The Gas Price Rollercoaster Thread

[Marx]

...dropped back to $3.10 a gallon.

[Kelly]

Filled up @ $2.89 yesterday...

[Marx]

...it actually dropped to $2.93 a gallon before jumping back up to $3.39 a gallon!

[Marx]

...dropped back to $3.25 a gallon.

[Kelly]

The last time I filled up, was in Dallas last week on my way back to Houston, with my Kroger perks, I paid $2.09/gallon......will fill up again tomorrow, I will pay $2.89.

[Holiday]

Gas is around 3.50 around and climbing higher here in North Alabama. I'm definitely thankful I'm only a five minute drive from work.

[enterthemadness]

Got you all beat. $3.59 or $3.65 here I *think*.

[Marvolo]

$3.90-$4 premium

[NewYorkSpider]

$3.74 here

[Kelly]

I will be filling up in the next few days, will probably be about $3.24...

[Marx]

...$3.68 a gallon here. It actually just fell back from $3.89.

[Marvolo]

Regular is $3.79. Premium is $4.19.

It stayed down til I was out of work and now it is just climbing and climbing and climbing

[enterthemadness]

Seen a gas station in town...$3.89.

[enterthemadness]

Well, well,....-_-.



http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?p...d-f320a6f9ad0c


Just....blah.

Gas prices be going up.

I think $5 bucks will happen in at least a few states by summer.

[wiegeabo]

Good. Let them climb.

Gives all the alternative energy companies and investors even more economic incentive to get into the market.

Except corn. **** corn. Anything but corn.

[Marvolo]

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

Good. Let them climb.

Gives all the alternative energy companies and investors even more economic incentive to get into the market.

Except corn. **** corn. Anything but corn.

No, not good. Its all well and good that investors and alternative fuels prosper when gas is expensive, but in the here and now people have to get back and forth to work and the grocer. To hell with high gas prices, and to ehll with our government for letting it happen.

[wiegeabo]

Originally Posted by Marvolo

No, not good. Its all well and good that investors and alternative fuels prosper when gas is expensive, but in the here and now people have to get back and forth to work and the grocer. To hell with high gas prices, and to ehll with our government for letting it happen.

So let them climb.

Let the people start raining hell down on their politicians for letting this happen.

Talk about the environment, and OPEC, and whatever else you want, and something will eventually happen.

Hit people in their wallets, and **** gets done.

[Marvolo]

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

So let them climb.

Let the people start raining hell down on their politicians for letting this happen.

Talk about the environment, and OPEC, and whatever else you want, and something will eventually happen.

Hit people in their wallets, and **** gets done.

Right because the people are going to rain hell on their politicians. Where have you been living the last 5 years? Ever since Katrina our gas prices have reached all the way up to $5+ and as low as $1.39, and I haven't seen one rain of fire from anyone. American's just bend over and say enter.

Oil prices don't just effect gas rices. It effects everything that uses oil in its manufacturing process which is everything from tires to shingles. High gas prices do more harm than good.

[wiegeabo]

And what's the alternative?

You hit people in their wallets hard enough, and they do raise hell. Did we forget the whole 99% thing last year? Or the gas price hearings? Or SOPA/PIPA (not gas price related, but what people can still do when you get them riled up).

Now imagine everyone in the country getting pissed because it costs more to drive, ship, eat, build, and everything else.

I totally agree that people have become complacent and more then willing to bend over. And I say it's time to stop babying them and give them a wake up call. A little pain in the short term hopefully will straighten things out. Much better than letting the pain drag on and on, and just get worse and worse.

[Marvolo]

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

And what's the alternative?

You hit people in their wallets hard enough, and they do raise hell. Did we forget the whole 99% thing last year? Or the gas price hearings? Or SOPA/PIPA (not gas price related, but what people can still do when you get them riled up).

Now imagine everyone in the country getting pissed because it costs more to drive, ship, eat, build, and everything else.

I totally agree that people have become complacent and more then willing to bend over. And I say it's time to stop babying them and give them a wake up call. A little pain in the short term hopefully will straighten things out. Much better than letting the pain drag on and on, and just get worse and worse.

This isn't happening to act as a wake-up call. It is happening because of apathy and politics. Why should I or anyone else suffer because those in Washington, and the dumb and uninformed keep the status quo? **** them. They have had many wake-up calls and have ignored them all.

How about this alternative, stop ****ing over the population. Tear down the lobyists, kick Israel and their coffers out of Washington, vote out the lazy deadbeats in Washington, and get our **** straightened out. Stop feeding the media with viewership. Throw them out in the cold to die. In the meantime I would like to be able to have food and means of transportation. I won't give that up so that the cancer plaguing this country might (not even remotely likely) suddenly open their eyes. And let's say they do open their eyes, what do you think the fools will do when their eyes are opened? Sensibly act to fix it? No. They will act like fools, and do more foolish things. They will react in fear, haste, and violence. Three things that will cause more harm than good. We need sensible solutions. Not revolution.

[wiegeabo]

Originally Posted by Marvolo

So you are saying the politicians, fatcats, and 1% should say "To hell with everyone else." and stick it to us so we rebel? This isn't happening to act as a wake-up call. It is happening because of apathy and politics. How about this alternative, stop ****ing over the population. Tear down the lobyists, kick Israel and their coffers out of Washington, vote out the lazy deadbeats in Washington, and get our **** straightened out. Stop feeding the media with viewership. Throw them out in the cold to die. In the meantime I would like to be able to have food and means of transportation. Why should I or anyone else suffer because those in Washington, and the dumb and uninformed keep the status quo?

Because the people won't do any of that without a ****ing wakeup call!

Because people are ****ing apathetic sheep that only get off their couches and do something about the politicians and corruption when it actually hits them where it hurts.

You just said that the people are apathetic. Are they just supposed to magically stop being apathetic? Something has to get the people moving. Something has to remind them that the politicians aren't some unstoppable force, and remind the politicians that as well.

Last year, I was hoping that SOPA/PIPA was going to do that. For the first time in I can't remember how long, politicians were actually ****ting themselves because their constituents were threatening to take them down. Hell, all those major corporations which people say own Washington and are unstoppable started backing off in fear and, in some cases, even suddenly switching from supporting SOPA to condemning it. It was beautiful to see.

And then we won! SOPA/PIPA died!

And the apathy returned because nothing was 'immediately' threatening something the people want/need.

I don't want this to happen. And I wish it was something like the NDAA that was getting people to go back to putting the hard press on their politicians again. But something like this will also cause a change to happen because it'll either break our oil addiction as market demand shifts and/or it'll get the people kicking political ass again like they did during the gas crisis of the 70's (but hopefully before it becomes another crisis).

[Marx]

...still hovering around $3.65 a gallon.

[wiegeabo]

Time to break out the old gas saving tips:

1) Accelerate slower - All that fast off the line acceleration just eats up the fuel and your wallet. There's no need to take off. Especially if you're just going to wind up at the next red light anyway.

2) Slow down longer - Speaking of red lights, don't wait until the last seconds to break. Avoid breaking whenever you can (if it's safe). Take your foot off early and just coast your speed down. At the least, you break at a slower speed saving wear on the pads, and wasting less energy and fuel. At best, you might not have to come to complete stop at the light because it turns green. And starting from a stop uses more gas than accelerating from a roll.

3) Clean it out - All that stuff in your car? It's weight. Weight that takes extra fuel to move. Every 100 pounds (45 kilos) equals 1% in your mileage. Those boxes of books in your trunk that you never get around to taking out after that move? Get that 1% back.

4) Clean it off - Speaking of weight, that ski rack you only use half the year? That bike rack you only use half the year? Take them off. Not only do they weigh you down, they hurt the aerodynamics of your vehicle.

4a) And on the subject of aerodynamics, truck owners should leave those tailgates up. As counter-intuitive as it seems, leaving the tailgate up cause less drag than having it down. When it's up, it creates a bubble of air in the truck bed that the air you're pushing through just rolls over. Without the gate, or with one of those netting replacements, that air just shoves down on the bed of your truck once it gets passed the cab. And taking the tailgate off might save weight, but it'll probably just be offset by the extra drag. And those trucks were designed with the gates in place...

5) Check that tire pressure - Too little air increases contact with the road and friction/drag. 6 psi too low means 5% drop in fuel efficiency. (Besides, too much or too little air just kills the life of the tire and can be dangerous.)

6) Watch the hills - Don't accelerate up a hill. You're just making your engine work harder. Instead, when you can, let you speed drop a mile or two as you go up, then let gravity help you get that speed back on the way down.

7) Shift smart - Manual transmission? Upshifting sooner can cut RPMs and cut your engine's workload. And we're not talking chump change here. Saab showed that paying attention to your upshift indicator (if you have one) can save you 9% on mileage. (Also pay attention to your downshifting. Lugging it in too high a gear isn't good for the engine.) Also try skipping a gear on the upshift. Oh, and got an automatic transmission? Watch your tach or listen to the engine. Sometimes you can trick the car into a higher gear when it's topping out by easing off the gas a bit. Then you can get back to speed at a lower RPM


But, overall, the best way to save on gas, is to just drive safely. Accelerate slower, break longer, and avoid sudden jumps or dips in speed by paying attention to the traffic.

[wiegeabo]

Enough with the troll. How about a few more tips?

Spare the air - The air conditioner and heater drain a fuel tank like nobody's business. Even the radio puts on an extra drain. If you need it, use it. But if you don't, keep it off and roll down the windows instead.

Speaking of the windows - At slower speeds, like city driving, keeping the windows down uses less gas than the air conditioner. Using them will still use more gas then keeping them shut, but if you need the air anyway, go ahead...UNLESS you're on the freeway, or doing more than 40 or 50 mph. At those speeds, it's better to use the air conditioner than the windows.

Get more gas for your dollar...Literally - Next time you’re at the pump, check for a sign that says the fuel is measured by volume, not density. Wonder why? Because as things get colder, their molecules pack together more tightly. So, when you pump gas on a cold morning or night, there are more molecules of gasoline in each liter/gallon than if you pumped in the warm afternoon. (Oh, if you get back in your car to warm up, be sure to touch the skin of the car when you get back out to discharge the static electricity you just built up. A gas pump fire is not a good way to warm up.)

[enterthemadness]

How about the gas prices go down so we Americans don't need these tips