Gas Prices

Good timing for me - got a company truck with paid gas this year.  Sure beats driving my 11-13 MPG Land Cruiser everywhere.  

$4.86 for premium, it really shouldn't take $94 to fill up a Jeep Gladiator. 

Steve_Jones said:

$4.86 for premium, it really shouldn't take $94 to fill up a Jeep Gladiator. 

Sure it should.  It should take a lot more.  Luxury items are expensive, and keeping it expensive keeps out the riff-raff.

volvoclearinghouse said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

I forget the actual production numbers, but when Ford came out with the Mustang in 1964 the 6 cylinder ones far outsold the V8 cars.  Probably for the same reason- you get all the looks without the care and feeding. 

It was a "secretaries' car".  For speed you bought a Fairlane or maybe a Galaxie.  Those weirdos who wanted to go fast while turning left and right bought Falcons.

Using Mustangs as performance cars came later.

I was taking the kids fishing to a trout stocking event yesterday and we usually take the van for kid stuff. But at 19mpg it would be ~$13 in gas. The Volt made it all the way there on electric and burned 0.59 gallons on the way back for $2.36 in gas. Much better. 
 

Made me feel better about a $32 bottle of gin I bought later that day. 

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

I was not aware a Gladiator was a luxury item, it's not that luxurious :)

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

volvoclearinghouse said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

I forget the actual production numbers, but when Ford came out with the Mustang in 1964 the 6 cylinder ones far outsold the V8 cars.  Probably for the same reason- you get all the looks without the care and feeding. 

It was a "secretaries' car".  For speed you bought a Fairlane or maybe a Galaxie.  Those weirdos who wanted to go fast while turning left and right bought Falcons.

Using Mustangs as performance cars came later.

But my 'secretaries car' with the four cylinder engine has 310 hp and still gets 30 mpg. My fathers 1965 Impala Super Sport with the 327 4 barrel high compression V8 had 300 hp. I think Ford did very well on this car.

That will do for me until the 1,000 hp Corvette EV comes out.

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

Hasn't changed my habits but it does make me feel better about driving a prius. Probably makes me more inclined to look for hybrid/electric next time around as well.

I road tripped my newly purchased 08 civic coupe this weekend. I had wanted an 8th or 9th generation SI, but the inflated prices and extreme difficulty in finding a stock one led me to buy a low mileage 1.8 five speed instead. 
 

I talked to someone with a 9th generation SI, he said it only gets 26 MPG, and needs premium.
 

On the four tanks on my trip I got 29 (mixed highway and town), then 33, 33 and 32.5 actual MPG, sustaining about 82 MPH, and it's fine on regular gas. I think I'm okay with that. 

Prices have been right around $4 for 87, $5 for 93, and $6 for diesel for a while now. Diesel keeps climbing and climbing, which makes me nervous about home heating oil for next winter. It's going to be roughly double the cost or more next season than it was this season if this upward trend continues. 

Driving habits have changed as well. We've been taking my Forte GT everywhere, and I've been running 87 in it since it can. Cruising at 65mph, I can achieve 34-35mpg, which is great. I was (and still am) planning on getting my Trans Am back on the road for the summer which requires 93, but that won't get driven a lot. And I'm hoping I can break into the double digits with the Power Wagon once the new engine is in the truck and tuned. 

Costco had been at $3.51/gal for quite a while so I had returned to "normal" driving habits.  I filled up last night and it was $3.66/gal.  At 9 miles to the gallon, though, I've been leaving the truck parked as much as I can and driving the wife's 5.  Just the 22 mile roundtrip to pick the kids up from school every day is a $30 savings every week if I drive the 5 instead of the truck.  $3.19/day in the 5 versus $8.95/day in the truck right now.

Wandering through the Mojave Desert:

Hopefully they're skimming off the top for grammar lessons!

I don't really follow this thread- since we don't drive much...

But when I saw this video earlier today, I immediately though of this thread.  Seems like a good theory of what is going on- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQbmpecxS2w&ab_channel=WendoverProductions

My only contention is that at some point, I'm betting that *someone* will make an investment to increase output so that they can make more money, and some of the cards will come down.  But that's the same theory I have about car prices, too.  That theory has a lot of hurdles to even get started.

Just checking in to say I spent $120 to fill the Expedition earlier tonight. That stung a bit.

Diesel around here is up to $5.29 a gallon. Time to change the oil in the Passat wagon since it will be cheaper to operate on less expensive midgrade.

Just wrapped up a 3000 mile trip at 9 mpg average in the Suburban. Going to be eating ramen for a while until my bank account recovers....worst single gas stop was $142.

gearheadE30 said:

Just wrapped up a 3000 mile trip at 9 mpg average in the Suburban. Going to be eating ramen for a while until my bank account recovers....worst single gas stop was $142.

I have an 8100 in my cc dually and it doesn't do much better, I've been driving my 05' civic everywhere!

diesel hit 6.19 a gallon here, 87 is 4.30

It makes me wonder. If gas prices are up for good, will people eventually give up their big pickups and SUVs for smaller vehicles? Will more people buy EVs. I am parking the Motorhome for now. I have three four cylinder cars I can drive and a small Harbor Freight trailer I can tow with any one of them. I won't be looking to buy anything bigger.

Diesel is $6.19 at the cheapest station around me - that caught my attention yesterday. Regular is $4.09 a gallon.

Burbank, CA Southwest Airlines crash on March 5th, 2000...

I just checked, regular at that station today is $6.099

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Hard to say.  While producers may increase production to bring down prices, they have little incentive to and it seems more than a few are gun-shy after the previous crash.  And that doesn't address the unspoken can of worms in DC which has them unsure as well. 

High gas prices didn't entirely kill big, gas-guzzling cars and trucks before and I doubt they will this time either.  I haven't really changed my driving habits as I usually drive for a reason where I can justify the gas expense.  I will say the $6+ price of diesel (in PA) has given me pause on getting my big van going again. While it supposedly gets decent mileage for what it is (~20), that's still not great and would represent a significant $/mile increase over my minivan (~25% better MPG on cheaper fuel) which can mostly do the same things, albeit with less room. But the point of the big van was always more about convenience rather than going with the cheapest possible option. 

Not seeing any drops from when I posted, just holding steady at almost 4/gal for reg around here. 

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

It makes me wonder. If gas prices are up for good, will people eventually give up their big pickups and SUVs for smaller vehicles? Will more people buy EVs. I am parking the Motorhome for now. I have three four cylinder cars I can drive and a small Harbor Freight trailer I can tow with any one of them. I won't be looking to buy anything bigger.

Hybrid and EV trucks were on the way already. They don't have to give them up. They'll just buy versions of large vehicles that are cheaper to operate.

An oil analyst on a cable business program this morning said "look out, refineries will need to switch production from gas to diesel during late Q2 to early-mid Q3 to accomindate the trucking industries busiest time of the year".

We may be in for a really rough summer. 

I remember in the 2008 price spike, $3.50 was viewed as the approximate threshold where people would start changing their behavior due to gas prices. The CPI calculator says that $3.50 in October 2008 is equivalent to $4.65 today.

Meanwhile, VW has sold out of EVs for 2022. Ford has quadrupled their target for Lightining production and has sold out of Mach-Es for 2022. Tesla's flirting with 2023 delivery for the Model Y LR, which is their most popular model. People are buying as many EVs as possible right now.

I don't drive enough these days to be heavily influenced by fuel prices, but I am starting to think about it when choosing a vehicle to run errands in.