I guess this is why gas prices are so HIGH!!!

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indra said:


Don't count on it, at least in the US. We (in general) love our big, "we (or our SOs) have tiny penises and have to compensate somehow" cars and SUVs. :mad:

Or there's the "we have 3 kids and spend a lot of time shuttling our kids and friends around to schools, classes and events and Euro-mini cars don't cut it" school

The "tiny penis" issue you're so concerned about is more the rinky-dink mid-life crisis sports car, or massive pick-up trucks with big-haulin' kick-ass V-8 engines mostly used to haul nothing larger than a 12-pack of Bud-lite. Low passenger transportation capability and totally unnecesarily low fuel consumption
 
Justin24 said:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1841989&page=1

Exxon Executive will receive a 400 million dollars


I think I know where he put the $400 million.

capt.ny11304160537.exxon_riches_ny113.jpg
 
Regarding the high gas prices outside of the US, as much as 50% of the gasoline price(at current prices) in some countries is tax. The US gas tax is only a fraction of that (10-20% of the price at current prices).

Part of the reason for higher gasoline prices is the prevalence of traders and investors in the energy markets. Anyone with a commodities brokerage account can buy energy contracts. This causes the energy markets to be overly sensitive to perceived adverse events.
 
ntalwar said:
Part of the reason for higher gasoline prices is the prevalence of traders and investors in the energy markets. Anyone with a commodities brokerage account can buy energy contracts. This causes the energy markets to be overly sensitive to perceived adverse events.

Therefore, we should have permission to kick these people in the nuts. :mad:
 
ntalwar said:
Part of the reason for higher gasoline prices is the prevalence of traders and investors in the energy markets. Anyone with a commodities brokerage account can buy energy contracts. This causes the energy markets to be overly sensitive to perceived adverse events.

More market participants is a net positive in the long term.
 
indra said:


Don't count on it, at least in the US. We (in general) love our big, "we (or our SOs) have tiny penises and have to compensate somehow" cars and SUVs. :mad:


I think that trend is reversing itself. It's a cycle. In the 80's smaller more fuel efficient cars were more popular. Then came the SUV trend . That market has taken a tremendous hit in the last couple years.
 
Dreadsox said:
Love my PRIUS

Me, too! :love: Bought mine three months ago, and I've spent maybe $100 in gas total.

Get a Prius, folks. Looks small, but it's big enough to cart whatever you want around.

Plus, mark my words: Gas in the US will be $5 a gallon by 2010, if not more. :yes:
 
redkat said:



I think that trend is reversing itself. It's a cycle. In the 80's smaller more fuel efficient cars were more popular. Then came the SUV trend . That market has taken a tremendous hit in the last couple years.

I remember. I learned to drive in the 80's. It also amazes me how the same sized familier now "needing" SUVs etc. got along fine in regular, often even compact sedans then. :shrug:
 
indra said:


I remember. I learned to drive in the 80's. It also amazes me how the same sized familier now "needing" SUVs etc. got along fine in regular, often even compact sedans then. :shrug:

Exactly. Having kids sit a foot away from each other really doesn't cause any fewer fights, screaming, bickering, etc. than having them sit right next to each other. :shrug: I fought with my brother when we sat next to each other in a Honda Civic, and I fought with him when we were three feet apart in a Chevy van. As for "needing the space," unless you're honestly lugging around tents and sleeping bags and stuff like that every single weekend, carrying a kid's soccer ball, water bottle, etc. doesn't require dozens of cubic feet of space. :eyebrow:

Honestly, we'd do much better for our kids by not driving something that gets 12 miles to the gallon. :shrug:
 
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Do hybrid cars really save you money?

This study reported on by NPR, based on a gas price of $3/gallon finds that it will take you 15 YEARS to make up the difference in the cost of the car via your savings on gas.

Still the major reason why more people are not switching over.
 
anitram said:
Do hybrid cars really save you money?

This study reported on by NPR, based on a gas price of $3/gallon finds that it will take you 15 YEARS to make up the difference in the cost of the car via your savings on gas.

Still the major reason why more people are not switching over.

yeah, hybrids are typically more expensive than their gas-only counterparts. however, this year there's a tax credit for the first 60,000 hybrids sold by each company. the credit is based on the efficiency of the car in its class. the prius, for example, gets the highest credit at $3150. when we looked at other cars with similar options, the prius was only about 1-2K more than those other cars after the credit (as the credit is better than last year's deduction, as the credit is straight-up cash back). thus, as long as you purchase one before the credit expires, it won't take nearly as long to earn back the price difference.
 
Utoo said:


Exactly. Having kids sit a foot away from each other really doesn't cause any fewer fights, screaming, bickering, etc. than having them sit right next to each other. :shrug: I fought with my brother when we sat next to each other in a Honda Civic, and I fought with him when we were three feet apart in a Chevy van. As for "needing the space," unless you're honestly lugging around tents and sleeping bags and stuff like that every single weekend, carrying a kid's soccer ball, water bottle, etc. doesn't require dozens of cubic feet of space. :eyebrow:

Honestly, we'd do much better for our kids by not driving something that gets 12 miles to the gallon. :shrug:

Problem is, that unlike in the dark ages, we are now required to have a seat belt for each passenger. We used to fit 5/6 kids and 2 adults into a sedan no problem (other than slightly cramped) way back when, but when automakers only make 5 seatbelts it's not only illegal, it's unsafe.

Still, let's not let safety and legality spoil a good rant about the "necessity" for more room and the resulting preponderance of minivans and SUV's.
 
toscano said:


Problem is, that unlike in the dark ages, we are now required to have a seat belt for each passenger. We used to fit 5/6 kids and 2 adults into a sedan no problem (other than slightly cramped) way back when, but when automakers only make 5 seatbelts it's not only illegal, it's unsafe.

Still, let's not let safety and legality spoil a good rant about the "necessity" for more room and the resulting preponderance of minivans and SUV's.

or birth control and population control :happy:
 
toscano said:


Problem is, that unlike in the dark ages, we are now required to have a seat belt for each passenger. We used to fit 5/6 kids and 2 adults into a sedan no problem (other than slightly cramped) way back when, but when automakers only make 5 seatbelts it's not only illegal, it's unsafe.

Still, let's not let safety and legality spoil a good rant about the "necessity" for more room and the resulting preponderance of minivans and SUV's.

In a previous post you mentioned a family with three children, not a family of with five to six children. Correct me if I'm wrong, but three kids and two adults is five people. And nearly every sedan has five seatbelts.

Plus the average family in the US now has two children (1.9 actually), so can easily fit into a sedan with "only" five seatbelts. I will bet you the vast majority of SUVs and minivans (many minivans aren't as big of fuel hogs as SUVs so aren't quite so bad) are owned by people with three or fewer children.

So for most families there really is no "need" for these huge vehicles (especially the largers ones), there is just a desire for them.

We also see it in housing. How many families expect each child to have not only his/her own bedroom, but also his/her own bathroom now? And that's not even considering the TVs, radios/cd players/ipods/etc., cellphones, pcs, laptops, etc., etc. We now expect lots of everything, with little or no sharing.
 
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indra said:


In a previous post you mentioned a family with three children, not a family of with five to six children. Correct me if I'm wrong, but three kids and two adults is five people. And nearly every sedan has five seatbelts.

Plus the average family in the US now has two children (1.9 actually), so can easily fit into a sedan with "only" five seatbelts.

Well, baseball teams have 9 players...and you might have to carpool the whole team...once, twice a month....=15 or 20 or so times a year...

:wink:
 
indra said:


In a previous post you mentioned a family with three children, not a family of with five to six children.

You never took a friend when you were younger ? You've never had "your turn" at transportation of multiple children to any event ?

One Minivan (yes, they ARE fuel hogs) or SUV on the road might save 2 or 3 cars on the road when resources are pooled. Do the math.


QUOTE]Originally posted by indra

Correct me if I'm wrong, but three kids and two adults is five people. And nearly every sedan has five seatbelts.
[/QUOTE]

Correct ME if I'm wrong, but having 3 kids doesn't mean you should plan your life around only ever needing transportation for 5

QUOTE]Originally posted by indra
Plus the average family in the US now has two children (1.9 actually), so can easily fit into a sedan with "only" five seatbelts. I will bet you the vast majority of SUVs and minivans (many minivans aren't as big of fuel hogs as SUVs so aren't quite so bad) are owned by people with three or fewer children.
[/QUOTE]

Again, meaningful only if they never plan to use the extra space. I know many families with only one or 2 kids, most do their fair share of hauling other kids (including ours) to soccer games, etc. again, better one vehicle on the road than 3, no ?

indra said:

So for most families there really is no "need" for these huge vehicles (especially the largers ones), there is just a desire for them.

Good to see you are so in tune with "most families" needs !


indra said:
We also see it in housing. How many families expect each child to have not only his/her own bedroom, but also his/her own bathroom now? And that's not even considering the TVs, radios/cd players/ipods/etc., cellphones, pcs, laptops, etc., etc. We now expect lots of everything, with little or no sharing.

Just out of curiousity, do you have kids ? (not making a point, I just don't know your circumstances)
 
indra said:
So for most families there really is no "need" for these huge vehicles (especially the largers ones), there is just a desire for them.

The "need" is not necessarily for passenger space - it is safety.

Having been hit smack in the middle of the driver's door, the only thing that kept me out of the hospital was an SUV.
 
Utoo said:
Well, baseball teams have 9 players...and you might have to carpool the whole team...once, twice a month....=15 or 20 or so times a year...

:wink:
Pretty much what I was thinking, and I doubt it would add up to fuel savings when you factor in all the times the minivan or SUV had only 1 or 2 passengers in it. In any case, we can't afford anything besides our '88 Camry for the time being, so I guess our kids are stuck with that lol. Ditto for having their own bedrooms and bathrooms (there's 5 of us, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms). I suppose we'll eventually get them their own cell phones and computers (which can double as CD/DVD players, as we do with our one family PC now, since we don't have a TV or stereo), but as far as ipods and such go, they'll have to earn the money for that themselves.
 
Methinks someone at CNN had a good chuckle over this e-mail:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/19/feedback.gasprices/index.html

I fill my car with 50 dollars worth of gas. I drive to the store to buy a 6 dollar bag of beef jerky. It takes me 3 dollars to go 14 miles to buy the jerky. I eat it all before I get home so I must go back to the store to buy more jerky for 6 dollars. Again it costs me 3 dollars in gas. I finish the jerky just as I arrive at home only to get an upset stomach from 1/2 pound of dried beef swelling in my stomach. I now have to spend another 3 dollars in gas to buy a 7 dollar bottle of Rolaids. This 1 hour of my life cost me 28 dollars. With the price of gas these days I think its time to give up on beef jerky. Another pleasure gone due to gas prices.
Joe Stain, Atlanta, Georgia

If I can make a suggestion, buy 2 bags of beef jerky and a bottle of Rolaids in one trip. :wink:

Melon
 
Utoo said:


yeah, hybrids are typically more expensive than their gas-only counterparts. however, this year there's a tax credit for the first 60,000 hybrids sold by each company. the credit is based on the efficiency of the car in its class. the prius, for example, gets the highest credit at $3150. when we looked at other cars with similar options, the prius was only about 1-2K more than those other cars after the credit (as the credit is better than last year's deduction, as the credit is straight-up cash back). thus, as long as you purchase one before the credit expires, it won't take nearly as long to earn back the price difference.



good points.

also, i thought the main reason to buy a Hybrid is not that it will save you money (which would be a nice side benefit), but that you will, you know, CONSUME LESS FUEL.

:shrug:
 
Irvine511 said:

also, i thought the main reason to buy a Hybrid is not that it will save you money (which would be a nice side benefit), but that you will, you know, CONSUME LESS FUEL.

:shrug:

EXACTLY. :up:
 
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