Price of Gas Affecting You, Too?

I've been trying to spend less on gas, and came across an app called GasBuddy that looks pretty good. Is anybody here using it? What strategies are you using to cut costs?

The best I'm able to do is to try to consolidate all my trips into one so I don't have to go out more than once a day. Also using the vehicle appropriate for what I'm doing (4Runner around town with baby, little commuter sedan for commuting to work). Unfortunately I commute 30 miles one way for work (sometimes more depending on where I get sent) so I'm stuck in that respect. :(
Gas prices are hurting though. I don't even want to look at the total price on the pump any more. At $4.09 or more per gallon, anything hurts.

Ughhh, I traded in my BMW 330xi for a Honda Civic. I drive 30 mins. ,one way, to work and the Civic's gas mileage is much, much better.

I'm not sure if politics are allowed on this site. If they are not, I apologize in advance. It's not my intention to break rules...BUT, I remember when Bush was in office and everyone blamed him for high gas prices. Nowadays, I hear all of the time that the President "has nothing to do with gas prices"...hmm? :rolleyes:

I find it amazing how people in America complain about fuel prices.

We here pay around 10-11$ for a gallon.

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Originally Posted by Crotalids

I find it amazing how people in America complain about fuel prices.

We here pay around 10-11$ for a gallon.

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I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say you are in Europe? If so, I'm fairly sure you have a more extensive public transportation system then we do.

4.49$ a gallon in the Chicago suburbs for 93 octane...

Prices like that make me want to pull the turbo off so I can run 87.. Unfortunately that's not very feasible

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Originally Posted by BoostedMX3

4.49$ a gallon in the Chicago suburbs for 93 octane...

Prices like that make me want to pull the turbo off so I can run 87.. Unfortunately that's not very feasible

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I hear ya. I don't miss buying the 93, just the BMW... :(

I'm getting ready to get bent over at the pump in an hr!! I already sold my truck and got a stupid car that gets 30 miles to gallon don't know what else to do getting a motorcycle soon tho. I get to drive 230 miles today for my nephews first birthday :) little dude best understand the love here lol

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Originally Posted by 33rpm

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say you are in Europe? If so, I'm fairly sure you have a more extensive public transportation system then we do.

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Correct.

Yeah we do, but what's that got to do with fuel prices? Lol. Our public transport is expensive as it is, normally works out to be more expensive than paying for fuel.

I understand that the US is a much larger place. But surely you aren't all doing cross country drives every weekend? Lol.

Traded in the blazer for an impreza so nope, i dont complain anymore! :)

I use the Gas Buddy App. It works decent and once in a while will find you a great deal so you can take advantage and fill up. I live in New England and drive 80 miles round trip for work. It's costing me around $75 a week. I'm actually in the process of getting a more fuel efficient car. Unfortunately I will have to give up my AWD to do so.

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Originally Posted by Crotalids

Correct.

Yeah we do, but what's that got to do with fuel prices? Lol. Our public transport is expensive as it is, normally works out to be more expensive than paying for fuel.

I understand that the US is a much larger place. But surely you aren't all doing cross country drives every weekend? Lol.

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Public transportation = higher taxes on fuel. It encourages people to use public transportation and/or purchase more fuel efficient vehicles.


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Originally Posted by Crotalids

Correct.

Yeah we do, but what's that got to do with fuel prices? Lol. Our public transport is expensive as it is, normally works out to be more expensive than paying for fuel.

I understand that the US is a much larger place. But surely you aren't all doing cross country drives every weekend? Lol.

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All it is, is Obama, and his cronies, pushing his radical environmental agenda. Communism 101.

The U.S. has more natural gas and oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, Iraq & Iran combined. If the left would just crawl back under their rocks, we could become a self-sustaining fuel powerhouse in the world. Imagine that, no more dependency on foreign oil! AND, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, ta boot. Don't believe me? Look up North Dakota and their drilling on private land that Obummer is trying his hardest to limit and control.

Sorry about your $10-11 gal. gas prices, lol, but most Americans aren't known for just rolling over and being screwed. lol :salute:

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Traded in the blazer for an impreza so nope, i dont complain anymore! :)

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I know a guy who just bought himself and his wife matching Imprezas. They seem to really like them.

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Originally Posted by 33rpm

I know a guy who just bought himself and his wife matching Imprezas. They seem to really like them.

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I like mine a lot. I miss my blazer though too. I think the impreza will be a great car for me to finish school with but after that i want a big ass truck again lol.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

I like mine a lot. I miss my blazer though too. I think the impreza will be a great car for me to finish school with but after that i want a big ass truck again lol.

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Right on. I'm not much of a big truck guy, but my neighbor just picked up a big 4-door Toyota Tundra (I believe) truck. Black, shiny paint. Looks awesome!

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Originally Posted by 33rpm

Right on. I'm not much of a big truck guy, but my neighbor just picked up a big 4-door Toyota Tundra (I believe) truck. Black, shiny paint. Looks awesome!

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Thats what i want lol. I love them. My dad is on his second tacoma. He has a 2010 and its awesome. I gotta one up him and go for the tundra ;)

I'm honestly shocked that Europeans put up with such high gas prices. Germany has $8 in TAX per gallon via three separate taxes, and other European countries are similar. You're paying that much for gas because you've agreed to do so via the democratic process. You don't like it, get some legislation introduced to reduce and/or repeal some of your gas taxes.

As for why we Americans complain about $4/gallon gas, the reason is that 15 years ago, it was $1.25/gallon. Triple the price of anything in that timeframe and people will feel pinched and complain or stop buying it. Since it's not practical to stop buying it, we're left with complaining.

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Originally Posted by olstyn

I'm honestly shocked that Europeans put up with such high gas prices. Germany has $8 in TAX per gallon via three separate taxes, and other European countries are similar. You're paying that much for gas because you've agreed to do so via the democratic process. You don't like it, get some legislation introduced to reduce and/or repeal some of your gas taxes.

As for why we Americans complain about $4/gallon gas, the reason is that 15 years ago, it was $1.25/gallon. Triple the price of anything in that timeframe and people will feel pinched and complain or stop buying it. Since it's not practical to stop buying it, we're left with complaining.

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:yes::clap: I remember filling up in 1995 for around 0.95 cents a gallon.

I have an Impreza now and love it but it only gets around 22mpg.

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I buy at Costco. Usually about .10-20 cents cheaper than a normal gas station. Granted I pay $50 a year for membership, but between food and gas, well worth it!

Public transportation around here sucks, period. Buses are almost always late. If you rely on them to get to work, you won't have a job.

And some of us can't afford to live close to work either. Personally... I prefer paying $600 a month to OWN my little half acre parcel with horses and a 3 bedroom 1400 sq ft house than to have to pay $1200 in rent for a two bedroom apartment. Means I have to pay more in gas to commute, but that's another debate. I will complain about the gas prices going up so quickly in a short amount of time, while also complaining about the cost of living.

We try to make as few trips as possible, I try to limit it to one a day. Up until I moved back out to the San Juans I didn't own a car, the public transport system wasn't so bad down in Seattle (at least I knew it well enough to get wherever I needed to go in a reasonable amount of time). Because they had buses period up here I thought "Great! I can just use their system!" only to find out buses only run once an hour (with a lunch break) and have erratic routes that take 3+ hours to just go 20 miles. Not even going to touch the ferries.

Luckily I live close enough to work that I can walk if I have to, and when the weather isn't cruddy I'll pick a bike up. Just sucks when we have to head into the next town for anything outside of groceries or hardware store stuff ($10-$15 in gas for each trip). I'd kill for a local store where I could pick up some freaking underpants and socks that isn't a touristy boutique or thrift shop (ew)

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Originally Posted by 33rpm

All it is, is Obama, and his cronies, pushing his radical environmental agenda. Communism 101.

The U.S. has more natural gas and oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, Iraq & Iran combined. If the left would just crawl back under their rocks, we could become a self-sustaining fuel powerhouse in the world. Imagine that, no more dependency on foreign oil! AND, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, ta boot. Don't believe me? Look up North Dakota and their drilling on private land that Obummer is trying his hardest to limit and control.

Sorry about your $10-11 gal. gas prices, lol, but most Americans aren't known for just rolling over and being screwed. lol :salute:

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You don't seem to understand oil economy. We pay high gas prices because even though we're producing more oil than ever, we don't directly reap the benefits of that production. It has nothing to do with one political party vs. another, it's all about the oil companies who own the land and equipment. Instead of selling it here in America they ship it overseas, and in turn you and I have to buy mostly imported oil.

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Originally Posted by 33rpm

Nowadays, I hear all of the time that the President "has nothing to do with gas prices"...hmm? :rolleyes:

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That president had as little to do with gas prices as the current one does, just because people talk about something either way does not make it legitimate

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Originally Posted by SaintTawny

You don't seem to understand oil economy. We pay high gas prices because even though we're producing more oil than ever, we don't directly reap the benefits of that production. It has nothing to do with one political party vs. another, it's all about the oil companies who own the land and equipment. Instead of selling it here in America they ship it overseas, and in turn you and I have to buy mostly imported oil.

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Understood. The point I was trying to steer towards was Solindra, Chevy Volt, etc. All of which have been shoved in our faces by you-know-who... 37 straight days of raising gas prices. Ya don't need a weatherman to tell ya which way the wind's blowing.

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Originally Posted by ewaldrep

That president had as little to do with gas prices as the current one does, just because people talk about something either way does not make it legitimate

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Yeah, kind of my point.

Gas prices will continue to rise, except if there is another global economic crisis. Only a global economic crisis has the power to (temporarily, as long as it lasts) reduce gas prices.


The problem is peak oil, most individual countries are well past their peak production. The USA already used up more than half of all its oil and gas reserves, and whats left is incresingly harder to get, requiring methods such as deep sea drilling or hydraulic fracturing.

Now one of the reasons for the very high taxes in europe is that this has been anticipated, by increasing the taxes early on we have two benefits: first, alternatives did benefit, second, if prices become unbearably high europe just needs to lower the taxes.

In the USA fuel is partly subsidized, partly just world market prize. So when world market prices rise, and they will, the USA can do nothing. Except for maybe giving more money to big oil by subsidizing it. As prices climb to 10 dollards per gallon, the USA will be in a world of trouble while in europe just by lowering taxes it can be ensured that the consumers feel nothing.

"The problem is peak oil, most individual countries are well past their peak production. The USA already used up more than half of all its oil and gas reserves, and whats left is incresingly harder to get, requiring methods such as deep sea drilling or hydraulic fracturing."

I'm gonna have to disagree with that. It's all about the EPA and restrictions. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could have been avoided if they didn't have to drill over a mile deep. In shallower water, they could have capped it off quicker and easier, in the event of a spill.

1/2 used up? C'mon, man... Case in point, look into S.T.R.O.N.G.E.R. and the likes.

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Originally Posted by SaintTawny

You don't seem to understand oil economy. We pay high gas prices because even though we're producing more oil than ever, we don't directly reap the benefits of that production. It has nothing to do with one political party vs. another, it's all about the oil companies who own the land and equipment. Instead of selling it here in America they ship it overseas, and in turn you and I have to buy mostly imported oil.

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if by "we" you mean the USA, thats not true.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Production.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Production.PNG

its not looking much better for other states of the USA, as a whole USA reached peak production in 1970:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...bert_Curve.png


globally, production is quite stagnant, after it has histrically exhibited exponential growth its now a kind of plateau. The USA is buying more and more and more oil, since 1970. If climate change wont encourage people to decrease consumption, these facts will.


EDIT: "I'm gonna have to disagree with that. It's all about the EPA and restrictions. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could have been avoided if they didn't have to drill over a mile deep. In shallower water, they could have capped it off quicker and easier, in the event of a spill. "

they have to go deep, because the oil in shallower waters is already gone, this has been pumped up in the 70s and 80s. The EPA is powerless, the USA does not protect the environment.

Climate change? I didn't know this was turning into a religious thread! :rofl:

Usage of fossil fuels in an industrialized society is the trade-off for living the lifestyles we CHOOSE to lead!

I use GasBuddy. Its pretty good. On my Lumina920 it is a live tile that gives me the local, state, and national prices at the same time.

Gas is nearing $4 a gallon here and having a 36 gallon tank really adds up when I get to E. I wish the weather would get better so I can ride my motorcycle more.

I can only imagine how much hauling the boat to the lake is gonna run me this summer. Might need to trade the bass boat for a sail boat.

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I'd kill for a local store where I could pick up some freaking underpants and socks that isn't a touristy boutique or thrift shop (ew)

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Too funny!!! :lmao:


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Most of my driving is to and from work. I moved closer to my work back in Oct and my gas bill got cut in half.

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Originally Posted by 33rpm

Climate change? I didn't know this was turning into a religious thread!

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The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it. - Neil deGrasse Tyson

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I've been walking to college to help. My friends bike to college as well. I love ive in the bay area and gas is a few cents over 4 bucks a gallon.

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Gas is currently sitting at about $3.70 a gallon right now. Normally, I can spend $40 and get about 12 gallons. Today, I only managed about 11. Unfortunately, my college is about 35 miles away, so I don't have a choice in driving. To make matters worse, I'm paying this out of my own money that I was hoping to save up for university since the gas station that I normally go to stopped selling gas and the rest either take cash or debit/credit cards. Meaning mom can't transfer money to me for gas.

I'm all for alternative energy sources. We have an unlimited one just sitting in the sky waiting to be utilized to its fullest. Oil will not be around forever. Thinking that more drilling will satiate the exponentially increasing demand for gas is kind of silly. Our population and consumption is increasing so dangerously fast there is no way that more drilling will help.

Time to look at other options to employ our fellow Americans.

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I deliver papers and get the same amount in my paycheck for gas whether its $3 or $5.

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This issue is very important to me as I can't accept that MORE OIL is the answer.

The fact is that the United States is an entire country built for the car. The pedestrian is almost completely ignored except in very dense areas of population. In this day and age, if you don't have a car you don't have a job. Without a car we can't do simple tasks such as getting food for dinner, picking up our children from school, or even LOOKING FOR A JOB. If you are unemployed and live in a typical sprawl-suburb, chances are you can't afford the gas needed to go out and look for a job in person.

This kind of neglect to pedestrian needs is sickening to me. I can't remember the last time I saw more than 2 or 3 people biking down a typical 4 lane road in a suburb. Nor do I remember seeing anyone walking on the sidewalk. The ability to walk/bike to and from work, shopping, and home is essential if we ever wish to lower our dependence on fossil fuels.

I know some of you love your cars, and thats all fine. Our culture has taught us that the car is king. It is going to take a lot of learning and change in order to break our bad habits and create good ones. I sincerely believe that many problems facing us today can be solved by alternative transportation and energy sources.

I could go on forever.. I've read so many books that relate to this subject as it happens to be one of my favorites.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

This issue is very important to me as I can't accept that MORE OIL is the answer.

The fact is that the United States is an entire country built for the car. The pedestrian is almost completely ignored except in very dense areas of population. In this day and age, if you don't have a car you don't have a job. Without a car we can't do simple tasks such as getting food for dinner, picking up our children from school, or even LOOKING FOR A JOB. If you are unemployed and live in a typical sprawl-suburb, chances are you can't afford the gas needed to go out and look for a job in person.

This kind of neglect to pedestrian needs is sickening to me. I can't remember the last time I saw more than 2 or 3 people biking down a typical 4 lane road in a suburb. Nor do I remember seeing anyone walking on the sidewalk. The ability to walk/bike to and from work, shopping, and home is essential if we ever wish to lower our dependence on fossil fuels.

I know some of you love your cars, and thats all fine. Our culture has taught us that the car is king. It is going to take a lot of learning and change in order to break our bad habits and create good ones. I sincerely believe that many problems facing us today can be solved by alternative transportation and energy sources.

I could go on forever.. I've read so many books that relate to this subject as it happens to be one of my favorites.

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I'd really like to see you try and walk/bike anywhere in 110+ degree weather and not have a heat stroke.

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Originally Posted by Raptor

I'd really like to see you try and walk/bike anywhere in 110+ degree weather and not have a heat stroke.

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This person wasnt saying everyone that drives sucks or anything but the country as a whole needs to find alternative ways to travel. Why the negativity?

You live 35 miles away from school? Dang that's really far..

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When I was at UCCS I used to ride my bike to school and it was 10 miles and 970' difference in elevation. I took a little over an hour to get there and 45 to get home :) That changed when I had my daughter though, can't really toss her into the cart to get to day care and then ride to school anymore.

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Originally Posted by barbie.dragon

This person wasnt saying everyone that drives sucks or anything but the country as a whole needs to find alternative ways to travel. Why the negativity?

You live 35 miles away from school? Dang that's really far..

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No, I'm saying that in certain parts of the country, biking/walking everywhere isn't the safest thing to do. During the summer, temperatures during the day were no less than 110F and didn't drop down into the 90s until close to ten at night. If one happens to live in a the city and needs to get to the other side, that could be fairly dangerous.

And yes, I live 35 miles away from school. It takes me about 30 minutes to get there taking the toll road (min speed 50 mph, max 75 mph), and I'm getting ready to leave for class now. Going to be driving home in winter storm Rocky. Woo.

My little Scion xB gets awesome gas mileage so it's not too too bad. Gas is around $3.60 per gallon in Phx right now, it usually costs around $40 to fill up my tank and I do that maybe once a week, give or take depending on if I randomly drive to far places much or not. I drive a fair amount so it doesn't seem too bad.

I'm kind of glad I wasn't driving yet when gas was only a dollar or so a gallon, I never had (comparatively) super cheap gas to miss really, to me it's always been expensive lol. Though I'd sure love if it it went back to those prices.

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Originally Posted by Raptor

No, I'm saying that in certain parts of the country, biking/walking everywhere isn't the safest thing to do. During the summer, temperatures during the day were no less than 110F and didn't drop down into the 90s until close to ten at night. If one happens to live in a the city and needs to get to the other side, that could be fairly dangerous.

And yes, I live 35 miles away from school. It takes me about 30 minutes to get there taking the toll road (min speed 50 mph, max 75 mph), and I'm getting ready to leave for class now. Going to be driving home in winter storm Rocky. Woo.

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So then what about conditioned public walkways? Underground tunnels? Above ground tunnels? There are still ways to make pedestrian transport safe in any climate. You can't just say "oh its hot, everyone needs a car". There needs to be other options.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

So then what about conditioned public walkways? Underground tunnels? Above ground tunnels? There are still ways to make pedestrian transport safe in any climate. You can't just say "oh its hot, everyone needs a car". There needs to be other options.

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Can we please have those in Phx?! Please?

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

So then what about conditioned public walkways? Underground tunnels? Above ground tunnels? There are still ways to make pedestrian transport safe in any climate. You can't just say "oh its hot, everyone needs a car". There needs to be other options.

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air conditioned public walkways. Who pays for it? For a small city, it might be feasible. A city the size of say Tampa? That's going to be very, very expensive. Not to mention, it's going to cost a great deal of money to keep the walkways air conditioned.

Underground tunnels. Going to be fun installing those around old pipes. ISPs have enough trouble installing fios lines, and you're wanting to install something that's going to be probably 8 foot high, and 6 foot across?

Above ground tunnels. Where are you going to put them?

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

This issue is very important to me as I can't accept that MORE OIL is the answer.

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Less consumption is obviously the answer. Making it happen, however, is problematic, and seems to be a trickle down situation at best.

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The fact is that the United States is an entire country built for the car. The pedestrian is almost completely ignored except in very dense areas of population. In this day and age, if you don't have a car you don't have a job. Without a car we can't do simple tasks such as getting food for dinner, picking up our children from school, or even LOOKING FOR A JOB. If you are unemployed and live in a typical sprawl-suburb, chances are you can't afford the gas needed to go out and look for a job in person.

This kind of neglect to pedestrian needs is sickening to me. I can't remember the last time I saw more than 2 or 3 people biking down a typical 4 lane road in a suburb. Nor do I remember seeing anyone walking on the sidewalk. The ability to walk/bike to and from work, shopping, and home is essential if we ever wish to lower our dependence on fossil fuels.

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Speaking as someone who biked to work (13 miles each way) whenever the weather wasn't miserable for 5+ years, yeah, biking is great. That said, it's far from being practical for all people all the time (some people can't arrive at work sweaty, etc), and walking is far less so, based on speed alone. In the metro area where I live, you can basically get anywhere on a bus...if you've got all day to get there and you don't mind paying about the same for your bus fare as you would have for gas in a car for the same distance. Public transit sucks.

As far as biking on 4 lane roads goes, you don't see it because bikers prefer to avoid those roads whenever possible; the higher the traffic level, the lower your safety. Sometimes it seems like cars are TRYING to hit you, and the more traffic you encounter, the higher your likelihood of encountering an :cens0r: who doesn't understand that you have the right to be there too.

The price of gas has definitely driven more people to ride bikes than in the past. I know this both because over the 5+ years I was a bike commuter, I saw more and more other people doing the same, and because I saw the price of a road bike with any kind of decent components on it roughly double (I paid $800 or so for a bike with a Tiagra front derailleur and a 105 rear toward the beginning of my time as a bike commuter, and a few years ago, it was more like $1500+ for something similar). Supply wasn't dwindling, so that had to be based on demand rising.

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I know some of you love your cars, and thats all fine. Our culture has taught us that the car is king. It is going to take a lot of learning and change in order to break our bad habits and create good ones. I sincerely believe that many problems facing us today can be solved by alternative transportation and energy sources.

I could go on forever.. I've read so many books that relate to this subject as it happens to be one of my favorites.

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Alternative energy sources are a great plan, but the infrastructure (electric car charging stations, etc) isn't there, and as a country, we can't afford to pay for it; we're already too far into a debt spiral. Yes, I know you're going to say we can't afford not to, but seriously, where's the money going to come from? More taxes? More debt? Both are unpalatable.

Once you've got the infrastructure, how do you get a significant enough portion of the public to buy new electric cars? The only one I find the least bit appealing is the Tesla roadster, and I can't afford that. Sure, I pay for gas now, but I also have no car payment and my insurance is pretty cheap. It would cost money I simply don't have. Get me something as good as or better than my current car ('02 Audi A4 1.8T quattro) in terms of speed, comfort, driving enjoyment, winter capabilities, etc, that's a pure electric or a hybrid getting 75+ MPG, and let me buy it for say $11000 like I paid for my Audi used, and we're in business. Yeah, not happening, I know.

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Originally Posted by Raptor

air conditioned public walkways. Who pays for it? For a small city, it might be feasible. A city the size of say Tampa? That's going to be very, very expensive. Not to mention, it's going to cost a great deal of money to keep the walkways air conditioned.

Underground tunnels. Going to be fun installing those around old pipes. ISPs have enough trouble installing fios lines, and you're wanting to install something that's going to be probably 8 foot high, and 6 foot across?

Above ground tunnels. Where are you going to put them?

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But but but... Can Phx still have them, pleeeeease?! Can't the other places all pitch in to pay for them in Phx?! We'll REEEEEEALLY appreciate it and and uh... We'll be good all year n stuff!