<p>We are making an appointment to check out a Hybrid Civic this week. We almost bought a Prius last year, but the only available one had tons of extras I didn’t want or need. Also, we can’t get any info about whether you can put kayaks on its curved roof. I know you can carry them on a Civic. I wish there was a hybrid minivan, as it’s such a useful vehicle otherwise (but ours is 11 and showing its age).</p>
<p>Mostly I bike or walk. We live in a classic old inner suburb, so work, shopping, library, church, etc. are all within walking distance.</p>
<p>I remember when gas was 86 cents a gallon back in 1994 and cigarettes were only a buck fifty a pack or like $13.50 for a carton. Now gas is $2.55 a gallon and cigarettes are $38.50 a carton! That is tripling of prices. My wages since then have only doubled, that sucks. (Well if I could find another job, I could easily double my wages again)</p>
<p>garland – You can indeed put kayaks on the roof of a Prius. I have a roof rack onto which I put bike or ski inserts, and there are kayak rack inserts available. At least two makers I know of produce these roof racks for the new Prius: Yakima and Thule.</p>
<p>Oh for heaven’s sake, please stop whining. This is not the highest gasoline has ever been (which was, btw $3.03/gallon and $68/barrel oil). We have been spoiled rotten for way too many years.</p>
<p>Besides, the price needs to go up if we are going to have reasonable substitutes. Momof1, there are plenty of us down here who agree with you about the necessity of drilling in Alaska.</p>
<p>Switched from a 4Runner to an Echo four years ago…easier to drive, park and maintain in the city. I rent cars for long trips but have cut our gas consumption by over a half. Bikes work in Sacramento when it isn’t pouring or over 100 degrees or too windy, or I am tired and can’t be troubled by getting everything into a back pack…or I want company or I am in a rush… Where are those flying cars of the future that we were promised when Popular Science was 35 cents a copy?</p>
<p>Law student with a ton of debt here… so what am I going to do to reduce my driving? Not much - there isn’t much driving that I can change. Everything around town is around town, and if I want civilization, I have to drive for it. Family is 700 miles one way, 800 miles the other way, and gas is cheaper than flying - and my lovely Volvo is a trooper. I could not visit people over breaks - but am I really not going to see a grandfather who isn’t in great health because gas is expensive? The Volvo gets about 26 mpg, so there’s little incentive to trade in for something that I can’t afford.</p>
<p>Back when I got my license, gas was $1.20 a gallon for premium. That was about seven years ago - and we’re up to what, $2.80/gallon for premium now? More than doubled in seven years - so 10% inflation per year. </p>
<p>ANWR is a horrible idea - the investment of time, energy, and resources that would go into the pipeline could be better spent on developing renewable energy. Generally speaking, it’s also a lot easier to disrupt wildlife & the environment than it is to put it back together - and the putting back together part often only comes when we realize the full extent of the damage. Generally, divided land is worse than continuous wilderness as well.</p>
<p>I agree about divided land being worse than continuous wilderness. However, have you ever been to Alaska? There are 620,000 people on a landmass roughly 1/5 the size of the contiguous US. Here is a map:</p>
<p>How much continuous wilderness do y’all want???</p>
<p>I do agree, too, that we need to invest in renewable energy. Perhaps the price of oil will finally give us the impetus to pursue those studies seriously. </p>
<p>Hey, I live in a refinery town, too. They pump oil from the pipeline, refine it, then put it on trains and trucks to take it down to Anchorage (North Seattle) to put in additives, then truck it back up here to sell it in our gas stations! Go figger!</p>
That is what they want you to think so they can get this crap out there. Hydrogen cells aren’t practical if gas is < $1.50 a gallon but when it goes up to $3.50 plus, then they can make in roads with hydrogen cells. We have enough oil in the world to last 10 lifetimes, but the technology that the big three has put much money into is articfically driving up the price of gas so they can go through with this alternative stuff. You can’t honestly sit there with a straight face and tell me that it costs them over 2 bucks to bring a gallon of gas to the pump. Taxes are only a small part of the cost, check out the record profits of the oil companies the past couple years.</p>
<p>According to many automobile manufacturers, hybrid cars still don’t have the technology to produce enough gas savings to offset the higher price tag that hybrid cars’ demand. Although, with these fuel prices, the gas prices might surpass the technology and we will see savings if gas prices seem to soar like they do now.</p>
<p>Joev: There is roughly 300 years of oil in the ground - which is more like four or five lifetimes. Problem is that a lot of that oil isn’t necessarily together - it’s scattered and it doesn’t always make economic (or energy) sense to build all the necessary infrastructure to drill for oil when there is little of it under the ground.</p>
<p>Gexxman - also, depends on how much you drive per year. Average American is about 12,000 miles per year, and many people get rid of their cars after five years or so. So the hybrid wouldn’t be worth it. But, there are plenty of people who drive 30k, 40k, or 50k miles per year (lots of people in my family!) and keep their cars forever.</p>
<p>Just came to this thread, and don’t know if this has been mentioned yet about hybrids, but when you use the air conditioning in a hybrid, the gas option automatically kicks in. Not very useful for many parts of the country if you think you’re driving an electric car most of the time.</p>
<p>My husband thinks I’m prescient because I bought a Civic Hybrid in Feb. 04. My reasoning for buying then was that hybrid prices would not be lower in the near furture because gas prices were rising and demand would increase - and in fact I ended up with a great deal using online quotes. Although I never expected to get back in gas savings the extra cost, I thought it important to set an example in my community where my car is dwarfed by lines of hulking SUV’s carrying one mom to the store. (I didn’t like the Prius for several reasons.)
But I do agree with Momof1 and Fundingfather about Alaska drilling. One of my sons just researched this issue for an essay contest and found it economically viable without significant environmental damage.</p>
<p>H and I checked out and test drove a Toyota Prius last summer. At the time they had a waiting list to get one and a one year backlog. On top of that when they arrived, people were paying over the MSRP.
I wasn’t going to wait for a year for one…maybe I should have :(</p>