Hey driving people! You with the motor idling when you talk on your cell phone!
SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS!
The current gas price in the U.S. is what I was paying in Canada 15 years ago. The last time anyone saw prices that low in Europe is before you were born. And in terms of actual dollars taking inflation into account, it’s still lower than in the 70s.
Does it come as some sort of shock that the price of a commodity is going up? Did you not realize when you bought your house a 30 minute 45 minute 90 minute commute away from your workplace that driving might eventually become expensive? And that traffic on your drive might increase because other people thought buying a cheap home so far away from the city might be a good idea?
Stupid fuckwits. Gas prices are only going to get higher, everyone’s known about it, and people have been doing everything but tattooing the prediction on your hand. If you don’t take higher gasoline prices into account when planning your life you’re a moron of the highest order who deserves to go bankrupt.
Oh wait, that’ll happen when you don’t get the raise you’re expecting, the housing bubble bursts, and the bank starts insisting you actually pay some of the principal on your interest-only mortgage…
Always blew my mind whenever the price of gas would drop and you’d hear on the news that large vehicle sales were skyrocketing. Do people actually take such a short term view of things?
A bright side to the likelyhood higher prices will stick around for good is that maybe this will encourage people to start carpooling, buying smaller vehicles and questioning the wisdom of indiscriminate trips. How nice it would be if the roads were less congested, speeding was down, the descrepancy between vehicle sizes was reduced and the air became a little cleaner.
Certainly, I have no problem either paying for or seeing the value in that.
Hard to pit something when everybody agress with you.
I do like to sit back in my fuel efficient econo box box and laugh at people who bought large SUV’s to commute in.
How’s that 11 MPG working for you?
Do you really need such a large vehicle for 1 person?
So what does your annual Gas bill work out to at $2.53 per Gallon for regular?
Chart of gas prices, adjusted for inflation. Gas has actually stayed within a fairly narrow range for the past 20 years. It was at twenty year lows five years ago. So, no, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the price of gas will be monotonically increasing. Nor does it follow that it will rise so rapidly in just a few months.
And who the hell cares what you’re paying in Canada? Prices have risen there too. Are you consoling yourself that people pay more in Belgium?
Oil prices affect more than gasoline. Fuel oil prices have more than doubled since I moved into my house. Exactly how could I have prepared for that? Moved into a warmer climate? I think a bit of bitching is appropriate and called for.
Which doesn’t mean that I don’t feel a bit gleeful when I’m driving behind a Ford Excessive and musing about their probable fuel consumption.
Please don’t discourage them. Now that I’m getting close to 50MPG, and saving more money than I ever imagined I would when I ordered my Prius, I really enjoy the experience of gloating over the guy with the Suburban spending 80 bucks a week on gas. I really, really enjoy it. So let 'em bitch, please.
That’s always puzzled me as well. I’ve always bought the car I liked, price of gas and consumption be damned. If I have to worry about affording to put gas in the thing then I can’t afford the damn thing to begin with.
As for unnecessary trips, that’s an even harder habit to break. Don’t look for significant numbers of people to change their driving habits. Not in North America.
Also, the main reason U.S. car manufacturers retooled to build more econo boxes was because Japan started to import them and they sold surprisingly well. I don’t know if Asia’s most popular automobile manufacturers can easily scale back their current lines of cars aimed at the American market. Let’s face it, the Camry and Accord are a far cry from the econoboxes of the 70’s.
Of couse, this may be Kia’s and Hyundai’s moments to shine.
Heh. I’m not feeling quite that beligerant yet, but I certainly do :rolleyes: whenever I read about 2.50/gallon being super-high. I write software for the oil industry (or I’m supposed to be doing that, at least :D). Outside my window I see lots full of tubulars and rental equipment; within 5km are at least 3 rig construction yards. Outside my window I also see the local gas station, today advertising .93c/litre, which Google will tell me is almost 3$US/gallon.
Yeah it’s not cheap, but the only thing I’m complaining about is the fact that at 6’5", I probably won’t be trading my '03 Malibu for a Smartcar anytime soon.
Fuck you, Barbarian, you piece of crap. We’re paying the prices, so it’s our right to complain about it. I drive a small, fuel-efficient car, but I have a long commute to work, and I’ll occasionally vent about high gas prices. If you get in my face about it, I’ll slap the taste out of your mouth, you Canadian asshole.
My Texas truck driving sterotype be damned. I would drive the hell out of one of those little fuckers. I first saw those on my trip to Germany last year. I’ve wanted one every since.
My little import pick-up only gets about 16 miles to the gallon (I have no idea why that is). It cost me $38 to fill it up this morning.
This is my problem. I’d love to drive a small hybrid, but since I’m 6’8" it would be a bit… cramped. The best I could do was a Honda Element, which gets 24 mpg. Plus it’s boxy!
I think it’s funny to hear people who drive cars which cost $25,000 or more complain about an increase in gas prices. I drive more miles than average to get to work, about 30,000 miles per year. At 30 MPG, that’s 1,000 gallons per year. So I spend $1,500 a year at 1.50 per gallon, $2,500 per year at current prices here. At current prices, fuel cost is a small portion of the total cost of driving for people who drive new, expensive cars. Vehicle cost is a bigger deal, and it’s the one major factor that is almost completely at the consumer’s discretion.
