WTF is up with gas.....2 days ago...$3.09...today..3.49

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Monster_Munch

Senior member
Oct 19, 2010
873
1
0
It costs £50 to fill my car, and I only have fiesta with a 40 litre tank. So that's about $7.9 per gallon (US) I think.
 
May 13, 2009
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I blame you people. Last time this happened everyone started getting more fuel efficient cars and were driving less. Now that some time has passed and gas prices have dropped you've all went back to driving your duallie trucks and 350hp v8 mustangs. They got you right where they had your dumbasses last time. Now sell off your gas guzzler for pennies on the dollar again til they lower prices enough to make you feel comfortable about buying another gas hog. I'll just keep driving my fuel efficient cars and my 42+ mpg motorcycle that is faster than any car you could buy besides a $250,000 Ferrari.
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
I blame you people. Last time this happened everyone started getting more fuel efficient cars and were driving less. Now that some time has passed and gas prices have dropped you've all went back to driving your duallie trucks and 350hp v8 mustangs. They got you right where they had your dumbasses last time. Now sell off your gas guzzler for pennies on the dollar again til they lower prices enough to make you feel comfortable about buying another gas hog. I'll just keep driving my fuel efficient cars and my 42+ mpg motorcycle that is faster than any car you could buy besides a $250,000 Ferrari.

this, my dad keeps bitching about his fuel economy, but will only buy trucks or SUVs. mom insists on a minivan, when she has zero kids or people or even cargo to regularly haul around.

i like my old-ass 4-banger 1997 altima: 30mpg is not at all bad, though i wouldnt mind my buddys passat, i think he gets closer to 35 or 40.
 
Dec 26, 2007
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Why is is that the first immediate effect that most Americans notice of world events is the price of fuel for their vehicles?

It's the part that we notice directly. Indirectly gas prices increase shipping costs which will increase prices for just about everything (at least physical products). Most people don't attribute increases in food and other products to the gas prices.
 
Dec 26, 2007
11,782
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this, my dad keeps bitching about his fuel economy, but will only buy trucks or SUVs. mom insists on a minivan, when she has zero kids or people or even cargo to regularly haul around.

i like my old-ass 4-banger 1997 altima: 30mpg is not at all bad, though i wouldnt mind my buddys passat, i think he gets closer to 35 or 40.

Yeah I drive a 2005 Neon which gets 32-34 mpg. The car might not be sexy, but I paid $10k for a brand new car, it's been paid off for almost 2 years, and still runs fairly well (just redid the front end myself for ~$300, but that's about it as far as repair work).

I'll keep driving my Neon and not have gas hurt nearly as bad as all these people complaining about driving their Jeeps, SUVs, and trucks.
 

Fausto

Elite Member
Nov 29, 2000
26,521
2
0
MEH.

Higher prices = fewer people on the roads and more attention paid to mass transit/bicycles/etc. It sucks, but it does have a silver lining.
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
8
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MEH.

Higher prices = fewer people on the roads and more attention paid to mass transit/bicycles/etc. It sucks, but it does have a silver lining.


Yea but for those that already ride public trans it will just piss us off more. :awe:

I like not having to be slammed beside some fat sweating cow on the metro that does not use deodorant, esp with summer coming soon.
One of the reasons I wake up at 4:30 every day so I can get a seat and have some relaxing time, that and to get off early enough to beat the super mass cow pack on the metro. Only saving grace is fewer people and I don’t have to ride through DC.
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
I blame you people. Last time this happened everyone started getting more fuel efficient cars and were driving less. Now that some time has passed and gas prices have dropped you've all went back to driving your duallie trucks and 350hp v8 mustangs. They got you right where they had your dumbasses last time. Now sell off your gas guzzler for pennies on the dollar again til they lower prices enough to make you feel comfortable about buying another gas hog. I'll just keep driving my fuel efficient cars and my 42+ mpg motorcycle that is faster than any car you could buy besides a $250,000 Ferrari.

Interesting that you mention this but oil consumption in the US has fallen 8% from it's all time high and is actually declining as more and more people move to more efficient cars. The article (from Yahoo) even suggested that we will never go above the highest peak usage (2006) again (hard to believe).

As for me, we kept our Durango but use it only for service (hauling stuff, full family vacations,etc). We now use my car or my daughter's car (Cobalt) for any daily driving, not to mention my huge reduction in daily work mileage. Wife walks to work (literally 700 feet from our front door).
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
I blame you people. Last time this happened everyone started getting more fuel efficient cars and were driving less. Now that some time has passed and gas prices have dropped you've all went back to driving your duallie trucks and 350hp v8 mustangs. They got you right where they had your dumbasses last time. Now sell off your gas guzzler for pennies on the dollar again til they lower prices enough to make you feel comfortable about buying another gas hog. I'll just keep driving my fuel efficient cars and my 42+ mpg motorcycle that is faster than any car you could buy besides a $250,000 Ferrari.

Good plan until you encounter one of those people in a giant gas guzzling SUV bitching on their cell phone about the price of gas and they change lanes on top of you.
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,001
126
dude, i noticed this shit too ... I thought there was a limit they could bump it up in a day?


I thought the rule/law was they could only bump the price once in 24 hours, but I don't know if there is a limit on how high that bump can be. Or something like that.
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,017
147
106
Why is is that the first immediate effect that most Americans notice of world events is the price of fuel for their vehicles?

One reason is that the news makes the issue front and center. They interview people about the higher cost of gas and they wail about how hard it is to afford the higher prices.

Now I'm not disputing that higher gas prices do impact people, but the impact is less direct than they think it is, while having a bigger indirect impact that they tend to ignore.

Drive 12,000 miles a year with an average 25mpg, and a $1 per gallon increase in gas cost means spending $40 more a month. Yeah, big in percentage terms, but the impact to most people is not going to keep them from doing everything they do now. It's just not disasterous. But the people on the news play it up like it's the end of the world. What they gloss over is how it drives up the prices of many other things - plastic, airfares, anything delivered by truck, etc. That has a much bigger impact on people than the direct impact of what they pay at the pump.
 

Skitzer

Diamond Member
Mar 20, 2000
4,414
3
81
I guess we're pretty lucky here, regular is still only 3.32 avg.
Unfortunately I have to drive my truck in Winter, (about 16 mpg).
Spring, Summer and Fall I ride my Harley exclusively.
My wife's Focus gets about 37 mpg.
So if prices get up to a little over $4.00 a gallon this Summer I'm still Ok with it.
My problems will start when it gets over $5.00 a gallon. That's when it will start to hurt.
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
I like how people are pretending gas wasnt already out of control.

Each time there is a spike, they raise the "normal" range on the way back down. It is a big scam.

haha YUP! I remember back when gas hit $3 a gallon for the first time. I was so stressed out thinking about how much money I'd be spending. I started driving like a grandma, coasting to a stop, driving on the right lane at the speed limit, etc. Then $3 a gallon became normal. And this time around, the price hikes aren't affecting me as much, mentally.

Luckily, I moved closer to work and retained my grandma-esq driving style
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Talk about a crock of shit...

This is why we need to get off of the shit and develop something else (ala Brazil). Give the middle east a big ole middle finger...

I think that the high gas prices helped push us over the cliff into recession in 2007/2008 and I think it will stall or kill what ever recovery (if you can call it that) soon enough.

gas-prices.jpg

you know what, I've gone from blaming the middle eastern countries to blaming the capitalists in Wall Street. They are the main reason why price is skyrocketing like this
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
Interesting that you mention this but oil consumption in the US has fallen 8% from it's all time high and is actually declining as more and more people move to more efficient cars. The article (from Yahoo) even suggested that we will never go above the highest peak usage (2006) again (hard to believe).

As for me, we kept our Durango but use it only for service (hauling stuff, full family vacations,etc). We now use my car or my daughter's car (Cobalt) for any daily driving, not to mention my huge reduction in daily work mileage. Wife walks to work (literally 700 feet from our front door).
meanwhile, my friends just replaced their 97 explorer with a 2006 XC90...generally they dont go out of town very often. a station wagon or sedan with trunk space would have probably sufficed and been far more fuel efficient all around, and they definitely bitch about fuel prices...but were giddy when they got the car (for which the payment and insurance cost well more than the fuel they need to run the damn thing)
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,907
16,174
126
a little perspective

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/...ons/company_level_imports/current/import.html

Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries​
December 2010 Import Highlights: Released February 25, 2011
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in December 2010 has been released and it shows that four countries exported more than 1,000 thousand barrels per day to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 72 percent of United States crude oil imports in December while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top five sources of US crude oil imports for December were Canada (2,064 thousand barrels per day), Mexico (1,223 thousand barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1,076 thousand barrels per day), Nigeria (1,024 thousand barrels per day), and Venezuela (825 thousand barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (336 thousand barrels per day), Angola (307 thousand barrels per day), Brazil (271 thousand barrels per day), Algeria (262 thousand barrels per day), and Colombia (220 thousand barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 8,631 thousand barrels per day in December, which is an increase of 23 thousand barrels per day from November 2010.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in December, exporting 2,713 thousand barrels per day to the United States, which is an increase from last month (2,510 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Mexico with 1,365 thousand barrels per day.​


tables do not paste properly so go to the link to look at them.
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
2
0
I thought the rule/law was they could only bump the price once in 24 hours, but I don't know if there is a limit on how high that bump can be. Or something like that.

There is no "rule" or "law" involved. All of the gasoline industry is a business, free to set prices as they see fit. Most stations receive a daily report from a number of different suppliers (depends on the franchise, and any sponsors) about how much they project fuel to cost tomorrow. They base today's price change on that. Now if something happens - such as when a storm threatens America's Wang - the smart shop keeps tick it up another nickel later that day - knowing full well the price everywhere is gonna do the same. The criminals wait until after the storm and charge 5x as much as normal - an illegal tactic known as price-gouging.

tl;dr - no law/rule - shopkeeps can set price anytime for any reason as long as its legal.
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
2
0
E85 isn't the answer either, as long as we are making it from corn. I think one of the biodiesel sources is probably the most promising for the near future.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,859
4,976
126
Yep. If it spikes by $1.00, they lower it by 50 cents...and we get used to that...so the next spike of $1.00 seems harsh for a while...and they drop it by 50 cents...we get used to THAT for a while, and it spikes by $1.50. We scream and holler and start to build small efficient automobiles...and they reduce the price by $1.00...and we're happy.
The cycle continues...the oil companies continue turning in record profits..and the economy gets hurt a bit more each time...but the shareholders get their dividends.

You forgot to add "ATOT defends the oil companies and explains it as simple 'supply and demand'... that it wouldn't so bad if we didn't demand so much."