Have higher fuel prices affect how you drive?

inspiredsports

tonyb wrote: »

Or Brazil, seeing we just commited 2 billion for oil drilling, OVER THERE !

I thought a part of that wasn't even "over there". I believe some Brazilian rigs will be moved into the same Gulf of Mexico that we banned American based rigs from drilling.

tonyb

Well, we did give a billion to Petrobus to drill in the gulf earlier. 2 more billion to Brazil, and guess who does the majority of their drilling ? Same company, go figure. Who's the second largest shareholder in that company ? Your friend,your pal, Soros.
Do we need to draw anyone a map on this?

comfortablycurt

Ricardo wrote: »

Joe, I see you posting again like nothing happened. I assume everything has been cleared to Larry's satisfaction?

hearingimpared wrote: »

Well Ric first off I don't know which Larry you are referrring to and if there was a problem I'm not aware of it. I've been away for 2 1/2 months and just got back on the forum.

I sent you a PM buddy.

Ricardo wrote: »

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112556

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

The one you owe money to. No PM necessary buddy.

RT1

C'mon now guys. There's no need to bring this up in this thread. It's a bit off topic, to say the very least. How about giving the concerned parties a chance to resolve this matter privately, before once again making it a public issue...especially in a thread about the price of gas and how it affects driving habits.




Gas prices haven't affected my driving habits at all. I tend to accelerate fairly rapidly a lot of the time...but I'm not laying it on the floor away from every stop, by any means. I don't generally drive too fast though. In town I always go the speed limit. When I'm out on the highway/interstate I'll generally do 5 over...maybe 10 over. If the flow of traffic around me is going faster than that though, I will generally speed up enough to keep up with everyone else though.

I've tried changing my driving habits to get better mileage in the past, and I've never seen any kind of a real difference in my overall mileage.

Tour2ma

tonyb wrote: »

C'mon Bruce, I was kinda wishing for "chili dog and brew" worthy, damn, now I'm hungry.

I thought you Chicago boys like your dogs with tomatoes and **** with big pickels hanging out "da bun"... At least that's how they served them in the joint across the street from Wrigley I went in a decade ago. (Did not get to see a game that trip so there's still that on the bucket list.)

tonyb wrote: »

Unfortunately, your not buying enough gas, thus taking money away from the fund that supplies union jobs. That money will have to be made up somewhere.
Thats why I say when enough people get on the electric car bandwaggon, you'll see prices soar and you will soon find yourself in the same boat, money wise, as gasoline.

Agree that electricity costs may rise as demand increases, but it's not a given. Electric utilities have a pretty good track record of building in anticipation of projected demand increases. And the recent, massive NatGas discoveries should ensure a good long-term supply at reasonable prices. In fact a rig finished putting in another well just last week a few hundred feet from my back door. And no, I do not have the mineral rights... dammit... and so far no kitchen faucet fires. :biggrin:

When the big switch to electric does come, wouldn't the price of gasoline coincidentally fall?

And to what "union job fund" do you refer?

Jstas wrote: »

(-)No one said anything about not having to pay for roads.
(-)But if you want to let the government track your whereabouts then you deserve whatever you have coming to you.
(-)There are different ways to fund infrastructure projects. Installing tracking devices in all vehicles on the road (is) ... asinine...
(-)... just about an asinine and (sic) idea as your post.

- Just took your "agrument" to its illogical conclusion.
- My point was they can already track you... (and in your case, likely are).
- Agree and think there are better ways "to track" use as well. Care to list yours?
- What can I say? I find your paranoia inspirational. Have they told you what's "coming to me"? Can you give me a hint?

BTW GEICO just came out with a module that does not include GPS, but does record your driving habits (mileage, average and max. speed, accel and decel rates, etc.). You plug it in for a couple months and then they take it and read it and determine whether you qualify for a good driver discount (or continued insurance I'd guess). They'd know if you went 85 or not... they just wouldn't know if it was in a school zone or on an Interstate.

xj4094dg wrote: »

If the remote possibility of not making record profits appears, they just raise the end-cost to the consumer. Its a good gig if you can get it: NEVER A LOSS, ALWAYS RECORD PROFITS.

Know where I can score some cheap gas?

As t3 said... Venezuela... $0.12 per gallon. Haven't seen a price that low since the last "four-corners" gas war (intersection of State and Pearl Roads). Brazil... not so much... $3.12 a gallon there... and it contains a sizeable amount of sugar cane sourced ethanol... (I wonder if they call it "sweet" ethanol? :biggrin: )

I do not begrudge them their profits. This rise, as in 2008's (now that was an oil spike...), is due to crude speculation and the big oil companies produce a great deal of crude.

What I do begrudge is any excessive role they may play in the speculation and their token alternative energy programs. When it came out that BP spent more on advertising its alternative energy program than it did on the actual program, I dumped the stock.

That sure showed 'em... :rolleyes:

tonyb wrote: »

Or Brazil, seeing we just commited 2 billion for oil drilling, OVER THERE !

tony, tony, tony...
If by "we" you mean "The Export-Import Bank of the United States" and by "just" you mean "Apr '09" and by "committed" you mean "loaned", then you are entirely correct. See how agreeable I can be?

BTW... you neglected to mention that the EIB is self-sustaining.

inspiredsports wrote: »

Absolutely. The other problem is that currently, getting the same amount of electrical energy into a vehicle as petroleum energy cost more and creates more pollution.

Care to cite your source? Show your work? I'll show you mine if...

I suspect the "analysis" of the cost was as carefully constructed as that for the "pollution" (which notably does not appear to include actually driving the vehicles). Also wonder if the pollution argument comparison was cleared by Big (I ain't clean now and I never will be) Coal...

Let's do a straightforward cost calc for the Chevy Volt..

It gets 35 miles per charge (early reports have been as high as 40 miles) and uses 0.36 kwh/ mi. I just paid $0.0776/ kwh so my local cost per electrical "fill-up" would be $0.977.

The Volt gets a very respectable 37 mpg. I can fill up at my local Sam's Club for $3.31/ gal after member's discount. So the next 35-mile, EFUE* would cost me $3.131... which I do believe is more than $0.977.

*= Electrical Fill-Up Equivalent

inspiredsports wrote: »

I thought a part of that wasn't even "over there". I believe some Brazilian rigs will be moved into the same Gulf of Mexico that we banned American based rigs from drilling.

We gave them permits to drill within our Gulf EEZ?

tonyb wrote: »

Well, we did give a billion to Petrobus to drill in the gulf earlier. 2 more billion to Brazil, and guess who does the majority of their drilling ? Same company, go figure. Who's the second largest shareholder in that company ? Your friend,your pal, Soros.
Do we need to draw anyone a map on this?

Yes.... but only if you use chalk... and write left-handed... and sell me some gold...

Just so I have the rules straight... we can not name "he-who-shall-not-be-named", but it's OK to cite him anonymously? May I cite one or both of the Koch bro's? How 'bout the make-believe one?

inspiredsports

How many people can ride in that Chevy Volt? What does it cost?

I also need 10 sheets of 4X8' plywood. Do I have to pay truck delivery fees now? Are there economical Volt trucks and minivans?

I want to take my wife and 4 kids to church, dinner, the mall and a movie. And I want to drive to Colorado this summer with 12 suitcases and all of our camping gear as we have done many times in the past in our minivan.

Do I use 2 Chevy Volts, or 3 to make those trips? What is my cost per person if I need 3?

Do we currently have brownouts in major cities as people simply try to run their air conditioners in the summer? Have we built any new power plants recently? Will building these myriad new plants needed if everyone had 3 Volts so they could make 1 trip to the mall with their family LOWER the cost per kilowatt? Will carbon credits LOWER the cost per kilowatt?

My belief is that, as Obama promised when he said, "under my plan . . . electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket", you will no longer see 10 cent per kwh elextricity.

At the 10 second mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqHL404zhcU

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BqHL404zhcU&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

tonyb

Whats up Bruce ? Nice to see ya throw your hat in the ring every so often.

The one who shall not be named, usually gets threads shut down, so I try my best, and admitedly fail at times too. Others have no such restraint and I can't speak for everyone.
But by all means, please do bring up the KOCH bro's, as far as I can tell, they donate to those they like, just like any other organization. The difference for me Bruce, is using your own private funds to do it, or using public funds to funnel money. I sure can't tell anyone what to do with their coin, they earned it,spend it as you wish. My taxpayer coin though should have some safeguards. I dunno, maybe we have become too submissive of political paybacks over the years, or just chalk it up to thats how the cookie crumbles. At 14 plus trillion in debt though, someone has to start watching the cookies. Would be nice to use that coin to put americans back to work down in the gulf states and the associated buisnesses that go along with it down there.

fatchowmein

$3.649 /gallon the other day. Does it hurt now?

I'll send out another poll when it's north of $4 a gallon locally which means some of you guys will be near $5.

Polkie2009

I drive as little as possible and when I do it's at a snail's pace. I don't know these people with V8's can afford to drive around Pell-Mell nowadays.

bobman1235

fatchowmein wrote: »

$3.649 /gallon the other day. Does it hurt now?

I'll send out another poll when it's north of $4 a gallon locally which means some of you guys will be near $5.

I fileld up at 3.599 yesterday. My little Subaru took JUST under 50 bucks.

The bike is DEFINITELY getting un-winterized this weekend.

BlueFox

Been over $4 a gallon here for a week or more. Glad I have always driven fuel efficient cars, except for a 2-3 year foray in the late 70s with a Dodge van.

slk55amg

:eek:Filled up at $4.39.9 =78.87

exalted512

bobman1235 wrote: »

I fileld up at 3.599 yesterday. My little Subaru took JUST under 50 bucks.

The bike is DEFINITELY getting un-winterized this weekend.

What is this 'winterize' you speak of?...haha. I love year-round riding weather

I've been throwing around the idea of buying a newer (08+, newer body style), laid over ninja 250 for the mileage and cheaper tires and overall less miles on my bike...not quite economical yet though...maybe in another year or two.
-Cody

bobman1235

Year round riding weather... but you're in Texas. I'll take New England roads over miles of concrete highway any day :P

exalted512

The track is only 5 minutes from my house...thats all I care about when I'm riding for pleasure now
-Cody

bobman1235

Gocha. I have no interest in racing, though I would like a sport bike to tool around on. The cruiser is nice for longer distances (comfortable) but sometimes you just wanna go fast....

cokewithvanilla

I honestly haven't done anything. with my short drive, I get like 12mpg in my tiny car pretty much no matter what I do.

inspiredsports

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

I honestly haven't done anything. with my short drive, I get like 12mpg in my tiny car pretty much no matter what I do.

That is weird, because we have a couple of huge vehicles that get over 17. A tiny vehicle that gets 12 doesn't make any sense at all.

Tour2ma

inspiredsports wrote: »

How many people can ride in that Chevy Volt? What does it cost?

I also need 10 sheets of 4X8' plywood. Do I have to pay truck delivery fees now? Are there economical Volt trucks and minivans?

I want to take my wife and 4 kids to church, dinner, the mall and a movie. And I want to drive to Colorado this summer with 12 suitcases and all of our camping gear as we have done many times in the past in our minivan.

Do I use 2 Chevy Volts, or 3 to make those trips? What is my cost per person if I need 3?

Do we currently have brownouts in major cities as people simply try to run their air conditioners in the summer? Have we built any new power plants recently? Will building these myriad new plants needed if everyone had 3 Volts so they could make 1 trip to the mall with their family LOWER the cost per kilowatt? Will carbon credits LOWER the cost per kilowatt?

Wow... missed this clever gem...

You originally say "A > B"...
I say "No, A < B" and prove it using the Chevy Volt as an example...
So you go off on the Volt and then say "But C, D E and A>B+F+G" with no back up...

Is that what passes for a reasoned debate in your chalkboard world? Sorry, but I am not playing that game.

However, were I to play I'd:
- show you that electrical demand has fallen since 2007;
- that generating capacity has risen 1.5% since 2007; and
- explain how Volts charging at night will only level demand, not increase it.

And for grins I'd throw on an explanation of the concept of using an example for illustration and facts for substantiation... no extra charge.

Hell, I'd even throw in lessons on how to efficiently pack...

comfortablycurt

inspiredsports wrote: »

How many people can ride in that Chevy Volt? What does it cost?

I also need 10 sheets of 4X8' plywood. Do I have to pay truck delivery fees now? Are there economical Volt trucks and minivans?

I want to take my wife and 4 kids to church, dinner, the mall and a movie. And I want to drive to Colorado this summer with 12 suitcases and all of our camping gear as we have done many times in the past in our minivan.

Do I use 2 Chevy Volts, or 3 to make those trips? What is my cost per person if I need 3?

Do we currently have brownouts in major cities as people simply try to run their air conditioners in the summer? Have we built any new power plants recently? Will building these myriad new plants needed if everyone had 3 Volts so they could make 1 trip to the mall with their family LOWER the cost per kilowatt? Will carbon credits LOWER the cost per kilowatt?

My belief is that, as Obama promised when he said, "under my plan . . . electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket", you will no longer see 10 cent per kwh elextricity.

At the 10 second mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqHL404zhcU

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BqHL404zhcU&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is kind of a feeble childish argument. I don't think anybody is claiming that the Chevy Volt is THE answer for absolutely EVERYONES driving needs. However, for someone who makes a daily commute to work that's around 30 miles or less, a Chevy Volt would be ideal. They're a great car for making a short commute to work, and for running around town doing errands. For the average person that doesn't do a lot of driving, they could drive a Volt around for a whole year, and spend hardly more than a few hundred dollars for their "fill-ups"...for the ENTIRE year!!

Again, I don't think anyone's claiming that a Volt would be the ideal vehicle for taking your wife and 4 kids on a cross country road trip.:rolleyes:

Some people just seem to WANT to hate all of these new technologies...I really don't understand that way of thinking. Isn't the advancement of technology a good thing? As this technology evolves, it will only get better. It will start to get implemented into a wider array of vehicles such as full size cars, minivans, SUV's etc.

tonyb

Sure the advancement of technology is a good thing, when the free market says they want it. Not forced on them from artificialy inflating competeing energy prices, as the video suggests.
Thats kinda like makeing stereo gear so expensive, your forced to buy Bose.

BlueFox

comfortablycurt wrote: »

This is kind of a feeble childish argument. I don't think anybody is claiming that the Chevy Volt is THE answer for absolutely EVERYONES driving needs. However, for someone who makes a daily commute to work that's around 30 miles or less, a Chevy Volt would be ideal. They're a great car for making a short commute to work, and for running around town doing errands. For the average person that doesn't do a lot of driving, they could drive a Volt around for a whole year, and spend hardly more than a few hundred dollars for their "fill-ups"...for the ENTIRE year!!

Today's paper had an article with GM saying Volt users are averaging 1000 miles before they need to buy gas.

"?A sample of our early Volt customers suggest that they drive 1,000 miles before they fill up the gas tank,? Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for the Chevrolet Volt, said at a conference in New York today. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-06/gm-says-volt-electric-car-drives-1-000-miles-between-fillups-in-testing.html

What they left out is the car has a 500 gallon gas tank. :eek: