SUVs and decisions.

[Prisoner Of Maiden]

I think that the new Honda pilot is a good pick, it’s a little more expensive but the technology in its pretty cool. It has something called Variable Cylinder Management or VCM, the computer can automatically shut off cylinders to four or three instead of using the full V6 all the time. The reason behind this is when at cruising speeds it only takes a fraction of the engines power to keep the momentum going so instead of having 6 cylinders chugging gas on the highway you can reduce it to half of that. If you have to pass someone on the highway or accelerate for some reason the computer will activate the fourth or go back to six cylinders. It gets 17 MPG in city driving and 23 for highways, if that doesn’t sell it I think it’s a pretty nice looking SUV to.

 

[Mmm...Donuts]

And why would the average power-hungry American turn away from an engine type with more power?
Because diesel fuel costs more than gasoline here. That's not a recent development that came with rising gas prices - it always has cost more. About 60 cents more per gallon on average. Last time I filled my car's tank, gasoline was $3.83 per gallon and diesel was $4.45 per gallon.

Really? First time I heard that, SMX. I thought diesel wasn't allowed in the US due to some standards. Ya see in here it's the other way around, diesel is less expensive than gasoline. Everyone gets diesel I guess here to save on costs.

I saw a pilot, it's pretty big though, we're after a medium size SUV under the size of a Ford Everest that can go around the city well, as we only occasionally go off road.

 

[LooseCannon]

And why would the average power-hungry American turn away from an engine type with more power?
Because diesel fuel costs more than gasoline here. That's not a recent development that came with rising gas prices - it always has cost more. About 60 cents more per gallon on average. Last time I filled my car's tank, gasoline was $3.83 per gallon and diesel was $4.45 per gallon.

Considering, in Canada, gas prices are around $5.75/gallon right now...

However, when you strip away relevant taxes, we are still paying *less* than you Americans.  It's easy to gouge when there's no price restrictions and when your buddy's working as the head of the Department of Energy.

Also, diesel wasn't as expensive as gas here till about 4 years ago.

 

[Forostar]

Expensive?       


European Gas Prices: And You Thought $3.50 Was A Lot…

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Earlier today, the AAA and Oil Price Information Service reported that average U.S. gasoline prices hit a new record at $3.50 per gallon. A lot of people are freaking out here in the U.S. with the cost of gas but how about if you paid more than double that like they do in Germany; how does that sound?

Ok, so we knew that Europeans pay an arm and a leg for gasoline – mostly due to heavy taxation, but we wanted to see exactly how much more so we “flew” over to Eurostat, the official European statistic office to find out. As you can see in the list, there are huge variations in Europe with gasoline prices ranging from “as low” as €3.82 / $6.12 a gallon in Bulgaria to as deep-space high as €5.87 / $9.39 in The Netherlands. Suddenly $3.50 doesn’t sound that bad, does it... And no, we’re not implying that we should pay more for gas.

*Gas prices were taken on April 18, 2008 by Eurostat and they concern the average cost of one liter of Euro-Super 95 -taxes and duties included. For comparison reasons, we converted Euros/liter prices into Euros/gallon and Dollars/gallon. Note that the exchange rate between the Dollar and the Euro also hit a new record high today (€1 = $1.60 on April 22, 2008).

 

[Deleted member 7164]

80 cents per liter of gas? Nice.
Two bucks per liter in Croatia. Average paycheck around $1000. Total average value, not median. Median would be a lot lower, since there are a lot of people working for $400-$700 per month. Majority of people works for $400-$700 per month.

For $350, half of salary, you can fill 175 liters of gas. With an average car spending 10L/100km in combined drive, that equals 1750 kilometers per month, maximum. Per day, 60 km. People work 20 km away from homes, home-work, work-home, do a ride if you need to go pick up something in the city and such...

Half of that salary goes just to fill up the damn thing.

I'd be sure happy if oil magically dissapeares tommorow. People are comfortable even if it's overexpensive. Why should i ride my bike couple of km's to get a cup of coffee or go to beach, when it's freaking 35deg (c) outside and i have A.C. in my car. Because you're polluting the environment, wasting money and you ain't getting fit in that driver's chair, idiot.

Oil and the whole economy around oil has slowed down technological progress, drastically.

 

[LooseCannon]

I like John McCain's $300 million prize for a viable, rechargable car battery.

You won't see me say that about McCain so much.

 

[Wästed The Great]

Where is Nicola Tesla when we need him?

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

Expensive?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your meaning, but I never said my gas was expensive. In fact, I said the exact opposite:

Yes, my gas prices really are that low. But then again, I live about 200 yards from one of the cheapest gas stations in Denver.

And perhaps I should expand further: Denver's gas prices are below the US average, and the US has cheaper gas than Europe. So odds are that few (if any) members of this forum get better prices than me. I'm not bragging - I'm just saying that I am aware how good I've got it.

As to the topic, there was a big front-page article in today's Denver Post about the death of the SUV, largely due to gas costs. Let me see if I can find it...
SUVs on road to nowhere

 

[Cornfed Hick]

If you have your heart set on an SUV, and if it is at all possible to get a hybrid, this website purports to compare gas mileage of the various hybrid SUVs: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/hybrid_sbs_SUVs.shtml.  If you don't have your heart set on an SUV, a Prius would be a good choice, but it (like all hybrids) tend to be premium-priced.  If hybrids are out of the question where you live, and if your primary concern is fuel costs, just get a small, 4-cylinder car. 

 

[Albie]

European Gas Prices: And You Thought $3.50 Was A Lot…

I have to admit, I actually thought the UK was paying more for our petrol than the rest of Europe. €1.36/litre is not that bad really - compared to the Dutch.

However, if I could afford to convert my car to LPG, I would and save a few quid. And this is where the Government need to help us out a bit. What they claim is that they hike the tax up on fuel to try and reduce carbon emission's and such. Nice sentiments, but the problem is that if, like me, you have a car that is 10 years old and whilst is still quite economical, is costing more and more to run. LPG is a cleaner fuel and costs almost half the price of unleaded and a grant for people like me to convert our cars to use this fuel would help (the conversion would cost something like £1600 - for a car worth £800).

 

[Forostar]

All I did was comparing, I didn't mean to get personal. Here another article:

Is $4 gas a pain or a bargain?

At $4 per gallon, it hurts to drive in the United States these days.

But consider how painful it could be if we commute-crazed Americans filled our tanks at the prices the Germans pay: almost $8.93 per gallon for regular unleaded.

Take a long drive in almost any industrialized nation, and you’ll pay more dearly than in the USA.

“Our high gas prices [in the U.S.] are not unusual,” said Erik Craft, associate professor of economics at the University of Richmond. “Our situation is where the Europeans were years ago, in terms of gasoline prices.”

...continue

------------------------------------

Here in Europe people protest as well, especially truck drivers.

 

[Invader]

There were plans among truck drivers to slow down Midsummer traffic to 20 km/h here in Finland to protest against rising gas prices.  Midsummer is a nationwide "festival" holiday sort of thing here and usually people spend it in the countryside at their summer cottages and it's a very important national event for pretty much the whole country.  There's also a lot of traffic during this time as people are driving to the countryside.  But there was so much public resistance to this (mainly because of the timing of such a protest - at midsummer) that the truck drivers called it off. 

And yes, this thread is now officially hijacked.

 

[Wästed The Great]

And yes, this thread is now officially hijacked.

There was talk, about a year back, that the truck drivers would all just park their rigs for a week if the price ever went over 'X' dollar amount.  It didn't ever happen, tho.

 

[Onhell]

As SMX pointed out The SUV regardless of size is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Though if a miracle happens and prices stabilize or drop they might make a comeback. Small has become the new standard across the board. Everyday I see more and more Cars like mine (a Chevy Aveo) on the road, hell even my uncle who used to drive a pick up bought one for his long trips here in the southwest. They are cheap, great on mileage (and not just this one, but similar cars from other brands) and surprisingly roomy. I have a 12 gallon tank and it cost me 41 dollars and some cents to fill it up just 3 days ago it was 3.80 something a gallon for regular unleaded gas. But I won't have to fill it up until sometime next week and I average 32 miles a day driving to all my jobs, home and misc. fun.

However When I make more money I'll probably get a Hybrid, even now I can't afford ANY type of car worth over 16,000 dollars.