Drivers rethinking vehicle choices amid high gas prices

The Buffalo News ^ | 10/2/2005 | MATT GLYNN

[meyer]

My faith in Consumer Reports falls slightly behind my faith in the EPA - which is very little. All my vehicles of the last 10-20 years have gotten approximately what the EPA's mileage figures said they would get. And I don't drive gently.

That said, I'm glad now that I traded in my Mid-sized SUV for a smaller one 2 years ago.

[RipSawyer]

In short I think that gas prices, while high, are not the disaster that most folks make it out to be. Most of their pain comes from poor financial planning.>>>>>>>>

You are probably right about most folks but those at the lower end of the earnings curve are already stretched to the limit, it is hard to do good financial planning when you have very low income.

[RipSawyer]

I think one possible factor is that Consumer Reports testing may also be biased but in the other direction.>>>>>

I believe it is, I don't think I have ever owned a vehicle that DIDN'T get much better mileage than Consumer Reports reported.

[Oatka]

Then, when gas prices fall (as they invariably do) . . .

I think the cyclical dynamics have changed. Before, price rises were attributed to a massive explosion at a refinery or the Arabs trying to squeeze us.

Now, we have built up China and India into blossoming oil-hungry countries which will keep prices high and probably push them much higher in the future.

Future U.S. governments are going to have a real domestic problem on their hands. Cheap food, cheap gas and good-paying jobs for all. About all that's left now is the cheap food and I see that escalating also. Food (processed foods and meat) used to fluctuate and gradually inch up with inflation. Now I see jumps of 10c at a time on many items.

[snowsislander]

Too bad the diesel here is so ridiculously expensive. Isn't it easier to refine? Plus, the expense trickles down to higher prices for good due to higher prices for transportation.

What's going on with the price of diesel? I went out today, and I saw three stations selling diesel: one was selling diesel for about the same price as its premium gasoline, and two of them were steeply higher than premium gasoline.

[SunTzuWu]

You are probably right about most folks but those at the lower end of the earnings curve are already stretched to the limit, it is hard to do good financial planning when you have very low income.

I'm guessing that the lower income folks don't own Hummers, Suburbans, Yukons, Escalades, etc...

My example was based on burning 26 gal. per week. I'll bet most lower income folks don't burn that much. A Toyota has about a 13 gal. tank IIRC. That makes their added expense per month $50 instead of $100. You are never to poor to plan your finances. I'm talking about a budget that's realistic given your income.

[RipSawyer]

My example was based on burning 26 gal. per week. I'll bet most lower income folks don't burn that much. A Toyota has about a 13 gal. tank IIRC. That makes their added expense per month $50 instead of $100.>>>>>>>

This is a collection of mostly unrelated speculations ending in an unwarranted conclusion. What are you smoking?

[DustyMoment]

Before, price rises were attributed to a massive explosion at a refinery or the Arabs trying to squeeze us.

Actually, they haven't. This is still the same old same old. To date, there is little to no substantive proof that the Arabs have ever engaged in "trying to squeeze us". Typically, US oil companies are the ones behind the "squeezing".

These days, more blame can be laid at the feet of the enviro-wackos and their wacko puppets in Washington (Gore comes to mind). With no new refineries and gazillions of special blended gasolines required by the EPA's junk science, it is hard to blame the Arabs for inflicting on us what we have allowed the enviro-wackos to inflict on us for that past 3 - 4 decades.

[Oatka]

To date, there is little to no substantive proof that the Arabs have ever engaged in "trying to squeeze us". Typically, US oil companies are the ones behind the "squeezing".

Check out World Oil Market and Oil Price Chronologies: 1970 - 2004

Examples:
# OPEC begins to assert power; raises tax rate & posted prices
# OPEC begins nationalization process; raises prices in response to falling US dollar.
# Negotiations for gradual transfer of ownership of western assets in OPEC countries
# Oil embargo begins (October 19-20, 1973)
# OPEC freezes posted prices; US begins mandatory oil allocation
# Oil embargo ends (March 18, 1974)
# Saudis increase tax rates and royalties
# US crude oil entitlements program begins
# OPEC announces 15% revenue increase effective October 1, 1975
# Official Saudi Light price held constant for 1976
# Iranian oil production hits a 27-year low
# OPEC decides on 14.5% price increase for 1979
etc.

[DustyMoment]

During the '82-'83 "oil embargo", my dad worked as an investigator for the Federal Trade Commission. He was assigned to investigate the "embargo" and discovered that the "embargo" was NOT the work of the Arabs, but the American oil company executives.

What he found was oil storage tanks that were full of oil and oil tankers parked out of sight over the horizon where they couldn't be seen because there was no place to put the oil. He also discovered that oil company executives could not tell him the exact cost of a gallon of gas.

Going back in time, he noted that going as far back as the end of WWI, the oil companies began a campign of fear by telling consumers that the world's supply of oil was being depleted and there would soon be no oil left.

They then went on to raise the price of gas on the fear that the world was running out of oil. After that one died, they then launched their next scheme to raise gas prices by adding lead to gas - an ingredient that the engines didn't need. As we all know, about 40 years later, they raised the price of gas again because they had to take the lead (that the engines never needed in the first place) out.

In between times, they concocted other world-running-out-of-oil schemes to manipulate the price of gas. Since the formation of OPEC, the Arabs have been made into the villains of the oil industry. It is true that OPEC has played a part in the price of gas but, if you carefully followed the actions of OPEC, within about 2 - 3 months of every production cut/price hike, OPEC members would cheat and start bringing the price back down.