Discussion Will you stop driving when gas prices hit X per Gallon?

[13Gigatons]

Will you stop driving when gas prices hit X per Gallon?

 

[BoomerD]

Why would I stop driving? Sure, it will be MUCH more expensive to do so...and we might cut back on un-necessary trips, but STOP driving? Not likely.

 

[Captante]

I voted "never" but I suppose it actually depends on the value of "x" lol... OP's original list isn't near my limit. (top price was $9 when I voted)

At some unreasonable/insane price-point like $35-$40 a gallon I'd have to give up and move back to riding a motorcycle until I could afford to buy an EV.

 

[K1052]

At 75MPG not likely I curtail much at any realistic price.

 

[ultimatebob]

I voted $9. Even that wouldn't stop me from making short trips, but road trips would be out of the question at that point.

Of course, if gas really got that high, I doubt that there would be many places left to drive to.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'd love to but I don't have a choice. Have to work. Though I am considering getting a fat bike. (can use year round) We're at $1.99/litre which translates to about 7.5/gal so I have been reducing my driving pretty much to work only. I also don't bother starting the truck ahead of time, I just get in and go. This morning the windows were super frosted so I was able to sort of see if I keep using windshield washer fluid on it before it freezes over again, not ideal. Trying to scrape that down is futile. Was not really getting anywhere with that.

I do eventually want an EV it's just they're crazy expensive compared to buying a used gas vehicle so I'd never really make up the cost difference even if I consider cost of gas. Hoping that in the next few years they start to go down, but hard to tell what will happen with inflation being crazy high. They might even go up.

 

[brianmanahan]

when i first started working, gas was 4.20$ and i was driving 100 miles a day. that's like 5.75$ today.

since i make 5x what i did back then, i voted never

but realistically i would probably stop at like 15$ a gallon

 

[repoman0]

My miata gets high 20s mpg even driving “properly” and high 30s on the highway. I said in another thread that even $10+ wouldn’t meaningfully impact my budget. My old shitbox BMW M cars are much thirstier but get driven far less even than that so same story.

 

[Muse]

I was driving maybe 1200 m/y before pandemic. ~400 during. Haven't moved my car from where it sits for about a month now. It's not just to save $$, I have a small carbon footprint. I filled my tank BEFORE the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine and probably won't approach a gas pump for months. When I do, I have the coin, but I'm in no hurry to get in my car. I have been doing every other week ~10 mile drives to Costco, but last one I hopped in a neighbor's car for basically a rideshare there and will do the same in a week... my car sits idle (with a trickle charger on the battery).

Edit: I'm great on a bicycle, quad skates too. I figured it out... during the pandemic I have quad skated around 6x as far as I drove my car.

 

[nisryus]

I picked $9 since that was the highest.. I would actually pick $20. but oh well.

 

[Captante]

I was driving maybe 1200 m/y before pandemic. ~400 during. Haven't moved my car from where it sits for about a month now. It's not just to save $$, I have a small carbon footprint. I filled my tank BEFORE the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine and probably won't approach a gas pump for months. When I do, I have the coin, but I'm in no hurry to get in my car. I have been doing every other week ~10 mile drives to Costco, but last one I hopped in a neighbor's car for basically a rideshare there and will do the same in a week... car sits idle (with a trickle charger on the battery).

Must be nice living someplace where its realistic not needing weather-resistant transport most of the time!

Unfortunately in Connecticut a heater and windshield come in pretty dang handy for about 1/3 of the year!

 

[herm0016]

the volt gets most of our miles. probably rethink long driving trips though.

 

[nakedfrog]

I've been driving 400-500 miles per month for months now, so it might cut out some trips as it gets more expensive, but I'm not sure where the cut-off would be. On longer trips I always take the TDI and typically get 42+ MPG.

 

[skyking]

I have a company truck and a fuel card. it does bum me out to get such crap MPG though.
Work is slow, and I may park the truck at the office, ~12 miles away, and drive my TDI beetle in. I get mid 40's with it on the short commute.
650 miles a tank /24 miles a day = ~23 work days or more than a month per tank.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

My wife WFH full time now, so she's already almost completely eliminated driving from her life with the aid of home delivery services like instacart (she *hates* driving),

I typically voluntarily go into work 4 out of 5 days during the week, and work is ~25 miles from me. Kid's school is a 5 minute walk from us.

I'll likely drop back to going into the office 3 out of 5 days of the week at current gas prices, but I'll never *stop* driving, that's more or less impossible in the US. If it keeps going up, I may scale back to my workplace's required in office 2 out of 5 days a week.

Our household income is in the top 10% in the US, so its not inherently a question of can we afford it, but more a question of "does it make sense to drive unnecessarily".

 

[Brainonska511]

Probably not, but we barely drive now anyway, since I WFH and my wife can get into Boston via the T which is a short walk from us.

One thing to consider outside of gas prices: even as high as they are now, we cannot just consider the cost relative to the inflation-adjusted cost of years past. We really need to consider cost per mile, and in the last 20-30 years, engines have gotten more efficient, even for land barges. This helps to keep cost per mile down, even as gas prices might appear high on a per gallon scale.

 

[cavemanmoron]

About 8 months ago I bought a new leftover car, and doubled my gas mileage.

I am being more careful about how and where I drive now.

I met some friends for lunch today and took the better gas mileage route,
versus the fastest way. Maybe 5 minutes time difference.

I still refuse to take 5 minutes to get to road speed LOL.

 

[manly]

Probably not, but we barely drive now anyway, since I WFH and my wife can get into Boston via the T which is a short walk from us.

One thing to consider outside of gas prices: even as high as they are now, we cannot just consider the cost relative to the inflation-adjusted cost of years past. We really need to consider cost per mile, and in the last 20-30 years, engines have gotten more efficient, even for land barges. This helps to keep cost per mile down, even as gas prices might appear high on a per gallon scale.

That's way too logical LOL. U.S. consumers have tended to flip out once gas crosses the $4 mark, never mind adjusting for inflation vs 2008. As far as fuel efficiency goes, I believe CAFE has been somewhat too "flexible" and automakers haven't really tried that hard even over the long term. I don't know what "fleet-wide averages" look like over 20 years, but it looks like the Ford F-150 went from 16 mpg to 21 mpg?

Gas Mileage of 2001 Ford F150 Pickup

Search by Model. Search by make for fuel efficient new and used cars and trucks

fueleconomy.gov

Gas Mileage of 2021 Ford F150

Search by Model. Search by make for fuel efficient new and used cars and trucks

www.fueleconomy.gov

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I've been running around 3,000 miles per year, (yes, per year) for several years. I have two cars, so one might sit for two or three months between uses. I do town trips once or twice a month and get as many stops in as I can handle ... generally 75 miles or less round trip.

Some months in the summer, I use more gas in mowers than the cars. This year I bought a battery powered mower to do what I can with a walk behind. I'll still need gas for the riders though. And diesel for the tractor, but it doesn't use a whole lot over a year.

 

[Spacehead]

I can't work from home & choose to live in the sticks so prices would have to be so high as to offset even going to work.