Now that gas is $2.00 or more, does anyone care?

[stlrj]

Just wondering if anyone is concerned about mileage other than the govt. or the factory.

Has anyone been able to increase mpg without sacrificing performance or even increasing performance at the same time?

Joe

[silverc4s]

Gas is $1.35 a here... even at $2.50, that's less than half of the price in most of Europe all the time.

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by stlrj
Has anyone been able to increase mpg without sacrificing performance or even increasing performance at the same time?

I'm going to try installing carbs. to get me there faster.. so less fuel vapor loss.. and lower carb fuel psi should flow less than higher CIS fuel pressure.. I think [sometimes]

.........Ron

[ipapilot]

Bill is absolutely correct. Being in California doesn't help you at all, either, Joe. Average cheap gas price in Kentucky right now is about $1.40 and Alabama is about $1.50. I agree though, that it would be nice if we could all burn frier oil and gain 100hp!

[SteveStromberg]

That Extra money our state charges in Gas tax is to pay for all the sevices That the 8 to 10 millon Illegal Aliens cost the California Taxpapers .Steve

http://www.deportaliens.com/
http://www.illegalalien.net/
http://www.americanpatrol.com/

[ipapilot]

Does that mean you will be voteing for Arnie or McClintock then?

[SteveStromberg]

I am not about to let the Rasict Cruz Bustamonte in. Tom McClintock Has the Right Stuff But Arnold has the Support of more people. I will have to vote for Arnold. My only hope is that once he ges in he will do the right thing and enforce Prop 187. Steve

http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/Bustamante-Cruz.html

http://www.google.com/custom?q=Prop+187&sa=Google+Search&cof=L%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanpatrol.com%2FADMI NISTRATION%2FBANNERS%2FAmPatReport442x48.gif%3BAH% 3Acenter%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Famericanpatrol.com%3BA WFID%3A29a7b12b98356564%3B&domains=americanpatrol.com%3Bfairus.org%3Bccir.net %3Bcis.org%3Bvdare.com%3Bsteinreport.com%3Bmayorno .com%3Bnumbersusa.com%3Busbc.org%3Bprojectusa.org&sitesearch=americanpatrol.com

[Jim Sims]

Take a 40 mile hike and it will put the cost of gasoline into perspective; at the end of such a trek the US$4 or US$5 for gasoline (20 mpg at ~US$2.20/US gal.) will seem like a bargain.

That being said, it is difficult to do much with the older systems other than keeping them in tune and in good order. The combined requirements of high performance, reasonable emissions and engine longevity do not promote fuel ecomomy. The newer computer controlled fuel injection systems with their suite of sensors do much better at optimizing these factors.

Cheers, Jim

[l8tapex]

In CT about three weeks ago the price topped out at about 2.14 for self serve. Now it's down to about 1.99. Two years ago it was about 1.29 for the same 91 octane self serve.

[rickeolis]

Don't forget the fact gas ALWAYS goes up at the beginning of summer and drops after summer ends.

It doesn't cost any more to make gas during these times. It is greed that drives up these prices.

[SteveStromberg]

Car tax in the 1000's you need to sign up so we can get rid of that tax.. Steve

http://www.nocartax.com/

[Danskman]

I remember the gas lines in the late 70's, and the price of gas shot up from the low $0.70's to over $1.00. As soon as the price hit $1.00 there was plenty of gas to go around, and nobody complained. Now that gas has hit $2.00, I think we just did the same thing, but without the lines.

[l8tapex]

We like to blame the OPEC folks for high gas prices but the real blame lies in the boardrooms of Exxon, Shell, Chevron, etc. Like someone else said it's pure greed.

[sammyg2]

"Don't forget the fact gas ALWAYS goes up at the beginning of summer and drops after summer ends. "
It doesn't cost any more to make gas during these times. It is greed that drives up these prices."
Wrong.

"We like to blame the OPEC folks for high gas prices but the real blame lies in the boardrooms of Exxon, Shell, Chevron, etc. Like someone else said it's pure greed."
Wrong again.

Study the system and then see if you still think it is greed.
free market economy is what it is, not perfect but still the best system in the world.

At the begining of the summer people drive farther and use more gas.
At the end of the summer people drive less and use more gas. Demand changes, if the supply doesn't change then the price will.
(BTW, it does cost a little more to produce more, maximum efficiency of most refineries is reached at around 85%, they typically run as close to 100% of capacity as is humanly possible).

Supply, demand, price.
Now it can be argued that it is no longer a true free market because the dumb a$$ed politicians had to stick their nose in it and try and manipulate it on behalf of the special interest groups who bought and paid for them. Environmentalists come to mind, who want nothing more than for the internal combustion engine to go away for ever. They want alternative energy to replace fossil fuel. unfortunately for them fossil fuels are much more economically feasable that the alternatives, so they want raise the cost of fossil fuels so their cause will benefit.

Adding 45 to 50 cents of taxes onto the price is wrong based on economics 101.
regulating the kind of gas that is made when it costs many, many millions to meet the ever changing rules is also wrong. It excludes some suppliers from competing and benefits only those who are willing to invest the crazy amounts of money to stay in the game. This artificially restricts supply and damages the balance of the market.

I know people who work in marketing for oil companies. their job is to try and sell the products for as much as they can get. Yes, they are trying to sell their proucts for as much as they can get and they will admit it. Could that be why they call it a commodity?
Some times it's for a profit, some times it's not. If they don't get as good a price as possible they are out of a job.
They sell to buyers who's job is to pay as little as possible. The buyers have to purchase the fuel at he lowest price they can. When they try and get it cheaper does that make them also greedy?
if the balance is maintained they reach a fair price. it you want to label it greed, then greed on both sides is what maintains the balace.

That's how it works. If you don't like the system say so but don't insult the players who are following the rules of the system. That system made the United States the greatest economic power the world has ever seen.
The common alternatives to free market economics are socialism and communism. Doesn't sound any better to me.

When you buy a stock on the stock market, you want to get it as cheap as possible, right? And then when it comes time to sell that stock, you want to sell it for as much as possible, right?
If so you are just as greedy as the oil company executives.

[svandamme]

you lucky guys...
i pay 1.1+ euros per liter
that's 4.7$ a gallon

i've long given up calculating my milage, it's to depressing , i'm better off working to pay my fuel bills...

[Randy Webb]

I'm going to try installing carbs. to get me there faster.. so less fuel vapor loss.. and lower carb fuel psi should flow less than higher CIS fuel pressure.. I think [sometimes]

Ron, Carbs wil greatly worsen your fuel mileage. CIS is very economical.

[Randy Webb]

re: Greed

The analogies above only apply if you are cheating the stock market or whatever. The major oil companies have a long history of cheating (breaking the anti-trust, competivie market and otehr laws). You can read all about in the opinons written by state and federal judges -- and those are just the times they were caught.

It isn't really a free market...

[sammyg2]

Please provide some examples of refineries and anti-trust as it pertains to market manipulation.
I've been a student of this industry for over two decades and cannot recall reading about anthing like this since Rockefeller except for a couple of small regional cases (hawaii comes to mind). Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention.
I am aware of at least a dozen formal investigations by state and federal organizations that were conducted, all these investigations ended after finding no evidence of wrong'doing. IMO these investigations were baseless and were only conducted by some clowns in an attempt to get re-elected.
Notice I did not mention the name Feinstein, I don't want her to spend millions of california taxpayers dollars to investigate me

[Hazbeen]

Originally posted by l8tapex
We like to blame the OPEC folks for high gas prices but the real blame lies in the boardrooms of Exxon, Shell, Chevron, etc. Like someone else said it's pure greed.

Whatever......No one is to blame, its just a commodity folks. Calculate the cost of that bottle of evian you are drinking by the gallon. You have no idea what it costs to explore for oil today versus 20 years ago, environmental controls (needed) plus fuel taxes of all sorts have driven the end user price sky high. But it is still less than our brethren in Europe.

Imagine what will happen to our fuel taxes as more and more Americans stop smoking, look that up and you will realize the Federal government over the next decade will face revenue shortfalls of astronomic proportions.

Haz

[SRISER]

A 20oz Coke or Pepsi out of a vending machine costs you $1. That translates into $6.40 per gallon. What do you get out of it besides increased body fat and a caffiene/sugar high? Not much.

How about Evian, Budweiser or even milk. All seem outright expensive when compared to the pleasure and utility of one gallon of gasoline.

OPEC plays a balancing game of slight underproduction to ensure that we pay about $15 per barrel and more if the market will bear it. Currently the market does. Why? Because we continue to purchase without much complaint or action. If Americans stopped driving for one day, the spot price of unleaded gas would plunge.

Wait until Iraq oil hits the market...remember $0.95 a gallon?