how high is too high for gas?

[surfn]

Well I am one of those people who drive an SUV in the city (it has front wheel drive because I couldn't afford 4 wheel drive at the time, but only for the snow, not offroading). But I have too, my job requires it. I can't see putting 4 or 5 dogs in the back of a Yaris, can you. If I wasn't in this profession, I wouldn't have an SUV, gas guzzling hog. I would own a hybrid if I could afford it.

I don't know what I'm going to do when the gas hits 3.50 a gal. I may have to quit my well paying job. I would be paying out most of my profit.

I am seriously discouraged about this gas prices. I wish I had that kind of money to throw around with the gas prices. I wouldnt have to work if I did.

Sandy

what about a van though? i would think a van (you can take the seats out) would offer even more room than an SUV, with much better gas milleage.

 

[naturebat]

Here's a case for 4 to 5 dollars a gallon.
"A militant group active in oil-rich southern Nigeria says it has bombed three major oil pipelines"
BBC article

 

[Smarsh]

The vans don't get any better gas mileage than the SUV (for instance the Chevy Uplander gets 1 more mile to the gallon than does my SUV). I have thought about getting a minivan but man those little buggers can get expensive as well.

I am hoping that I won't have to be walking dogs forever. There are other things in the works and when that happens, I will have a van but it will only be driven very minimally and I would like to get a nice little gas efficient car to putz around in otherwise. These gas prices are killing me being self employed.

I am almost to the point that I may have to up my prices a tad bit in order to offset the extra gas cost incurred. I didn't do it last year but I may have to this year.

Sandy

 

[surfn]

really? i would think a dodge caravan would get ALOT better gas milleage and alot cheaper than an SUV of comparable size.

they have smaller engines, and should way alot less since the frame of an SUV is the same as a truck.

dodge caravans start around $17k.

 

[Smarsh]

the Caravan gets about 2 to 3 miles per gallon more than my SUV and starts at 19,770 (16,770 with the 3000 off). That is barebones. I have to have front wheel drive or 4 wheel drive because I have to walk regardless of the weather.

I have looked into this alot. I always am looking for the best way to go. I want more money in my pocket so I can get some of those Australian Acans/Micros :)

Sandy

 

[surfn]

sounds like you have a smaller SUV......not like one of those big saburbans, 4runners, landcruisers, hummers...etc.

 

[anomie]

We ( the people :) ) should really do something about the lobbyists in Washington. I feel that it is the root of our problems (oil lobbyeists and the good ole boy system) especially concerning the gas increases that we have seen.

Ethenol isn't the answer either. I don't know how many of ya'll have seen the recent articles about bio-fuels driving up the price of groceries if we go that route. Eh, I could go on and on, but I'll hush now. ;)

 

[gflat65]

I, too, side with the dems, but they are all corrupt and out for themselves. Kinda like ancient Rome. All rich noblesman with more money than they can handle only getting richer. No coincidence that the word democracy comes from Latin demos (think I'm right there...).

 

[Cirrhilabrus]

A one day boycott on gas is analogous to going on a diet for one day IMO. We need to ween ourselves off of fossil fuels.

I've read that if every car in the country got 45mpg we wouldn't have to import any oil. The electric car made a brief appearance in this country, but was abandoned due to collusion between the auto industry and oil companies. Why? Because it offered an alternative to oil. These cars (including trucks and SUVs) got 300 miles to the charge and could be plugged into a household outlet for a recharge.

The most effective thing we can do as citizens is to call our representatives and demand they have these corporate executives appear before congress and testify under oath. They will respond if enough pressure is applied. After all, we are the ones who elect them.

 

[Azurel]

I, too, side with the dems, but they are all corrupt and out for themselves. Kinda like ancient Rome. All rich noblesman with more money than they can handle only getting richer. No coincidence that the word democracy comes from Latin demos (think I'm right there...).

The problem with the Democratic party is there are not Democrats any more but Secular progressives or in another terminology Socialist. The day of the Democrats has long been dead and the party hi-jacked by these ultra-left wingnutz like G. Sorus(sp?), move-on.org and the like.

 

[dwdenny]

Something has to be done. Ethanol may or may not be the way to go, not sure yet to be honest. There are a lot of crops out there that can be used for ethanol production that not many people eat. At least not in the US. For instance the by products from the production of sugar can be used to make ethanol. In fact the sugar plant here produces there own ethanol to run the plant generators and sales what they don't use back to the local electric company. Sugar beats are also a good alternative for sugar and in fact more suger comes from beats then sugar cane. Then the other is bio-diesel, I know of a few around here that are going around and getting the used cooking oils from local restaurants and making diesel for about $0.55 a gallon and there is no effect on their trucks at this time and they have been running it for about 1.5 years. Electric cars are not the way to go either as the cost of electrictiy goes up so will the cost to recharge your car. I don't know what most are paying but here in Texas AEP charges anywhere from 15-17.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Luckily I am on a Electric CO-OP and we pay 10 cents including taxes. So there has to be a better alternative. The best bumper stick I ever read said this: "Fight smog buy a horse" We are going to have to do something but what I don't know everything has a bad side if we could burn water then there would be enough water to drink. lol

I was talking with a professor here at TAMU(Texas A&M University) and he said that in about 20 years we will be drinking our own filtered waste water(some are currently already doing this) the bad part will be that there won't be enough for everyone. Of course this is paraphrased. Jsut my thoughts on the subject.

 

[impur]

Well we just hit 3.60 a gallon here on the I5 corridor. We have the 3rd highest gas prices in the nation, and my town is the highest in the state by more than 10 cents.

Something has to be done. Its getting stupid. Oil companies are making billion dollar profits, breaking records every quarter and yet we still pay more at the pump. I cannot wait for a new prez!!

 

[dwdenny]

Well we just hit 3.60 a gallon here on the I5 corridor. We have the 3rd highest gas prices in the nation, and my town is the highest in the state by more than 10 cents.

Something has to be done. Its getting stupid. Oil companies are making billion dollar profits, breaking records every quarter and yet we still pay more at the pump. I cannot wait for a new prez!!

wow that sucks. We have it pretty good sitting right along the coast. But it is getting bad. We are at 3.10 a gallon but the bad part is we justed 0.35 in two weeks for no reason. Price of oils goes down and gas price goes up. All I can say is don't count on the government to help at all, we have to be the ones to do something about it. The more people buy gas guzzling vehicles the higher it is going to go. I don't pay for my gas as it is a company truck but I still have cut down on my driving as my gas budget would be dry in 6 months if I didn't.