Consider that after fuel prices subsided, SUV sales started to rise again. To badly quote someone from another car forum, it's amazing to me that our fellow countrymen have the attention spans of toddlers.

 

the only thing i hate about high gas prices is that in a way fuel efficent cars are marketted a little bit more expensive than they should be -_-;

that's why you should get a fuel miser NOW before its too late!

 

Well, why not just buy an Insight, then take it to Maaco (or wherever) and have it repainted in the color of your choice? Think of it as buying an aftermarket option.


I'm afraid that's a human failing, not just an American one. People around the world have routinely failed to learn from history, and as a result have been doomed to repeat it.

If gas does hit $3 again (and it's already past $2.50 at some local stations vs. $2.15 a couple of weeks ago), I for one will get a good laugh from watching SUV Nightmare, Part Deux. Like last year, many SUV owners will want to ditch them for hybrids or other high-FE cars, only to learn the dealers won't take them in trade. IOW, their gas hogs will be WORTHLESS!!

 

I'm pretty sure that prices will be well past $3.00 when everything peaks this summer. If you compare the winter fuel price to the summer fuel price for the past two years (which is as far back as the easily-available data took me) you will see that there has been an average 45% increase from the winter low to the summer peak. If you calculate from a national low of $2.21 in February you end up with $3.20 for a summer high, all other factors being equal. Throw in a hint of strong hurricane activity in the Gulf less than a year after Katrina and speculation easily edges into the $3.50-$4.00/gal range. That's painful for me even considering that my summer mileage escalates to 32mpg+.

 

I wouldn't mind picking up an SUV for cheap for bike/scuba hauling duty. It would only be used two days a week maximum but at least I'd be using it for what it was designed for: hauling lots of heavy or bulky stuff. Meanwhile the HCH2 would remain the daily driver

 

Eh, bunch of crap. Just another company exec with an overbloated salary and overbloted bonus plan needs another excuse to become even more obscenely rich. I understand we're not here at work every day because we love it and the pay is just a perk, we're here for money and I'm not downing people for getting rich, get rich, please. But don't rip everyone a new one along the way. To most of us it's a necessity to get to and from work. I can understand if usage went completely through the roof but even when everone supposedly hunkered down, they still made record profits. Oil companies can politely (or not so politely) eat me. And it doesn't matter what energy source we switch to, they'll have their dirty grubby fingers in it but I can't down them for that because that's smart business. No, I'm not one of those people that hate corporations either. Although, I do find some of the salaries unecessary, not to mention the "You're Fired but here's your nice little severence package" completely unecessary. It just angers me, you see it everywhere now, fuel and energy, home prices. It's pricing people out of the market in some areas. It's just greed. Period. Bah! End rant.

Want to over price something? How about twinkies, cigarettes? unecessary items, stuff that is bad for us.
Yes, I realize gas is bad for us, if you consume it it'll probably kill you or give you some type of cancer. But it plays it's part in society, it keeps the market going, it gets you to the store, work, daycare, school, etc. It's a necessity untill we find an alternative.