Anyone else feeling the pinch from the price of gas?

reply to post by Mamatus


I think that may be down to the US being such a big oil producer?
UK in comparison doesn't even register so we have to buy it in, then are faced with a government hell bent on just ratcheting up fuel duty and VAT so even though the fuel cost is around 60-70 p per litre we end up paying double that.

Originally posted by juleol
reply to post by wantsome

 

It is still nothing compared to here in Europe though. The liter price here has been over $2.8 lately.
And now on top of this they are going to add co2 taxes to make it even more expensive.

edit on 25-5-2012 by juleol because: (no reason given)

When you have vehicles capable of 75mpg it makes your higher prices pretty much on par with North America, considering the vehicles we have to choose from are half as efficient as yours.

Consider the BlueMotion engines used by VW. ONLY available in Europe. Ford has similar technology. ONLY available in Europe.



I don't know about anyone else, but doing 30mpg when I could be doing TWICE that if the technology was simply made commercially available where I am, makes me just a tad bit upset... especially when everytime you turn on the radio or TV you hear some government schmuch talking about how much they value the environment and how hard they are trying to come up with "solutions" to be "more green"

BS !

Originally posted by facchino
I think looking at the 10 most popular cars on sale in the US currently may shed some light on this.

10. Toyota Corolla
MSRP: $15,450 - $18,960

Fuel Economy: 35 mpg Hwy/26 mpg City

9. Honda Civic
MSRP: $15,605 - $25,490

Fuel Economy: 34 mpg Hwy/26 mpg City

8. Honda Accord
MSRP: $21,180 - $29,730

Fuel Economy: 33 mpg Hwy/23 mpg City

7. Ford Fusion
MSRP: $19,720 - $28,645

Fuel Economy: 29 mpg Hwy/22 mpg City

6. Dodge Ram 1500
MSRP: $20,610 - $41,585

Fuel Economy: 20 mpg Hwy/14 mpg City

5. Honda CR-V
MSRP: $21,695 - $27,895

Fuel Economy: 28 mpg Hwy/21 mpg City

4. Nissan Altima
MSRP: $19,900 - $30,100

Fuel Economy: 32 mpg Hwy/23 mpg City

3. Toyota Camry
MSRP: $19,720 - $29,370

Fuel Economy: 33 mpg Hwy/22 mpg City

2. Chevy Silverado
MSRP: $20,850 - $41,775

Fuel Economy: 20 mpg Hwy/15 mpg City

1. Ford F-150
MSRP: $22,415 - $51,140

Fuel Economy: N/A

Now clearly - the highest MPG I saw above is a meagre 35mpg for extra urban (the city MPG obviously lower) so its no wonder you people suffer so much when what seems like a pretty low rise to most of the other countries.
I would be wondering why your country cannot start getting in vehicles that offer 50+mpg, and no they don't need to be pocket sized vehicles.

Economical 4x4s
These cars - just shy of 50mpg on the combined cycle.

Pickup Trucks
We have pickups over here that do 35mpg combined, against your frankly obscene 20 for the Chevy Silverado.

Maybe its time you Americans started demanding more economical vehicles, rather than having this absurb approach to just keep churning out VERY uneconomical vehicles as though oil is an infinite resource.
Over here in the UK, they are producing vehicles that are knocking on 80mpg. Same all round the world.
Over there, it seems no one is trying the same approach. Vehicles still being produced with 6litre V8s in them and screw the fuel cost.
As an outsider it almost smacks of total arrogance and disdain for the fuel supply. If all Americans replaced their 18mpg vehicles with 36 mpg models, would the fuel not go twice as far, would the bills be halved?


If you drive "thirsty" cars you can expect to get hammered at the pumps.
Buy an economical vehicle.


Personally - it grates me to hear people complaining about paying under half the cost of fuel we are faced with...fuel over here in the UK is so expensive and only going to get more so as they put yet more fuel duty on it.

Regards
F

This video explains some reasons our cars don't get more MPG



tl;dr

1) They don't want to lose tax money
2) Regulations won't allow it.

for the first time since it topped out in 2008 gas prices on the westcoast of British Columbia are over $1.50/L or $5.71/G so yeah I'd say we're feeling the pinch out here pretty bad. On the news last night they are saying its only going to get worse as well $1.60, $1.70, $1.80 who knows but its almost time to buy a Vespa!!!! LoL

SaneThinking

reply to post by satron


Wow - thats an eye opener.
So your own govt are basically keeping you poor - by refusing to sell these economical vehicles whilst increasing your fuel prices, its just yet one more thing where the govt of western countries do whatever they like, with no thought or consideration for environmental, economic or social reasons.

By the way, if America actually allowed competition with the big oil companies, gas prices would more than likely be much lower. It's the oil companies' monopoly that allows them to keep on raising the price of gas.

For example, allow mass production of the electric car with an infrastructure and alternate fuels like biodiesel fuel.

There is a company that actually makes biodiesel out of used cooking oil. It is called Blue Sky Bio Fuels

And with competition like this, we can eventually get off of middle east oil and eventually get out of the middle east.

And stop the wars for oil.

If I were President I'd make it a mandate to get more competitive with alternative fuels.

Wow, I just came up with a wacky idea. Imagine a diesel fuel made from the oil from a hemp plant.

It's not so far fetched when you consider that Brazil makes much of its fuel for cars from sugar cane.

reply to post by Mamatus


Good point...we have such low MPGs and a higher population overall, that the prices are going to be a little lower...

I also agree with Neo96's comment on the artificial inflation (that backfired) on the back-peddling O's Dept. of Energy head who was trying to replicate the European economic system on fuel.

However, I must say that many Americans almost require their big F150 trucks for work purposes...And as it stands, now PurpleDogUK and others, we are closely teetering to the same prices you pay at the pumps--when you look at if on an annual, commute time, big engine viewpoint.

not directly as my wife and I have 4 mile commutes, but indirectly in the price of groceries it is making me sick

can't imagine what a 40 mile commute would be doing to me

I am.

$4.39 for my gas. It can be a little discouraging to say the least.

Between $3.35 and $3.90ish, depending on the month. No, we're not feeling a pinch from it, since we're a couple without kids. BUT: we were in college when it was expensive at 99 cents a gallon.