Hi Susan,

34 mpg is not bad! You're right, you need to get your husband out of that Jeep. We drove 4 wheel drive cars for 30 years. We had a  Suburban, Land Cruiser, Jeep, Toyota truck , 4Runner, Dodge diesel 3/4T truck, Subaru, and a Ford Explorer and Truck.  We were really hesitant to switch to the smaller Prius as our everyday car - didn't think we could adjust to riding so close to the road. As it turns out, the adjustment was surprisingly easy.

If only this investing stuff was as easy to figure out as the decision about which car to drive.
Bobbi

If only this investing stuff was as easy to figure out as the decision about which car to drive.

Bobbi, you would not say the above if you were married to MY honey. Then again, I am quite happy that Rick leaves the investing part to me. If gas keeps on climbing from here, though, he might just start singing another tune about his mode of transportation, too. We've now switched to a totally cash-only budget. (Previously, we used credit or debit cards for the gas and cash for everything else.)

How are gas prices averaging in your area, Bobbi?

In the worst spots around here, unleaded is around $3.50 a gallon and climbing -- and $3.30 just over the border in Sowega (an affectionate nickname for SW Georgia). Gas prices at stations are changing midday now. If that isn't price-gouging, I'd like to know what IS.

The cost of transportation is really translating to inflation in food prices now, isn't it? Maybe that's why I haven't seen that milk ad lately. You know........ Remember?  It's the one that says Got milk? 

 If they want to air another ad, they should change it to Drink milk?  LOL!

Regards,

Susan

I really wish you guys wouldn't talk dirty.  This board is supposed to be a relatively free of offensive language and I really think you may be violating the terms of useage talking about filling your gas tank and mileage. Used to be able to go out to dinner at a fairly good restaurant for what a tank of gas is currently costing.

I'm seeing many more inexpensive cuts of meat available at the supermarket and better sales on more expensive steaks and roasts - but hurricane season is coming...........

Roberta 

I was all set to buy a hybrid Highlander this year until I saw the price, $40k+. My Tundra only has 60k miles and will last the rest of my life. My Avalon has 90 k and will be up for replacement in about three years. I probably only have one car replacement left in my lifetime budget. I can buy an awful lot of gas, even at $4.00/gal for the vehicle replacement cost.

We just went on a vacation using my truck which gets 18mpg. We take the truck because we frequent off road locations. Thats also why we were looking at a Highlander instead of a Prius or Camry hybrid. The truth is, even at an average of $3.50/gal, our fuel costs were less than either food or lodging.

My plan now is to wait three more years and by then there will probably be a hybrid Avalon. We will probably be done with off road vacations by then, and in normal use, my truck is used so infrequently that it is not a problem.

Ben 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Ben,

I hear you about the price of new cars. Paying an extra 4 - 8 grand to get 15 to 20% better mileage doesn't make much sense.

The way I figure it, when, not if, they start rationing gas (like some stores are doing with rice now).....I'll be really happy with my car.

Susan, stations here are charging between $3.39 and 3.59 per gallon today.
Bobbi

When you see the prices jump in the stores note that an 18 wheeler gets about 8 mpg and diesel is about .50/gal more than unleaded.  At about $4.30/gal and 350 gallons I'm guessing that many truckers are going to park the rig.  ken

We had a local loging company shut down 9 log trucks tues, laying off all drivers, four saw hands and three loaders just because they were losing money because of diesel. One shift of one of our paper wood plant was laided off because of lack of trees and it goes on down the line. We still have time for a war, but cannot help our own people!

I went back and averaged our gasoline bill for last 12 months and it came out to $177 a month. Is this average for old retired folks?

Like the rest of you I can not see trading a car and making car notes just to get 5 more miles to gal. of gas. Can slow down 5 MPH and get same savings.

Copie

I have an Accord with about 100K miles on it. On the highway it still gets 32-34 mpg, which I'm impressed with. It should last at least a few more years, at which point some plug-in hybrids will hopefully be available.

A car that can manage even 20-40 miles at highway speed on battery alone (with gas engine for longer distances) would be great. That would cut our use of petroleum a lot, and an electric "fill up" is quite a bit less than gasoline (per mile of operation). We still need better batteries to really make this a reality, however.

Duane

Duane,

I read a pretty disappointing article about the upcoming Chey Volt a couple of days ago. The word is that it should be available in 2010; of course all they need to do is develop a battery that will give the car a range of  at least 40 miles and totally redesign the body since the one they're using as a concept car is not at all aerodynamic. I can't believe they're already spending huge amounts of money advertising this vehicle.

Have you read about the work done at MIT to create a battery using viruses  to store power?
Bobbi

bobbinm:

Did you read about the research being done to create a battery using a virus to store power?
Bobbi

I hadn't heard about that. If you have a link handy, would you mind posting?

It's probably a long way off, but I'd really like to see the country moving away from fossil fuels for ground transportation and stationary power (industrial, residential). I hope the march of innovation and productivity improvement gets us there sooner rather than later. There's a company in San Jose, Nanosolar, that claims it can sell solar PV panels profitably at $1/watt. That's a decent step in the right direction if they can pull it off. (A coal-fired electric plant costs around $2/watt to build. The $1/watt for PV panels doesn't include installation costs, however).

Duane