Gas up 25 cents/gal. yesterday.

[Joe Tonich]

Heard gas prices were supposed to go up to 'bout $3 a gal by summer. At between $1.68 - $1.79 a gal.(regular ) now, sure seems like it. Is this price typical of prices around the country?

Joe

[Wolf Kiessling]

Heard gas prices were supposed to go up to 'bout $3 a gal by summer. At between $1.68 - $1.79 a gal.(regular ) now, sure seems like it. Is this price typical of prices around the country?

Joe

I read in yesterday's paper that Oklahoma had the lowest gas prices in the country. If that's true, then you ain't doing bad cause ours is only about a dime less than what you quoted.

What I can't figure out, if we were going after Iraq's oil, why isn't gas about a quarter a gallon now? I mean, we won the darn war after all.

[Steve Clardy]

$1.54 here in the ozarks. [unleaded] Was $1.49 last week. Steve

[Dennis Peacock]

$1.57 for regular here.

gonna make grass cutting less affordable if gas goes up an more. Now don't go and get me started on this gas price crap.....here.....47¢ of each gallon is flippin' TAXES.....

[Ian Barley]

$1.57 for regular here.

gonna make grass cutting less affordable if gas goes up an more. Now don't go and get me started on this gas price crap.....here.....47¢ of each gallon is flippin' TAXES.....

OK - stand back. We pay just over about £4 per gallon. Thats about $7.50ish. about 85% of that is tax.

Filling up my van with diesel costs about £50 - thats about $90-95.

[Jason Roehl]

OK - stand back. We pay just over about £4 per gallon. Thats about $7.50ish. about 85% of that is tax.

Filling up my van with diesel costs about £50 - thats about $90-95.

Gee, Ian, with my trucks gas tank and your prices, a fill-up would run me about £140, or $250 or so....every 2 weeks...yikes.

Of course, we do benefit a great deal from economies of scale, which is a major contributor to the lower price (I won't go into the other reasons why we pay less for gas, politics is not allowed here).

[Frank Pellow]

We in the USA and in Canada are getting gasoline for far less than we should. I wish that we ALL had to pay prices like those quaoted by Ian.

OK - stand back. We pay just over about £4 per gallon. Thats about $7.50ish. about 85% of that is tax.

Filling up my van with diesel costs about £50 - thats about $90-95.

Perhaps that would encourage us to stop being the most wasteful people on earth and start to conserve our dwindling natural resources.

[David Fried]

Perhaps that would encourage us to stop being the most wasteful people on earth and start to conserve our dwindling natural resources.

I agree with you. Neither of us is likely to get elected!

[John Miliunas]

We in the USA and in Canada are getting gasoline for far less than we should. I wish that we ALL had to pay prices like those quaoted by Ian.

Perhaps that would encourage us to stop being the most wasteful people on earth and start to conserve our dwindling natural resources.

I tend to agree about the wasteful part, but that thing about raising the prices to $7.00+ or more a gal would put me and my family out on the street. That's the plain and simple truth. Somehow, that doesn't sit very well with me as a solution. And, FWIW, I drive a small, 4cyl. Subaru, but I do have just under 50 miles each way to work and back. We also only have LP (or electric) available out here for heating, and LP prices directly coincide with gas prices. I guess if I didn't *have* to travel back and forth to work daily, it may be a bit easier to get along with higher prices.

But, that long ride does indeed prove out your point of "wasteful". My goodness....The majority of vehicles going in and out of town are large pickups, SUV's and Suburban-type vehicles. And yeah, you guessed it: An easy guesstimate would be that 98% of them have only a driver, no passenger(s) and rarely any cargo! The bulk of them are 4x4. The bad part is, I sincerely believe that the majority of them are simply status symbols and those particular people will continue to drive, buy and put petrol in them, regardless of the costs. Don't know...Maybe they can afford to throw money away like that, but it's really hurting the rest of us, often struggling to make ends meet. Anyhow, I'd love to curtail the waste, but the pricing proposal would simply hurt those who need the fuel the most, IMHO. OK, stepping down off the soapbox.

[Christopher Pine]

WHile i agree with many comments about Americans and Canadians being wastefull... true we are but the gasoline prices are not going up because of lack of supply! There are many factors but mostly it is for profit of the oil companies and all of the entities inbetween and at the top. The supplies have been going up in this part of the world the last several months and right about the time the stocks levels are at the highest they have been in months the price goes up! Many reasons! We pay less than we should????? ... I will say this .. we pay lower prices than the rest of the world why???
Because we are selfish? Wasteful? what? I think it is because we process it effectively and in a vollume that allows the lower costs...
With all of that said( I could rant on longer )
I remember some 24 years ago and gasoline was $1.24. (was very high at that time) I was 16 and remember it vividly because my first car had just came into my life and I had to buy gas... now 24 years later we are just now going over $2.00 a gallon... I would say that that is a fair increase when you look at it in that time frame of referance....
We are talking about an increase that if kept in perspective is reasoanble.. I don't like it like everyone else, it hurts to part with hard earned money for somthing that does not inprove your life anymore than it did before. Just to maintain what you had you pay more... it hurts...but life is like that somtimes it just is not fair, or fun or whatever it just is.
I think we live in some intersting time for sure we will hopefully see a transition from naturalk fuels to more cleaner,affordable, renewable forms of energy... I sure hope so anyways. I guess time will tell...
I have not heard the $3.00 a gallon by summer from anything other than rummor althought I would not be suprised for thsi rummor.. I know diesel in many areas is allready knocking on that level...
Some articles I read said that the average for gasoline low grade would be 2.15 to 2.25 a gallon at the high and remain above $2 the rest of this year...
I hope that is all the higher it goes but like I said before time will tell and by the way there is not much we can do about it....
Have a nice day.

[Erin Raasch]

But, that long ride does indeed prove out your point of "wasteful". My goodness....The majority of vehicles going in and out of town are large pickups, SUV's and Suburban-type vehicles. And yeah, you guessed it: An easy guesstimate would be that 98% of them have only a driver, no passenger(s) and rarely any cargo! The bulk of them are 4x4. The bad part is, I sincerely believe that the majority of them are simply status symbols and those particular people will continue to drive, buy and put petrol in them, regardless of the costs.

Don't even get me started I drive those same roads, so I know exactly what you're referring to. I just don't get it. Last fall, Scott and I travelled to Scotland for a vacation. One of the things that really struck me was the difference in the type of vehicles we saw on the roads and in the parking lots. Nearly all were what we would consider compact cars, and nearly all the vehicles over there have manual transmissions. We did see the occasional van or pick-up, but quite different from my daily commute where nearly every other vehicle is an SUV.

I currently drive a '98 Saturn and get 35 mpg on my commute, which is about half highway and half city driving. With straight highway driving, I get 40 mpg. With the gas prices climbing, I decided my next car would have to do even better than that So last month, I ordered a new Prius. Should be here in another 6 months or so . . . I hope the fuel prices hold for awhile yet

[Ian Barley]

Frank - Your a braver man than me!

My earlier post wasn't intended to say "We're harder done by than you" or anything similar. It was just a try to give a different perspective. FWIW I agree with Franks sentiments and think that it is relevant to consider consumption that is relevant to the purpose. My daily driver is a panel van but that is because 80% of my miles are done delivering customers orders. it is a diesel and I get 40-50mpg (UK Gallon) most of the time.

Yes, more people in the UK drive compact type cars but I suspect that this is partly because average journey distance in the UK is smaller. Yes more of us do drive manual transmission which probably also helps with average consumption levels.

As to the supply/demand/price discussion. The supply of fossil based fuels is finite. I don't mean that we have found it all or that it isn't a big finite, but it will be finite simply because there are no more prehistoric forests to fosilize. There is a large body of opinion which says that while demand continues to increase the probability is that (available) supply will decrease. Not sure that I necessarily believe that opinion but even if it isn't correct now one day it will be. If you are the owner of a finite resource and you want to influence the demand for it the most effective way to do so is by pricing. The way I read it that is what is happening.

John Milunas - The bad part is, I sincerely believe that the majority of them are simply status symbols and those particular people will continue to drive, buy and put petrol in them, regardless of the costs. Don't know...Maybe they can afford to throw money away like that, but it's really hurting the rest of us,

John - There is a big debate over here about 4x4 on the school run. In cities the traffic at peak time falls by about 30-40% during school holidays. The argument goes that too many of those cars are large Range Rover type vehicles which are used mainly to haul yard apes to school. The truth is that yeah - even at the prices we pay some people will not think twice about the fuel consumption.

[Tom Mullane]

Western MD we just hit $2.10 yesterday and no help in site.... thankfully I drive a 1992 F150 with a 6 cyl engine that gets good mileage....
Even though I was really into muscle cars in my youth (had a Dodge Charger with 426 and 3 dueces), I have smartened up a whole lot... why do we need to keep making 400+ HP vehicles to commute to work... My wife drives a Ford Aerostar with a 6 cyl.. gets us where we are going everytime and at the speed limit... would a big V8 do it better, not that I can see...
Got a call from a buddy yesterday.. he was in hog heaven... was on his way to pick up his new car... a fire engine red 400HP GTO... this guy lives 10 miles from his job... and it is not highway driving.. WHY THE HECK does he need a 400HP car... he goes to the Jersey shore a lot in the summer... and I know the traffic is not going to let him wind out that car... and neither are the State Police.. LOL... SO WHY... Midlife Crisis ??.. I told my wife for me Midlife Crisis is going to be a bigger lathe.. LOL.. might go all the way up to 3HP... not that I need it... LOL...

[John Miliunas]

Got a call from a buddy yesterday.. he was in hog heaven... was on his way to pick up his new car... a fire engine red 400HP GTO... this guy lives 10 miles from his job... and it is not highway driving.. WHY THE HECK does he need a 400HP car... he goes to the Jersey shore a lot in the summer... and I know the traffic is not going to let him wind out that car... and neither are the State Police.. LOL... SO WHY... Midlife Crisis ??.. I told my wife for me Midlife Crisis is going to be a bigger lathe.. LOL.. might go all the way up to 3HP... not that I need it... LOL...

Well, that might be a fun Midlife Crisis medication for your buddy. And, believe it or not, some of those muscle cars don't do bad on the mileage. Quite a few years back, (when gas prices were more reasonable!) I had an 85 Corvette with a 4-speed automatic. (Hey, the wife wanted to drive it, too! ) Anyhow, in mixed local/hwy driving, I would get close to 20mpg. On the highway, though, I was getting a steady 27!!! My little Subaru doesn't do a whole lot better than that!

This whole fuel pricing thing is just getting out of hand, with the only winners are the ones who have been winning the whole time: Oil companies! Yeah, some gas stations also tend to gouge, but that's usually only in little spurts. I doubt they'll be building mansions from that anytime soon! One of my biggest problems with this whole thing is, how much of that "supply" part of the equation is really falsified? I remember during the big shortage "crisis" back in the 70's, I was talking to a customer of mine who also happened to fly. Said he'd spoken to another pilot at the airport just that morning who told him he had witnessed one or more oil tank trucks out in the desert dumping its contents in the middle of nowhere. Same guy told him about several oil tankers sitting out in the ocean, just outside the US boundaries! In the meantime, lines were forming at the gas stations! The government mandated that oil companies be restricted to a certain % of profit. No problem. Now, instead of making 10% of $100.00, they were making 14% of $200.00 dollars and giving the front line employees raises to gobble up the odd 4%, netting them 10% of $200.00. (Figures are just for sake of example, but that's the way they worked it.)

Bottom line, folks, is I sincerely think we're just at the mercy of the Oil Companies, which in turn have the politicians right where they want them and there's little we can do. Sure, let's ALL go and get vehicles, which get 40-50mpg. And that will do what? We've all seen before what that does: The oil co's now say that their sale-able quantity is way down, demand is down and, in order to not "lose" money, they *need* to hike prices. They ALWAYS have an excuse to keep those prices going up!

[JayStPeter]

Western MD we just hit $2.10 yesterday and no help in site.... thankfully I drive a 1992 F150 with a 6 cyl engine that gets good mileage....
Even though I was really into muscle cars in my youth (had a Dodge Charger with 426 and 3 dueces), I have smartened up a whole lot... why do we need to keep making 400+ HP vehicles to commute to work... My wife drives a Ford Aerostar with a 6 cyl.. gets us where we are going everytime and at the speed limit... would a big V8 do it better, not that I can see...
Got a call from a buddy yesterday.. he was in hog heaven... was on his way to pick up his new car... a fire engine red 400HP GTO... this guy lives 10 miles from his job... and it is not highway driving.. WHY THE HECK does he need a 400HP car... he goes to the Jersey shore a lot in the summer... and I know the traffic is not going to let him wind out that car... and neither are the State Police.. LOL... SO WHY... Midlife Crisis ??.. I told my wife for me Midlife Crisis is going to be a bigger lathe.. LOL.. might go all the way up to 3HP... not that I need it... LOL...

No offense, but in the argument of good gas mileage cars, full size pickups (regardless of engine size) don't rate very well. That GTO probably gets better mileage than your F150 and probably close to the minivan (with reasonable applications of the right foot). I've had a number of full size pickups and IMO there's no such thing as a fuel efficient one. I've also had a few V8 pony cars, and all have gotten much better mileage than my 6-cyl pickups.

IMO, the car companies (in response to consumer demand) have made it difficult to buy decent fuel-efficient vehicles. Usually the small engined version of a car is not available with comfort options. To get the options we wanted on the minivan, the biggest engine was far less expensive than configuring a smaller engine model to have the features. Even then, not everything we wanted was even available. I couldn't even get leather interior in my truck with a 6-cyl. In my truck, with offroad bikes, dirt would just infiltrate the seats if they weren't leather (or vinyl, as most of my old trucks). But, the difference between the 6 and small v8 is minimal anyway. My current truck gets similar mileage to my string of old 6-cyl trucks (15-18 MPG). Full size trucks suck gas regardless of engine. I would never claim that I have reasonably fuel efficient vehicles (even if my truck was a 6). The minivan is only slightly better than an SUV, and probably darn close to the GTO.

If gas prices climb to $3/gal, I'm sure the race will be on to have decent fuel efficient vehicles. I've been predicting a replay of the mid '70s for a while now as the HP wars have intensified and gas mileage wars gone by the wayside. Whaddya think, 30 year cycle?

Jay