Gas Prices

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Indignity
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Gas Prices

Post by Indignity »

I'm sorry, but I'm just really ticked off about gas prices.

Today the signs read $3.39/gallon... wtf??? They are also saying that it could reach $4.00/gallon before summer is out up here...

The problem I'm having is that nothing has really changed in the 20+ years i've been driving so why is gasoline sooo damned expensive????? Okay, crude oil went up $1.00/gallon on Tuesday(hypothetically); why am I paying an extra .30/gallon on Wednesday? Did the crude somehow get refined at one of the plants that was said to be closed because of a fire they had 6 months ago? I thought places bought/sold/traded oil on the futures market????

Secondly, I don't wanna go on the political trail, but weren't we supposed to be over there to get a better cut on the crude coming out of the middle east?

The bottom line is I don't know who to call/contact to make some sort of plea for help.. I'm just having problems dealing with filling up my 1993 Pontiac Grand AM to the tune of $42.00 at the current pricing.. Will easily be over $50 if it does hit $4.00/gallon.

/rant

Thank you for your time. Feedback would be much appreciated. Oh, and by the way, those stupid emails that get passed around about not buying gas one day doesn't do a g-darn thing to hurt the oil companies.. they'll take your money today, tomorrow, the day after that...ect..........
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Post by cyberneticimplant »

In Canada we already pay $4 a gallon.

It is supply and demand. A lot more cars are on the road than 20 years ago. Not just in America, but also the world. Demand is higher, and so is the price.

I think the cars we drive a partly to blame. While you can get an Accord, Camry, or Altima with a I4 engine, a similar size Chevy Impala or Ford Taurus is V6 only. Also, you can't get manual transmission, which is more fuel efficient. Too complicated for the colonials? Not to mention most are OHV instead of DOHC. It is 2007, why do we still have push-rod engines?!

I think we just need to conserve energy.
Last edited by cyberneticimplant on Fri May 18, 2007 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by bubba »

What kills me is there are guys in the shop at my work that whine and moan about gas then on the weekend go and spend 200-300 in fuel to run a boat around the lake, they all drive trucks 30+ miles to work and almost all refuse to car pool.

They look at me like my head is on backwards when I suggest car pooling or finding a car like a VW rabbit to drive to work. Hell I'm thinking of picking up an motorcycle for my commute and only drive my car in the winter and in bad weather, unless I can work in the budget a new car like the scion XB, the 5 speed version gets 35mpg highway and I can get in it and not have my knee's in my chest and I'm 6'1".

But mainly (even the experts are saying this now) to drive the price down the demand has to go down. Drive less or drive smarter, plan your trips. I leave the house almost 45 min earlier than I have in the past so I can drive 55-60 instead of 70-75 to get to work. I gained 100 miles (one more days commute) out of a tank of gas.
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Post by KnightRid »

bubba - I hear that all the time too! People drive big dually tricks and wonder why it takes $100 to fill up..LOL.

Scion - oh for the love of god get a real car :p They make me laugh everytime I see one because I jsut cant wait for the clowns to start piling out of it..lol.

Gas will continue to rise, oil tycoons will continue to make more and more profit, and our lovely government will not do a damn thing about it.

Wonder what the oil industry would do if everyone on the world said - we wont pay over $30 a barrell for oil, so kep it and use it yourself, or lower the price.

Mike

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Post by Indignity »

cyberneticimplant, thanks for the info!!! Guess i'll be skipping my Canadian Fly-In this year lol.....I think the US situation just trickles up to you guys for some reason, which isn't fair for the residents up Nordth dere eh.

As far as demand goes, it's been something like 25 years since there were any oil refineries were built. Well, demand is up 2-fold in those 25 years, which has been mentioned.

I guess I'm a typical spoiled American, but I don't want to be dictated to on how to live my life. I don't have a boat or big SUV/Pickup, but that's not saying that I'd love to have one.. I'd also love to have a motorcycle, but I simply don't have the extra cash....

Hey Congress, if you are reading this, PLEASE BUILD MORE REFINERIES!!!!!!
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Re: Gas Prices

Post by Zelig »

$3.39/gallon = $0.8955 / liter
My local gas station = $1.118 / liter
Average UK price = $1.895 / liter
Venezuela = $0.0317 / liter

Of course, I wouldn't much fancy living in Venezuela other than for the cheap gas.

North America, and a couple European and middle-eastern countries are by far the worst in the world in oil consumption per capita. The US uses over three times more oil than China, with a third of the population. As China and India keep developing, demand for oil will only go up.

bubba: Motorcycles are more fun than cars any way. :)
Car sizes are funny, I mostly drive a Toyota Matrix, and Chevy S10. I'm an average sized guy, and I've actually got quite a bit more room in the Matrix. In the S10, adjusting the seat consists of me sliding it all the way back, while if I do the same in the Matrix, I'm unable to shift gears.

FWIW, the US auto industry doesn't help much with the vehicles they sell. There isn't a single US manufacturer which makes a car that gets over 40 mpg... however, there are models made for sale *outside* North America which have better fuel efficiency, you just can't buy them in the US/Canada. For example, the Ford Focus has at minimum a 2.0 L engine in North America, while the international version has a 1.4 L engine, and a 1.6 L ethanol mix engine available.
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Post by DaIceMan »

No need to rag on the Scion. I enjoy my box quite a bit. Room for 2 adults and computer gear, without taking out the sub box, and 31mpg... I can't complain too much.
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Post by dicecca112 »

There isn't a single US manufacturer which makes a car that gets over 40 mpg.
Toyota Corolla does. Well not city, but highway. My sisters gets about 40-45mph and has since she bought the car two years ago
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Post by stopthekilling77 »

thats pretty nice! i get ~36-37mpg highway with my '94 Jetta, but it's been tuned n tweaked :P
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Post by bubba »

Toyota's are built to run, thats why they have a high resale value. My old car pool buddy has an old corolla (early 90's) been under water twice and still get 500 miles out of a tank of gas, ~35 mpg
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Post by Zelig »

dicecca112 wrote:Toyota Corolla does. Well not city, but highway. My sisters gets about 40-45mph and has since she bought the car two years ago
Sorry, I meant US based company, not US manufacturer, as in Ford and GM.

Corollas are nice though. :)
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Post by Apoptosis »

All I know is gas is back under $3 a gallon here in Missouri ($2.93) and I'm happy with that to be honest.
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Post by T-Shirt »

Apoptosis wrote:All I know is gas is back under $3 a gallon here in Missouri ($2.93) and I'm happy with that to be honest.
Could you mail me a box of that? :lol: $3.39-3.79 here for the cheap stuff :cry:
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Post by DMB2000uk »

Spare a thought for the poor people in the UK.

$8 a gallon!!!

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Post by odie2190 »

lol i drive a 2006 nissan sentra manual, ive only been driving a month and i know how to drive stick popl should learn it isnt hard at all. i get almost 40 mpg
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Post by Cypher »

As I was telling my brother last night, Thank God I don't have a car or a drivers license. My car would always be sitting in my driveway because I couldn't afford the gas for it.

I still remember the good ole' days when I seen gas for for 67 cents.
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Post by vicaphit »

Ive got a 97 civic. Just filled up today and got 316 miles out of just over 9 gallons of gas. My old car only got about 22mpg, but that was when gas was less than $2 a gallon (I remember one summer where it was less than a dollar!)

What is funny, is all of the people saying that the war in Iraq is a war for oil... obviously not, since our gas prices have done nothing but rise since that started.
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Post by NAiLs »

Apoptosis wrote:All I know is gas is back under $3 a gallon here in Missouri ($2.93) and I'm happy with that to be honest.
Don't you put premium in the SRT-4? Or do you have another car to drive aside from that?

I filled up about 15 gallons last week and paid $50. How depressing... Our premium here is hitting around the $3.50 mark now.
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Post by TristanM »

It's funny - here in Europe automatic transmissions are fairly rare, I haven't actually personally witnessed anyone using one, only heard about a person who has one.

I came back to Ireland from the States, and when I left (only three years ago) you could still get petrol for about $1.50. Damn inflation.

The war is not about cheap oil, it's about regulating the industry - in other words, the oil companies have strong enough lobbies to make sure that oil prices stay high. If someone were to take over an oil-producing country, and needed the money to fund their new revolutionary state, they would sell below the current market prices in order to corner the market and guarantee funding.

As to being told how to live your life - You are one of six billion people who were all born to this same planet the same way. Why should your desire to be conveniently mobile be treated preferentially to those others who don't have the luxury to demand, like a spoiled child, everything they ever wanted?
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Post by Apoptosis »

NAiLs wrote:
Apoptosis wrote:All I know is gas is back under $3 a gallon here in Missouri ($2.93) and I'm happy with that to be honest.
Don't you put premium in the SRT-4? Or do you have another car to drive aside from that?

I filled up about 15 gallons last week and paid $50. How depressing... Our premium here is hitting around the $3.50 mark now.
yes 93 is all I have ever run in it... even 91 octane pings and runs like crap ;( It's getting harder to find 93 octane here in Missouri after QT dropped their 93 octane for 91 octane and kept the prices the same.
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