| elliotgb |
I was just wondering how many MO owners are driving pedal to the medal in spite of the exorbitant price of gas these days?
I have a 112 mile roundtrip commute 5 days a week to work. I used to ramble along at around 80 mph because the drive is almost all highway. When gas was under $3.60 per gallon, I didn't really watch my speed as much nor was I all that concerned about my gas mileage. Now that premium has crested around the $4.25 range, I am getting extremely miserly. I now average 23 miles to the gallon and do the highway speed limit of 65 -70 mph.
What kills me is the number of SUV's, semi's, large pickups and other assorted vehicles that blow by me in excess of 80 - 95 miles per hour. I assume that most of the semi's that blow me off the road are company trucks and not independants. If they had to pay for their own gas, I wonder if they'd slow down. |
|
|
| njjoe |
I damn well care!!
A few weeks ago I did a little analysis and determined it costs me 13.6 cents a mile when I drive at 50 - 55mph, and 17.5 cents a mile at my usual 70 - 75 mph ( based on $4.00.gallon). It's not easy, but I now try to stay at or below the posted speed limit.
Since owning the MO I have gone through 1,540 gallons of gas at an average cost of $2.69/gallon.
Many major trucking companies have imposed strict regulations on their drivers in an effort to control fuel costs. Long-term idling is limited and top speeds have been lowered. I doubt that speeding semi your saw was part of a large fleet.
-njjoe |
|
|
| Corin |
At 50k miles, I have an overall average cost per mile of $0.165.
CURRENTLY, I'm getting about $0.25/mile.
That's at about 18mpg, mixed driving in the Seattle area.
My commute is a lot of stop/go, and I've been comparing what difference I get if I drive hard (accelerate off the line, keep tight up against the person in front of me, open it up when the traffic finally clears, etc) versus taking it easy and trying to keep my RPMs low.
I've found it makes very little difference in my commute. Like going from 18.3mpg to 19.1mpg. 0.25/mile versus 0.23/mile. For my commute (10 miles each way, although quite slow) that's only a $0.40 difference per day, so I'd rather not be so bored during my drive! :p
Longer trips, at highway speeds (well, what highway speeds are SUPPOSED to be) would be a very different story.
Although, if I had a 112 mile commute every day, you can bet your a$$ that I wouldn't be driving an SUV! I mean, come ON! |
|
|
| Corin |
Oh, and as to answer your original question, YES, I do care about gas prices, but probably not in the way you're meaning.
I'm really happy that gas prices are finally starting to get up there. It's making people think, and changing their buying patterns. Which in turn is making the car companies look into other options, which they SHOULD have done long ago (anyone seen "Who Killed the Electric Car? Good documentary, although obviously a little biased).
While I do feel bad for the low-income families that are the primary ones hurt by the high gas prices, I also feel that it's about time America started feeling the hurt with its reckless oil consumption.
(and yes, I do see the irony of spewing off the above rant when I just commuted into work being the only person in my SUV... I have excuses, but not good enough ones.) |
|
|
| Eric L. |
| I've always tried to drive economically, but my short commute just kills fuel economy. I did lock the cruise at 67mph on a recent long trip and got an overall 21.7mpg including some Chicago city driving. But I have to admit, going that slow was torture, and only livable because I had a backlog of podcasts to listen to. |
|
|
| ekaxel |
I care! Everything goes up except my fixed income.
The in town mileage kills me! I can't seem to improve it much by driving it light footed. The 5-10 minutes it takes to warm up the transmission so it moves to the highest ratio is my worst enemy.
If I could afford it, I would have a Highlander or RX400h hybrid in a minute!
I note a lot more MO on ebay in the last few weeks... |
|
|
| shelland |
I absolutely care about the price of gas, although am not doing anything extreme to save gas.
I very rarely drive more then 3-4 miles over the limit - not because of the price of gas, but the price of tickets. :)
The only thing I've been more conscious of is watching the acceleration, although I've never been one to floor it when the light turns green or anything (except maybe in high school :) ). |
|
|
| Gonzo |
Well since we are throwing out stats.... so far with my 03 I've used 2,565 gallons of fuel for a total cost of $6,846... I've filled up 203 times which gives me a fuel cost of about $0.14/mile... if you factor in my maintenace cost of $4859 and $0.10/mile that makes my MO cost about $0.24/mile.
How depressing... but I still love my MO! |
|
|
| jkster107 |
My dad and I got to talking about the possibility of a a national speed limit (55mph) coming back like was around during the last gas crunch.
We worked up this quick spreadsheet (Google docs) to try to calculate the opportunity cost of increased fuel mileage when compared with the increased time to travel. We used the average results from a handful of back and forth trips from Tulsa to Dallas where he had the cruise locked in at either 55 or 75. The results were rather surprising.
So, by our calculations if you value your time at more than about $8.70/hr (and you drive a mid-range Lexus sedan), you're "wasting" money by driving 55 instead of 75. If you have mileage information for a particular speed in your car and trip, you can try your numbers in the yellow cells. Be warned though: the formula we used in the Time column has a fudge factor to fit the data we had and the formula we used to calculate 55's mileage was just from curiosity. It will certainly not be accurate outside of 5 MPH from 55. |
|
|
| Corin |
quote:
Originally posted by Gonzo
Well since we are throwing out stats.... so far with my 03 I've used 2,565 gallons of fuel for a total cost of $6,846... I've filled up 203 times which gives me a fuel cost of about $0.14/mile... if you factor in my maintenace cost of $4859 and $0.10/mile that makes my MO cost about $0.24/mile.
How depressing... but I still love my MO!
I haven't calculated it with the maintenance included. That might depress me as well. Maybe I'll hold off on doing that calculation for a while... :) |
|
|
| Kris |
Interesting question. Yes, I do care about gas prices! Why shouldn’t I?
Unfortunately we all fell victims of first marketing – bigger is better! Hence all the SUV’s and Trucks…..than we wanted bigger and more powerful engines (yes, I am the guilty party too!)…
Now the speculators are taking us for a ride…..I think it is time to voice our opinion…with the valet….and during the election……
I frequently drove in Europe and am always surprised how effective and efficient the 4-cylinder diesel engines are….maybe is time for change? Get nuclear power plants, solar power plants, invest in technology and become independent of the oil producing nations…..
Eh dream…..unfortunately speculators have too much power and influence…. |
|
|
| Corin |
I've wondered long and hard about why we can't get those diesel engines over here. Can you imagine a Prius (or something similar) with a little diesel engine? Awesome. I think the car companies are worried they won't sell because of peoples' perceptions of the old diesel cars. I know I wouldn't want a loud rattling one like my old '81 diesel rabbit, but they're just not like that anymore.
I want diesel plug-in hybrids, and I want them 5 years ago. |
|
|
| Stoker |
quote:
Originally posted by Corin
I've wondered long and hard about why we can't get those diesel engines over here. Can you imagine a Prius (or something similar) with a little diesel engine? Awesome. I think the car companies are worried they won't sell because of peoples' perceptions of the old diesel cars. I know I wouldn't want a loud rattling one like my old '81 diesel rabbit, but they're just not like that anymore.
I want diesel plug-in hybrids, and I want them 5 years ago.
Corin
The big reason diesels are not marketed very well here in NA is because the perception is that they are loud and noisy. As you said above, they are no longer like that. I too would like to get a VW diesel when I bought my Jetta, but they are hard to come by then as now.
It is funny that the NA car makers make and market 4-cylinder diesels, that sell well in europe but they will not bring them here.
On my recent trip to the island of Guadeloupe in the carribbean, we rented a ford focus that had a diesel ( guadloupe does not have any gas powered cars on the island) and on a half a tank it travelled 500 Km ( 1 tank = 45 liters). Maybe we should ask the car dealers why we cannot get them here. |
|
|
|
