What Are You Going To Do When Gas Hits $4 A Gallon In The U.S.?

there is no reason for $4 a gallon. We have so much in reserve it is disgusting and our shitty media tries to scare us into these "what if" scenarios, jsut like how they like to scare us and say we are not "safe" in america. This is a great way to increase spending and boost our economy, way to go greedy F's!

Keep driving.

but, I will not change my driving habits. I dirve about 15,000 miles per year and average 24 MPG's in my 335i sedan.

I'm on the same boat as you. I average 23/24 mpg in my G35, but unfortunately, I can not change my driving habits because most of those 15,000 miles are commuting to and from work. The oil company F&@%s know this. As long as we keep depending on oil so much, they will keep charging whatever they want. I just wish there was a way to keep them at bay. Wait, there is a way! We have tons of oil in Alaska! Oh, right, we can't dig oil there because we don't want to kill moose...

07G35, unless you're doing minimum 80% highway driving please educate me on how I can reach that level of efficiency on my 08 G37 6-spd that's suppossed to be even more fuel efficient.

I avg a full tank at about 16-17 mpg roughly 50% each on highway and city. That is nowhere close to my 325Ci that I averaged at 23mpg. I really am dissapointed.

U.S. is saving the oil for when the rest of the World dries up.

The 325 uses a 3.0L straight six...

Well, my commuting is about 60% highway. Also, I don't use the A/C very often. Fortunately for me, I live in Atlanta and the weather has been decent enough for me to keep the A/C compressor turned off. But most importantly (and difficult to achieve), I try not to take off like I'm "living a quarter mile at a time". And trust me, it's painful to have so much power under your right foot and not use it. But, it keeps that MPG bar on the dash information cluster lit up.

Oh, the response above is for SHOWTIME...

I have an 07 G35 and I only avg 19MPG. But I also say if you cant use the power, why have it.

goobama, no i didn't expect them to be the same...but when the manufacturer states that it does 19-27mpg and I'm never getting near those numbers,then we have a problem.

My 325 was amazing on highway cruise which consistantly put out over 30mpg.

try to keep the revs below 4K, but ideally even under 3K, though i understand the power is in the midranges, but thats what i do nowadays

0to60, I do enjoy the G's power, just not as often as I'd like to. Besides, Georgia cops are a Bit%h. You have to be careful. I already got a $300 ticket last month. It seems they don't have anything else to do but sit in a corner with their radar. They're everywhere. A piece of advice to everybody: If you are driving through Atlanta, or anywhere in Georgia, keep an eye at the speed limits. They change a lot.

To be honest, at $4/gallon, our gas is still about half the price of gas in Europe, based on current exchange rates of $1.50 = 1 Euro. So, until our gas prices approach that of our European counterparts, we have nothing to complain about, except our excessive consumption. I feel that most of the complainers of $4/gallon gas are those people who have gas-guzzling vehicles and are feeling the pinch of purchasing fuel inefficient vehicles. This may well be the incentive for all of us to consider purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles and demanding them from manufacturers. Sometimes we need some serious incentives to change our perspectives on how we live our lives and perhaps $4+/gallon gasoline is one way to help start this.

I might slow down a bit

Do you really expect anyone on this site to say they will do anything differnt? Even when gas hits $6, few auto bloggers will change their god-given right to drive whatever they want at any personal or societal costs.

Sacrifice. Get used to it.

You are ignorant.

No, I'm realistic.

Resorting to name calling, is that the best you can come up with?

Read some of these answers, and you will see that I am speaking the truth.

The days of conspicuous consumption, outrageous consumer debt, and ignoring environmental and social costs are long past us. Many people around here have not caught up to that fact, and will refuse to do so until they are forced to.

1970:

prius driver right? your self-righteousness gives that away. typical.

so i suppose you live in a house that's off the power grid, heated by dung and built entirely from locally sourced materials? and you must not travel on jets? and i'm sure you eat only locally produced food? and of course you don't buy any imported products? and you don't run the water when you shave. and you turn off the lights every time you leave the room right? etc. etc.

prius driver = holier than thou schmuck on a political high horse

I dont list any of the following to toot my own horn, but since you have challenged my green cred....

I live in a small city apartment, not some big McMansion (and not because of poverty, because of choice). I dont eat red meat because of the environmental costs associated with the production of it. I bring my own bags to the grocery store. I dont run water when I shave, and yes I do turn off lights when leaving a room, unless I know I will be right back. And some of those lights are CFLs when they can fit in with my design aesthetic. I fly when I need to go long distances, drive (my Prius getting 50 mpg) for shorter ones, and scoot around town on a Vespa or take a bus when possible. I drink filtered, not bottled water. I buy local whenever possible, though the environmental costs of shipping across oceans is failry negligible if what you are purchasing has some other green attributes (like my Prius).

So yes, I do lots of things to help the planet, while still doing things I shouldnt, like using plastic cups and utensils at work and leaving my computer on so that I dont have to re-boot at the end of the day.

There is nothing self-righteoues about making choices to do better for your world. I dont even have kids, it's not like I have a self interest to leave a better world for anyone, it is just the right thing to do.

Anyone proclaiming that the high (financial and other) costs of gasoline will not cause them to change their habits is being far more self-righteous than I. I put my money where my mouth is. And other than touting the benefits of my Prius, most of the other things I do, I do fairly quietly.

Well, I've got my mule called Pepi on call for when prices reach $4/gallon.

Poor Pepe

Well then here better not be riding Pepe. Or he has some explaining to do.

You gotta find one that will even talk to you first.

LOL

Buy a GTI. Oh, wait...

boycott the gas stations

Things won't change at $4. I remember similar articles written last year around this time wondering what people would do when gas might hit $3 a gallon that summer. Nothing will change at $4 this summer, or even at $5 next summer. People still have to go to work everyday.

But at say $7 or $8 dollars a gallon, that is when you are going to see drastic changes in life-style and car choices.

armed robbery.

I won't be hitching a ride with that guy pictured above, it looks like hes been hitting the Ricin a little too hard.

As far as gas goes, luckily living in NYC there is no need for a car. Train/subway/cab is the way to get around. Currently my CTS gets very poor mileage on average with mixed driving 16 - 17 MPG. When I eventually move out to the burbs again, I would prob get a more fuel-efficient luxury vehicle, def nothing with a V8, and there is no way im buying into that hybrid garbage either.

I'll buy another SUV. The huge discounts due to poor demand will more than make up for the extra $$$ at the pump.

Those numbers may crunch out OK for you, but unless you are a CPA or a professor of economics you'll still find yourself depressed and driving less and less despite the "deal" you got on the SUV. Personally I wish SUV's would just hurry up and have the equivalent of Disco Demolition Night.

Oh, and don't forget depreciation.

Those numbers may crunch out OK for you, but unless you are a CPA or a professor of economics you'll still find yourself depressed and driving less and less despite the "deal" you got on the SUV. Personally I wish SUV's would just hurry up and have the equivalent of Disco Demolition Night.

Oh, and don't forget depreciation.

Pay The Price, and Keep Living My Life...

SpellChecker - Yup, walking will do you good. It will keep you away from the computer and liberate that close minded hate sodden mind of yours.
Or maybe not . Either way it will keep you from writng meaningless garbage in any online forum.

When you write one, I guess we will get a chance to read it.

I just came from a seminar at the Orange County Association of Realtors called Meeting with the Experts in Laguna Hills, Ca and when I was driving on La Paz to the 5 freeway I passed a Shell station and regular was $3.57 and Super was $3.72 per frickin' gallon!!!

Funny how peeps keep praising Diesel but have you all seen Diesel prices??? Oil company will def make you pay for having a Diesel car. The Chinese boom is def not helping the matter.

Diesel prices are dependent upon demand. In the city they are above premium. But on the highway the price is comparable to premium and sometime lower.

However the increase in mileage still makes it worthwhile in most cases.

Well at $4 a gallon it will become more cost effective to take the train to work. A typical monthly pass is $80 or so and the shuttle another $20. So that's $100 a month. I spend about $300 in gas a month give or take. So if I am not commuting 50 miles round trip each day I would probably save putting 250 miles on my car each week. I change my oil every other month because I hit 3k that quickly.

250 just getting to work
50 extra per week driving to other places after work
100 on the weekends driving around

So a given month I put 1,600 miles on my car, give or take a few. So by taking the train I will save almost 1,000 miles a month, and at $35 a fillup now, I will save 140 in gas. Take away the train and shuttle that leaves me with $40 extra in my pocket. Not bad, but once I get to $4 a gallon and I pay over $40 a fillup then I will switch. Right now I hit an all time high of $40, but I also put 12.3 gallons into a 12.7 gallon tank, yeah it was low.

My monthly transportation budget:

Car Payment: $385
Insurance: $131
Gas: $100-150
Train Pass: $163
Parking at Train Station: $40

Grand Total: $850-900/month

Live/Work in Boston.

As gas prices go up, so will the cost of your train ticket.

It already did, it was $128 in 2006.

Not rocket science - I have to take the train, monthly parking is in excess of $400 a month. Waste of money.

Continue per the usual.

Unfortunately the current market turmoil is fueling (no pun intended) oil prices due to the attractive security of commodities.

It will correct itself.

As for Alaska and other reserves, its smart to keep those in 'reserve' for a catastrophe. Think of it as a savings account.

I currently get 24mpg on average but I desire a certain vehicle that gets a dismal 14-16mpg on average.

Nothing. I didn't buy a car with a V8 to save gas.

However, I'd prefer that my next car was a diesel, or at least something more efficient. For now, though, I won't be doing anything drastic until I replace the S4.

steal my neighbors.

buy a bicycle. and start stocking up on bottled water, after this gas thing hits $4.

Drive to Live. Live to Drive.

Let me fill you in on a little secret...NO politician cares about you, even your precious Barack. Why people put so much faith in these Washington idiots is beyond me.

I don't get why US does not drill up it's own reserve of oil. Probably to sell oil to other countries when Middle East runs out of oil at an extravagant price. And again who are going to make the profit, not the people my friend, only the oil companies. US has one of the highest reserve of oil in the world, but they still refuse to dig up the oil from all their discovered reserves.

Obama has said that he will intensify domestic oil production, and will invest in local energy production.

So using oil for the price is not the factor, but it is because of what it may cause on environment is the issue of more concern.

And Please call Obama, Barack Obama or Barry Obama, which is the name by which he is called. The middlename Hussein is from his Kenyan father, and was bestowed to him by his mother, who by the way is a Christian, just as Obama. Guys i don't get why people keep on saying Hussein, Hussein and whatever, Hussein is an Kenyan name of arabic origin, there are many Husseins in Kenya and in the Arab world who are pure Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians. So don't mix up name with religion, the name simply reflects country of Barack's father. And besides Kenya has over 70 percent of Christian, and Obama's father Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was from the Lou clan and was most likely a Christian, because the Clan has majority Christian, and US universities give scholarships to only christian students in african countries to study in US.

The U.S. has got billions of gallons of oil under the ground but the hippies aren't letting us drill for it. I think that this whole gas problem could be avoided if we used our natural resources instead of the MIddle East's.

It does no good to drill for it when we are so wasteful. we'll deplete that reserve in no time and soon be even more dependent of foreign oil. what we need to do is stop wasting so much.

There is theoretically more oil in the U.S. than Saudi Arabia. And while we use oilfrom our own country, we can develop affordable hydrogen cars. There is no reason not to drill in the U.S.

I was not aware of that. but regardless if we werent so wasteful we would use less and the oil would last longer.

I have a freind that bought a new GMC 2500 Duramax Diesel. Diesel is going for $3.48 here in New Mexico. We figured it is costing him approximately $114 to fill up his gas tank. He fills it up twice a month. His car payments are $648 a month so without any incidentals his vehicle is costing him right now about $900 a month.When the gas pricies go up to $4.00 per gallon it will cost him approximately an Extra $30 a month to operate his truck. That's a lot of dinero to operate a vehicle in my book.

When it hits 4 per gallon Im not gonna drive the Benz quite as much. Gonna drive the Honda a bit more and most likely switch the office that I work from. Driving will be at a minimum too. The energy prices are a bit much here so I am going to cut back.
T

as long as American are drilling oil from US i will be A Happy SOB

4 Dollars a gallon is nothing. Its around 9 dollars a gallon where I live. It will not stop me from driving as I welcomed many years ago. I think that the Americans take too many things for granted.

Nothing.

I'm riding my 60 mpg Vespa when the weather is good...
only $6 to fill up... got to love that!

Have a look at this and if you really have time plot the data on graphs.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/gas1.html

um...pay more for gas.

it's still ridiculously cheap at $4/gallon relative to the rest of the first world.

Very little will happen. Trucks still/will continue to be the most popular vehicles in the US, larger sedans will still outsell smaller sedans/hatches. SUV/crossovers will still outsell minivans. Luxury cars will still sell quite well and expand in market share.

candas gay

lol I wont do shit, I pay $1 a gallon here in bahrain. Go suck on $4 gas losers lol.

you're a schmuck.

i got news for you, diesel is already at $4 a gallon here on the east coast. it is normally 50cents above 93 octane which is currently at $3.50 so how much efficient will be we at such high diesel prices?

I'm gonna buy a G37.. I hear they get great gas mileage.....

Where did you hear that!?!

no, save the planet by buying a car thats....

* made from 5,000+ pounds of raw materials
* that are shipped to the factory from all over the world
* then the 5,000+ pound car is shipped across the oceans
* and ultimately gets a below average 20mpg
* and gets the same emissions rating as many gasoline engines

the LS600hL. saving the planet.

if one is truly interested in being green, buy a car that (in priority order):

* is produced as close to your home as possible (this is rule NO.1 of being green as shipping is hideously polluting and unnecessary if one can substitute a local product for am imported on).
* uses the least raw materials possible (i.e. a light, subcompact car)
* gets good gas mileage
* and emits above average emissions

so in the US, one of the 'greenest' choices in terms of carbon footprint would be a chevy aveo or ford focus with the smallest available engine.

sell my jeep.
buy a diesel car or wagon.
wait for diesel/electric hybrids to go mainstream, then buy one.

Buy one of those $800.00 Chinese made scooters. All 5 of my vehicles have v8s. I`ll be bummin` at $4. Wonder if that scooter will pull my bass boat?

I agree...at our current proven reserves, it would only last this nation 3 years at current usage rates(which increase every year).

Our SPR wouldn't last more than a couple of months. The government needs to increase this dramatically to avoid being held hostage by other nations whom wouldn't mind the US being wiped off the map(which is ironic since we consume 1/4 of the worlds oil).

Although Canada (Tar Sands)does have enough oil to satisfy North American usage for decades. Do we have some sort of pact with them to allow the US to tap these reserves in time of need? Who knows.

In addition to Cyber Warfare the United States is becoming increasingly vulnerable to Economic Warfare.

I hope our next leader addresses these issues.

Lets just say this election isn't giving the citizens of America much of a choice. Granted, I agree McCain will be a great choice when it comes to strengthening the US military, but his stance on other issues should earn him a donkey stamp on his left shoulder.

Minus higher education, the education system in America is an overall failure due mostly to the blame everyone else mentality which is rampant. Parents are not playing a large enough role in their children's lives as say....Asian/European nations which emphasize family values and education, more-so IMO.

Lets see how the next 4 play out.

Possibly buy a Vespa for my work commute??? Ive been looking for a good excuse to buy one. I absolutely love the Vespa GTV Vintage but am also drawn to the Piaggio MP250. Im still going to drive my cars, but with less frivolous joy rides I suppose.

"The surging price of oil reached another milestone Monday, jumping to an inflation adjusted record high of $103.95.
The weaker dollar that has propelled oil and other commodities prices higher sent light, sweet crude for April delivery past $103.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the level many analysts consider to be the true record high for oil, after its $38 barrel price from 1980 is translated into 2008 dollars."

No more talk about how oil is not as high as it was in 1980.

Sorry I didn't find an extra hour to read the preceding posts, so my actions may have already been posted.

My plan is to continue to support clean diesel technologies in combination with renewable-fuel blends of fuel and promote possible, diesel-electric hybrid products for the future, which will give diesel advocates a three-in-one benefit to reduce petroleum consumption: (1) 30% better fuel economy than regular, gas power by choosing the most fuel-efficient, internal-combustion engine known to man; (2)Compression-ignition affords users the opportunity to use renewable blend choices from three different renewable fuels which are all made from bio oils and can all be used in unmodified diesel engines without substantial loss in fuel economy as is not the case for gas and gas-electric hybrid powered cars; and (3) future combination of diesel-hybrid technologies which afford users the benefit of (not only) electric propulsion, but also in combination with renewable fuel blend options, in combination with the most efficient internal-combustion engine technology known to man.

Of course, as technology progresses, I reserve the right to support another, more cost-efficent method to reduce my personal consumption of petroleum, but, as for now, I will continue to support the best option--for me--at this time, which is CLEAN DIESEL POWER!

I left out the fact, in the preceding post, that my actions are not for my personal, short-term economic benefit, but represent a sustainable future for all of America, which is efficient power that does not require any petroleum in the tank, and only a small amount of petroleum in the entire lifecycle for production of renewable, diesel fuels as compared to energy output of that fuel. For example, although biodiesel cost the consumer more than the current dino-diesel price, it is much more sustainable, because it produces 3.5 units of energy output for every unit of energy inuput and reduces CO2 output 78% (as a lifecycle measure) as compared to dino-diesel which is less than 1 unit of ouput for every unit of energy input. Of course, as with all renewable fuels made from bio mass, the issue is producing enough product with available lands, but feedstock options are opening which will drastically improve the yield per acre, including switch grass and algae.