Sick and tired of these gas prices

[andrei3333]

I have had it with these prices, i cannot justify putting 91 in my car anymore.. i think im going to use 87...i just filled up when i had about half a quarter of a tank left and it cost me $70 dollars, i mean this is a maxima not an SUV...at 123 cents a litre for premium thats pushing it...to add to that my mileage is $hit cause im always stuck in traffic or driving like 30 minutes + from work to home

i m so pissed right now

i mean what the heck is this ? the government is cashing in big time on the gasoline taxes, cant they relax them a little ? and the price of oil overall.... nothing has changed in the world in the last 2 years and the price keeps going up...

i understand if the same theory applied to cows and they were suddenly becoming extinct so meat prices would rise, but THERE IS PLENTY OF OIL to go around (for now) !!!!

[kingrukus]

i feel your pain brother. my car is now a bigger pig than my maxima was and it totally blows...
just plan your trips more effectively is all i can say.

[LLZuB]

ya i made the switch to 87 this weekm jst couldnt justify the premium gas when my knock sensors dead anyways

[96blkonblkse]

You guys think you got it bad, i seriously dont know what the hell is wrong with me or the car, but i have a bit of an exhaust leak and its killing my gas mileage..serioulsy a full tank..55-57 liters gets me 350km to a tank..and i will not put anything less then 91 in it.

my other car is even worse..60 liters gets me 330km lol..but its a truck.

I dont understand this stuff..as the price of gas increases, they impose more tax on gas? how is this getting us anywhere expect lining the goverments pockets?

[JSMax]

and a forecast for this summer is that gas will hit $1.50 for regular.

You think you hate it now.... just wait.

I have come to the personal conclusion that it is of no real use to complain about the gas prices.... if you want to drive it is just one of those things that you need to pay. The alternative is that you loose a whole bunch of your personal time and take public transit. I will pay the price for gas thank-you very much.

But as King said I do feel the pain in the pocket book when it comes time to fill up. I baby the car and I get apx 600km out of 60 liters. I am convinced that I am one of the lucky ones.

[prince_starbai]

geeze you guys dont get very good mileage lol I guess i got it good compared to you guys

60L fill up gets me about 600-650KM/tank.. but these prices are ridiculous..it costs me like $75 to fill up my damn tank!

[kingrukus]

my car has a 75L fuel tank
like a maxima, it takes premium only
$1.24/L for premium
I ususally manage to get 68L into a tank for a fillup = $84.32 per fillup
I get 530km per tank if I am lucky

i think its tiem to get a motorcycle for the summer, and keep the civic for the winter

[bohead]

wow, you guys are getting nasty gas mileage....

i get easily 550-600 per tank....

My 4.0L cherokee gets 450 to a tank (city driving with 65l tank) on REGULAR GAS!!!

But with the forcast of prices going up....I'm making my next purchase within the next couple months.....getting myself a motorcycle baby! Amazing gasmileage and FREE parking at any Green "P" downtown!

[andrei3333]

Dont forget guys its all about the traffic and how you drive.. i see some of the guys positing here are from the western canadian areas and im not sure how busy your cities are in rush hour, but put it this way, here in toronto and the greater toronto area, evening rush hour on SOME days may start at 3 pm and continue well through 6PM, i am not kidding. traffic here is BAD, the city is overpopulated and everyone drives...

Stop and go all the way home baby...i plan my routes, after having experience being a driver for a company i know the city a lot better than i did before and i tried different routes...in the end, i got sick of stupid red lights every 200 meters and just use the highways... its still stop and go , but no traffic lights...

oh and a word on mileage (which varies)...i used to get 600KM on a tank when i worked 10 minutes away from home and drove on the hwy against rush hour so it was basically empty...now i am in rush hour and i am lucky to get 500 KM

i think next tank is regular, its not worth it anymore to stand in traffic and pay more for it!

[ScottS]

It makes good sense, if you are in stop and go traffic all the time, to use regular. Make sure the tire air pressue is good. I go a little over and run about 45psi. I remember reading, idling for longer than 30s may as well turn the car off. Driving style in the stop and go can help as well. IE no speeding up to slam on the brakes.

I know I was very disappointed in our Maxima's mileage when we first got it. I was expecting better than our old Cutlass. Ours has increased to nearly 10L/100km, which is better than when we first got it. I have since put in new NGK v power plugs modified with the hole in the electrode. General maintance, with more still to go. Have new NGK (I perfer them over Boshe) O2 sensors (20$ each on ebay) to go in, and a new y-pipe still to go on. I have been playing with the thought of dual exhaust. There can be very good gains to be had with a properly designed X-Pipe.

[knight_yyz]

even with all my mods I get 650 to the tank. Thanks to my piggy back and a good AFR

[costcowholesale]

gas is increasing at a ridiculous rate. In UK their prices are approaching 10/gallon. Things like hybrid/diesel/electric are coming to make driving cost more bearable.

when/if gas hits $3+/liter everyone, worst comes to worst everyone will probably move to urban area right by work and not drive. What worries me more is the increasing food/transportation prices that will be coming with the rising gas prices. We can not drive but we cannot not eat.

[LLZuB]

What i don't understand is that, with the auto industry being such a vital part of the economy, how can they push the prices up so high without suffering any consequences of people not driving or purchasing vehicles? Could it be that they are trying to force more people to go green, rather than asking people now?

Doesn't the government fund the auto industry somewhat?

[Saccian]

The high gas prices are the governments way of trying to lower gas emissions by crossing their fingers and hoping people decide not to drive as much.

Ha! Just kidding. I do get odd looks from coworkers when they find out I use only premium with the prices the way they are now. I just wish I change my driving style to conserve more gas. I always tell myself I'll take it easy and shift at low RPM's. Its too hard not to use the car though.

[JSMax]

Originally Posted by LLZuB

What i don't understand is that, with the auto industry being such a vital part of the economy, how can they push the prices up so high without suffering any consequences of people not driving or purchasing vehicles? Could it be that they are trying to force more people to go green, rather than asking people now?

Doesn't the government fund the auto industry somewhat?

You can thank George Bush, HalliBurton and corporate greed for pushing the price of a barrell of gas up so high. The government mainly reaps rewards from the taxes that it collects on the increasing price you pay at the pump. As the cost goes up, so do the taxes that the government collects. And you think that they will honestly say "yes, the gas companies are in collusion and oil companies are guilty of price fixing/gouging?"

Think of this.... if ethonal (or corn based fuel) becomes the standard for new vechiles, what is that going to do to the cost of food? That's a scary thought as corn producers are being paid much more by companies to sell their corn to companies that produce "bio-fuel" rather than selling it to a distrubitor that will sell it for food. There was a study that was just completed stating that corn based fuels are much more harmful to the environment because of all the clear cutting that is going on so that farmers can harvest this crop. Just figure that when you chop down 1 tree it releases CO2 into the atmosphere. Imagine how much CO2 is being released and how much is not being filtered by these trees that are no longer able to do their job.
And really, the auto industry employess hundreds of thousands of people across this country. If there are 3,000,000 New drivers EACH YEAR in the world. Auto companies are making 6,000,000 car every year. You think they care about the price of gas? It's about marketing and getting you to spend your money to buy crap that you don't need. Working 2 jobs. seeing on t.v. that all your stuff is old and useless. so you go out and buy new stuff. it's a cycle... but I digress.

Solar Power FTW.

[JSMax]

Originally Posted by costcowholesale

gas is increasing at a ridiculous rate. In UK their prices are approaching 10/gallon. Things like hybrid/diesel/electric are coming to make driving cost more bearable.

when/if gas hits $3+/liter everyone, worst comes to worst everyone will probably move to urban area right by work and not drive. What worries me more is the increasing food/transportation prices that will be coming with the rising gas prices. We can not drive but we cannot not eat.

I don't know about you, but I cannot afford to move to a more urban area so that I would save some fuel cost. Real estate to a huge jump in pricing a few years ago where I am and it's not feasible or realistic. Also, with a family, I refuse to move to a more densly populated area to raise my children. $3/liter will hurt. And it will Hurt A Lot. I will have to go without imported beer and start drinking domestic again

[Rainman1]

We'll see 4 bucks a gallon in just a couple of months, you can bank it. If people would stop filling up their huge fuel tanks and only put in a few days worth, the demand wouldn't be so high for gas. But I guess it's more convenient to fill up.

[costcowholesale]

Originally Posted by JSMax

I don't know about you, but I cannot afford to move to a more urban area so that I would save some fuel cost. Real estate to a huge jump in pricing a few years ago where I am and it's not feasible or realistic. Also, with a family, I refuse to move to a more densly populated area to raise my children. $3/liter will hurt. And it will Hury A Lot. I will have to go without beer

when gas is $3 a liter, say a regular family now drives 50000km/year with two cars, gas alone is $5000 a year, plus $2500 insurance, + car maintiance. You're looking at close to $1000/month without car payments. Add a $700 month car payment (say something like two honda civics), with that amount you can easily finance an extra 200k mortgage and never have to worry about gas prices/cars again. This is assuming gas is $3 /Liter, in UK I think they are paying above that already.. who knows 20 years from now gas might be $15/liter.

Even with booming real estate it will probably be cheaper to live in a small place in the city than owning two cars a few years from now.

People will adjust to it eventually, Toronto will hopefully getting a better transit system. Something like Japan's, the average family don't even really need cars there, the subway is cheap and really convinent. Hopefully I can afford a house when I have kids and they won't have to grow up in a tiny condo.

[costcowholesale]

Originally Posted by Rainman1

We'll see 4 bucks a gallon in just a couple of months, you can bank it. If people would stop filling up their huge fuel tanks and only put in a few days worth, the demand wouldn't be so high for gas. But I guess it's more convenient to fill up.

I think we are paying a bit above $4/gallon aleady.
1 US gallon = 3.79 litre, 3.79 litre x 1.28 (premium) =4.85? is my math wrong or is it really that expensive..

[reyrey]

Originally Posted by Rainman1

We'll see 4 bucks a gallon in just a couple of months, you can bank it. If people would stop filling up their huge fuel tanks and only put in a few days worth, the demand wouldn't be so high for gas. But I guess it's more convenient to fill up.

There was an article on Rogers.com and one of the suggestions to increase gas mileage was to avoid filling up your tank. According to the article, the reduction in weight saves about 5-7%. Not much but every little bit helps

[JSMax]

Originally Posted by costcowholesale

when gas is $3 a liter, say a regular family now drives 50000km/year with two cars, gas alone is $5000 a year, plus $2500 insurance, + car maintiance. You're looking at close to $1000/month without car payments. Add a $700 month car payment (say something like two honda civics), with that amount you can easily finance an extra 200k mortgage and never have to worry about gas prices/cars again. This is assuming gas is $3 /Liter, in UK I think they are paying above that already.. who knows 20 years from now gas might be $15/liter.

Even with booming real estate it will probably be cheaper to live in a small place in the city than owning two cars a few years from now.

People will adjust to it eventually, Toronto will hopefully getting a better transit system. Something like Japan's, the average family don't even really need cars there, the subway is cheap and really convinent. Hopefully I can afford a house when I have kids and they won't have to grow up in a tiny condo.

I do see your point. In the area we live in, housing picked up 100,000 in just over a 3 month period. Builders were having a single price increase of 80,000 for a 2-3 week period. This was about 2 summers ago, and last summer the market ran reatively flat. Forecasts for this year are more demand and less available housing so you know what that means. My house that I purchased new just 5 1/2 years ago ($155,000) will be selling for over 450,000 today. Regradless of 2 car payments and gas and insurance, it is way cheaper for me to stay in my house and pay ~1000/month on 16 year mortgage (remaining) than it would be to move more central and pay ?3500?/month on 40+years. That's my situation.

For a young person who is just starting out... yeah, get into a condo someplace that has decent public transportation. Don't bother wasting money on rent. You get 2 main benefits out of condo ownership...
1) you own the place and get a yearly statement that shows just how much (or little) you have paid off of your mortgage.
2) as the market increases, so does your equity. That's like having free money.
3) no yard work. that's a side benefit.

Now, with these no money down and life long mortgages, how can you really go wrong. People end up moving houses on AVERAGE of once every 7 years. Figure the house you need when your 25 is not going to be anything like the house you need when your 35 with kids and dogs and stuff. Same thing when you are 45 and 55 and 65. You will end up paying for that first condo until you retire, but at least you will make some money off it when it is time to sell and get the surburban dream home.

And as for Japan, I have never been there, but I hear that it is so densely populated that just about everything is with in 25 minutes on the bus system. Or even 10 minutes walking. That's just what I have heard. Again, I don't know about Toronto, but out in edmonton, we are famous for shopping and URBAN SPRAWL. it takes me 14 minutes in my car to get to work before the am rushhour OR 1 hour on the bus.

Families in New York live in 1200 square foot high rises and pay close to a million dollars for them. Their kids seem to turn out fine even though they don't have a yard and the closest park is in McDonalds. I hope Canada never comes to that. I hope I never live to see gas at $15/litre either.

[ScottS]

Originally Posted by JSMax

I hope I never live to see gas at $15/litre either.

Here's hoping that is not next year!

I am pretty anti ethonal. Producing fuel grown on land used to grow food is about as dumb idea as there is. Here is something for the rise in food comments

The world is facing the most severe food price inflation in history as grain and soybean prices climb to all-time highs. As a result, prices of food products such as bread, pasta, and tortillas, as well as pork, poultry, beef, milk, and eggs, are everywhere on the rise. In Mexico, corn meal prices are up 60 percent. In Pakistan, flour prices have doubled. China is facing rampant food price inflation, some of the worst in decades.
...
The reason: demand is simply outpacing supply. In seven of the last eight years world grain production has fallen short of consumption. These annual shortfalls have been covered by drawing down grain stocks, but the carryover stocks—the amount in the bin when the new harvest begins—have now dropped to 54 days of world consumption, the lowest on record.
...
Thus as the price of oil rises, the price of grain follows it upward.
...
As grain prices climb, a politics of food scarcity is emerging as exporting countries, including Russia, Argentina, and Viet Nam, are restricting exports to limit the rise in domestic food prices.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008...thanol_pro.php

Food Riots
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/20...225846-ap.html
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/20...188011-ap.html

Skyrocketing prices of rice, wheat, corn, cooking oil, milk and other foodstuffs come against a backdrop of a spreading global financial crisis, a US economy teetering on recession and currency market imbalances.

According to a World Bank report released last week, increases in global wheat prices reached 181 percent over the 36 months leading up to last February, and overall global food prices shot up 83 percent.

In recent months, rising food costs have lead to violent protests in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries in the past month.

In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to avoid the seizure of food from fields and warehouses.

http://news.smh.com.au/rising-food-p...0413-25u7.html

In order for riots to break out the whole food supply doesn't have to be wiped out. It just has to be threatened sufficiently. When people realize their vulnerability and the fact that there is no short-term solution to a severe enough drought in the Midwest they will have no clue as to what they should do. Other nations can't make up the difference because no other nation has a surplus of grain in good times let alone in times when they are having droughts and floods also. (Robert Felix, “US Food Riots Much Closer than You Think”)

We have been somewhat insulated from both the rise in fuel and food prices here in Canada. This has been due to the rise of our $ compared the drop in the USD. Which, incidently, is partly the reason for the rise in the price of oil.

[ScottS]

Retro fit on an electric motor.
http://www.poulsenhybrid.com/poulsen.html