Fuel Cost on the Rise, So What?

[Peter_C]

The average age of vehicles in the USA is almost 11 yrs old, an all time high! The average American family is in must too weakened a financial state to upgrade to a new vehicle!

That is the problem, us humans chose money over mother earth. No one says they have to buy a new vehicle, but a more fuel efficient one could save them money once gas prices rise.

Peter, I'm not sure I agree with your 'let them eat cake' approach, that $5.00/gal + fuel will be theraputic for us, I suspect you are in a MUCH higher than average income bracket to be making such statements.

No, I own a fuel efficient Prius :tongue2: I bought it because the payment was less than my monthly fuel bill prior to owning it. Paid it off, and now it is just a cheap car to drive.

I'd advocate a much more progressive tax code and a reduction/elimination of fuel taxes to help out the average Joe.

How about taking those taxes and actually doing something productive with it like building high speed trains? Then the average Joe wouldn't need an SUV. Europeans have found they don't even need to own cars. Public transit, which is cheap, can take them everywhere they need to go.

 

[ams511]

The average age of vehicles in the USA is almost 11 yrs old, an all time high! The average American family is in must too weakened a financial state to upgrade to a new vehicle! Peter, I'm not sure I agree with your 'let them eat cake' approach, that $5.00/gal + fuel will be theraputic for us, I suspect you are in a MUCH higher than average income bracket to be making such statements. I'd advocate a much more progressive tax code and a reduction/elimination of fuel taxes to help out the average Joe.

A friend of mine says in Ireland gas costs close to $8.00 a gallon. It costs $100 to fill the tank of his mother's corolla. So everything is relative.

Peter is right that conservation is the only thing a person can do to control the amount spent on gasoline. Drilling more could decrease the price of oil assuming demand remains constant but it is likely to grow. There is a world market for oil so consumers are at the mercy of factors beyond their control.

 

[ams511]

The price of oil is being manipulated by speculators. It seems every rumor is an excuse to increase the price of oil. Israel and Iran are having a war of words and the American consumer pays for it.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

How about taking those taxes and actually doing something productive with it like building high speed trains? Then the average Joe wouldn't need an SUV. Europeans have found they don't even need to own cars. Public transit, which is cheap, can take them everywhere they need to go.

The average Joe does not need a big SUV regardless of trains. Europeans / Asians make do with smaller cars simply because over-sizes cars are not economically viable. Ditto for size of houses, sizes of our meals, etc... We are gotten used to bigger is better and we will have to readjust our expectations to make do with a little less. Not the end of the world, but a adjustment of our value system.

 

[ams511]

Wall Street greed fueling high gas prices - CNN.com

 

[ams511]

The average Joe does not need a big SUV regardless of trains. Europeans / Asians make do with smaller cars simply because over-sizes cars are not economically viable. Ditto for size of houses, sizes of our meals, etc... We are gotten used to bigger is better and we will have to readjust our expectations to make do with a little less. Not the end of the world, but a adjustment of our value system.

The car companies got burned by this during the first round of downsizing. The average U.S. consumer would walk into a Ford dealer and see an Escort for $5,000 and a Fairmont for $4,000 and would buy the Fairmont because it was cheaper although the cost of ownership is higher. Same thing happened at Chrysler and GM. As Americans we assume bigger with better and better to cost more. So smaller should cost less. That is why American car makers gave the low end to the Japanese because they just couldn't make money on them.

Also in Europe gasoline is highly taxed. It is around $8 a gallon, so big SUV's are only for the rich or people who do not drive far. I did not notice much of a difference in size of the houses in Europe versus the U.S. but it has been years since I have been to Europe.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I just traded in my Envoy for a Toyota Rav4. Took a look at what I really need now and decided that I don't need all the room in the Envoy more than maybe twice a year. I can rent a truck for that weekend or two or make students haul their own tanks. First weekend of driving highway mileage went from 20-21 to 25+ including some in town stuff. 311 miles on 12.3 gallons of gas. The Envoy never saw 300 miles on a tank of gas and held almost 4 gallons more.

Gas prices will not come down until we increase our refining capacity. I think we'd need to send a few enviro weenie's to China or better Afghanistan though for that to happen. Then if Iran cuts the flow of oil off, so friggin what?

 

[Jax]

The average age of vehicles in the USA is almost 11 yrs old, an all time high! The average American family is in must too weakened a financial state to upgrade to a new vehicle! Peter, I'm not sure I agree with your 'let them eat cake' approach, that $5.00/gal + fuel will be theraputic for us, I suspect you are in a MUCH higher than average income bracket to be making such statements. I'd advocate a much more progressive tax code and a reduction/elimination of fuel taxes to help out the average Joe.

Wait - that's one of those damned statistics!

Due to the goatscrew that was "Cash for Clunkers", thousands of Americans traded in (for destruction!) plenty of pretty decent vehicles in the five to ten year-old range! What that did was cost the taxpayer a fortune, take a blank-load of perfectly good vehicles off the used car market, removed hundreds of viable engine and transmissions parts out of the market, and made the stupid auto unions happy as hell!

I know that middle American doesn't have the money to buy new, and there are not many cheap, reliable used cars available. F'ing Obamanomics!

 

[Splitlip]

I'm pretty pleased with myself the last 3 or 4 years. During the last $5.00 cycle, I traded my big SUV for a VW Jetta which I gave to my daughter for her 16 th birthday and bought myself a base Wrangler. I also then traded the wife's Mercedes for a Kia SUV. Both the VW and the Kia get exceptional mileage although the Kia's 4 cylinder is a little underpowered. The VW on the other hand drives like a Merc, Bimmer or Audi. Good power and sticks to the road. For some reason, I was able to get Edmunds and KBB numbers on the deals. Where as the Japanese folks had put premiums on their fuel efficient cars.

In any event, when Wifey and I split last year, I sold the Wrangler and bought a Subaru Outback based partly on recommendations from some of our Aussie friends as well as some YouTube vids coming out of Poland. This thing rocks. I always kept a 4 wd in the quiver. This ain't a jeep, but it will do. I picked it up in Vero on a Tuesday evening about 6:00 PM and drove it the hour plus down US 1 to Jupiter and got 38 mpg. Interstate speeds I don't do quite as well, but I'm pretty happy.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

The car companies got burned by this during the first round of downsizing. The average U.S. consumer would walk into a Ford dealer and see an Escort for $5,000 and a Fairmont for $4,000 and would buy the Fairmont because it was cheaper although the cost of ownership is higher. Same thing happened at Chrysler and GM. As Americans we assume bigger with better and better to cost more. So smaller should cost less. That is why American car makers gave the low end to the Japanese because they just couldn't make money on them.

Also in Europe gasoline is highly taxed. It is around $8 a gallon, so big SUV's are only for the rich or people who do not drive far. I did not notice much of a difference in size of the houses in Europe versus the U.S. but it has been years since I have been to Europe.

The average sized US house is a little over 200 sq meters. In the UK, its like 80. Other European countries range from 100-130 sq meters depending on location.