Originally Posted By DyGDisney So I heard this morning on the radio that experts are expecting gas prices to go to $150 up to $200 per barrel, right now it's $120/barrel. Hmmmmm, maybe a Camry Hybrid???
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf <<You can invest in Exxon and share the wealth. You can't invest in the sheiks.>> Not really. If you are paying $1 more per gallon of gas it costs you and extra $15/week or $750/year. In order to earn that much in cash dividends from Exxon Mobile (XON) you would need to own about 500 shares. That would cost you about $45,000. I think most people that are concerned about paying $750/year more in gas don't have $45,000 lying around to invest annually just to offset ever-increasing oil prices.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf <<So I heard this morning on the radio that experts are expecting gas prices to go to $150 up to $200 per barrel, right now it's $120/barrel.>> I wouldn't count on it. People are most bullish at the peak of a rally and I really believe that a lot of the run-up in oil prices as been driven by investing (rather than consumption) activity. But it all depends on when the commodity bubble is gonna burst. For everyones sake, let's hope sooner rather than later (although the run-up in commodity prices is bolstering the credit markets right now).
Originally Posted By DisneyFreak96 <<I think most people that are concerned about paying $750/year more in gas don't have $45,000 lying around to invest annually just to offset ever-increasing oil prices.>> My boss is a millionaire several times over. He just turned in his car for one that gets much better mileage as he commutes (poor guy /sarcasm). He may not be "concerned" but he sure isn't happy about the price of gas. He pays 400 bucks a week in gas so I'm guessing he is spending a lot more than $750 a year extra compared to last year.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf Okay, so he spends $5,000/year extra on case. He needs to buy about 3,000 shares each year to offset the increased cost of gas which will only cost him about $270,000 per year. I doubt your boss is rich enough to make that reasonable to do. But if he doesn't, he's giving more to Exxon Mobil than he's getting back.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>Do high gas prices still bother you?<< COUGH-COUGH! I suppose if one is rich .. It can be $10 a gallon .. and it ain't gonna make a difference to them. Now ... for us "commoners" who are making somewhere between 10 to 40 thousand a year (before taxes!) ... It just keeps killing us .... worse .. and worse .. with not a care in the world to those who can BARELY afford it. >> Gas was $1.25/gal when W. took office. Glad we got an oilman in the White House.<< Anyone think Bush and his oil cronies are not somehow connected to the hike in gas in the last 8 year?! He may not exactly be the ENTIRE picture ... But it does not take much to figure out .. he's a big part of it. I have nothing but DISGUST for the president with the worst approval rating in the history of the United States!
Originally Posted By oc_dean What makes things worse ... too much of our country's cities are designed around the automobile. Despite _some_ progress in rail systems .. it's going to be decades to convert cities in a way that make rapid transit systems practical. I love how it's 2008 ... into the 21st Century ..... and Orange County .. where I grew up .... can't get a single light rail system going ... to save it's-(34 city)-self!
Originally Posted By wonderingalice For the fun of it, I just went to our local Regional Transportation web site... I'd ride the bus to work... If it made any flippin' sense at all to do so. Here's what I'd have to do - to arrive at work 1/2 hour late. *LOL* First, I'd walk two miles from home to the bus stop. I'd have to be there by 5:14 a.m., so figure - depending on my shoes and traffic (since for part of my walk there aren't any sidewalks) - I'd leave the house by about 4:15/4:30 a.m. and have to really book-it fast to get there. My first drop off is at 5:29 a.m. and I'd have just a five-minute window to back-track on foot across a busy intersection to the next bus stop. Heaven forbid there are any delays whatsoever - I'd miss my transfer. The next one's a little easier... I'm dropped off at 5:44 and walk to the bus stop and make my final transfer at 6:05. At this point, I'm five minutes late for work. The bus takes me to a nearby mall for my final drop. Then I walk about 1/2 mile to my office, where I arrive at 6:30 a.m. - 1/2 an hour past my scheduled start time. Currently, I leave the house at about 5:30 a.m. or so for a 20-minute drive in. If I wanted to take the bus and actually get here on time, I'd be leaving the house at 3:30 - 3:45 a.m. Great. *LOL*
Originally Posted By friendofdd ^^^^^^ Are you saying our planet isn't worth a little inconvenience??? =o]
Originally Posted By DyGDisney We are seriously considering buying a Toyota Camry Hybrid. It gets twice the gas mileage of my dh's truck, so if you take into account the gas $$ we will save, it will cost us about $160/month to buy it. If gas really skyrockets, we'll be ahead with it, and the cost of Hybrids will probably go up. Soooooo, we found one, but it's an hour away so we have to find time to go look at it! That's the very difficult part!
Originally Posted By DyGDisney We are seriously considering buying a Toyota Camry Hybrid. It gets twice the gas mileage of my dh's truck, so if you take into account the gas $$ we will save, it will cost us about $160/month to buy it. If gas really skyrockets, we'll be ahead with it, and the cost of Hybrids will probably go up. Soooooo, we found one, but it's an hour away so we have to find time to go look at it! That's the very difficult part!
Originally Posted By fkurucz The Camry hybrid sounds good. Roomy enough to be a family car and probably big enough so that you will feel safe in it.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Yes, it has better safety ratings, and gets better gas mileage than the Vue. And I would take it on family trips because it is a bigger car with good safety rating. In fact, it should only cost us $100.00 in gas to go to DL, versus the $200 in our truck!!
Originally Posted By avromark However take into account the cost of replacing the batteries etc, of course disposing of those batteries is also good for the environment. Of course you at least don't leave in the salt belt so you don't have to worry about the effects of a RoadTrip winter. Now if manufacturers/government didn't subsidize the cost of a hybrid's development and construction costs. Just think about how cheap that hybrid is. Repairing a hybrid out of warranty will be fun I bet Now if they'd just push clean diesels and lower the cost of diesel again. It's not like the refinement process of petrol.
Originally Posted By avromark Even with high gas prices when I purchased my Crossover I considered the hybrid version (I think it uses the same engine as the Camry) I decided to go the conventional route.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney If you buy a new Chrysler vehicle, you can get gas for $2.99 for 3 years. Here's a link <a href="http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/565/chrysler-offers-gas-card-as-incentive/;_ylc=X3oDMTE0czZzZjBqBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNnYXMtY2FyZA-" target="_blank">http://autos.yahoo.com/article...tY2FyZA-</a>-
Originally Posted By DyGDisney The Camry comes with a 60,000 mile warranty included in the cost. How much are the batteries and how often do you have to change them? I never thought about that.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Here's a fun blast from the gas price past: <a href="http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/BG1386.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.heritage.org/Resear...1386.cfm</a> Notice how the increase in gas prices was hitting American families hard!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Well, I remember hearing the early hybrid batteries were about $8000 and needed replacing every few years (think how many cell phones you have probably gone through because of battery issues).
