Escape the Old SUV - GreenHybrid

GaryG · #1 (**permalink**) 09-05-2005, 09:19 PM

From my days of the sporty cars, my family developed and the need for toys (boats, trailers etc.). I own those toys and a SUV but this has brought me to point where I had to think about our survival.

These days, we are at war, gas is to expensive for toys and driving to work for most of us has been a factor in profit.

I bought the FEH as a second car. It is now my first car. I don't compare it to a SUV of the past as many have. My toys sit while this Country is in ruin.

I am still surviving with my my FEH. It was a great deal for me.

nitramjr · #2 (**permalink**) 09-06-2005, 09:54 AM

Granted there are places in this country now that are in ruin, to say the entire country is in ruin is a little too gloom and doom for me. Where I am (Boston area), the economy is good, my regular job and my side businesses are booming and I am better off now than I ever was or thought of being. Yeah, maybe the toys don't come out as often as before and we are being selfish if we complain about the price of gas when there are people who lost everything, but man, I think you need to cheer up a little.

Yeah, the price of gas sucks right now. Look at what people are willing to pay for bottled water, Starbucks coffee, beer at the bar, etc. Gas is still cheap. Had it kept up with inflation it would have been $3 a gallon long ago.

Go play with the toys. Enjoy life. Be thankful that most of us are well fed, have a dry home (or a home at all) and our biggest problem on most days is having to pay more than we are used to for gasoline.

JMHO....

Ray

GaryG · #3 (**permalink**) 09-06-2005, 01:20 PM

The Country is not in ruin yet and maybe things will turn before we get there. For the most part I do think positive and make the best of what I can. And yes many are doing very well these days especially those tied to oil and gas companies.

As far as you thinking gas is cheap, why do you own two FEH's? Why not two Hummers if you really think so. Also, your friends up North may need a little help this winter paying their heating bills. Tell them its cheap. As far as a good cup of coffee for $3.00 with free refills, bottled water and beer, lets just agree you don't need 30 gallons ($90) a week of that I hope.

Stop and think about where our Country has headed these past years under our President. If you think things are great, you are a smaller minority any more.

The real point in my comment was about survival. With the rising cost of everything, paying almost 100% more for gas over last year will be a breaking point for many. I have improved my MPG by 100% over my other SUV with the FEH. My toys cost me double now to operate. As far as insurance cost, it was real bad before this last hurricane hit.

Add polution and global warming to all of this and have a happy day!

nitramjr · #4 (**permalink**) 09-06-2005, 03:00 PM

My response was in no way a flame but since you turned it into that, here goes.

For the record, I am in no way affilitated or work for or with any gas or oil company. I am a public employee and I work a side business that has been very good to me. It is real estate related and when/if the "bubble" bursts, that will go away but in the meantime I'll take what I can.

I own two Hybrids because I like toys, I like technology and given the chance to drive the type of vehicle I want AND do something good for the environment, money isn't an object. My breakeven point on one is several years out (if ever), even further for the second one. I traded in a perfectly reliable, fuel efficient 2001 Focus that was still under warranty to get the '05. The price of gas is irrelevant. I'd be money ahead with an old gas-guzzler with less insurance, lower excise tax and I could maintain it myself. I would never drive a Hummer in the civilian world because they are useless in that application. I have driven the military version for years and they are a lot of fun in the rough - not as a commuter vehicle.

As far as the price of gas, I was referring to the cost of gas compared to what it was years ago. My earliest recollection of gas prices was in about 1973 at about $0.49 a gallon. At $3.15 today, that calculates to an inflation rate of about 6.5% per year average. At about $1.25 when I started driving in 1983 to today it only calcs to 4.3% average. I don't know about you but $1.25 in 1983 was more money out of my paycheck than $3.15 is today. We were spoiled with many years of flat gas prices. Meanwhile, real estate has skyrocketed, the price of cars has gone out of site and wages increase every year - why do we expect gas to always be a buck. I sold my first house a few years back and made about 12% a year for the 9 years I owned it. Prices going up is sometimes a good thing. And if the price of gas going up triggers people to conserve, improve technology, and maybe drive more reasonable vehicles then so be it. Oh yeah, $90 a week for coffee, bottle water and beer? Piece of cake. Where do you get free coffee refills? Stuckeys?

I am sure there will be people this winter around New England that have trouble paying their heating bills. And I am sure, like every year, there will be all kinds of assistance for them.

As for the toys, again, so they cost you more to operate - big deal. If you were that much on the fence that spending more in gas for them makes you park them then you couldn't afford them in the first place. You won't get sympathy from many people when there is an entire major city under water. I also have toys that cost me more to operate. I have to burn high octane in my '65 Mustang and it is thirsty. My F250 gets about 11 mpg. My plane burns 10 gallons of leaded 100 octane an hour at over $4 a gallon. Maybe I cut back some. Maybe I'll work a little more and play just as much.

Pollution and global warming is all of a sudden something you woke up in January 2001 and decided was a problem? Why wasn't it such an issue from 1993 to 2001?

You are worried about survival? Sounds more to me like you are being petty and just looking for a reason to bash the president.

AugieDB · #5 (**permalink**) 09-07-2005, 06:24 AM

I'll try not to get into the midst of a possible barn-burning political debate, but:

Thanks, Nitramjr. I'm not necessarily of the political persuasion of many of the posters I've read on these boards. I'm not shouting "Death to SUV owners" and I don't think gas is evil or any of that. I would choose a hybrid car because I'm a tech geek, I like the efficiency and cost savings, I like the idea of cutting back on our dependence on one energy source, I like to support the tech, and (at the far far end) the environmental impact.

I'm just happy to see other, er, reasonable people posting around here, for whom a hybrid isn't a strong political statement, and doesn't go hand in hand with ridiculous political charges.

Now I want to go buy one, ****ing the cost.

-Augie

Pravus Prime · #6 (**permalink**) 09-07-2005, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AugieDB

I'll try not to get into the midst of a possible barn-burning political debate, but:

Thanks, Nitramjr. I'm not necessarily of the political persuasion of many of the posters I've read on these boards. I'm not shouting "Death to SUV owners" and I don't think gas is evil or any of that. I would choose a hybrid car because I'm a tech geek, I like the efficiency and cost savings, I like the idea of cutting back on our dependence on one energy source, I like to support the tech, and (at the far far end) the environmental impact.

I'm just happy to see other, er, reasonable people posting around here, for whom a hybrid isn't a strong political statement, and doesn't go hand in hand with ridiculous political charges.

Now I want to go buy one, ****ing the cost.

-Augie

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/i...list.2696.html

You're not alone.

AugieDB · #7 (**permalink**) 09-07-2005, 12:05 PM

Cool, thanks. That's a nice thread. I feel much better. I'll just stay out of the more politically charged boards elsewhere around here. We CAN all get along. =)

-Augie

GaryG · #8 (**permalink**) 09-07-2005, 12:54 PM

"I own two Hybrids because I like toys, I like technology and given the chance to drive the type of vehicle I want AND do something good for the environment, money isn't an object."

It sounds like your confused here. How does someone do something good for the environment and defend what the President has let happen to the environment?

If you would turn off FOX and watch a news channel, you would see I don't have to look for a reason to bash the President. His own Party is doing a find job without my petty two cents.

AugieDB · #9 (**permalink**) 09-07-2005, 12:57 PM

Sometimes it amazes me -- no matter how many different kinds of message boards I visit, the arguments all start sounding the same. ::sigh::

-Augie

Delta Flyer · #10 (**permalink**) 09-07-2005, 01:14 PM

Trying to only be mildly political, I think the power and the grass-roots support of the energy support of the oil industry is exaggerated. The real reason the US has a bottlenecked gas supply is most of the population loves gas-guzzlers and until recently thought cheap prices would go on forever. Some of them might think they will fall under $2 a gallon next year.

If the general population thought like this forum, the oil industry would be agressively moving into alternative energy - they would have no choice.