$1.49 a gallon - Who cares about FE?
 

I hear ya. Best I have seen around here is 1.74

My driving habits have remained the same...

I'm so broke that (with my semi long commute) saving gas will continue to matter if gas gets below $1.

I filled up The Beast for $1.589 a few days ago... Still thinking about economy. I think I'm going to improve my WAI sometime soon, as my best IAT's now are ~ 80F (30F outside temp) I've lost 3 - 4 MPG (~20% drop)with the cold temps.

-Jay

Paid $1.54 a gallon plus 50?/gallon discount through Speedway in Kentucky - so $1.04 a gallon.

The gas stations in Charleston & Huntington, WV are in collusion to keep prices high - $1.899 and not moving anywhere.

I SPECIFICALLY heard one gas station employee say to another, "We can't lower our prices until X gas station location lowers theirs - management won't allow it." Talking to the WV Attorney General's office on Monday. You see this ALL OVER in the Huntington-Charleston corridor. One station changes prices - they all do - and in a very predictable pattern. They call each other. Right now they are colluding to keep it high. $1.899 is WAY too high when oil is around $40 a barrel, PERIOD. If KY can have $1.54 gas and their taxes are less than 15 cents a gallon less - then it should NOT be this high here.

I asked a couple more gas stations and they verified the above - they ALL do it - and will reap huge profits as a result. That's monopoly and collusion for you.

Class-action RICO suit, maybe?


Ok, maybe not.

OPEC has realized that if they "kill the host" with high gas prices, the world economy will free fall and consumption will drop dramatically.

They may have already pushed us too far, 25 billion has been allocated to fix the real problem which is vehicles that are terribly inefficient. In the process of fixing the REAL problem we will have numerous coincidental benefits, both economic and environmental.

While the availability of cheap gas may get a lot of people to assume their old bad habits, the auto industry can not afford to go back to building gas hogs and have them sitting on lots with no buyers.

There will be large vehicles in the future, but the differences between trucks and cars will fade into differences in size and versatility. Trucks will look more like todays vans, but be much more aerodynamic and the cover over the bed will be removable for hauling. It could even be confugured to be a jon boat that you use for fishing in quiet waters.

Cars will evolve aerodynamically and all vehicles will become much more similar, because the best aero shape will rule the mileage challenge to come.
With drive energies applied directly to the wheels the current massive frames in trucks will be unnecessary, since there will be no powertrain to support. In fact you only need to make a safe boxlike structure to protect the passengers, with the external configuration that maximise aerodynamics.

When this is done (and its inevitable) brand recognition will sitll exist but will be much less distinct.

The benefit will be a full sized track capability, with all wheel drive, that can be configured as a van, and get 55 MPG. Passenger cars will double that mileage depending on their size and capacity.

Truck empty weights will be about 2800 pounds, while passenger cars will be around 2000. Thats for a full sized truck, and a Camry sized car. Aero front and rear ends will also be energy absorbing. Think of a tire that wraps around the front and rear ends of your car from wheel to wheel. Impacts under 5 MPH will be of no more concern than bumper cars at the amusement park.

I should have been done after the first energy crisis, but it takes a few good whacks for us to learn.

regards
gary

I bought regular unleaded yesterday at Wally World for $1.559. Most of the stations in my area are still $1.699 up, but I was in a neighboring town so I filled up while I was there. I also have the Discover card that gives 5% rebate on the first $100. gas per month so it brings the price down another $.07 per gallon.

The lowest price I've seen so far around here for regular is $1.45.

Just as a comparison...unleaded here is currently AUSTRALIAN $1.15 / litre and 4.0 litres = ONE US Gallon.

By the way ONE AUS $ buys around US $0.66 ...and it ain't snowin' here.
Good time for a holiday to the South for you guys on the top side of the equator.

I have to agree with RIDE above...we really didn't learn a whole lot after the first oil price hike.
Maybe this time will be different...?
I certainly hope so anyway.

Pete.

$1.48 in Western Kentucky

wow, just checked and it's 1.33 in the city I work in- Topeka, KS.

I've been laid off so with no cash flow I don't care if gas hits $0.30 a gallon I 'll still see it as a large expense.

Sorry, you'll never see that in NC. I just checked, the state fuel tax for NC appears to be 30.15 cents/gal. Add federal and any local fuel taxes on top of that and even if the rest of the region goes under $1/gal I don't think NC will.

-Jay

It's US$2.50 per US gallon up here on Vancouver Island BC. Even if it was half that, I would still go for decent FE. It's a matter of pride and keeping the CO2 footprint as low as possible. Only the lemmings will become fuel spendthrifts ;)

Habits for driving haven't changed much, save the whole "rally" driving on snow now. That drops it by 1.5mpg or so. I did just buy a 4wd sonoma, but its for offroad things, so FE wasn't really a consideration. skid plates and the right gearing mattered more.

Does anyone here actually believe that cheap gas is going to last? I sure don't.

Paying about $4.12 over here in Japan and LOVING it! Much better than the $7-8 gas we were seeing a couple months ago.

Not that I drive much these days anyways. The occasional trip to the wife's parents house. Anything else is easily bikeable.

i sure don't believe it either but there are plenty of tools out there that do. they figure its all just a scam and oil will last forever....but you know i havnt seen many dinosaurs around the neighborhood lately...

It's 1.43 in Columbia as of this morning for the cheap stuff, and its 1.55 for the ethanol free gas.

You guys are lucky bastards. Diesel is still at least $2.699 here.....

Sucks that gas is falling like it is, I was looking forward to seeing huffing gas replace snorting coke as the high roller drug of choice.

lol

1.50 or less is a joke for 1 GALLLLLON (3.78 LITERS!) of something that do AMAZING things, and that everybody take for rented...

HAHAHA crazy conception of money and goods... everybody WAKE UP

Where is "here" ?

Pete.

filled up my sonoma for 1.37 in atlanta!

Utah is $1.47 for gas and $2.25 for diesel.

still $1.6~ something here in so. IL

yea i must say im not as cautious about shift points anymore but still watch speeds and coast when possible.

i may install the stock airbox for winter and see what it does if it makes a difference over the CAI i have now. that is if i can even get it to fit....

$1.85 here in Upstate NY today. I wonder how long it will last? I am enjoying it.

Other OP questions....I still drive as efficiently (and safely) as possible. I managed 30.1 on the interstate today according to the DIC with the CC set on 68mph which I thought was pretty good for winter gas. Driving a 07 3.5L VVT powered Impala (not my vehicle). Not to much traffic so that helped I am sure. I still do not believe in wantonly wasting it just because it has come down in price and I was useing someone elce's car and gas.

I filled the truck up for $1.59 Regular yesterday. It's $1.56 today.

I missed my truck and am enjoying it greatly being able to drive it more often.

I am looking for a good expalanation why we are seeing such cheap gas. THe fall off in demand just does not seem to be enough to warrent a 2X + reduction. If gas were $4 we would have to pay it. Try this on for size: oil co's drop price way down to eliminate alternatives by forcing them into bankupcy, then buy them up. Price goes back up once this is complete enough for them to control the alternatives market and either shut them down or bring them back when its convinient like when oil price gets so high that demand is choked off and we quit all but essential consumption.

im waiting for gas to get lower so i can snatch a VX or HX for cheap. I have owned 4 bangers all my life, even when was was 1.05 a gal, all the way to 4.11 a gallon

I'm on my first, and last, 4 banger... :thumbdown:

That's what happened in the 80's...

773 traffic deaths so far in Virginia this year. Last year it was over 1000 for the whole year. This weekend in a total 180 mile drive I saw 17 state troopers with people stopped on the interstate. The state is desperate for money so they have finally decided to nail the gross speeders.

The explanation is simple. OPEC realized they had gone to far with $4 a gallon gas and the resulting economic downturn. They would like to see $75 per barrel, but that would result in signifcantly lower consumption.

As long as Americans remain dedicated to better efficiency we will enjoy much lower gas prices, with importers actually having to compete for market share. Kind of like you and I compete for a wage.

Now if we can actually have the gonads to fix the real problem which is efficiency, we will bury the Cartel and make them compete for income the way we have had to compete all our lives.

RIP ripoff Cartel.

regards
gary

Why are you still waiting? I wouldn't bet on prices continuing to drop for much longer or even leveling out for long.

I've never had less than 6 (and usually 8), but now I drive 5. I may try 4 some day. American 4-bangers don't seem too awful, my boss's Pontiac G6 doesn't feel or sound too cheesy.

I've always been partial to large vehicles because I have long legs. There was the K cars we've had, but we never took a small car on a trip. That's what we had the Bonneville wagon for. You just can't take 5 people and a dog on a trip in a K car.

For a period we had my grandmother's old commuter car, a 1981 AMC Spirit. Great, solid little car. 20+ gallon tank, Pontiac 151 4 cyl engine & 4 speed manual trans - that car went darn near 1,000 miles on a tank of gas. We would have kept it, but it didn't have a/c... :( No a/c may have been fine in Connecticut, but here in VA a/c is a must have...

-Jay

This price plundge certainly has taken the sting out of driving. It also allow me to fill my V-8 Tundra for the price of the VX just a few short months ago. I'll bias some miles to the Tundra to get a little more use from it and do some work that I'd been holding off on. The low prices also allow me to back off on the 16 year old 218k mile VX, pushing its useful life out to the next gas spike.

I'd love to see the USA tap its oil shale reserves and generally increase domestic oil drilling, but I'm afraid the pressure is off.

I'm still keeping the mileage off the truck. In 6 days (since my last fillup) I've driven the beast ~150 miles. I've been pushing a lot of my miles onto the BWH. Suprisingly, with more regular usage the car is running even better! It is shocking how smooth it sounds - especially for a 28 year old car.. (Its birthday is this month!)

-Jay

People used to always make fun of me for knowing that my old car's manufacturing completion date was February 25th, 1988. It was a Thursday.

haha.....mine was built on 5/13/05.....at 13:07 so just a few minutes after one pm.....and yes it was a Friday. Good thing I am not supersticious and it has been fine.....with no mechanical problems or anything....... haha

Not laughing at you, but just with you. One of the first things you should do is get your vehicles "build sheet" or whatever your particular mfg calls it. It is fast and free and tells you everything that was built into your vehicle at the date of mfg.....even gear ratios, which is good to know for FE purposes among many others.