Are the ultra high gas prices hurting you hypermilers?

[JESSE69]

Last fillup was at $3.799 / gal - they jacked it up 10 cents before the Memorial Day Weekend to rip off drivers. But my past weekly 7 day tanks ranged from $25 to $28.60 - still really affordable. With my 44 MPG 1999 Civic HX M/T, gas can go up to $6 / gal for it to start annoying me - a $45+ tank fillup. I usually try to fill up every 7 days to know how much I go through in a week.

Some of you drive hybrids and get amazing MPG tanks. What are your weekly MPG tanks like, and at what cost of gas would it start to hurt you?

Maybe you 80 MPG hypermilers wouldn't hurt until $10/gas!

But not all you you drive great MPG cars and must be hurting now. How do you cope?

I'm prepared to bike to save gas. Got 3 great commuter bikes with panniers and a Burley Nomad for 100lb heavy duty grocery shopping by bike! Since 2005, I saved $197 in gas by biking!

At $2.65 / gal gas was hurting me in my 20.5 MPG avg minivan. That's why I drive my HX. The minivan is rarely driven now. It's just a backup vehicle, cargo hauler, and improvised RV.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

I protested when gasoline hit forty CENTS a gallon! And I was driving a Corvair (about 19 mpg) when the national average was about 12 mpg.

[Hateful]

I'd say since I've started hypermiling my cost have basically stayed the same. The increased mileage and the higher prices have canceled each other out.

[R.I.D.E.]

Summer of 1968 age 17 59 Austin Healey Sprite 1 cent per mile 32 MPG 32 cents per gal.

1984 Honda VRX 1.5 44 MPG, dont remember what gas was then.

Last 4 cars
Scion XB 36 MPG 2005
Toyota Corolla 36 MPG 2006
Honda Del Sol 43 MPG
Honda Civic VX 57 MPG


My wife loves her 2006 Murano, averages 21.8 MPG. We always take my VX when we go somewhere together. 2/3 rds of our mileage is in my car.

That works out to 1/3 at 21.8 and 2/3 at 57, about 45 MPG average overall.

Our gas bill has be fairly consistent at around $200 per month while our consumption in gallons has dropped at about the same percentage the price has increased.

For me its about 5.7 cents a mile compared to 1 cent a mile in 1968. I was fresh out of high school in 68 and made $25 for 40 hours work. I could drive 250 miles on $2.50 in gas.

Last tank was 308.5 miles on $20.89.

I drive about 2k a month on about $112 in gas.

Our net worth is in the higher 6 digit figures.

I built two houses in the last 6 years, after working on cars for 30. Cap gains on the two houses was almost 385K. We owe nothing to anyone except monthly bills. Our hosue is assesed at 319K.

regards
gary

[Snax]

My wife fills the 5 up about every two weeks at about $50/tank. I recently have taken two weeks just to use a 1/4 tank in the Escort, so our direct cost for fuel is pretty minor.

So while we wouldn't want it to go up much, the truth is that we could still afford the same miles per month if gas cost twice as much, and our driving habits really wouldn't change too much from what they are now, except that I would probably bike more to and from work. But that wouldn't make much difference to our budget overall.

In the interest of saving money, we are actually going to make a much more significant change by selling the Mazda5. It's not because we don't like it, but we could drive an extra 3000 miles per month for the same money as our payment, and that's money we've decided we'd like to spend elsewhere.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by theclencher

Heh heh, I'm still drivin' a Corvair! But mine gets almost 30!

You've probably got a manual transmission...I had the 2-speed Powerslide...I think my best mpg was somewhere around 23...that was after about 60k miles break-in from when I rebuilt it...

[1993CivicVX]

lately, whenever I start thinking maybe I'm becoming excessive with the measures I'm taking to save gas I see the price of gas shoot another 10 cents or so and think to myself--oh, right, a goal 60mpg is quite worth the excessive EOCing. Gas is now $3.92 at its cheapest in my town, and some places are more than $4/gal -- it's nice that my penchant for seeing how far I can stretch my gas is being well rewarded.

For the amount of miles I drive per gallon of gas, the price of gas still feels relatively cheap, so I'm not liable to not take a trip because of the price of gas. Next time I fill up it may be $4/gal though which would put the fill up near $40, when I'm used to paying around $27 to fill up. Last fill up was in the low $30s, which is pretty uncommon.

[landspeed]

It is sort of hurting me, sort of not. Since I have been in NZ, every single tank has cost more per litre than the last tank But the price per mile has remained constant due to improving hypermiling skills. I am also making each tank last 3-4 weeks now (two weeks so far, just over half a tank).

However, one thing people may not notice is rising food prices, due to transport costs. This is a BIG problem in NZ, and food prices are 2-3x what they were 2-3 years ago! Cheese is 4x the price compared to 2006. In fact it has gone from $10 to $15 for a kilo block of cheese in the last 9 months since I have been here.

[bowtieguy]

Originally Posted by landspeed

However, one thing people may not notice is rising food prices, due to transport costs.

THIS is my greatest concern. not only food but other consumer goods are rising as well as consumer services.

we "hypermile" everything...cars, housing, and goods/services. yet, we are struggling to makes ends meet.

instead of punishing the struggling working class, we need to work towards lowering fuel prices while increasing energy guzzling taxes. look, the US gas guzzler tax is a one time tax of, for example, $2100 for a vehicle that gets just under 20mpg.

that's a slap on the wrist especially for elite earners. how about charging extra yearly taxes on consumption of larger vehicles, homes, etc.

i believe future economic success lies in taxation of what is consumed, not what is earned. raising taxes and creating new ones is what is squeezing out the middle class.

[OokiiMamoru]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy

THIS is my greatest concern. not only food but other consumer goods are rising as well as consumer services.

that's a slap on the wrist especially for elite earners. how about charging extra yearly taxes on consumption of larger vehicles, homes, etc.

How nice for those who need larger vehicle's for large family's, or wheel chair accessible conversion vans, or private contractors barley able to make ends meet. They higher gas prices are punishment enough.