Posted on 02/18/2013 10:03:56 AM PST by george76
Per gallon cost has risen every business day for a month.
Consumers are taking another huge hit in 2013. First, the two percent Social Security tax hike began the year. Now, gas prices are soaring ever closer to $4 a gallon and have jumped 51 cents a gallon since Dec. 20.
According to the Oil Price Information Service, the national average for a gallon of unleaded was $3.21.9 on Dec. 20, 2012. Today, that price is $3.73.0. While there has been a steady increase, prices shot almost 9 cents just over the weekend.
...
It took the media some time to catch on to rising gas prices, as "Good Morning America's" Josh Elliot said two weeks after the climb began that "we have just learned that gas prices have skyrocketed."
Those higher pump prices hurt consumers, who were already paying more for gas than in decades. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported recently that the average household spent more on gas last year, as a percentage of income, than it had in 30 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
How expensive would gas have to get for this to pay off?
Let's say your car currently gets 18 mpg, and that it would cost $1000 (on the low side) for the head replacement, and removing 50-75 pounds of weight would improve gas mileage by 3 percent (I think that's generous).
With gas at $8.00 a gallon, you would have to drive 80,000 miles to get your thousand bucks back. And you wouldn't want to swap out heads until your existing engine was out of warranty, right? So better be prepared to put 120,000 plus on her.
How expensive would gas have to be to make this deal pay off in a more reasonable 50,000 miles. Between $13 and $14 a gallon. And at that point we'll all be driving Fiat 500s anyway.
I love to run the numbers for people.......
You’re using basic math and logic.
Is that still allowed on FR?
Which is why so many of the so-called high MPG cars today don't make sense. My daily driver is is a 2005 Nissan Altima. It's all paid for, has a V6 with plenty of scat, gets 23-24 mpg, and holds four with luggage easily. Why the heck would I spend $20,000 on a less powerful, less comfortable 35mpg car in order to save $900 a year on gas?
Now if that $20,000 car got 90 mpg, or I was a sales rep who had to buy my own gas for 60,000 miles a year....maybe. But for the normal commuter, forget it.
In commercial trucking, which I was involved with for 25 years, the concept of “life cycle cost” is paramount.
I remember my buddy back in 73 (the first OPEC embargo) sold a beautiful Buick 225 for peanuts and bought a Vega. Took him about 2 weeks to figure out that was a dumb move.
Had it totally rusted through in two weeks?
In Cleveland, it took about 18 months for the front fenders to perforate. The GT model was fun to drive though, they had a great suspension and handled as good as anything on the road back then.
You are right about Vegas. Great design, abysmal execution. I was driving a 67 Dodge Charger (Petty blue with a 383, sweetest car evah) during the oil embargo and thankfully was never tempted to sell it.
I got trapped visiting Michigan on a Sunday in Jan 74.
No gas stations open anywhere. Of course my 69 Z28 sucked gas like a race car.
yup, utter hypocrisy, but since the msm votes about 95% democrat, why would they run hatchet pieces on their guy?!
you can overinflate by about 30-35% and you should see an improvement in mpg. wouldn’t recommend doing it in the winter, though.
if they have to admit they were wrong, they’d have to admit they are not any smarter than the conservatives they think are so stupid and just believe whatever they’re told by their leaders.
the difference todayis you can get a decent sall car with great mileage, the vega was one of the worst cars ever made.
.
.
.
Cost per year to finance the Obama’s Va-Cas, Par-Tays, and Goofing: :
Over a billion dollars: :
$1,000,000,000
We could hire the entire Brit Royal Family for only $258,000,000 a year!
258 million bucks
- and hire an honest manager
.
.
.
.
.
.
Cost per year to finance the Obama’s Va-Cas, Par-Tays, and Goofing: :
Over a billion dollars: :
$1,000,000,000
We could hire the entire Brit Royal Family for only $258,000,000 a year!
258 million bucks
- and hire an honest manager
.
.
.
The problem with over inflating your tires on your car is that it will cause premature wear on the tires and front end parts and could be dangerous.
Gas ~6.7 lbs/gal
Water ~7.2 lbs/gal
it can, but it can be minimized depending on how you drive and what kinds of roads you drive on.
Water ~8.2 lbs
Typo :(
I used to be a pretty fair shade tree mechanic back in the '70s and '80s, but I would not trust myself to do a major teardown and rebuild on one of today's cars.
And BTW I like lightweight cars. Have driven Alfa Spiders, tweaked Karmann Ghias, and my current fun car is a little rocket ship called a Honda S2000.
But you won't find too much love for lighter cars here on FR. "I like me a big heavy armor-sided monster cuz it's like, safer if you get t-boned by a Peterbilt, herp derp....."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.