Gasoline At What Price?

[Zembonez]

Fellow Full size light duty truck owners... Gasoline is supposed to go up between 20 and 30 cents over the next two weeks... Every prediction I read says we will have $4.00 plus gas all across the country by Summer's end. Predictions that it will be even higher exist but the majority say it will stabilize around the 4 dollar range. Unless something really favorable in the middle east happens, this is going to happen. It's what OPEC wants.

 

My question is this: When does the price of fuel start to change the way you drive or possibly even put the idea in your head to get rid of your truck? There is a point where I just am not going to buy gas and get 17 mpg. I'm not sure what that point exactly is...

 

Anybody want to chime in?

[SLESierra]

NEWS FLASH it is not OPEC controlling the price - It is it being traded as a commodity and wall street making a killing of it as well as the oil companies making 10 million dollars profit per minute. Yep that is right if it was the oil price then how can they do that? It called the law of supply and be greedy.

[99silverado1500]

When it hits 4 bucks, its parked, i dont give a sh*t where i have to go. I have no where special to go at 11 mpg. Ill get somoene else to take me if they have that much money. Its bad enough at 3.30 a gallon. No way will i drive at 4.00+ a gallon. Thats my point when i give up and say the heck with this.

[slomo007]

I just bought a tonneau cover a few minutes ago. That saves on mileage, right? Take that, OPEC.

[RyanbabZ71]

Read an article today and the people who (forget who the group was) that have been accurately predicting prices for sometime have stated they will max out at $3.40 this spring and wont hit $4.00

 

As far as driving habits They will change a bit but I do have some trips planned (family wedding, class reunion, cubs game) its all about 300 miles trips. I cant say it will make me get rid of my truck since it is paid off, wouldnt make sense to buy a new vehicle (Oh wait I did that a few wks ago).

[J-man67]

I'm presently getting 13-14 highway with my new truck. I'm hoping that improves a little bit. I have a Harley and a sport bike so if it gets that bad I will ride my bikes all year round. The Harley gets about 42mpg and its a hell of a lot faster then the Truck. The sport bike gets about 35-40 MPG. I will just get some EXTRA warm clothes and say F-it during the colder months.

[J-man67]

I just bought a tonneau cover a few minutes ago. That saves on mileage, right? Take that, OPEC.

 

I actually don't think it does. I think someone did a test...might of been on Mythbusters or something....not sure.

[stublejumper]

Right now I am paying 4.50 a gallon by may the news says 6.00 a gallon and diesal is 16 cents a gallon more than gas right now some gas stations dont even have gas in western canada when will this end

[VMax2007]

I just do the math and that puts things into perspective.

 

I drive about 11,000 miles per year. At 14 mpg avg, that means I use 786 gallons of gas.

 

at $3/gal, that means I spend $2358/yr

at $4/gal, that means I spend $3144/yr

 

A difference of $786. If I work an extra 30 minutes/week, the net of that extra overtime will pay this difference. So, if it get's to $4/gal, I will simply bump my hours up by 1/2 hr/wk. Bring it on bitches!!!

 

There is NO WAY I will let gas prices dictate my lifestyle. Life is too short!!! End of story.

[J-man67]

Yeah, thats true. Life is to short for the damn govt to affect my mood and make me not want to drive the truck I worked so hard for anyway...FUG EM!! I am still going to ride my bikes though...only b/c they are wicked fun. If I save a few dollars along the way...ROCK ON!!

[cambo]

I just do the math and that puts things into perspective.

 

I drive about 11,000 miles per year. At 14 mpg avg, that means I use 786 gallons of gas.

 

at $3/gal, that means I spend $2358/yr

at $4/gal, that means I spend $3144/yr

 

A difference of $786. If I work an extra 30 minutes/week, the net of that extra overtime will pay this difference. So, if it get's to $4/gal, I will simply bump my hours up by 1/2 hr/wk. Bring it on bitches!!!

 

There is NO WAY I will let gas prices dictate my lifestyle. Life is too short!!! End of story.

Amen. I might buy a motorcycle to drive around town, but I will actually be paying more of course.

[alaska511]

I am not going to let this affect my lifestyle anymore than it already has. I sold my 2500HD w/ 8.1 and my big beautiful camper. That is as far as I am going to let them change the way I do things. I now drive a half ton, and will look for a light TT to drag around when I want to get out. I sold my ZX12R in September, perhaps that was a bad plan, so I might get another bike for summer commuting to work. I will work a bit harder to pay for playing, that is it for me...

[svensk]

I won't park this thing. Yeah, an extra 15 bucks a fillup really hurts, but it's still cheaper than buying a 3rd car.

[Zembonez]

NEWS FLASH it is not OPEC controlling the price - It is it being traded as a commodity and wall street making a killing of it as well as the oil companies making 10 million dollars profit per minute. Yep that is right if it was the oil price then how can they do that? It called the law of supply and be greedy.

NEWSFLASH back at ya. That really wasn't the point... but since you stepped in it, here we go.

 

For sure, there is some profit taking... Some of it is greed. Some of it is just business. OPEC has the reins as much as any other supplier. Believe what you want. They can constrict the supply from their region and drive the price up just as anybody else in the supply chain can... by sheer speculation. Traders make a killing when the speculated price jumps without any real cost increase.

 

If you really want to get deep into gasoline prices... take a good look at the switch to the Euro standard instead of the US Dollar for crude oil pricing. As the dollar loses value worldwide, we pay higher prices... much higher. There are a lot of big factors driving up the cost of gas here... and OPEC is happy.

 

The media would like for you to believe that oil companies (which are in business to make money) making profit is the reason prices are high. That's total BS. Anytime your raw materials that used to cost 20 bucks now cost over 100, there will be sharp price increases. It's impossible to avoid. Oil company profits are a drop in the bucket when we look at the overall picture.

 

I don't like big oil anymore than you may but I think they are the small time bandit in a much bigger gangfight.

[omegafiler]

No changes planned here. I also drive less than 12k a year and don't actually need a full-size SUV. There are obviously more "practical" alternatives, but I knew what I was getting into when I signed the papers. However, if MPG was a serious concern and priority for me, this thing would have been gone looong ago.

 

Right now, plan is to pay it off ASAP, keep it as long as possible, and enjoy the 12MPG along with whatever crazy new highs gas prices go to.