It looks like we have finally tapped out…OPEC has announced that it will not increase capacity. Oil is surging in price, and at a time when it usually drops a few dollars. WE are at the end of the oil heating season, and driving demand doesn’r normally pick up until around May-June.
So, is this time for real? Will we Americans finally get serious about conservation (and stop driving those 5 MPG SUVs?)
Some analysts are talking about oil at $75 per barrel-will this finally be enough to spur alternatives?
I don’t see much future for big cars and trucks-is this a good time to make a low ball offer on an SUV?
Nobody seems alll that concerned…but I’m afraid this will bring on another recession…how high can oil prices go before it shuts down the economy?
I bought up an old Isuzu diesel pickup in December and I am modifying it to run on straight vegetable oil part time. So THERE!!!
If that experiment works, I’m going to look at a Dodge with a Cummin’s diesel, just so I’ll have the biggest pickup on the road!!! Hey, I’m a good redneck.
2005 Audi TT : 21 mpg
Honda S2000: 20 mpg
Porsche 911: 18 mpg Boxster: 20 mpg
BMW M3: 16 mpg
Mercedes-Benz SL: 16 mpg
Nissan Z Roadster: 18 mpg
All things considered, wouldn’t it be more fun to make a low ball offer on a zippy little convertible?
Which SUV is it that get’s 5mpg? :rolleyes:
Just for the record. My Wife and I both drive mid-size SUVs (the most common size) and get 18-20 mpg highway. We don’t do any city driving.
Since I have no other option but to drive an SUV or 4x4 truck, this could actually be good news for me. Prices of SUV’s may come down
Hmmm. people are speculating a 25 cent jump in gas prices. For myself, that will cost me perhaps $20 a month. We’ll survive. The incresed cost will promote more research into other energy options. Now or later. Doesn’t really matter.
Generally people that can afford an SUV can afford the gasoline for one. “Afford” means not struggling to make the payments because you overextended yourself so that you could have an SUV just to be cool just like everyone else.
We’re still not to Arab-oil-embargo-level of pricing yet. Nowhere close. There’s no fuel cost crisis except for the very poor, and they’re better off with public transportation (where available) anyway.
Keep in mind that oil prices aren’t simply a matter of supply and demand. A high price doesn’t mean there’s a critically low amount of oil remaining in the world; it means that OPEC and oil speculators have driven up the price. OPEC’s decision not to increase production may have more to do with their desire to keep prices high than with an actual shortage of oil. Also, it seems that any world event that has anything to do with oil has a disproportionate influence on the price of oil. A pipeline is bombed in Iraq, and the price goes up a dollar. Political instability in an oil-producing country, and the price goes up 60 cents. (Not the real figures, but if you see an oil-related story on the news, you’ll see a substantial leap in oil prices in the business section.)
So far, it doesn’t look like high gas prices have been driving people away from 20mpg vehicles. It might take a very substantial increase – say, 150% or 200% of the current price – for people to buy more fuel-efficient cars. The energy crisis certainly made that happen, but an increase that only costs an average driver $15-25 per month isn’t likely to make them buy a new vehicle over fuel costs.
Bolding mine. I really, really don’t see why SUV owners have these thinly disguised insults thrown at them.
SUV’s are far more useful than sports cars. But people that own a Vette (or whatever) aren’t put down.
It has absolutely nothing to do with being ‘cool’. It has everything to do with the U in SUV.
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- I bought an SUV because I can’t safely fit into a small car. In most vehicles if I adjust the seat back all the way vertical, my head is pressed firmly against the ceiling. So it had to be either an SUV, a large truck or a large luxury car–and “eco-commies” don’t like any of those options anway.
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- That won’t happen yet. We’ve still got bullets left!
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Huh? I defended the SUV by virtue of saying that there’s no fuel crisis, so rock-on. If I touched a nerve, is it because you’re an SUV owner or a poor loser that spends every dime that they have on an SUV just so that they can have one like everyone else?
High fuel prices hurt not because it costs more to put gas into your car - that’s a fairly modest increase that most people can absorb. The real cost is inflation. All goods require energy to create, so when energy prices go up the cost of everything goes up. By small amounts, granted. But when you add it up across the board, it starts to become significant.
If things don’t change, I don’t see oil prices dropping substantially in the near future. The biggest problem is is the massive increase in energy requirements in China and India as they become 1st world countries. China’s infrastructure is very energy inefficient - they use 5 times as much energy per dollar of GDP created than does the U.S. So as their GDP goes up, their energy needs go up more. This is only going to get worse over time.
That doesn’t mean there’s a crisis coming, it just means we’ll see an accelerated move to new fuel sources and technologies. Nuclear is about to make a huge comeback, and it’s about damned time. I predict that within five years there will be a big new wave of construction of nuclear power plants in the U.S. - as oil prices increase, the U.S. will start to lose competitive advantages to countries that have cheaper forms of energy, including nuclear. France gets 70% of its energy from nuclear power, for example. China is rapidly building nuclear plants. So expect that to be the wave of the near future.
The next technology jump in vehicles will be ‘plug-in hybrids’. Take the same hybrid vehicle you have now, put a bigger battery in it, and charge it before you leave for work. Now the battery picks up 100% of the vehicle’s propulsion until it discharges enough that the gas engine has to kick in. This simple change can change a current hybrid that gets 40mpg into one that gets 80mpg. In some cases, like vehicles that are used for short commuter hops, the gas engine may only rarely even come into play.
Of course, this doesn’t make the vehicle more efficient, it just changes the energy source from gasoline to whatever is used to generate your household electric power. Maybe nuclear, maybe coal or natural gas or hydro. But it will still offload demand for gasoline.
Another cost is one of a widening trade imbalances and a burgeoning national debt, both of which feed inflationary pressures and further bury of children in crippling debt.
Where is that in your post?
You suggested that people buy SUV’s to be ‘cool like everyone else. I disagree. Your very wide brush suggests that people buy SUV’s to be ‘cool’.
Yes, you did touch a nerve, because you have no idea of what you are talking about. And you sound like one of the people that would like to prevent me from getting what I need, because you don’t need it yourself.
Open your eyes and realize that everyone in not like you.
My 12 year old SUV and I respectfully disagree. I, and my Wife drive SUV’s for a very simple reason. For us, they are the most practical, useful vehicles for us.
And, to suggest that I’m a ‘poor loser’ is better fitted for the PIT.
Bingo.
Ummm, yes they are. Where have you been the last 50 years? The Corvette is THE proverbial “small penis” car.
I would strongly disagree with this. I fully admit that I’ve grown to hate SUVs recently, so this is a biased account, but I’ve been looking at them on my commute and they almost always have one sole person in them. I never see those 72-seat urban assualt vehicles doing the job they were made to do.
Maybe in Colorado they’re all about “utility”, but in the Valley of the Sun they’re all about “Status”.
Luckily I get 39mpg and my SO gets closer to 50 and we both have short commutes, so this won’t cripple us.
Trade the SUV in on what? Our’s (a Blazer) gets 24 MPG, we live in the mountains and need the cargo capacity.
So, to answer your question. No, in our situation, it isn’t time to trade in the SUV.
Just yesterday, I read an article which said that if you adjust for inflation, the price of gasoline in 1987 was over $3 per gallon. So, comparitively speaking, gas is still fairly cheap.
(slight hijack)
a more interesting issue (but more appropriate to GD) is :
*Why are Americans so psychotically fixated on gasoline prices? *
In every European country, prices are 4 or 5 times more expensive, and people accept it as a normal part of life. But Americans go beserk at the thought.
Americans don’t complain about paying $150 for a minor visit to the doctor’s office–but if they have to pay an extra $1.50 in gasoline to drive there , it’s the end of the world.
from here Looks like oil might jump to $80/barrel in the next two years. I guess this translates to about a 10% increase in the price per gallon. So about 20 more cents per gallon is the estimate. For me this translates to around $14 more per month, or $168/year. I think I can handle that, especially if this forces a more serious look at fuel alternatives.
I drive a small SUV (Ford Escape), and I fall into your category of being an SUV driver that rarely has more than one or two people in the vehicle. However:
- Yesterday I picked up a bar fridge for our basement.
- I’m the weekly transportation for my workgroup’s lunch outing.
- Last week I transported a whole bunch of lumber for my basement project.
- I can put the lawn mower in it to take it in for servicing
- When we go on vacation we can carry a ton of stuff with us.
- In a few weeks it will be time for spring gardening, and I’ll be hauling a ton of plants, bags of dirt, etc.
- In winter, it’s fantastic. Just last week our car was broken when it hit a deep rut on an icy road and snapped the bushing on the rear stabilizer bar. The Escape goes over that stuff with ease.
- For hobbies I fly model airplanes, ski, scuba dive, and do other things that are very difficult to do if you can’t haul big things.
Etc. If you’re a homeowner or have a hobby that requires moving large items, an SUV can be indispensible.
And the Escape gets roughly equivalent mileage to our mid-size sedan, so it doesn’t even cost much to drive.
Jesus fsck’ing Christ. Don’t you realize I work for the biggest manufacturer of SUV’s in the world, and my livlihood depends on SUVs, and that I’m a proponent of them? Let’s dissect what I said line by line for, then, shall we? Then we’ll dissect your diatribe.
If you reference the OP, there’s some doomspeak there, implications that we should stop buying SUV’s because fuel prices are going to be so high. I’m simply saying that for most people that buy SUV’s (which are expensive), a change in gas prices in no big deal, because people that can buy expensive things (SUV’s) can afford more expensive things (gasoline).
This applies to a good number of people. They succumb to peer pressure instead of common sense, and over-extend themselves on the purchase of an SUV so that they can be cool and fit it. Get it through your skull – I’m attacking posers, not SUV drivers.
I think this would be a good place for me to be alarmist and attack SUV’s if that’s what I were looking to do.
Now that you have no excuse to see what I wrote above, you’ll understand I’m talking about losers that over-finance themselves to get something just so that they feel that they can fit in. If I improperly accused you of being one of these jerks, then it’s because I don’t understand what the hell you’re talking about. Either you’re someone who can afford their SUV, or you’re a poser who over-extended himself just to be like everyone else. Where’s the gray zone? Where am I losing you?
FWIW, I identify myself as a libertarian. And as I said above, I have a vested self interest in putting everyone in the most expensive SUV that they can afford. That they can afford. I do want to prevent you from something, though: total financial ruin just so you can fit in. If it doesn’t apply to you, then swell. Is there anyone else here who doubts that I’m talking about posers here?
Strictly speaking, I suggested nothing but rather posed a question to you. I think most of your problem is you don’t read carefully before spouting off. If anyone else can identify where I recommended that you not drive an SUV, or where I attacked SUV drivers that aren’t overextended posers, then I’ll apologize to you.
Olive branch: if you want to buy a new SUV, I’ll get you what you need for the employee pricing plan. Write me offline.