OT-Record High Gas Prices!!

[MegadethLady]

I get to also spend a fortune on gas this summer. I am moving across the country in mid May, so I have a drive in an SUV to Louisiana for a week to get my stuff settled, then up to Minnesota for a wedding I am going to be in, and then back down to Louisiana. I also have a drive from New York to Cleveland in a couple of weeks right before the move.
Gas is 3 dollars a gallon here and that is for the cheap stuff!

[dornroeschen]

Originally posted by Skittl1321:
But is it possible for you to take public transportation?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I could and I did when my previous car got hit by a car and was a write-off until I got my new one. I walk 20 minutes to the train station where I get the bus to the town where I work - with a 20 minutes bus-ride. I could take a bus to the train station too, however, the bus at that time of the day is completely filled with students going to school - we don't have school buses like you do, students use the public transportation service. Going home a Friday I need to rush to the bus and make sure I get it - otherwise I'm waiting one hour for the next one.

Going by car it only takes 15 minutes and I do love my independence of going different places after work, hence I'm paying the price it costs me.

The other day I did a reimbursement claim for a new staff member arriving from Finland by car and boy am I glad I live in Austria, their gas prices are even higher. They pay for Diesel what we pay for regular gas.

[13Pumpkins]

Somebody needs to finally invent a car that runs on something beisides fossil fuels......but what?

We live 20 minutes from town one way and 20 minutes from the bannk the other way. So we go to town twice a week and that's it.

[angelnise]

I am so thankful that I bought my toyota, so thankful. The other cars in the size range of my toyota didn't get nearly the gas mileage. While it takes $10 more to fill it up now, I still only have to fill up once a week to get back and forth to work. It's saving me $15 per week to be driving this car rather than the one I had or the one I was going to get, and that's $780 per year! I'd save another $15 if gas prices went down to normal. Of course, that doesn't include the inflation it has put on consumer goods. It's going to take me more gas to get back and forth to work after August because of the new house location.

[AG Seamstress]

When we were out last weekend, I saw a sign for Marlboro's...$44.82 a carton. How can the people that smoke, afford cigarettes, are still be able to put gas in their cars? I've never smoked, and had no idea what cigarettes cost. Maybe the high price of gas will have a trickle down effect, and people will smoke less? My husband and I some weeks only spend on groceries for a week, what some people are spending on cigarettes.

[dornroeschen]

Originally posted by *The*Paranoid*Pumpkin*:
Somebody needs to finally invent a car that runs on something beisides fossil fuels......but what?

We live 20 minutes from town one way and 20 minutes from the bannk the other way. So we go to town twice a week and that's it.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually some farmers in Styria (southern part of Austria) got together and founded a coop. They're producing what we call 'Bio-Diesel' - made from canola. Unfortunately you can only get it at certain gas stations so far but if you have a car running on diesel that's a nice alternative. My father filled his tank when driving to Italy last year and on the way back as in Styria and Carinthia they have a few more gas stations selling this alternative.

[Skittl1321]

Miki- Yeah, I don't think most American's would take a 20 minute walk to a train station. So you win [img]smile.gif[/img]

Lord of the Pumpkin (sorry don't remember if your real name was in your sig)- Brazil has cars that run off of ethanol or something like that- made from sugar. There are problems with that too. Like the corn based fuel that is becoming more popular in areas of the US. If we became to dependant on those (like we are on oil) than the amount of land that would have to be devoted to growing corn would be huge. Chances are crops would not be rotated properly and we would ruin good land by growing too much and not taking proper care of it (like strip mining for coal does). Currently corn prices are more volatile than gas prices- and probably even more dependant on the weather. What we need is to be more versatile- and not dependant on just one thing. Americans just don't seem to be too good at that. We as a country seem to obsess over whatever the current thing is.

For the record, my next car will probably be a hybrid. I'm aware that it won't really save me money. I personally am concerned more about the emissions. (My car already gets 30 mpg in the city and 45 on the highway, and it's just a regular coupe)

[Skittl1321]

Originally posted by Miki_:
Actually some farmers in Styria (southern part of Austria) got together and founded a coop. They're producing what we call 'Bio-Diesel' - made from canola. Unfortunately you can only get it at certain gas stations so far but if you have a car running on diesel that's a nice alternative. My father filled his tank when driving to Italy last year and on the way back as in Styria and Carinthia they have a few more gas stations selling this alternative.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There are a few gas stations in washington dc (i believe) that have an 80% ethanol blend- but your car engine has to be able to support that. Currently the gas we use in the US is about 20%- I think.

Miki- you said something about the diesel price- how does that compare to your unleaded gas prices?
Here it's strange- some weeks it's the same as unleaded, other weeks it's higher, other times lower.

[Savannahsmom]

We are driving from Idaho to Illinois to visit family the end of June with a stop at AGPC planned. I asked my husband if we would still go with gas prices going up and his answer is yes, so we will still go. But that will probably mean a little less spent on dolls and fun. [img]frown.gif[/img] It's still cheaper to drive than fly with a family of four and we can't stop living.

[dornroeschen]

One thing that also helps with your gas consumption is when you have a car that doesn't like to guzzle too much gas. Here in Europe most people prefer cars who run for miles without end using hardly any gas.

I use on average 8.3 litres on 100 kilometers (= 2.2 gallons on 62.13 miles) - considering I'm mostly driving short distances/city traffic I think it is not too bad.

Because of the gas prices more and more people also changed to Diesel cars - which are usually more expensive when you buy them but Diesel is still cheaper than normal gas. However, now the problem is that Diesel produces particulate matters that are bad for your health. We now have a new law that Diesel cars need a special filter, which I think is good.

Skittl, for Diesel you will currently pay between $ 4.97 and $ 5.04 per gallon in my area. So far it is still cheaper than unleaded gas but about half a year ago broke through the "? 1.- per litre-barrier".