Originally Posted By DAR I'm driving the other day past the station I frequent and I noticed that it went from $3.65 to $3.75. I didn't have any reaction like this is ridiculous. I sort of shrugged my shoulders as if this isn't a big deal. I know it's not the right reaction but really what else is there.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Agreed DAR. We are now paying $11 a gallon. I have just simply come to accept it. Supply and demand. Still annoyed at how much money the oil companies are making though!!!
Originally Posted By DAR <<Still annoyed at how much money the oil companies are making though!!!>> Hey I get annoyed that there's people I work with who do nothing that get paid more then me. Yes I realize the irony of me posting when I should be working but we have a few systems not working right now.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<what else is there?>> Conservation? I am already planning on trading in my V6 25-30 mpg sedan for a VW Diesel (50 mpg) within the next year. I am currently spending about $200 a month on gas. Every time I see someone driving a big V8 powered pickup truck as a commuter car I cringe at the thought of how much it must cost to feed that beast. Even at todays prices the difference bewteen a VW Diesel and mongo Ford F-150 (based on my commute) would be $300 a month. Fast forward to $7 a gallon and we are talking a $600 per month gap! That would just about pay the monthly payments, insurance and fuel cost for the VW! Anyway, while we middle to upper middle class folk might shrug at increasing fuel costs, it must be terrifying for the lower middle class. If the household gas bill jumps another $200+ per month, where will they get the money to pay for it?
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 No, because my wife only fills up every 4 months. I am sure when I get home and we travel throughout Europe I'll be annoyed, but one time we had to fill up a 12 gallon tank in France and paid 99 dollars, so that makes me put the American prices into perspective a bit...
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Oh btw that was 99 euros not dollars so about 130 bucks for a fill up in France...
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Indeed William. The increases in the US have been in line with the increases in Europe. The difference is that we have paid much more, so I do not cry the blues so much for our fellow Americans. Yes, there are more roads to cover, but not really, we import most of our food over here too. We use ships and rails to transport most of it though. Once you start paying $140 to fill your tank every few days, and pay $12 a day to park somewhere, and have congestion charging in cities that is $20 a day. Well, that's expensive. I will admit though, Europe is a place where people walk, or use public transport. And it is safe to do so. The same we know cannot be said about many places in the US.
Originally Posted By mele Gas prices don't make me smile but I don't get too upset because there isn't anything I can do about lowering the cost. I'm trying to drive less, that's about all I can do. I'm more upset about the fact that they are turning a local bridge into a toll bridge. The charge may be $9-12 EACH WAY to use it. I live right by this bridge and have to take 4 days a week to get to work. To avoid it would add *hours* to my commute so going around the lake is not really an option. Add that to the $50-70 I spend on gas each week and it's easy to get a little annoyed. Just seems like more and more money is draning out of my bank account.
Originally Posted By jasmine7 <<Just seems like more and more money is draning out of my bank account<< I hear ya! I'm not quite so annoyed at the gas prices (though I am so tired of them jumping up and down worse than a bullfrog on a hot day), but when you combine that with the increasing prices of food & other essentials, it's really frustrating. My salary doesn't keep pace with the increasing cost of living and I'm having to cut more and more corners to get by.
Originally Posted By friendofdd I just ride one of my motorscooters whenever I can. $10 to fill the large one and $6 to fill the small one. My motorhome? $150-200. Doesn't happen as much as it used to.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Do high gas prices bother me? Yes. Do they bother me to the point that I think the Presidential candidates should be throwing out stupid proposals and the media should be fixated ONLY on those prices and proposals? No. Do I think the next President should be selected based on his/her response to questions about high gas prices? No. Americans are willing to pay $2.50-$3.00 for a bottle of water when they can get it free from a faucet. We deserve high gas prices if, for no other reason, we are a just a bunch of knuckleheads.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Do high gas prices bother me? Yes, they do. Primarily because I've read that there really is no shortage of oil. What we are seeing is largely the result of speculation and the declining U.S. dollar. But as for what my family spends, it doesn't change things much. My wife and I work at the same place so we just take one car to work. Our home is also only two miles from where we work so we put less than 5,000 miles per year on our cars. So for us price increases in other areas have had more impact on our budget than gasoline. You still kind of choke though when you go to the gas station and a fill costs $60 - $70.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<Do high gas prices bother me? Yes. Do they bother me to the point that I think the Presidential candidates should be throwing out stupid proposals and the media should be fixated ONLY on those prices and proposals? No.>> It would have been nice had the gov't slowly raised CAFE numbers over the years. Some might say that Americans wanted gas guzzlers and that the gov't should just mind its own business. The truth is that sometimes the American consumer needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future. I have little doubt that there are plenty of people today who, after pumping $100+ into their commuter pickup truck, are asking themselves "what was I thinking?".
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Oy! I am really stressed about the cost of gas because we bought a new (used) truck last year when my hubby was working 10 miles from home and his construction company was paying $300.00/month vehicle usage to him. The truck does get 20 mpg on the highway, which isn't terrible, but not great either. Now with his new job, 50 miles from home and a bridge to cross to boot, I wish we hadn't bought that truck! He does construction type work on the side (we have our own business)so he needs a truck, but we are seriously thinking of buying a commuter for him. But then we'll have 2 car payments! I would use the truck for around town cause I don't drive far.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Okay, I realized that sounded ridiculous. The reason we would buy another car and have that payment rather then just pay the extra for gas is that my car is over 10 years old, has a lot of miles on it and is very tempermental. I want to trade it in or sell it before I have a problem that needs a repair that costs more than the car is worth!!
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^The money you'll save on gas will cover most of the monthly payment on a basic subcompact car.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney See that's the problem. I want my husband to be safe in his 50 mile commute. While a lot of small cars these days have great safety ratings, those ratings are based on a set of circumstances that does not reflect real life driving (IMO). Crashing into a wall at 40 mph and having something crash into the vehicle at a set speed. My concern is when you come head to head with a Suburban on the freeway, is the small car really just as safe? I would find it hard to believe that it is, and I've read info online to back up my belief. So, we are thinking maybe a little bigger car, but a hybrid. Like a Saturn Vue. I have a Saturn now and it's been a great car and I've never had any major problems with it. But like I said, it's old and tempermental.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Well, let's see. my wife and 2 kids were in a head on into the safety barrier at 70 miles an hour in a skoda Octavia (think VW Rabbit station wagon). They walked away without even a bruise (well the mental ones were big, but the physical ones were non existant). But with the 30,000 miles a year I have been doing over the last 10 years, the monster vehicles I have seen do likewise have been fatal. There is really no need for huge hummers and such unless you have a ranch in the mountains. I can understand car sizes equal to family needs, but you then factor in cost per person as opposed to per vehicle.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney So you think a small car is just as safe? I just want dh to be safe and protected. We definately need a bigger car for our family trips and such (hence the four door truck), but for his commute, well we just would like something fuel efficient and SAFE. I know BMW and Volvo make very safe cars, but we can't afford those payments, not even with the gas savings!
