Have gas prices affected you?

[Neurotica]

I've only been driving for a little over three years, and gas has gone up more than $1.30 in that time. ($1.19 was high right after I started driving. Then it spiked to $1.30 and stayed around there for quite a while.) About $0.50 of that increase has happened in the last month. I just got gas a few days ago at $2.39 (and the next day it went up to $2.49). The last time I'd gotten gas, it was $2.09. The fill-up before that was at $1.99. I don't know, but every time it jumps here, it seems like it's by 10 cents. I'm sure it's gone up to $2.59 by now and I just don't know about it.

No one around me seems too concerned, but I'm a full-time student and I only work part-time over the holidays. So, it costing more than $25 to fill my 11 gal tank is a lot to me. At least I traded in my 17mpg truck two years ago for a 30-32mpg car though. I live that far from university though, so if gas goes up much more, I won't be coming home on every weekend as I have in the past.

I live in a rural area, so there isn't any public transportation, and biking/walking isn't an option. It's 7 miles to the house of the friend who lives nearest to me. And it's 10 miles just to get into "town" and another 10 to get to the city, which is of course where everything is.

[xoxoxoBruce]

A reminder...well two reminders.

1- the fuel in your tank not only feeds the engine it's a coolant for the electric fuel pump that's also in the tank. So try not to let the tank get too low, especially in hot weather.

2- You can get gas in Iraq for 10 or 20 cents a gallon. Of course we're buying it in Kuwait for much more and trucking it in at a cost of $millions every month.

Well, here's my vast age showing, but I remember when gas was maybe .35 cents a gallon. Granted, everything else was cheaper back then too, but there's still no way around the fact that gas prices are taking a higher percentage of our money than they used to.

I miss my old Explorer, but it was a gas hog (Patrick, you have my sympathy). My little Toyota RAV that I now drive gets easily double the mileage of the Explorer, thank God!

At $2.00/gal I could buy a week's worth of gas for $30. Prices in my town have now gone up to about $2.70/gal, so I now pay $40.50. That's an extra $42.00 a month. If you are on a tight budget, that $42.00 extra hurts.

[mricytoast]

People are complaining about gas prices in the U.S. when it is generally three times higher in Europe to the gallon. But they get along fine, don't they? I really hope gas prices continue to rise, even exponentially, because that will finally shock this country into being more enviromentally concious/thoughtful.

2.70 a gallon here as well, also doesn't seem to reduce driving people.

Originally Posted by mricytoast

People are complaining about gas prices in the U.S. when it is generally three times higher in Europe to the gallon. But they get along fine, don't they?

In Europe they have this invention called efficient systems of mass transportation. A lot of 'em use this object of transportation called the "train." Amazing invention that. When I visit my family in Switzerland, the ones who live in the city have electric street cars that stop practically at their doorsteps and run 24/7. The street cars have nice direct routes to the train station. The trains take off ever 10 minutes for everywhere in Switzerland and the rest of Europe that you can imagine, and places that you can't imagine either.

Stuff like that in the US? That will be the day!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by mricytoast

I really hope gas prices continue to rise, even exponentially, because that will finally shock this country into being more enviromentally concious/thoughtful.

I want to get one of those bio-diesel cars. There was something in National Geographic about it, it's around 60-80 MPG and it costs about 8 dollars to fill up the car's tank for a month.

You've got a lot to learn about human nature and things not always being what they seem. On the up side you've chosen a good place to learn by being here....stick around.

[elSicomoro]

In the past year:

--Gas has gone up 60 cents for me (it was around $2/gal a year ago in Philly...it's currently $2.589 in St. Louis)
--I have a new car (2003 Malibu) that is not as fuel-efficient as my old cars (1994 Escort, 1995 Metro)
--I've gotten a delivery job

I put out about $180-200/month in fuel costs. A year ago, I was probably spending about $60-80/month. But I'm not complaining...it's the price I pay to do what I do. I don't like the prices, but we're still not paying as much as we were in 1983. *shrugs*

[Neurotica]

Originally Posted by sycamore

I don't like the prices, but we're still not paying as much as we were in 1983. *shrugs*

Some of us weren't even alive in 1983!

Is it an excuse to act like one's own situation is the worst it could possibly be and/or ever has been? No. I don't pretend that gas is at its highest ever. I just say that it's the highest it has been in my life.

Of course, I didn't start paying attention to gas prices until my teens, so it has never been under $1 as far as I can recall. So at least that means it has gone up "less" for me than other people. I have $1.19 (the first "high" price I can recall from my senior year) to hold onto; other people have $0.35.

[Trilby]

[quote=Neurotica]Some of us weren't even alive in 1983![quote]

The important people were.

[Neurotica]

Awww now, we already have enough of an inferiority complex. We don't need any help from upper generations.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by sycamore

...but we're still not paying as much as we were in 1983.

You beat me to it, syc. People who obsess over gas prices drive me nuts. I have a friend who will drive five miles out of her way to save $0.15 a gallon. Even if she weren't driving any further for that gas, she's only saving $4.50 per fill-up, or $27 a month if she fills up every 5 days. That's less than one meal at a restaurant, or one-fifth of their monthly cable bill.

Gas prices are the epitome of "penny-wise, pound-foolish" to me. I don't even pay attention to the price, ever. It is what it is. McDonald's costs more now than it did a year ago too; it's called inflation. If you need to save money, most people have plenty of other places they could cut back on.

(And not to turn this into a political argument, but "Gas prices are too high!" and "No blood for oil!" are mutually exclusive. You can't bitch about both.)[/threadjack]

[lumberjim]

I took a V8 Titan this time around for a demo. 60 miles ONE way to work. $52 last night to fill it. With a range of approx 340 miles, that's about 5 1/2 trips to or from work. I'll fill it again Saturday on the way in.

Weep for me.

I'll be taking a 6 speed Sentra SER next time to average out the cost.

what, I won't!?

[Scopulus Argentarius]

I recently changed jobs. My new job is less than 5 miles from my house; I fuel up once every 2 weeks (or less if I travel little on weekends) vs. twice a week for the old place of employment.

Even with high prices, my fuel costs no longer take a considerable chunk of my after-tax pay.

[melidasaur]

the thing i hate most about gasoline is that it only has one use... you can't eat it, you can't drink it. I hate paying for things that don't have dual use. Even toilet paper has multiple functions... not just wiping your rear.

[Bullitt]

Anybody else heard about those guys who are rigging up hybrid cars with a bunch more batteries for +-$6,000, getting an estimated 250 mpg in the process? I can't imagine how paranoid EMT's would be around a wreck with that much juice goin through it.