If gas gets to $5.00 a gallon

[kimboy]

How come motorcycles and scooters arn't part of the poll?

 

[tomhaney1]

If gas gets to $5 a gallon I say we revolt against the oil companies who are making RECORD profits, quarter after quater.:cannon: :gun:

:iagree: If our prices are that high the oil companies should be feeling it too!!

 

[tomhaney1]

$20,000/year? How many miles are you driving?

In my case, I average about 7,000 miles per year on my 4Runner (I live only a few miles from work), which works out to about $2500/year for gas. Thats based on 7,000 miles @ 14 mpg. 500 gallons of gas purchased in a year @ $5/gallon.

But even if I drove twice as much (which is more than the national average), I would still only pay $5000/year for gas. I would have to drive about 28,000 miles per year before I would be paying $20,000 for gas at $5/gallon!

The reality of it all is that I\'m already paying around $3/gallon for gas, so even if it goes up to $5/gallon, it\'s only an extra $1,000 per year out of my pocket, which is not nearly enough to make me even consider getting rid of my 4Runner

I'm in the same boat. I have averaged maybe 5500 miles in the last two years. That was also one consideration in me getting the V8 over the V6- the bottom line increase in fuel cost was negligable and I would be able to tow better. The bottom line is people need to go where they need to go whether gas is 3 dollars per gallon or 5 dollars per gallon.

 

[SciRunner]

I bought a Box on Wheels! The reasons are not about MPG or the cost of gas. I'm keeping the V8 4Runner while driving my 1.5L I4 2006 xB to work. I want to keep my 4Runner for a long time. The box is a Scion/Toyota Certified Pre-Owned vehicle(increased powertrain warranty and 24/7 road assistance).

...btw, I was a former owner of a 2004 xB which I traded for the 4Runner.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q194/bcunited/2006 xB/T-4RNRvsS-xB001.jpg

View from the top of the 4Runner:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q194/bcunited/2006 xB/T-4RNR-Tview001.jpg

 

[NeilC]

I to only drive the 4runner 6000-7000 miles per year so it dosn't really matter. Also I have an autocross car that gets 28-30 mpg in the city so I drive that. The only problem with that is that the 84 VW Rabbit has no AC. I should say my wife drives the 4runner and I drive a Cherokee that gets the same mpg as the 4runner but neither of us drive more than 7000 per year.

Now to the oil companies. The increase in gas prices is NOT due to supply/demand issues. There is no shortage, there are no lines everyone who needs gas can go to any gas station and buy it. When was the last time you saw a line to buy gas at ever open store? What the oil companies have created is a PERCEIVED shortage. The oil companies all use the same method to set there individual company's gas price or rack price. For mst normal businesses, if the price of a raw material goes up, you make less money. If the price of wood goes up, the homebuilder makes less money. If the price of steel goes up, the car companies make less money. If the price of oil goes up, they make MORE money. How do they do this? Well if they all set their individual gas prices using basically the same method. For x% increase in the price of oil, they increase the price of oil x+y percent. Exxon/Mobil, Shell, Texaco, BP all use a similar formula. Is this colussion? I don't know but it certainly no coincidence.

As for the goverment and taxes being more than the oil company profits that is not true. The government doesn't make a profit it spends every dime. Where does it spend the money? How do you think the roads that you drive on come from? Gas taxes. Oh yeah, who else uses these roads? The oil/gas companies that have to deliver all of the gas so that we can drive on the roads more. Also where do you think a major component of asphault comes from? Tar is a byproduct left over from manufacturing gas.

One last thing, who is the worlds largest user of diesel by for? The US Military. What are they doing? Securing the oil companies' supply of oil. What happens because of this? The price of oil is driven up due to instability in the region. And since they have a cost structure that increases profit on gas when the price oil increases, they make more profits.

Anyone want to by some oil company stock? For some reason it is pretty high right now.

 

[K_Labs]

How come motorcycles and scooters arn't part of the poll?

Yeah i'll just ride my bike everywhere 2006 gsxr 600 baby

 

[JungleJim]

Some V8 owners might say, "Wow...I could've had a V6!" :jump:

 

[vxphan]

I'll buy a Prius to tow my 4R

 

[p nut]

I am planning to buy a second "econo" car even at the current prices.

 

[Northof49]

I'll buy a Prius to tow my 4R

LOL....I like that

 

[wazzuFreddo]

I wouldn't change much, just take BART more.

When I get a house in the suburbs I am going to find myself a nice little used Tacoma for trips to the hardware store and to park at BART.

 

[Pincushion]

As for the goverment and taxes being more than the oil company profits that is not true. The government doesn't make a profit it spends every dime.

The government gets way too much of my money and I will vote for every tax cut and every spending cut I can for as long as I live. They do make more money off of every gallon of gas than the oil company. The government(state and federal) spends the money on pork mostly. Then they build toll roads for us to pay for it again. (or at least pay far more than if we built it through our taxes) I agree that oil companies create hype about shortages to increase profits, but the government gets more of the blame from me.

On a personal note: If gas went to $5/gal, I would go buy a slightly used full size supercrew pickup. You could just about steal them. My company buys my gas and I would save a bundle. :bigok:

 

[NeilC]

I think you are missing my point. Most of the tax on fuel is used to build roads. That means the money goes straight back in to the economy because the government contracts the work out to private companies which hire people. I would bet that a higher percentage of the taxes make its way back into the US economy than the rest of the price of gas. Of everything the government spens money on, roads are one of the better things for the country. Compare that to the trillion dollars that the government is spending in Iraq.

 

[josh220]

Don't worry, $5 per gallon will be here soon enough. Another month or 2 and it'll be at $4.00. Price per barrel is almost $100 already.

 

[toyota4life]

15000 miles at 20 mpg (current mileage with 4runner) = 750 Gallons

15000 miles at 30 mpg (smaller car average mileage) = 500 Gallons

750 Gallons * 5 = 3750 annual fuel cost
500 Gallons * 5 = 2500 annual fuel cost

Savings of 1250 dollars per year by switching to a smaller car... considering the money/incovenience I save but not having to rent a truck everytime I pick up furniture or do a home depot run.... Ide rather keep the 4 runner.

 

[josh220]

Not to mention things like camping. Cars limit you to the city. I will be using mine for snowboarding and camping so I need a truck no matter what.

 

[arouth]

I just bought a Nissan Altima 3.5 SE and right now I'm saving b/w $80-$100 a month in gas. I'm still breaking the engine in, so that might go up as time goes by. On my last fill up I calculated 20.1 mpg.

So that is just over $1000 a year in gas savings and I am glad that gas prices were not a factor in my decision to buy a new car. The Altima I have has a lot more features (leather, nav, bluetooth, etc....) but after driving both vehicles I can honestly say that despite being an older vehicle now the 4Runner still is a quality ride. So, I'm holding on to it for a few more years even if gas hits $5 a gallon!

 

[Falls]

I'm up to about 2250 miles per month. I don't care about gas , I drive what I like . I do watch the prices and are highest here has been 3.50 gal. Its now at 2.80 for quite some time.

I'm not going to spend how my thousands of $$$ on a little unsafe car to save gas . that can buy a lot of fuel. Just make more money !!!!

 

[josh220]

:iagree:

 

[arouth]

Also, my 4runner is paid off, so even if it did hit $5 a gallon I would probably just keep it. It's a reliable vehicle, so the money I loose in gas I will probably make up by not having to take it to the shop.