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adjusting to higher gas prices


southsider2k5

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Great read.

 

I'm looking at my business, I need a big ass truck to haul my rig, and thinking this may be a great time to buy a truck. They must be sitting on lots with everyone trying to trade them in for fuel sippers.

 

Maybe a nice Dodge Cummings Diesel.

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QUOTE(Texsox @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 08:42 AM)
Great read.

 

I'm looking at my business, I need a big ass truck to haul my rig, and thinking this may be a great time to buy a truck. They must be sitting on lots with everyone trying to trade them in for fuel sippers.

 

Maybe a nice Dodge Cummings Diesel.

You are on to something there. I remember recently reading in separate articles that Carmax has record inventories for SUVs and trucks, coupled with the automakers saying that SUV/truck sales were down double digit percentages vs last year.

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QUOTE(winodj @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 07:58 AM)
I hate gas is a bargain comparisons. That's such bullcrap.

 

Yeah, gas is still cheaper than milk, but how often do you buy 10 gallons of milk to go to work?

Amen! One has nothing to do with the other.

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my favorite line of the article...

 

"Todd Ledbetter, 39, a real estate investor who lives in Columbia Heights, says he and his wife have no choice but to own a Honda SUV, with two boys, ages 3 and 9, and a third child on the way."

 

 

Wow a family of 4 and soon to be 5 has no choice but to own a SUV? Funny, I don't remember seeing any SUV's in the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's.

 

there must not have been 4-5 members of a family back then.

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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 09:52 AM)
my favorite line of the article...

 

"Todd Ledbetter, 39, a real estate investor who lives in Columbia Heights, says he and his wife have no choice but to own a Honda SUV, with two boys, ages 3 and 9, and a third child on the way."

Wow a family of 4 and soon to be 5 has no choice but to own a SUV? Funny, I don't remember seeing any SUV's in the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's.

 

there must not have been 4-5 members of a family back then.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I really have no choice but to have something that can pull a very heavy trailer. Currently it's an 8 liter V10 monster. I do travel a bit slower, setting the cruise at 60-65 instead of 70-75 and have noticed a decrease in gas consumption and no decrease in being late.

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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 08:52 AM)
my favorite line of the article...

 

"Todd Ledbetter, 39, a real estate investor who lives in Columbia Heights, says he and his wife have no choice but to own a Honda SUV, with two boys, ages 3 and 9, and a third child on the way."

Wow a family of 4 and soon to be 5 has no choice but to own a SUV? Funny, I don't remember seeing any SUV's in the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's.

 

there must not have been 4-5 members of a family back then.

There's also a lot less station wagons made now. There is no way I could travel to Grandma's in Tennessee with two kids and all their stuff without an SUV or van. Since I already have the SUV and can't afford to buy a van right now...there ya go.

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QUOTE(Texsox @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 08:56 AM)
I was thinking the same thing. I really have no choice but to have something that can pull a very heavy trailer. Currently it's an 8 liter V10 monster. I do travel a bit slower, setting the cruise at 60-65 instead of 70-75 and have noticed a decrease in gas consumption and no decrease in being late.

Way to keep that on-time percentage niiiiiiiice and low........ :D

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QUOTE(mreye @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 09:05 AM)
There's also a lot less station wagons made now. There is no way I could travel to Grandma's in Tennessee with two kids and all their stuff without an SUV or van. Since I already have the SUV and can't afford to buy a van right now...there ya go.

 

Station wagons are just lower versions of SUVs.

 

IIRC, a lot of station wagons had big gas-guzzeling engines as well...

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QUOTE(Iwritecode @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 09:47 AM)
Station wagons are just lower versions of SUVs.

 

IIRC, a lot of station wagons had big gas-guzzeling engines as well...

Yes, I'm just making the point that today's SUVs were the 50's station wagons.

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Plus, even the standard four door sedan of the 60s, had about the same fuel economy of a current SUV. What has happened is the government mandated fuel savings has resulted in bigger vehicles getting the same millage as smaller vehicles, and people are opting for the bigger vehicle.

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you'll soon see the return of the wagon.

 

i still dont get it. my toyota corolla (which gets 32mpg) has 5 seats. The reason why a husband, wife and 2 kids cant ride in this is because....... :huh

 

maybe part of the problem is that parents bring too much sh*t of their kids on a road trip. i see this with my cousins. they drive 30 minutes and the kids have to watch a dvd or play gameboy or bring 15 toys with them.

 

when i was young it was color, read a book, or look out the damn window. But then again I didnt have a.d.d. either.

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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 12:14 PM)
you'll soon see the return of the wagon.

 

i still dont get it. my toyota corolla (which gets 32mpg) has 5 seats. The reason why a husband, wife and 2 kids cant ride in this is because....... :huh

 

maybe part of the problem is that parents bring too much sh*t of their kids on a road trip. i see this with my cousins. they drive 30 minutes and the kids have  to watch a dvd or play gameboy or bring 15 toys with them.

 

when i was young it was color, read a book, or look out the damn window. But then again I didnt have a.d.d. either.

 

Well, our trip was a little longer than 30 minutes. It was 7 hours. We had a suitcase for me, a suitcase for my wife, a duffel bag for my 3 year old, a bag for the 8 month old, a bag of diapers, a stroller, a pack-n-play, a container of toys for the baby, a dog, dog food, dog treats, golf clubs, camera bag, purse, tissues, snacks, pillows, blankets, games...

 

Can you get all that into your Corolla? I barely got it all into my 97 Blazer (which gets 21 mpg).

 

Oh yeah, my kids don't have A.D.D either.

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QUOTE(mreye @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 12:29 PM)
Well, our trip was a little longer than 30 minutes. It was 7 hours. We had a suitcase for me, a suitcase for my wife, a duffel bag for my 3 year old, a bag for the 8 month old, a bag of diapers, a stroller, a pack-n-play, a container of toys for the baby, a dog, dog food, dog treats, golf clubs, camera bag, purse, tissues, snacks, pillows, blankets, games...

 

Can you get all that into your Corolla? I barely got it all into my 97 Blazer (which gets 21 mpg).

 

Oh yeah, my kids don't have A.D.D either.

 

Sounds a lot like the vacation I took just last week. Substitute one more kid for the dog and add a couple of coolers and we had our 93 Suburban just about filled up. That was packing for an entire week.

 

BTW Jason, it was a husband, wife and 2 kids plus a third on the way. Have you ever tried to squeeze three carseats into any 4-door car? Every child under the age of 9 is now required to be in one.

 

I remember back when I didn't even have to wear a seatbelt in the back seat...

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wow, i struck a cord.

 

my point is that in many cases (not all) people think they need a bigger car than they actually do. s*** I had trouble putting the new water softener I bought yesterday in the Corolla but I made it work.

 

As for putting all of that stuff in the suv, I ask again whether or not your parents were able to put all of that in their wagons or cars back then. if so, why cant we now?

 

Nothing ticks me off more than seeing some car getting 15mpg sitting in bumper to bumper traffic with 1 person in it on the highway. It's like that funny Miller High Life Commercial... "The only off-roading she's going to be doing is if she runs over her flowerbed."

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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 01:25 PM)
wow, i struck a cord.

 

my point is that in many cases (not all) people think they need a bigger car than they actually do. s*** I had trouble putting the new water softener I bought yesterday in the Corolla but I made it work.

 

As for putting all of that stuff in the suv, I ask again whether or not your parents were able to put all of that in their wagons or cars back then. if so, why cant we now?

 

Nothing ticks me off more than seeing some car getting 15mpg sitting in bumper to bumper traffic with 1 person in it on the highway. It's like that funny Miller High Life Commercial... "The only off-roading she's going to be doing is if she runs over her flowerbed."

 

 

Jas your anger at the 1 person SUV should be moderated at least somewhat by the fact that they are dumping at least 70 bucks a week into their ride. Thats gotta hurt. Add to that the fact that people are dumping their SUV's left and right because of high energy prices and GM and Ford who shunned hybrids and other fuel efficient models in favor of SUV's are now paying for their mistake with steep losses.

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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 01:49 PM)
true.. however the only thing thats going to make gas prices drop significantly and permanently for all of us to reduce our demand.

 

 

Market forces will take care of too much demand for energy. Thats exactly what you're seeing with rising gas prices. My only concern is that it doesn't take the country into recession along with it.

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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 01:25 PM)
wow, i struck a cord.

 

my point is that in many cases (not all) people think they need a bigger car than they actually do. s*** I had trouble putting the new water softener I bought yesterday in the Corolla but I made it work.

 

As for putting all of that stuff in the suv, I ask again whether or not your parents were able to put all of that in their wagons or cars back then. if so, why cant we now?

 

Nothing ticks me off more than seeing some car getting 15mpg sitting in bumper to bumper traffic with 1 person in it on the highway. It's like that funny Miller High Life Commercial... "The only off-roading she's going to be doing is if she runs over her flowerbed."

 

Well, I went on vacation with my Grandparents who pulled a 24ft 5th wheel camper trailer behind a deisel pick up. So, yes, we were able to fit all that and more.

 

I don't understand the anger at that person. It's that person's freedom to buy whatever they want and to drive whereever and whenever they want. Hooray for capitalism. :usa

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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Aug 24, 2005 -> 01:25 PM)
As for putting all of that stuff in the suv, I ask again whether or not your parents were able to put all of that in their wagons or cars back then. if so, why cant we now?

 

You do remember how BIG cars were back then right? Gas was under a dollar so bigger was better. Of course people didn't have a problem getting all their stuff into them. The trunks were the size of Rhode Island. If they needed something bigger then they were driving around full-size vans, trucks and station wagons.

 

These days unless you actually buy an SUV, you'd be lucky to fit 2 suitcases into a trunk of a 4-door car. SUVs have replaced all those full-size vans and station wagons.

 

Not much has changed except the price of gas and the size of cars...

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Brian and I were looking at a 1970s Mercury Villager (the only year it was made as a Cougar) a couple weeks ago. Damn, that thing was huge, but sweet.

 

My parents had a 1978 Ford Fairmont station wagon that fit three kids and two parents very comfortably and wasn't all that huge (next to the Chevy Station wagon my parents had for a few months in the early 90s - some jackass stole it and stripped it). I think it was a 6 cylinder, but might have been 8.

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