Gas Guzzler SUVs & Pickups are here to stay no matter even if gasoline hits $5 a gallon.
The reason is simple: respect. Try driving a bicycle or motorbike in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, or any other town Chuck Berry sings about and you will either get scared shitless or run over flat. Your well being means nothing to these crazed drivers and that is the truth. Every roadwayis an autodrome and every freeway a Gran Prix Circuit.
Tool down the road as slowly as you please in a Hummer (full size model) and let 'em hit ya.
I know I shouldn't reply to the troll but, Doesn't matter what they are driving, people can't drive and don't respect bikers at all. Someone in the office who drives an econobox honda coffin was complaining about a bicycle on the street holding up traffic. Why is it all the small cars are the ones that cut across the lines on curves or park crooked in the parking space and its the big trucks/suv's that are in between the lines where they should be. Does driving the tiny car require so much less skill to drive that they forget how, it is their attitude that they are better then anyone driving a vehicle that gets a mpg less than them that they think they don't have to follow the rules.
Where I live they care little about the price of gas. Starter homes are a bargain in the mid 350's. The kids are riding around on electric scooters and mini versions of hummers. My timing was just very bad. I should have been born much sooner or much later.
I agree. Where I live new one-bedroom condos are selling for $350K and decent homes are $900K. So, what does an extra $10 per fill-up really mean when you can afford house prices like this.
I only live 6 miles away from work so I use up 30 gallons of gas a month. If gas has gone up 75 cents/gallon then I am looking at a cost of an additional $270/year. This isn't going to make much of a difference to me but with housing having increased by up to 50% in just two years that's what worries me. I regret not buying two years ago. Gas is only a very small portion in my list of expenses.
I don't know about where you are, but, in a lot of areas, don't bet that those people can afford those homes and toys. Many are so over invested that if the housing market has a good correction, they're going down hard.
The latest reports out of Japan, Detroit, etc, says the manufacturers are already downsiz>I agree. Where I live new one-bedroom condos are selling for $350K and
News says expect it to continue to rise through the rest of the summer, but don't expect it to drop back very far.
For every $1 per barrel the price rises, that equals about 2.5 cents more at the pump.Diesel has risen faster than gasoline in California due to then special "flavor" which all trucks registered in California are required to use. But most trucks coming from out of state fill up before entering California and right after leaving.
As usual, a southern California refinery (Chevron) shut down. Funny how that always seems to happen about this time of year.
"Spike" wrote: "As usual, a southern California refinery (Chevron) shut down. Funny how that always seems to happen about this time of year."
Did it shut down for good or just for maintenance? If for maintenance, when to you suggest they shutdown. I work in a chemical plant that also is attached to a refinery. They try to build inventory prior to maintenance activities. Refineries in this country are running at over 90 percent capacity. We lack refining in this country. The last new refinery was Marathon Oil in Garyville, LA and that was built in 1976. Every time the government adds more requirements to gasoline and diesel the more it cost to refine and less fuel is produced.
Here is the break down on a gallon of gasoline. 43 percent crude oil cost,
31 percent taxes, 13 percent marketing, 13 percent refining cost/ This is only an estimate and may be adjusted for different regions of the country due to different types of crude being refined and different tax cost.
It shut down for "unplanned" maintenance. It seems the same thing happens at some point during every summer. This may not be the case nationwide, but it is here in California. Last year it was the refinery in the bay area. The year before, it was the bay area.
As for building new refineries, I acknowledge that these are getting old, and nothing new has been built in something like 35 years. Between the government and the "not in our town" types, there may never be another.
Don't get me wrong. It's not all the oil companies... but a lot of people in California find it "suspicious" that every summer as the prices rise, at least one of the refineries goes down at the very worst time for consumers, and the price jumps up a notch or two.
My post was just based on what an item on CNN (or one of those cable news networks) covered.
Your right. If the cost per fill up is $10 and you fill up 50 times a year that is still only $500 extra a year which won't break the budget for the average person. But, who is to say it stops at $10. For me a fillup is at $10 up from last year only because I have small gas tank on my Taurus. Yesterday, I filled up for $25 which last year was about $15 to $17. So, if gas stops here, it will not make too much difference. But, what if it begins to be up $50 or $60 a fill up for say 18 to 20 gallons and a person fills up 30 times a year. That could impact some people particularly older people on fixed incomes or low income people. Will people still buy SUVs if gas is $5.00 or maybe $10.00 a gallon? Probably, some will still buy Hummers and Jeep Cherokees, etc. but, the sales on those types of vehicles will be reduced. There will be a lot more hybrids sold to be sure and quite a few VWs and Ford Focus's and other small cars. Additionally, the used car market for large gas guzzler cars will get a lot more dicey. The bigger issues is that the excalation of gas prices could drive us into a recession or worse and it means that there is a lot more money flowing into Muslim dominated countries where a lot of people do not like Americans.
"vince" wrote in message news:6EaKe.129600$wr.31741@clgrps12...
The could become much harder to sell. Buyers of older used vehicles have financial limitations. The large truck based SUVs will be a very tough sell when they are 6+ yrs old.
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