What's the price of gas in your area ?

[rickdickerson]

yeah but the look of shock on Joe Cheapo next to you filling his truck with reg. unleaded! I fill all my toys with Premium 94 Octane now and it runs about $1.50 per LITRE here in good old Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and we laugh and laugh 'cuz it's still so cheap to drive a scooter (and I also mean my '04 Road Glide)

[dennis d]

$ 3.79 for regular here in Houston,Tx. today.And i'm thinking that's cheap.Bullsh*t !.........

[Havin' fun]

Originally Posted by arceeguy

I wonder if we'll see 4 cylinder Mustangs, Camaros and Chargers again............

Certainly, but not without a turbo plumbed in..lol.


This week tuesday AM $4.29, Same day PM $4.07.

If this keeps up, I might be able to fill my LAWNMOWER for less than $4.00 again!!!

[racerx]

Originally Posted by arceeguy

Cost me $2.25 to fill my CT70 clone today. I can get used to this little scooter!

As far as collector cars go, most start out as plain old daily drivers and a small percentage attain "collector" status. Today's daily driven hemi 300C might be tomorrow's collector car. Especially since we are essentially repeating history, with the 90's through current times closely mimicking the mid 60's through mid 70's in automotive history. Look at a 1965 Chevy Malibu compared to a 1975 Chevy Malibu. Then compare a 91 Toyota Camry with a 2007 Camry. Everything has become become larger and heavier, with little regard to fuel economy. All car manufacturers are guilty of this. The current Honda Civic sedan is about the same size as the Accord was back in the 80's. It has grown so much that Honda has introduced the Fit here in the US, which is about the size of what the Civic used to be. (I owned a couple of 79 Civics - great little scoot.... er .... cars....) As history repeats itself, we will see cars become smaller and less powerful. If anyone ever remembers driving a 70's era Datsun B210 or Toyota Corolla, this is not something that will be very pleasant. I must say that driving this CT70 clone is a lot like driving a B210 or old VW bug - redline it in every gear from a stop and then go WOT in top gear for "cruising".


I wonder if we'll see 4 cylinder Mustangs, Camaros and Chargers again............

Some astute observations over a number of decades, you don't spend a lot of time listening to Fox news, do you? Marketing, beyond a certain point, is nothing more than propaganda. During the `90s, I watched as one manufacturer after another dropped smaller versions of vehicles in favor of stretched versions. That's why I held onto my `93 Astro van for over 300K miles; it was bloated enough without adding even fuglier bulk. I couldn't help but wonder how long gas prices would keep dropping during the Clinton years. Call me cynical but even then I wondered just how long it would take before the buying public had the proverbial rug pulled out from underneath. We used to joke about how an SUV would become a great way to beat the high cost of living the moment gas reached the shockingly high ocst of $2.50/gallon Back in the `70s, you could pick up a low-mileage classic muscelcar for chump change and still come out ahead at 12mpg. But, the public has a short memory. So, the $1.45 gas of 1985 became the $0.88 gas of 1995 and the shit didn't really hit the fan until about 2004. We had a brief spike around $2.55 in July of 2000, a few weeks after the Prius hit local showrooms and then prices bounced around between $1.25 and $2 for the next few years. The $0.25 gas of the late `60s works out to an inflation-adjusted $2.75 - 3.00 in 2008. The adjustment was long overdue and half of what we're paying is due to currency devaluation. Do the math with oil price in Euros and the price spike gets cut almost 50%

MPG potential hasn't really changed very much over the past 28 years. Gasoline engines are only so efficient. Even the Smart car doesn't set the world on fire for fuel consumption. I kinda doubt that Scuderia Ferrari is worried about losing market share and that's where the last bastion of unabashed performance will last the longest. The whole appeal of cars the size of large dogs is going to be their size. Anywhere population density is great, they'll work. For freeway cruising in North America, no way. First hybrids will proliferate, then plug-in hybrids, then performance-tuned hybrids and finally electric power. I've already seen electric dragsters running sub-7s. Then, with gasoline falling out of favor, we'll have the great electrical shortages

Four cylinder pony cars may make a comeback but I doubt it. Even with V-8 power, they already get better mileage than a Subaru or Mitsubishi, so for a performance car, there doesn't seem to be much advantage in 4 cylinders over 8 and there are many disadvantages. I had to chuckle when I began reading WRX vs Mustang Cobra shootouts...the WRX was faster, the Mustang got better mileage. Imagine the number of guys thinking "I coulda had a V-8"

[Art]

New car buyers are now looking at air bags, crumple zones, and crash test results.
You can't have a 2300# Sherman tank.

[arceeguy]

Originally Posted by racerx

Some astute observations over a number of decades, you don't spend a lot of time listening to Fox news, do you?

Fox news? Sure, along with network news, CNN, MSNBC. I take in all the trash, process it the best I can, and draw my own conclusions. (but GIGO you know!)

I've been pointing out the parallels with the "muscle car" era since about 2000. (mostly to my wife, who doesn't give a rat's behind) It seemed like cars were getting larger, heavier, more powerful and less fuel efficient. This time, the asian car manufacturers are just as guilty, as they are making the big ass versions for the US market, while the european and asian home markets got the smaller and more efficient versions. (diesels too!) Blame it on the american car buyer I suppose, but if there was a silver lining to the dark cloud of high fuel costs, it is the fact that buyers are now shunning the guzzlers. Without government CAFE standards, the fact that the market is moving towards smaller more fuel efficient cars will push the CAFE numbers up naturally.

I hear that congress wants to jack up the federal fuel tax 40 cents a gallon over the coming years to make us curb fuel use. Hogwash! This is a thinly disguised cash grab, unfortunately some people actually think over taxing fuel (like the europeans) is a good policy. I say that the government should offer tax credits for people who buy a car that gets over 40mpg. This will work for everyone, as it will encourage "rich" people to buy economy cars instead of the guzzlers they can afford to run anyway. And it will give money back for lower income people who are buying an economy car because they can't afford anything bigger. (assuming they pay income taxes at all) When the Prius qualified for a tax credit, I said that it was a tax break for "the rich" because the Prius was (and is) selling for thousands above list price so only "rich" folks can afford them. (hehehe) As time goes on, they can raise the mileage to incentivize manufacturers to build high mileage cars. Sounds pretty good, but then again ANYTHING is better than higher taxes!

[arceeguy]

$3.62 for RU yesterday!
It is good to see gas prices plummeting in step with the falling price of a barrel of oil. Usually prices seem to skyrocket when oil goes up, but falls slowly when oil prices drop. Gas fell 30 cents a gallon in a few weeks here.

I filled my jerry can with premium yesterday ($3.96), and found my CT70 clone actually runs better with premium.

[dennis d]

A buddy of mine just got back from Oklahoma last week and saw $3.31 there.On the news there was a Walmart selling it for $3.41 somewhere here in Houston today.

[arceeguy]

$3.53 for RU gas here in Central NJ.

I'm hoping that consumption doesn't shoot back up because prices are falling. That is what happened after the prices skyrocketed because of Katrina - once the prices fell below 3 bucks, people started buying SUV's and pickups again and became less concerned with conserving fuel through trip reduction, etc. I've always worked to reduce unnecessary trips, and yes, I keep my tires properly inflated. (hahaha!)

[dennis d]

Yesterday,new store (Chevron)opens and gets a gas war going.Got RU down to $2.31 gal. competing with the Shell across the street.Had traffic all jammed up,ran out of gas but had five trucks on the way.
Hopefully this can start a trend to the good ol' gas war days !