Anyone changing driving habits with high gas prices?

[George Chong]

I purchased a hybrid! Since I need car to schlep prospective home buyers around town, I purchased a Toyota Camry Hybrid (TCH). My niece has a Prius but I needed a larger back seat area.

I loved my Lexus but at 20-22 mpg in the city, it was not cutting it. My TCH is comfortable and has plenty of bells and whistles and I get 37 mpg (mixed driving - mostly city). I get over 500 miles to the tank!

The best thing is when I am operating off the electric engine, I am producing no CO2. No you don't have to plug in the car. When you break or coast - you regenerate the electric battery. The car has plenty of zip as it's like driving a base Camry coupled with an electric engine.

There are some minor tweaks that I would make to the car to make it near perfect for myself, but otherwise, I think that it is a great car and I don't regret one minute purchasing it.

I have read on other sites that the TCH actually gets better gas mileage after it is "broken in" at around 10-15K miles.

I do plan my trips better, combining them and think to myself if I really need go to a restaurant that is farther away than close by.

[charolastra00]

The biggest problem for me was that I had planned on getting a car and getting an internship at home this summer. With the cost of gas and the fact that there are VERY few paying internships for undergrads (and even fewer in my field!), it just isn't feasible. I took the money I saved for a car and put it towards a 6 week program in Iceland studying how they are kicking our butts on oil independence. Hydrogen fuel cells, baby.

I'm going to have to get a car in another year and a half for my senior year of college where I'll have to get an internship and live off campus and that terrifies me. While it's near Boston where everything is much closer together so the commute would never be more than 30 minutes (I won't be going into Boston), I can't imagine how students like me are going to be able to afford maintaining a car while trying to pay for our education and further our professional experience. Internships during the year at my school are falling because of the cost of commute... even the commuter rail (if people find internships downtown) is over $100 a month plus $60 a month for a subway pass which is a lot period.. especially when trying to pay for school and possibly not being paid for the internship.

[Love Cobb]

The gas prices have changed my life completely. About a year ago I worked in Cartersville which was over an hour commute. Once I got tired of filling my tank up twice a week. I went to doing home health in Cobb which was still putting wear and tear on my car and pocket book. Now I park 10 minutes from my home and have a bus driver transport me to the school I work after picking up my patient. My tank and pockets stay a lot fuller!!!