Posted on 07/03/2008 3:47:17 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
Thanks, I save over $3,000 a year in gas with a Civic Hybrid at $4.00/gallon over our Sienna. As the price goes up, I save more.
Wise advice.
So what does the Civic Hybrid cost? Do you plan to sell the Sienna to reduce the net cost of the Civic? What is the difference in insurance? Taxes? License? Is there an investment you could make with the difference in price that would have a better yield than the savings?
Seems like you do a lot of driving. I did not run the calculator on your differences, but $3000 a year is a lot of savings. (I drive a 15MPG Tundra about 15,000 miles per year so my total gas spending is $4000. If I got a truck that got 20MPG I would only save about a grand.)
The key concept in economics is the marginal cost. For example: if you take a 500 mile vacation every year to see grandma then at $4 this year the trip for the 20 MPG car is $100. Which seems like a lot of money. But the $3 trip last year costs $75. So the marginal decision is on $25 dollars. If you get 30% on the better gas mileage car the better economic decision should have been to use the high MPG car LAST YEAR. (Probably should check the math, but I think you get the idea.)
Sorry, I love this stuff. I'm actually ahead on gas prices. I waited for the truck prices to fall (my Tundra was a steal) and put the savings in investments.
If you really think we are going to $10 +/- gas there are way better ways to use your money than buying any car. For one thing the dollar would have to be cut in half. US exports would sky rocket. Going to Europe would be gold plated - short the airlines. Lots of strategies.
If a hybrid and an equivalent non-hybrid had the exact same costs (all in) it would be a no-brainer, but then again the price of gas would have also probably come down.
And who are those manipulating the price of oil and gasoline?I do know that Democrats in Congress are restricting oil drilling and oil production from the trillions of barrels of oil in shale in the U.S. and other places. And I know OPEC is also holding down oil production to rob us Americans blind.
http://www.americansolutions.com/General/?Page=1c1a10c1-15fd-4ad8-a426-b9a87f635903
“U.S. Oil Shale Resources Are Three Times Larger Than the Current Oil Reserves in Saudi Arabia
YET CONGRESS RECENTLY VOTED TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO DEVELOP U.S. OIL SHALE RESOURCES
With oil prices at an all-time high, Americans are facing escalating gas, diesel, and aircraft fuel increases. Oil prices are projected to increase further.
Congress, however, has made it illegal to develop vast domestic oil resources in large parts of the United States.
The most startling Congressional prohibition on domestic oil production concerns the recently enacted ban on the development of oil shale resources in parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming in the Green River Formation. According to a Rand Study estimate, this reserve contains over one trillion barrels of oil, with 800 billion barrels fully recoverable, or three times the current oil reserves as Saudi Arabia:”
Aren’t you, RSmithOpt, repeating the Democrat talking points, blaming the speculators etc.? Your post sure sounds like Democrat talking points to me.
The fact is that speculators and oil companies are not manipulating oil prices. Oil prices are rising because supply has not kept up with demand since 2005. That’s simple economics. World Oil production has barely risen since 2005 while world oil demand has skyrocketed during that time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil#Production
“World oil production growth trends were flat from 2005 to 2008. According to a January 2007 International Energy Agency report, global supply (which includes biofuels, non-crude sources of petroleum, and use of strategic oil reserves, in addition to crude production) averaged 85.24 million barrels per day (13.552×106 m3/d) in 2006, up 0.76 million barrels per day (121×103 m3/d) (0.9%), from 2005”
And even though demand has skyrocketed prices are only up about 15%. What you are seeing at the pump is a very weak dollar.
i am BAD today, I will admit
well, it is a big travel weekend.
Supply and demand, and all that. Stop at any gas station this week, and there will be long lines of people filling up, because they are driving somewhere out of town.
-speaking of which; I’ve got to go fill up, as I’ve got a 100 mile drive ahead of me. ;^)
Let’s sell our wheat, oats, corn and soybeans, etc to all those OPEC assholes for $146 dollars a bushel!!!
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