I know I don't really have to complain about gas prices to you. If you live in America, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you live in a foreign country, then you've been paying around twice what we pay for gas (or more) for ages, and you're wondering what we're complaining about and what country we're going to invade next.
Still, I had a jarring experience at the pump this weekend. You know when the "auto-shut-off" kicks in, but then you grab hold of the handle and squeeze that last little bit of fuel into the tank? (I know... the stickers say you're not supposed to do this.) Well, I remember when that last little bit of "top-up" (thanks, Eddie Izzard!) cost about 10-20 cents. My last fuel-up, it cost just under 50 cents.
Ugh.
5 comments:
I love high gas prices. I wish gas cost $10 a gallon. Every time I fill up, I think about how much it costs SUV Guy at the other pump and it makes me smile.
What consumers and voters fail to understand is that China is consuming an increasing amount of oil as they are rapidly industrializing. (I read they are building seventeen airports simultaneously.) The Saudis et. al. are likely produced at capacity just to satisfy China.
Tax break or no, Americans should be forced to consider more reasonable vehicles. They don't have to go after hybrids. There are plenty of good pure-combustion V4s on the market that can get twice the gas mileage of a heavy truck, SUV, or H2. The problem is they don't stimulate one's adrenal glands with outrageous horsepower.
Wired has a decent write-up of hybrids here. There is still much work to be done, but hopefully the increased cost of gasoline will stimulate the industry. Wired had the misfortune of commissioning the article a few months too soon.
I'm gonna have to disagree on the hybrid front here just a bit. I own one, as some of you know, and I see absolutely no downside to it over the last car I had.
Yes, it cost about $2500 more than my Saturn did, but that was four years later, for one thing. I also got better interest on the hybrid. Factor in the $2000 tax deduction you get in year one and the gas cost savings, and the cost difference really ceases to be an issue.
What about power, pickup, 'zip', whatever you want to call it? I see no difference there either. If anything, the hybrid has better pickup than the Saturn did, because at that point, both the engine and the motor are kicked in and I am getting glorious pickup power from two sources instead of one.
Some people argue that the mileage savings aren't that big. While I wish it got 60 or 70 mpg, I still get a very nice 48-52 mpg under most conditions.
Yes, I'm probably not going to tow heavy loads or anything like that, but most people don't need to do that with their primary vehicle. Most people should rent a vehicle to do that kind of work anyway, considering how much money guys throw away on gas using those huge trucks so they can pick up one load of mulch per year in their own car.
Also, I went six weeks between fill-ups last time. Six weeks. Granted, I don't have my big long commute anymore, but who goes six weeks on an eleven gallon tank anymore?
Re: kathy
I should have been less ambivalent in my opinions about hybrids. What's in the market now is a vast improvement.
What you've written has been repeated countless times by hybrid owners. I hope to own one myself in the near future. Heck, I'll be happy with another minivan so long as it's a hybrid.
Speaking of using vehicles you don't need, my father-in-law is a truck owner who uses his truck every day as a truck. He hates that casual truck owners in Texas and Florida -- the two largest casual truck markets -- have driven up the price of what he considered indispensible to his livelihood. As a carpenter, he needs his truck to haul wood and heavy wood tools between work sites and home. (His truck is essentially a moving tool box with a matching hinged cover for his bed.) As someone who lives in the country, he needs it to haul boats and flatbeds with yard supplies etc.
I can remember my ex and me passing up a gas station because it was over 39.9 cents a gallon which was highway robbery. Ah, the good old days...
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