Maybe the gas price hike will finally convince Ford/GM that hybrids and fuel efficient cars are the way to go.

Yeah... right...

Naa... Let's make more Million-dollar taxpayer-funded FCVs that have a market release date of 2171 AD. Lutz knows that nobody wanted on affordable Volt that could be manufactured with off-the -shelf technology. He realized that what consumes really wanted was a Volt powered by a million dollar drive-train that had no refilling stations.

 

True, but you also said "summer". It is not even summer yet, and we are starting to see some limited number of locations already passing the $4 mark. As more and more locations pass the $4 mark, the average will creep up too, and by the end of the summer, there just might be enough places over $4 that the average goes over $4 too.

 

LOL, good point.

 

Today I paid 3.31/g (.03/g discount) at Long Beach, CA. Using my handy-dandy slide rule/calculator from Consumer Reports, that comes out to around .065/mile.

In about 2-3 weeks I head out to the Black Hills of SD and on into Wisc., Ill and up into Canada.

 

I predict that US $4/gal national average for 'regular' will be reached on 1 August 2007, prior to any landfalling hurricane risks.

Centrider, may I recommend small detours to Devil's Tower WY and Mt. Rushmore SD en route?

DAS

 

The range in Long Beach (East Side, mostly) seems to be 3.33 - 3.45 for 87 octane. So for Calif (and what is it in Hawaii?) that 4 buck/g is not so far off.

Well, keep smiling. . .Comes the REVOLUTION. . .

 

3 or 4 weeks ago, the Saturday automotive ads here in Indy had 3 different Toyota dealerships discounting (either price or financing) Prii. Last Saturday's paper had nary a peep about new Prii. We drove past the one nearest our house and saw 1 on the lot and the one near my office (which had been advertising "over 20 available" has 2.

I'd say that the convergence of lower sticker and higher gas prices must have created demand.

BTW, the majority of the stations I see are right around $3 here...

 

So this isn't even a real price... it's a protest price.... and I was right, it's SF.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...NGUKPOGKJ1.DTL

 

Well, the cautious observation is that we're not going to make that 4.00 avg this summer/year. One reason might be that Texas has a bill in the hopper to suspend the state gas tax of .20/g. The question than becomes - How many states will follow?

 

The idea is intelluctually and fiscally bankrupt. Besides - Texas has no state income tax. They estimate each family with a car and truck saves $100 a summer, so the next state session, Texas may lose a billion in revenue. Then the already Legislature that was farther right than when Pres Bush was Govenor will go farther right in a contest of who is the baddest budget hawk like they did in 2003. They will try to raise "sin taxes" more, along with college tutitions, pretend some services are "non-essential".... a cynical move by politicans to get votes by cutting taxes when it's easy to balance the budget, then they will over cut it when times may not be as good two years from now.

Meanwhile in Dallas, I see plenty of people going at least 75 in a 60 - are they really hurting on gas money? If they are, their driving suggests they are eager to get kicked at the pump, so why help them until then?