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The other thing to realize is that the vast majority of us on the board can't do anything about crude prices. What you can do is repair/tune the car you have to get best MPG, use some common sense driving it so as to minimize fuel burnt, and/or get an additional or replacement car that gives better fuel economy.
That and to realize the only thing keeping oil prices down (relatively speaking) is the bad worldwide economy. Remember when gas hit $4 for the first time, back before the crash? Impossible to say with certainty what would have happened, but it appeared to me that $5 gas was coming soon if the economy had stayed hot.
The other thing to realize is that the vast majority of us on the board can't do anything about crude prices. What you can do is repair/tune the car you have to get best MPG, use some common sense driving it so as to minimize fuel burnt, and/or get an additional or replacement car that gives better fuel economy.
That and to realize the only thing keeping oil prices down (relatively speaking) is the bad worldwide economy. Remember when gas hit $4 for the first time, back before the crash? Impossible to say with certainty what would have happened, but it appeared to me that $5 gas was coming soon if the economy had stayed hot.
Now it is even worse. Every time the stock market goes up, oil goes right with it. Your right, gas would be over $5 if we never had the crash.
A barrel of oil today is down to $98.68 but expected to increase just in time for the 4 day (for some) holiday weekend. Im not the least surprised about that.
Steel7 is be more conservative on resources than anyone here. He has driven the same car since '96. How much pollution goes into the production of a car no matter what milage it gets? I love the arrogant responses telling him to buy a more efficient car when in reality he is more efficient than most of you guys leasing a new car every 2 years.
Steel7 is be more conservative on resources than anyone here. He has driven the same car since '96. How much pollution goes into the production of a car no matter what milage it gets? I love the arrogant responses telling him to buy a more efficient car when in reality he is more efficient than most of you guys leasing a new car every 2 years.
That is very true. Most people forget that a used, but not worn-out vehicle usually doesn't go to the scrap yard. Someone else buys it and it continues to use fuel and spew pollutants until it reaches the end of its economic life. So, for someone to think that they are automatically "helping" the environment by buying a new green or fuel-efficient vehicle isn't really true most of the time.
What does make a positive difference is to use a vehicle as efficiently as possible, maintain it properly, and when it finally does wear out, replace it with the most fuel-efficient model that will meet the owner's needs. I've been doing that for 30+ years now. I usually keep a vehicle at least 10-15 years or more and I get as much life out of them as a can before I sell them.
And the biggest positive change that a person can make is to make lifestyle choices that will reduce the number of miles that must be driven to maintain that lifestyle. This is the one that today's Americans have flunked most dramatically in the last 30 years--and we are paying dearly, both individually and collectively, for those very poor and nonsensical choices.
Steel7 is be more conservative on resources than anyone here. He has driven the same car since '96. How much pollution goes into the production of a car no matter what milage it gets? I love the arrogant responses telling him to buy a more efficient car when in reality he is more efficient than most of you guys leasing a new car every 2 years.
That would be all well and good if he weren't whining about gas prices every other day for 3 years.
That would be all well and good if he weren't whining about gas prices every other day for 3 years.
Im not the only one bitching about high gas & oil prices. Gas does NOT have to be as high as it is plus we always get ****ed in ca thanks to the foul legislature. My car gets 15/18 & according to my cousin whos been a top mechanic for over 30 yrs he says thats not too bad. The car does have 121k miles on & i do carry my work tools in my trunk. The carb needs a adjustment which will take my cousin 15 mins to do (he has to remove the rivots, etc) & i need fresh spark plugs. Overall the car runs nice when warmed up but it is 26 yrs old.
My 11 + year old Hyundai averages about 27MPG. it has 130,000+ miles on it. It is paid for and when we bought it new in 2000 it cost about $10,000. This car is cost effective to the max. Newer Hyundai Accents claim to get 40MPG. To buy one I would have to tie up $15,000 or so or make the payments on that amount which would be around $300 +. To maintain that car and insure it is inexspensive. I doubt we would get much for it if we were to sell it. As long as it keeps running we plan on keeping it. It is much cheaper to do that then to buy a car that gets better mileage. Currently we are putting about 500 miles a month on that car. Then again we live close to everything that is a part of our life.
I know that the price of gas is high. Still with this car I can fill up about twice a month and we are happy.
Our 2005 Chevy Astro van on the other hand is another story. I have debated selling it and buying something smaller. As our kids get bigger and more independent that may be something that we will do. My wife prefers a smaller car anyway. We have it because of having to take so many kids to so many places. The number of kids that need rides has decreased though as they have grown up. With one out of the house and 2 in high school it is much easier. The high school boys don't think that the van is cool anyway. LOL They prefer the Porsche. With them though they can also transport themselves to school by walking or biking.
I wonder if we will ever see gas under $2.00 a gal again. The oil companies are raking in billions & thats a proven fact. I just dont understand why the united states buys gas from the middle east when its perfectly clear they hate americans.
I wonder if we will ever see gas under $2.00 a gal again. The oil companies are raking in billions & thats a proven fact. I just dont understand why the united states buys gas from the middle east when its perfectly clear they hate americans.
It's not likely we'll see gas for under $2 again, certainly not on any long-term basis. The days of easy-to-get oil where you poke a stick in the ground and oil comes out are pretty much gone. The oil obtained today is harder to get to and/or harder to refine. The reason why there's this sudden huge oil boom in North Dakota isn't because we just discovered oil there. We've known it was there for decades. But the price of oil and the lack of easily available oil from other sources has finally made it profitable to extract it. If (perhaps when) we have another long-term oil crash, Williston is going to become a ghost town.
At any rate, the amount of oil we buy from the Middle East is small. But we buy the proportion we buy from them because we need to. And not all of them hate us.
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