Am I The ONLY one excited over higher gas prices? (muscle car, rental)

[tijlover]

If anything would plunge me into a depression more quickly, is to see the gas prices fall off 50 cents or a dollar, or allowing the oil drillers to drill off our coastlines. The ONLY way we're going to see our dreams materialize, overseeing the bulldozing of gas stations, is to get those prices up higher and higher and higher. Greed, as history proves, is a great catalyst for technological innovations and I get more and more excited about what lies on the horizon. That electric Tesla car, which I've read of, would it have even made it off the drawing board without the incentive of higher and higher gas prices? I don't mind making sacrifices for a good cause, and painful as it is, I can see the sun shining brightly at the end of the tunnel. At this stage of history, it's an embarassment to mankind's intelligence and creativity, that we're still running around with these primitive vehicles, run on gasoline. As everyone looks so glum at the gas stations today, I'm inwardly cheering and celebrating this great event in our history.

[HighPlainsDrifter73]

Originally Posted by tijlover

If anything would plunge me into a depression more quickly, is to see the gas prices fall off 50 cents or a dollar, or allowing the oil drillers to drill off our coastlines. The ONLY way we're going to see our dreams materialize, overseeing the bulldozing of gas stations, is to get those prices up higher and higher and higher. Greed, as history proves, is a great catalyst for technological innovations and I get more and more excited about what lies on the horizon. That electric Tesla car, which I've read of, would it have even made it off the drawing board without the incentive of higher and higher gas prices? I don't mind making sacrifices for a good cause, and painful as it is, I can see the sun shining brightly at the end of the tunnel. At this stage of history, it's an embarassment to mankind's intelligence and creativity, that we're still running around with these primitive vehicles, run on gasoline. As everyone looks so glum at the gas stations today, I'm inwardly cheering and celebrating this great event in our history.

You aren't the only one celebrating. The oil companies are too. Unfortunately, I don't have stock in oil companies so I'm on the receiving end of getting the shaft. Glad it's working out good for you, since most everyone else including myself are getting screwed.

[gardener34]

Although I don't like how high the gas prices are going so QUICKLY. And how quickly they fluctuate... I mean you can't even budget for it! Diesel went up 40 cents per gal. in ONE week here in IL...

I can see that in about 3-5 years or so. All the driving around and all the commuting in SUVs and cars that get poor fuel economy will be over. People will be trading them in for honda fits and toyota yaris and chevy aveos... consumption will go down. They may have the SUVs etc, but only use them on weekend trips or towing purposes.

I am wondering how lowered consumer consumption then will affect the gas pricing?

[GregW]

Lower US consumption will not drop gas prices because our dollar will continue to loose value and other consumers in China and India will take up the slack in demand. We had better adapt our lives and habits to the new realities. All of us without a really generous income will have our “disposable income and quality of life” decreased.

My adaptation will be to buy (I have already made the deal) a used Corolla and park my old Buick wagon unless I need to haul something somewhere. The rapid drain on our disposable income has already caused us to cancel a much-desired vacation due to the increase in airfare, car rental, hotel, and meal costs.

I am most definitely NOT rejoicing in this situation because my wages have not increased to compensate for my loss of buying ability.

[sirron]

It seems that the price of new hybrids and electric cars may be a bit prohibitive for many. Hopefully that will change as they get to be more commonplace.

Also, coal is used to generate electricity. The mining of coal is done with huge machines and trucks that can only (so far), run on gasoline or diesel. Will the cost of running this equipment to get the coal to generate the electricity eventually increase the price of electricity needed to run the hybrids to the point where running an electric car is no longer worth it? Or, am I way off track? (Pun intended !)

[nitokenshi]

They could rise the gas all they want. America will never change.

1. America will never have mass transit all around the country not just in little pockets. Like a bullet train from Florida to New York
2. Scooters and motorcycles will still be seen as toys in this country
3. SUVs, big cars, and trucks will always dominate the road
4. We will never see economy flights that take you around the country for less then $20 (tons of budget airlines in england that will fly you around europe for 10-20 pounds)
5. We will never see a state to state ferry system

And the list goes on. They could bring all the damn electric cars,solar cars, hydrogen cars they want not a lot of people in America will never touch them. At the end of the day as much as Americans like to **** and moan they do not give a crap.

The only thing higher gas prices will do is bring down America faster.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by nitokenshi

They could rise the gas all they want

1. Never have mass transit all around the country not just in little pockets. Like a bullet train from Florida to New York
2. Scooters and motorcycles will still be seen as toys
3. SUVs, big cars, and trucks will dominate the road
4. We will never see economy flights that take you around the country for less then $20 (tons of budget airlines in england that will fly you around europe for 10-20 pounds)
5. A state to state ferry system

And the list goes on. They could bring all the damn electric cars,solar cars, hydrogen cars they want not a lot of people in America will touch them. At the end of the day as much as Americans like to **** and moan they do not give a crap.

The only thing higher gas prices will do is bring down America faster.

US gas consumption has been decreasing in recent months and this HAS happened before (1970's). People are already adjusting to the situation.

[GregW]

nitokenshi - Your post, as written, does not make sense. What do you mean? Are Americans going to change or not?

[complacent vagabond]

No, no, no. Hybrids that are available in the U.S. market do not plug in to the electric grid, so, there is no coal burned or gas/diesel burned to charge them up ... other than the gas/diesel burned in the engine of the car itself. When you brake, you regenerate electricity that charges the batteries ... when you are at a steady cruising speed, a little bit of energy is going to charging the battery, if the battery gets low from extended use (climbing large hills, mountains), then it will kick into charging while you drive at a slight performance loss in acceleration and/or mpg, and, in my experience, it is still above other cars even in this regeneration state (for me, 30-40 mpg while recharging, usually the guage is 50-70 mpg depending on terrain when not).



I am not rejoicing that prices are going up, because it is costing me more ... even though I get over 50 mpg on my average tank of fuel, I still would rather pay $15 to fill it up instead of $50, same 700+ miles, but I do miss the low $1/gallon prices.


I am however pleased at the fact that people will eventually start using the vehicle that they need, and not being so wasteful just to do it. One kid, you don't need an SUV, delivering flowers, you don't need a Hummer. People buy things for their ego, which is immature and sad.

The biggest problem is, these people call themselves all-American patriots, when they are harming our own national security ... since dependence on foreign oil is not a good thing. Also, where is the ingenuity and huge leaps in technology like we had over 100 years ago. In a matter of a short time, we went from horse and buggy to motorized cars and flying through the air ... now we sit stagnate, and are too spoiled and selfish to work hard and sacrifice to improve our nation and have clean air ... no, I am not bringing in global warming, I am saying, I would rather breath air that doesn't have exhaust in it, and we should be smart enough to make transportation and energy sources that do that ... I believe humanity is smart enough if they stopped being apathetic.


In the next 5 years, you should see Hyundai hybrids, more Honda and Toyota hybrids ... and all of them are planning sub-15 grand price tags. I believe next year Honda is suppose to release 3 new hybrids alone.

Hybrids aren't the final answer, but, if everyone got 30-40 mpg, instead of 10-20, our national consumption would go way down.

Gas companies, I hate to defend them, but they are right, they don't make hardly anything on each gallon of gas, they do however sell billions of gallons of gas a year, making 1 or 2 cents a gallon ... plus, they make money on other by-products from the cracked barrel of oil ... including plastics. So before you hang all your hate on the greedy oil companies, also share some of that hate for the auto industry shoving wasteful vehicles down our throats (their highest profit margin comes from trucks and SUVs), while they also sell smaller, more fuel efficient cars overseas ... and even the foreign manufacturers import more wasteful versions of their vehicles ... such as the Honda Fit, which for the U.S. is sold with a bigger engine and geared taller, so it revs too high to be as efficient as it could ... but the blame doesn't lie just on them either ... it is the collective consumer and the media, both for buying the crap and the other for portraying us as not willing to accept a car that is to be driven in a conservative (safe, defensive) way. How about we take our passion for hot rods and muscle cars, some of the most powerful vehicles in history, and turn it to becoming one of the most efficient driving countries in the world ... and be proud of it. I have owned big blocks, rotaries, and turbocharged vehicles ... I enjoyed it in my youth, but times have changed, so we must adapt or suffer and fade away.

Get used to high prices, we still haven't reached what other countries pay for a gallon, they are still 2-3x more expensive. The value of the dollar, limited resources, and massive world consumption ... supply and demand ... this is it. $5/gallon by next year (or more). Drilling off the coasts won't help, since that is like patching a levy with a child's bandaid. We need to advance ourselves past 19th century technology.

I think airlines themselves are very wasteful, and all but transporting goods, they will become extinct one day unless they too can adapt to a clean burning and plentiful fuel source.

Hemp (not the drug) oil has more energy potential than corn and other bio-diesel and bio-gasoline sources, and it is not a food crop ... so better than ethanol. The bio-diesels/gasses burn cleaner, but they are still not the final answer either. But, we need all the help we can get to allow a genius to break us from our dinosaur addiction.

[nitokenshi]

Fixed post...

Originally Posted by nitokenshi

They could rise the gas all they want. America will never change.

1. America will never have mass transit all around the country not just in little pockets. Like a bullet train from Florida to New York
2. Scooters and motorcycles will still be seen as toys in this country
3. SUVs, big cars, and trucks will always dominate the road
4. We will never see economy flights that take you around the country for less then $20 (tons of budget airlines in england that will fly you around europe for 10-20 pounds)
5. We will never see a state to state ferry system

And the list goes on. They could bring all the damn electric cars,solar cars, hydrogen cars they want not a lot of people in America will never touch them. At the end of the day as much as Americans like to **** and moan they do not give a crap.

The only thing higher gas prices will do is bring down America faster.

If America wanted to change they would have a long time. They won't they will just adjust.