[surfseeker7]

It just hit $3 here in San Francisco. I couldn't find any stations this morning that had regular unleaded for less than $3.09! I put in a whopping $30 into my tank today, a personal record. Of course, I know I'll go 600+ miles on that tank, so I'm happier than ever to have the Insight.

I'll bring out the old mpg extremes comparison just for fun. If I had a 2006 Dodge Ram Pickup, I would have to spend $180 to travel that same 600 miles. That's getting close to $5,000 per year for gas (assuming 15K miles and consistent gas prices above $3). Will they keep saying that hybrids "don't pay for themselves in gas savings"?

In this example it would only take two years to pay for a used Insight. But then, you wouldn't be "RAM TOUGH!" :lol:

 

[HafNHaf]

at 2 bux a gallon i was saving 170 per month over my 88 jeep grand wagoneer. the savings will pay for my insight in 3 years, plus a tank of gas per month. so now that i get even better mpgs than when i bought the insight (practice makes perfect), and gas is 3 bux per gallon........

nope, i dont see where the hybrid savings come into play :lol:

 

[Insightful]

It's the economy...

While we'll all be smiling at the gas pump, the real problem is how does this affect the economy as a whole. Sustained $75+ oil prices could put us into a recession by the end of the year, easy. Higher prices are inevitible, but it would be ideal if they would go up gradually over the years rather than spiking to $100 from $20 in the space of just three years, which looks like where we're headed. The ship just can't be turned around that quickly.

Steve

 

[kari]

Steve - you bring up the important gorrilla in the corner that you seldom hear about on the news. I like to think of it in terms of food (b/c I'm a local-food junkie): if we're getting almost all of our fruits and veggies from central america or california, how will higher fuel costs affect our food supply?

 

[goat961]

Steve - you bring up the important gorrilla in the corner that you seldom hear about on the news. I like to think of it in terms of food (b/c I'm a local-food junkie): if we're getting almost all of our fruits and veggies from central america or california, how will higher fuel costs affect our food supply?

basically, we're screwed

 

[redbug]

Here in North America, we expend 10 calories of fossil fuel energy making every 1 calorie of food, and that's not even counting the energy used for food storage and transportation. All modern fertilizers are made from natural gas; all modern pesticides are made from oil. The so-called Green Revolution of the 1940s and 1950s was a massive diversion of fossil fuel usage into food production. Without that continued flow of fuels, crop yields per acre are much lower ~ sort of like the way the Amish do it.

Agreed .. if we don't cut our consumption quickly enough, we'll be in a world of hurt.

Maybe this topic is better-suited for the Peak Oil forums?

Driving around town this past week, I started seeing the first victims of higher gas prices: jeeps and SUVs parked up on lawns with "for sale" signs. Look on the bright side ~ in the future they'll be a valuable source of recyclable metals! :lol:

 

[richbrick]

high gas prices

Here in Columbia,SC gas is almost at $3 a gallon. I am currently watching the national news,and in some places it is already over $4. What supprised me is that gas is way over $3 in Alaska.I thought we had huge oil reserves there? I just dont know where this will all end. Luckily I am not on a fixed income at the present time.

 

[goat961]

Re: high gas prices

Here in Columbia,SC gas is almost at $3 a gallon. I am currently watching the national news,and in some places it is already over $4. What supprised me is that gas is way over $3 in Alaska.I thought we had huge oil reserves there? I just dont know where this will all end. Luckily I am not on a fixed income at the present time.

everything is expensive in alaska.... i've heard of $10+ gallons of milk.


even though they have oil i don't believe we're useing that oil yet, and i don't believe they can refine it without shipping it elsewhere.

 

[surfseeker7]

I do worry about our economy, but I also think people will never change their behavior unless they feel the pinch of high prices. We need alternative fuels and vehicles, strict mpg standards (not the recent 1.4 mpg increase for trucks, phptt!), more solar, more wind, more experimentation, more government investment in all these technologies and less status quo. That way the economy will see some winners and some losers, but not be subject to huge price shocks.

I don't feel bad about bragging about how much other people are paying at the pump because they have chosen to ignore or ridicule hybrid owners in the past. Well, it's 2006 and the Insight is still the mileage king. Why? Because people won't make sacrifices unless they are paying through the nose for relying on old technology and fancy slogans like Dodge's "Grab Life by the Horns!".

What we should have is a goal of diversifying our auto-fleet to something like 50% gas electric hybrids, 10% bio-diesel, 10% plug-in hybrids, 5% car share (urban areas only), 10% CNG vehicles, 10% ethanol hybrids, and 5% traditional diesel. We could make exceptions for certain trades. This could be achieved in 15 years if the government and industry worked together to make it happen.

As I said, there would be winners and losers, but we'd all win in the end by breaking the umbilical cord of the foreign oil dependency.

My three cents...

 

[griller]

Over $3 per gallon all over the south side of L.A. today.

I just got my insight about 4 weeks ago, my co-workers are looking at me kinda squinty-eye (hmmm he knew about this dint he?). When I first got it they thought I was nuts, heh I work for an oil company.

Lol, I knew it was coming but I had no idea it would be so soon! I figured it would take till fall for 3 dollar gas (hurricane season).


try peakoil.com for those who are interested.

interesting times ahead.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Thanks Griller for the redirect to a peak oil site.

While we are all concerned about the price of oil its really not on topic to these forums.

Please take off-topic discussions to a better site.

Sincerely,

 

[Dgate]

Just to make everyone feel better I filled up today at a cost of $7.70 a gallon(Imperial) so believe I will have to look for an electric for the short runs.

DGate

 

[redbug]

Today I was in Connecticut to visit a cousin. He wanted to talk, so we drove around looking at all the scenic New Englandy stuff and chatting up a storm. He had wanted to see what the Insight was all about. Needless to say, he was flabbergasted that we got ~75mpg just kicking around on the back roads. Perhaps someday he'll be a hybrid driver too?

The most expensive pump price we saw was $3.15 just outside Hartford.

 

[kasia]

Today I was in Connecticut to visit a cousin. He wanted to talk, so we drove around looking at all the scenic New Englandy stuff and chatting up a storm. He had wanted to see what the Insight was all about. Needless to say, he was flabbergasted that we got ~75mpg just kicking around on the back roads. Perhaps someday he'll be a hybrid driver too?

The most expensive pump price we saw was $3.15 just outside Hartford.

Was $2.99 yesterday and $3.05 this morning. Central CT

 

[boogetyboogety]

I had the opportunity to show off our Insight at an Earth Day event in Plano, TX yesterday (missed you, TrotFox!). All everyone wanted to talk about was the mileage rating of the various hybrids shown there, and the high price of "******* gas." I explained as best as I could (as I did on another forum recently): Gas prices are what they are due to supply and demand (Econ 101).

Every dollar we send to developing countries, e.g., like China and India, is a dollar used to make someone a dollar richer. Millions of their citizens take those extra billions of dollars and buy first or even second 20 mpg cars to replace their little 40-60 mpg motos. They demand more gas, which comes from a finite source (the oil companies). And they can't build new refineries fast enough (we haven't built a new refinery in decades), so we're now at worldwide capacity. And, therefore, prices go up. No one is really saying don't buy stuff at, say, WalMart, but they send billions to China every year for inexpensive goods that we covet... and I promise you, our trade imbalance is a huge part of the reason we're paying what we're paying now, not oil company greed.

Katrina did a number in the Gulf of Mexico, and gas blipped up a buck a gallon. Big deal... If the idiotic Irani prez decides to tick us off and scuttles a bunch of ships to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices will spike overnight to $8-$10 a gallon, and all the moaning and fuel conservation in the world won't make a bit of difference for a year. Never mind that we get most of our crude from Venezuela, Mexico, and even Canada, not the Middle East. Skittish markets don't care about such niceties: If you want subtlety, go to a ballet. Most people don't have a clue where we get our energy...

Within sight of our hybrids, in the parking area, were (I counted): 38 SUVs, 42 trucks, and 18 minivans or vans. 6 of those cars were what can be considered compacts or higher-mileage cars. Not one hybrid except for those we were showing (1 HAH, my Insight, 3 Prii, a hybrid Chevy [yes, Chevy] pickup owned by the City of Plano, and a biodiesel-fueled Passat TDI wagon). I bet I, myself, showed our cars (we showed off all cars, not just ours, the crowds kept us all busy) to more than 200 people. If I had been selling hybrids, I would have had a longer line than the Kinky For Governor guy... :roll:

But hey, my Exxon/Mobil and Chevron-Texaco stocks are doing really well

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Yup, the price of gas and politics seem to be fused at the hip. While politics are of interest (or _should_ be) to everyone its not Insight related.

Politics of this degree are off topic for an Insight related forum.

Locking.