RSP=religion/sex/politics, perhaps you should reread the forum rules before chewing out an Administrator.
What's up with Fuel Prices ....
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PT, wow, I know gas prices must be hurting because it took this long (well into the second page) before someone took a cheap shot at the hybrids. Just for contrast, while I do care, reasonably, about the environment, I'm not about to make a car purchase on that basis (not alone, anyway). I drive, and really like, my Prius for a lot of reasons, prominent among which is the fact that it burns less than 1/2 the fuel of my previous mid-sized sedan. Driving almost 40k miles per year, that does add up. More so now that fuel here is hovering around $3/gal.
California may have its insane aspects, but I'm not going to engage with you on those, as your comments were right up at the line of an R/S/P violation. Please don't go there. Thanks.
What is an R/S/P violation? The stuff I just removed, below, is.
. . . So whatever you "save" with your Prius goes to China where it will be burned and expelled into the atmosphere we ALL share. . . .
There in lies the lesson.....
PT, sometimes it's hard to define, but if it says "Greenie, "Al Gore", and "China" all in the same sentence, it's probably a POLITICS violation. I see your point, but again, the owner requires that we stay away from such issues. The idea, btw, is not to suppress one opinion or another, but rather, to keep the climate friendly for everyone.
I must disagree about the savings I net from my Prius. For me, it adds to more than $200 per month. Perhaps the fuel I don't use will, in some sense end up being used on a foreign shore, if so, oh well. I can think of a lot of things to do with that extra $200.EKP
Ok, gotcha...won't happen again
$3.25 a gallon here at the local ARCO station. That's for regular unleaded.
I don't even want to mention what Chevron and Shell are charging.
I don't even want to mention what Chevron and Shell are charging.
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$3.25 a gallon here at the local ARCO station. That's for regular unleaded.
I don't even want to mention what Chevron and Shell are charging.
Looks like pump prices will be in the $4.00 Range soon. See the following article.
Gasoline at $4 Coming to a Pump Near You
I paid around $450 per fulltime semester as an in-state resident @ WVU in 1982. Back then if you lived in WV, they had to admit you regardless of your ACT scores, and any working person could afford to go to college w/o being over his a$$ in $$debt$$. At 3 bucks per gallon sustained, I've heard that gasoline from coal is a practical alternative, plus it's produced domestically. Combined w/E-85 gas, I think there is an actual real-world solution to the fuel crisis, peak oil, whatever you want to call it.
The US dollar is worth 1/690ths of an ounce right now. Calculate the price of gas in ounces of gold. It doesn't fluctuate quite so much if you look at it that way.
$3.37 this morning for my fillup.
Maybe, maybe not. I figure EkPolk probably has plenty of dough to buy whatever kind of car he wants. So, if he paid 25K for his Prius, and it was only a minor (or no) step down from a mid-size sedan which he would have paid pushing 25K for anyway, there's very, very little penalty, price-wise, for buying the Prius. Then, after he got the Prius, the fuel savings immediately started paying off, and in speedy fashion as Ek said, at $3.00/gallon (or 4, or 5, name the number, the sky is the limit).
Now, me for instance, I bought a Hyundai Accent GT, 1.6 5 speed, loaded as they come. Car gets 40ish, 36 or 37 with the air on, it cost me $10,4000 out the door. So, for the $14,000 less I paid for my Accent over a Prius, in an purely economic terms, my deal probably makes more sense. This assumes of course, given equal needs, that each car fits our respective roles.
Regardless, either car runs cheap, clean and both are a better choice, if they meet your NEEDS, (SUVS are wants, not needs 99% of the time) for the environment, the gasoline supply and space on the road than said SUVs. I'm not calling for an SUV ban, but the price of driving them is about to become very steep. Also, the insurance industry is getting fed up with the damage they cause out of proportion to their numbers, dollar-wise, in accidents.
The Prius makes sense, small cars make sense. SUV's for personal use, not so much, unless you have unlimited dough for the carrying charges and really do not care about the gas, the air, or the space and resources they take up.
"Incentives and motives drive behavior"
Add in futures traders (who are unregulated), a very effective oil lobby, and a government that looks the other way.
That all adds up to prices being manipulated by greed.
Keep sending all the manufacturing jobs to China, and the USA will be a second rate has been in 20 years.
Hard to believe that the government is so stupid.
Add in futures traders (who are unregulated), a very effective oil lobby, and a government that looks the other way.
That all adds up to prices being manipulated by greed.
Keep sending all the manufacturing jobs to China, and the USA will be a second rate has been in 20 years.
Hard to believe that the government is so stupid.
Unfortunately, there isn't a graemlin to express how hard I'm laughing at that (though I should probably be crying...).
Two things. First, I did better than that. I bought what I consider a good find: a mint 2004 model that had only 15k miles on it when I bought it at the end of July 2006. I happened to be a loaded, "Package 9" car (Prius packages have been trimmed down in subsequent years) that has everything except leather seats -- exactly as I would order it if I could. That car as an 07 would sticker at almost $30k. I got the 04 for just under $20k (with a verifiably decent trade on my previous car, yes, I know trades involve tradeoffs).
Second, I don't fault your Hyundai choice, but that car really does not compare with the Prius. The Prius-II is something of an optical illusion car. It's much closer in all relevant dimensions to a Camry than it is to a Corolla. Cubic interior volume, Camry/Prius/Corolla is 101/96/90 (cu-ft). Cargo in same order is 15.0/14.5/13.6. And so on. I've owned a Civic and a Camry, and sitting in the Prius does not give that tight feel my Civic had (I'm 6' tall).
In the end, a loaded Prius and a loaded Accent are different answers to different questions. If your answer includes keyless entry and starting, DVD voice activated nav, HID headlights (which use less juice than the halos...), etc., then look toward a Prius. If not, then elsewhere. BTW, an unloaded Prius, for $8k less than the loaded version is a very different answer to yet another different question.
EDIT: One more thing on the Prius size thing. The car is disproportionally narrow, compared to normally "shaped" cars. It does not seem to be enough to impact handling (not that I've found anyway), but it makes for a large difference, IMO for the occupant of the center rear seat. Though it is "doable," I certainly would not want to occupy that space for very long. OTOH, in how many mainstream sedans is that really a nice place to sit anyway? But for the driver and "outboard" passengers, the car feels very midsized.
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In a totally different direction, let's be keeping away from the POLITICAL aspects of this, or I'll be compelled to lock it.
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When the Hybrids first came out, in LA owners could apply for a "HOV lane" pass (allows them to use the carpool w/ no passengers). Now that the alloted number of passes are gone for good, there are reports of Prii going for $4k over BlueBook if they have the stickers.
How's that for resale?
How's that for resale?
You've got that right. For some strange reason, the wheels+tires look tiny on that car, but when I walk up to one and read the the tire size, it says P185/65R15
They look more like 13" wheels (to me anyway). Optical illusion is right!
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You've got that right. For some strange reason, the wheels+tires look tiny on that car, but when I walk up to one and read the the tire size, it says P185/65R15
They look more like 13" wheels (to me anyway). Optical illusion is right!
Had to chuckle at that. I notice exactly the same thing, especially when I'm washing the car. When you bend/stoop forward to wash the tire/wheel, it looks big, but if you step back, they suddenly look tiny. Yes, 185/65-15 is the standard size; the new Touring version has 17 inchers which also manage to look small from a distance! Personally, I think this car could somehow swallow up a set 24 inch chrome spinners. . .
Looks like the price is still headed upward. We took a day trip into the Florida Panhandle and regular unleaded was just under $3.00 a gallon and summer driving is not even here yet!
Fuel prices always go up in the spring and summer. It does not matter what the price of a barrel of oil is. As soon as people start driving more the oil companies raise the price of fuel.
When there is less driving they have to lower the price to try to encourage people to drive more. And the oil companies then are making money from high energy prices for heating homes and businesses.
When there is less driving they have to lower the price to try to encourage people to drive more. And the oil companies then are making money from high energy prices for heating homes and businesses.
Here in Portland Oregon, you'll have to pay around $3.12+ for a gallon of 87. An arco by me was still holding out at $2.99, but come summer I can't even think how high its going to get. I'll be doin' the old twenty bucks worth bit from here on out.
See that today the price of Crude Oil surged because U.S. gasoline inventories fell to the lowest in 18 months!
We went out shopping and the average price of regular unleaded here jumped up 14 ¢ a gallon from yesterday!
Roads are still clogged with traffic!
We went out shopping and the average price of regular unleaded here jumped up 14 ¢ a gallon from yesterday!
Roads are still clogged with traffic!
I do support that idea to a certain extent. Unfortunately Congress spends $1.25 on each $1.00 generated.
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