Common sense fiscal advise for all of you kiddies crying about filling up your SUVs

#2
#2
So let me get this right....

If i trade in my car that is paid for, and buy a new car that is better on gas.....Then my new car payment could cost me more than the gas money I am spending currently?...WTF....This is truly groundbreaking.
 
#3
#3
OrangeWilly said:
So let me get this right....

If i trade in my car that is paid for, and buy a new car that is better on gas.....Then my new car payment could cost me more than the gas money I am spending currently?...WTF....This is truly groundbreaking.
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I can sense your sarcasm, but trust me, you know there are a bunch of fools out there that are considering doing this. Really, anybody that buys a $28,000 Ford hybrid is a fool, when you consider that they could buy a conventional 4 cylinder Honda or Toyota for about $8-10K less and get similar or reasonable gas mileage out of them.

When people panic and act emotionally, they do irresponsible and reckless things.

:crazy:
 
#4
#4
Rasputin_Vol said:
I can sense your sarcasm, but trust me, you know there are a bunch of fools out there that are considering doing this. Really, anybody that buys a $28,000 Ford hybrid is a fool, when you consider that they could buy a conventional 4 cylinder Honda or Toyota for about $8-10K less and get similar or reasonable gas mileage out of them.

When people panic and act emotionally, they do irresponsible and reckless things.

:crazy:
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Take the new Hybrid Yukon for example.

If you have enough cheese to fork over 50 thousand for it...are you really worried about gas?
 
#6
#6
OrangeWilly said:
Take the new Hybrid Yukon for example.

If you have enough cheese to fork over 50 thousand for it...are you really worried about gas?
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Maybe it isn't about the $$ to them....maybe they like the idea of still being able to drive a Yukon, yet consuming less gasoline (oil).
 
#7
#7
TennTradition said:
Maybe it isn't about the $$ to them....maybe they like the idea of still being able to drive a Yukon, yet consuming less gasoline (oil).
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Its definitely not about the money to them...Im just sick of all this hybrid bs...its a method for car makers to make more money, all the while keeping people dependent upon oil, even though they have the ability to make an alternative fuel automobile.

Its like giving someone who is dying of thirst a teaspoon of water.
 
#8
#8
TennTradition said:
Maybe it isn't about the $$ to them....maybe they like the idea of still being able to drive a Yukon, yet consuming less gasoline (oil).
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In other words, it's not about conservation at all. It just a status symbol to everyone else saying, "Hey, even though I can afford this $50K vehicle, I'm still a wonderful human being because I drive a hybrid..."

Again, how many more SUV vs minivan posts do I have to make to show people that buying SUVs are pretty much overkill for 90% of the people that buy them?
 
#9
#9
OrangeWilly said:
Its definitely not about the money to them...Im just sick of all this hybrid bs...its a method for car makers to make more money, all the while keeping people dependent upon oil, even though they have the ability to make an alternative fuel automobile.

Its like giving someone who is dying of thirst a teaspoon of water.
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What other alternative fuel out there is available... and equal to or less than gasoline?
 
#10
#10
Rasputin_Vol said:
In other words, it's not about conservation at all. It just a status symbol to everyone else saying, "Hey, even though I can afford this $50K vehicle, I'm still a wonderful human being because I drive a hybrid..."

Again, how many more SUV vs minivan posts do I have to make to show people that buying SUVs are pretty much overkill for 90% of the people that buy them?
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Its purely a status symbol....I agree.
 
#13
#13
Rasputin_Vol said:
How much does CNG cost per gallon right now?

I don't know, just curious.
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Around $0.63 per gallon....but not sure what the conversion to MPG would be if used in an automobile. I do know that it would take up a lot more space than gasoline, so bigger tanks would be needed.
 
#14
#14
Rasputin_Vol said:
How much does CNG cost per gallon right now?

I don't know, just curious.
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I looked into this a while back...and I think that the answer wasn't horrible. I was looking at it more from an energy standpoint of getting the natural gas, compressing it, and the efficiency of using it at the car. I thought that the energy return on energy investment would be pretty bad - but it wasn't all so bad. But, it doesn't really matter...CNG is just a slightly cleaner option than gasoline and doesn't really help our situation out at all, really considering it too is a limited hydrocarbon resource.
 
#15
#15
OrangeWilly said:
Around $0.63 per gallon....but not sure what the conversion to MPG would be if used in an automobile. I do know that it would take up a lot more space than gasoline, so bigger tanks would be needed.
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When I did some calculations, I think that with reasonable compression, the tanks weren't incredibly huge. You would have to sacrifice some total driving range on your vehicle, but I don't think it was too bad...still allowing you to have a reasonable tank size. However, like I said, it seems like an option that would help very little, for other reasons.
 
#16
#16
Rasputin_Vol said:
In other words, it's not about conservation at all. It just a status symbol to everyone else saying, "Hey, even though I can afford this $50K vehicle, I'm still a wonderful human being because I drive a hybrid..."

Again, how many more SUV vs minivan posts do I have to make to show people that buying SUVs are pretty much overkill for 90% of the people that buy them?
Click to expand...

I would say that it is generally a status symbol...unless someone really needs to drive a Suburban for some reason and wants to consume less fuel in the process.
 
#17
#17
While perhaps diverging just a bit from the original topic I have calculated that the cost difference between my Bronco (BRONCO mind you) driven for 13,000 miles at 2.75pg and 3.50pg (what I paid last) comes out to about 12.50 per week. In my Legend it drops to $8 per week. And that's an older legend mind you, which only gets "decent" mileage. I realize that some people drive a lot more than "average" but some drive less too. If an extra $10 a week for fuel is honestly driving you to consider selling your kidneys, like the media seems to portray is happening to every other person in America, then you've got financial responsibility issues going a lot deeper than fuel prices.
 
#18
#18
Your best bet would be to find a good used econobox car for <3 grand that gets 30+ MPG for the majority of your driving. That's what I am looking into myself so I can keep my Jeep (17-19 MPG) to use now and then but do 99% of my driving in the smaller car. Until a viable alternative comes along we are at the mercy of the oil companies. Ethanol doesn't look like it's gonna be the savior many thought it would be. Including me. Biofuels are in the same boat as Ethanol. Hydrogen is the best idea, but it isn't ready for use by the majority of the population because of initial cost. Electric cars, while good for most people's driving, have a big downside that they don't tell you about. All those batteries have to be replaced every few years. And they aren't cheap. I don't think you can get enough power from a solar cell the size of your car's roof to make the car go althought it would be the ideal solution. If we had put some real money into this research 10-15 years ago, or better yet the 70's, we would not have this problem at all.
 
#19
#19
superdave1984 said:
Your best bet would be to find a good used econobox car for <3 grand that gets 30+ MPG for the majority of your driving. That's what I am looking into myself so I can keep my Jeep (17-19 MPG) to use now and then but do 99% of my driving in the smaller car. Until a viable alternative comes along we are at the mercy of the oil companies. Ethanol doesn't look like it's gonna be the savior many thought it would be. Including me. Biofuels are in the same boat as Ethanol. Hydrogen is the best idea, but it isn't ready for use by the majority of the population because of initial cost. Electric cars, while good for most people's driving, have a big downside that they don't tell you about. All those batteries have to be replaced every few years. And they aren't cheap. I don't think you can get enough power from a solar cell the size of your car's roof to make the car go althought it would be the ideal solution. If we had put some real money into this research 10-15 years ago, or better yet the 70's, we would not have this problem at all.
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Where are we going to get the hydrogen from?
 
#20
#20
hndog609 said:
While perhaps diverging just a bit from the original topic I have calculated that the cost difference between my Bronco (BRONCO mind you) driven for 13,000 miles at 2.75pg and 3.50pg (what I paid last) comes out to about 12.50 per week. In my Legend it drops to $8 per week. And that's an older legend mind you, which only gets "decent" mileage. I realize that some people drive a lot more than "average" but some drive less too. If an extra $10 a week for fuel is honestly driving you to consider selling your kidneys, like the media seems to portray is happening to every other person in America, then you've got financial responsibility issues going a lot deeper than fuel prices.
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My car has an 18 gallon tank. 18 X $2.50 = $45 bucks per fill up. At the current price of $3.60, that comes out to $64.80. It's an extra $20 a week. I realize there are people that are on a very tight budget and I am very fortunate to be able to absorb this $20 price hike with relatively little change in my driving habits. But all that extra $20 was going to do was go to some bartender anyways.

Now having said that, there is definetly going to be some of the service industries and restaurants hurt by rising gas prices as more people began to decide between beer/wings or filling up the gas tank (i.e. restaurant closings or loss of service industry jobs).

Starbucks is probably going to be the first casualty of this. People there pay more per gallon for a cup of coffee than gasoline... :no:
 
#21
#21
Rasputin_Vol said:
My car has an 18 gallon tank. 18 X $2.50 = $45 bucks per fill up. At the current price of $3.60, that comes out to $64.80. It's an extra $20 a week. I realize there are people that are on a very tight budget and I am very fortunate to be able to absorb this $20 price hike with relatively little change in my driving habits. But all that extra $20 was going to do was go to some bartender anyways.
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Sorry dude, I don't complain about the economy or fuel because I make my own choices on how to live, but the rise in fuel is not insignificant. I probably buy 50 gallon of gas a week. If it used to be $1.75 a gallon and I now can expect to pay $3.50 a gallon, that is $88 a week I lose in disposable income. That is almost $380 a month. Not insignificant in my book.
 
#22
#22
allvol123 said:
Sorry dude, I don't complain about the economy or fuel because I make my own choices on how to live, but the rise in fuel is not insignificant. I probably buy 50 gallon of gas a week. If it used to be $1.75 a gallon and I now can expect to pay $3.50 a gallon, that is $88 a week I lose in disposable income. That is almost $380 a month. Not insignificant in my book.
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Again, I wasn't downplaying the impact this is having on others. I clearly stated that before when I said, "I realize there are people that are on a very tight budget and I am very fortunate to be able to absorb this $20 price hike with relatively little change in my driving habits" and "Now having said that, there is definetly going to be some of the service industries and restaurants hurt by rising gas prices as more people began to decide between beer/wings or filling up the gas tank (i.e. restaurant closings or loss of service industry jobs)". I was just speaking about for me, I am fortunate that right now, it hasn't been that much of an issue.


:unsure:
 
#23
#23
It has certainly made me change some of my habits already. I drive my wife's Volvo now and my F150 stays at home with the stay at home mom.

:cray:
 
#24
#24
Rasputin_Vol said:
In other words, it's not about conservation at all. It just a status symbol to everyone else saying, "Hey, even though I can afford this $50K vehicle, I'm still a wonderful human being because I drive a hybrid..."

Again, how many more SUV vs minivan posts do I have to make to show people that buying SUVs are pretty much overkill for 90% of the people that buy them?
Click to expand...
but then, you'd actually have to drive the minivan
 
#25
#25
allvol123 said:
Sorry dude, I don't complain about the economy or fuel because I make my own choices on how to live, but the rise in fuel is not insignificant. I probably buy 50 gallon of gas a week. If it used to be $1.75 a gallon and I now can expect to pay $3.50 a gallon, that is $88 a week I lose in disposable income. That is almost $380 a month. Not insignificant in my book.
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Don't you think pulling out 1.75 a gallon is pretty unrealistic? I mean, why not say .25? Look, on 5/15/06 for the Midwest (which includes TN) the Regional Coventional Regular ppg was 2.85. To hear people going nuts about 3.60 now you'd think the apocalypse was upon us. The EPA says the average passenger vehicle goes 12,000 miles a year. In my Bronco (a worse-than-most example) the difference per week (at 12,000 mpy) between now (3.60) and '06 (2.85) is less than $12 a week. Not saying 12 bucks isn't 12 bucks (I pick up change in parking lots) and yes I'm sure lots of people drive more than 12,000 mpy but the numbers from a couple years ago and now just don't support the near hysteria you can hear in some circles. Not saying it isn't an issue but, c'mon.
 
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