How Bad Are Gas Prices Hurting You?

[Scuba_Dave]

Baaaad

[55semireef]

Originally posted by bluecarpet
Iam proud to say i drive a 5.7 liter dodge ram and gas does not hurt me at all. You are probably thinking well you dont pay for it, well in fact i do and it still doesnt hurt me, and yes i do drive all over the place in this car. It does not hurt me because of the fact that i know people else where that are paying easily over 8 bucks a gallon for gas and it makes me feel good when i am paying at tops 3 bucks a gallon. So think yourself lucky thats all we are really paying for gas, well at least i feel lucky and thats why i continue to drive a big car that does about 10-12 mpg depending on how i drive.

8 bucks a gallon? Who has to pay for that?

[t-bone2]

i know people from ireland i think they said it was over 7/gal

[GreenPuffers]

I know the pain, My friend and I travel 73 miles one way to work and are spending about 150 a week in gas!!! And we are commison paid workers and we are hardly making it up!!!!

[Ebmorri]

Yet Exxon won't fix this. http://www.greenpointvexxon.com/

[roader247]

I'm still making money driving not as much though 48.5 cent a mile I get about 26 MPG out of my GMC so it's not hurting me too bad yet.

Mark

[The Grim Reefer]

The lower the power the more little things like hills and headwind affect the gas mileage. When you are talking about something like a Prius that is designed to get the huge mileage under the right conditions it takes very little to drop the mileage. Hard to blame lack of highway mileage on driving style when the car has cruise control.

[Weatherman]

There seems to be some misconceptions about how hybrid cars work.

Cars, like a Prius, Hybrid Camry, Hybrid Highlander, Lexus GS 450h, are not more efficient under a certain set of unique conditions. They are more efficient under a wide variety of conditions. It would have been impossible for my car to average around 50 mpg over thousands of miles if that weren't the case.

When conditions are rough for a hybrid, like when it's cold, there are strong headwinds, and the driver jack-rabbits off of starts and slams on the brakes on stops, it's just as bad for any other car. You may just not notice. A 20% drop in mileage will reduce a Prius from 50 down to 40 mpg. A 20% drop in mileage for a full-size SUV will only drop the mileage from 15 mpg down to 12 mpg. It may seem like a much smaller drop for the SUV, but, in both cases, it's a 20% drop.

[hubris007]

The way i hear it, a major economy factor for the hybrids is braking. They engage generators to slow the car dow, recharging the batteries. If you don't brake much (like in highway driving), the battery drain and it needs to recharge them by running the combustion engine. Thus, these cars are more efficient in city driving than on open road., especially if you're one of those jerks that coasts the last 3 blocks before a stop light.

[GSMguy]

in england its 9 bucks a gallon.

[Weatherman]

For the Prius, the gasoline-powered engine will kick on whenever the speed is greater than 42 mph. This has to do with the way the gasoline and electric engines are linked together in the transmission. Prius (and other Toyota and Lexus hybrid) engines don’t shift gears. A computer continuously balances the power between the gasoline and electric engines. At speeds greater than 42 mph, sometimes the electric engine will add more power to drive the car, sometimes the electric engine will act as a generator to recharge the battery.

The locations where a hybrid has a huge advantage over a non-hybrid is stop-and-go city driving, because a stop lights, the hybrid will turn the gasoline engine off. So, while other cars are chugging away burning fuel, while standing still, a hybrid will just be quietly sitting there using just enough battery power to keep any electronic devices in the car running.

The regenerative breaking is a small benefit. It adds a little recharge boost to the battery whenever you slow down to a stop. But the real benefit of regenerative breaking is that the break pads on the car are rarely used, and will last just about forever.

[Angel*Fish]

This popped up on yahoo - apparently gas is only 25 cents a gallon in some places http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/070504/050...pf=family-home

[Aliie]

I spend roughly 50 a week in my SUV and hubby spends about 125 a week in the F550. So needless to say it bites but we gotta drive.

[Weatherman]

I've spent $275 to drive 5,600 miles over the past 6 1/2 months.

[jeeperrs]

More than the how gas prices affect my car driving habits I have greater fears. We can compare ourselves to other countries but in fact we are a much larger country. Since we are physically larger we have much greater needs for fuel. I am more worried about what it is going to cost to buy a tomato or apple when gas hits $5.00 a gallon. Fuel cost is part of every companies budget and as they have to adjust their bottom line the consumers will have to pay more for the same product. So for those who think that a 10% increase in gas is nothing and doesn't affect them, they fail to realize everything they purchase (food, electronics that are imported, entertainment, natural gas, electricity) is all affected by the simple logistical need of gas. So keep thinking your happy with huge gas prices and saying you will be happy when it is $5 a gallon because you will feel it soon enough. Lets "pretend" you make 60,000 a year and spend only 45,000 of that in a year. If products inflate by "just 10%" you will be feeling a 4,500 dollar increase in spending just to make up for that little change. Can you imagine what inflation will be when gas hits $5.00 a gallon? I bet you won't get a pay raise that will offset that rise in spending

[crrichey]

I don't have any money for food!!!

[D-Rod]

[violation]

[hubris007]

Originally posted by crrichey
I don't have any money for food!!!

You're a student/lfs employee. Go figger.

[The Grim Reefer]

Don't want to get specific and start a political argument which will get the thread closed but we need to open up oil exploration. We are eventually going to need the oil. So why not try something new and unusual. Open up some of the areas the oil companies are so hot to drill but increase the royalties a bit and dedicate 100% of the revenues from that activity to alternative energy R&D.

States should offer a break on car registrations and sales tax on Hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles.

[Someone]

Well I'm going to graduate high school next year and go to college, and with colleges priced the way they are and now gas prices rising it's gonna be rough! And like several people have mentioned its not just driving that is affected, but just about everything else will get a price increase as well! Even services such as seeing a doctor, you will still have to pay for gas to get there in the first place so its still more expensive! I hope an alternative fuel can be developed soon at a relatively affordable price.

Just a side note though, on myspace there is a bulletin going around about not buying gas on may 15th, which to me seems like a great idea, but sooner or later we'll all have to go back in to buy gas anyways. I just hope by then prices will have come down some.

[dc]

*insert bobblehead*

I don't gas up my own car, I have no idea how much it costs. Oh yeah, Dan washes it while he's filling it up.

[dkh0331]

And if Dan is gone when your car needs gas, you do what?

[dc]

Originally posted by dkh0331
And if Dan is gone when your car needs gas, you do what?

I wait!

I don't really go anywhere, hibernate in the winter and play in the yard in the summer.

[dkh0331]

And I thought my wife was spoiled.

[dkh0331]

and