices are in Europe or Canada - both much higher than in the USA.

Things to do to save gas:
- slow down. Rather than going 70 in a 55, try 60.
- keep tires inflated at rated pressure or slightly above and add a bit more when doing long highway trips. People neglect their air pressure and it costs 1-3 mpg.
- make sure your air filter is clean in the car.
- car pool (come on, you can do it - make an effort and ask around)
- serialize your trips. Don't do shopping Monday, more shopping Tuesday, repeat on Thursday. Plan and do fewer trips.
- stop driving your kids to school (if you do) and put them on the bus!
- avoid rush hour and go into work early and leave early (if you do commute)
- ask to telecommute a few days a week.
- cut back on frivolous trips or "I just got to get out of the house and do something" trips.
- don't lease a car. Buy it and keep it and maintain it well. Leasing is for people who like payments and that cuts into your gas cash.

I would suggest that in addition to carpooling, buying electric cars and all of the other suggestions we should try to elect some people who will ALLOW us to drill for our OWN oil. The US has tens of BILLIONS of barrels of proven reserves that our government won't let anyone drill. I can understand not allowing drilling close to shores or sensitive areas, but there is a LOT of oil in remote areas. For example, ANWR is the size of VIRGINIA!! Surely there are at least one or two ugly places there that could be opened up for drilling. It's one thing to pay a lot for gas if we have to but it is another thing entirely if some of the high cost is due to ridiculous regulations.

To answer the question, my driving habits won't change. My job requires me to drive. That's why I bought a 26 MPG 4-wheel drive vehicle.

I think the biggest concern people will have is once they see $7 for a half-gallon of milk and $5 for a loaf of supermarket brand bread.

Mostly eliminate wasted or unnecessary trips in the car (ie, combine grocery shopping and errands, etc). The problem tho isnt just the higher gas for us it is the higher cost of fuel added to the cost of transportation for goods across the country (and/or ocean). Higher gas/fuel costs will make a lot of things more expensive and send us into a recession (which will eventually cause lower demand even disinflation but in the meantime we will see some cost-push inflation)

Well im a big rev head here in aus im paying $1.55 ltr for premium fuel and $1.40 for e10 fuel my fuel tank holds 60ltr's do the math not cheap to run and i do security patrol runs and its starting to cost a bit to do

i found this to be interesting, only if our government would be less greedy...notice how the video says that older cars used to run on hemp oil



hemp is a cousin of the marijuana plant.though, hemp cannot get you high because it has less THC (its what gets you high) and more CBD (cannabidiol) which is like anti-THC. So even though theres no danger of people abusing the plant, it is still illegal to grow hemp without a permit, which is hard to get.

reply to post by smallblockchevy


Build a cabriolet. No I wouldn't go through all the 'licenceing' hoops, going to do this freeman style, my pet, my choice who I let ride. If I don't like your looks the horse will suddenly be too tired and need a rest.

If the green nannies think cars pollute wait until owners of Dobbins get them out on the road.

Don’t worry life and commerce will go on. Australia already pays $1.34 / litre and there are 4.5L/ gallon (I think the American gallon is a bit more than the imperial but thats neither here or there for our current discussion).
Life went on for use and we are prospering, weather permitting.
What you really need to guard is your system of measurement, When we ran on the imperial system fuel went up by a cent a gallon now it goes up by a cent per litre.

True life will go on. I never even thought about water travel, suppose you are close to a bigger river or lake. Even an electric trolling motor and a few batteries, plus a solar cell could make for some cheap travel and terribly quiet.

I wanted my next car to be an electric car. Yet at $32k I can not afford that. Once I get my dad to co due to the fact I don't buy into the whole credit system,(credit cards mainly.) then I want to buy either a hybrid or elective car. I am only willing to finance $16K tops. Can I get an electric car for that? By the way how do you charge since my apartment is on a different level then the parking lot.