Behold The Power!

[LowDownDave]

still about half what our brothers and sisters in the UK spend.

EXACTLY! Filled up the Beetle at the weekend and it cost me £48!!! I can't imagine spending $100 filling up a car in Canada when I was living there a few years back. It's not a HUMMER!

I'd say "stop complaining", but tax on petrol (gas) is extortionate wherever you are. I shouldn't get started on this issue!

 

[Big Poppa]

I always knew I had gas....

How can we keep being held hostage by the oil companies who use any natural/political disaster to set record profits. I am a flag waving USA capitialist but the profits BP, Exxon Mobil have been raking in are obscene.

 

[SharonG]

I'm right there with you, BP - if I could ride a bike to work w/o getting flattened by an 18 wheeler, I would!


Next car's definitely gonna be a hybrid!

 

[azzy_wazzy]

EXACTLY! Filled up the Beetle at the weekend and it cost me £48!!! I can't imagine spending $100 filling up a car in Canada when I was living there a few years back. It's not a HUMMER!

I'd say "stop complaining", but tax on petrol (gas) is extortionate wherever you are. I shouldn't get started on this issue!

£48? In a BEETLE?

Dear Lord this makes me glad I don't drive or run a car!

 

[tiffles]

you dont drive az? how will we play? oh i spose we'll be drinking a bit lol. haa haa. but no licence at all? i love my car.

 

[LowDownDave]

Normally I might agree with you Azzy, but after commuting by train from Derby to Birmingham for 2 years, what with the cost of that, the hassle of trains not running due to "leaves on the track", and it being overcrowded on a daily basis, I'll pay up. I think that's the scam, they want us to use public transport, but the services available are just so abysmal (AND expensive), people would rather drive and pay the government whatever they feel like charging. Bah!

 

[azzy_wazzy]

you dont drive az? how will we play? oh i spose we'll be drinking a bit lol. haa haa. but no licence at all? i love my car.

Nope - I started to learn - got my provisional, but can't really afford to run one right now really... once I get my payrise at work I'll think about it If you come over here Tiffs, you should be able to drive though!

 

[tiffles]

yeah?? really?? WOOO. well im all good cause we both know the proper side to drive on

 

[azzy_wazzy]

yeah?? really?? WOOO. well im all good cause we both know the proper side to drive on

Yay! Yep, if you've got a license and are of a certain age (I forget what it is for hire cars here), you'll be ok. SO fingers crossed! Otherwise the public transport here is do-able... and we can uproariously drunk and not worry about having to drive!

 

[adouglas]

still about half what our brothers and sisters in the UK spend.

True, but what's often forgotten is that the US is a BIG country and many of us have to travel long distances as a matter of course. The UK is much more compact, and the public transit systems are much better. It's a lot easier to avoid driving long distances there. Here, it might be 20 miles or more to the next town with nothing at all in between but farmland or desert.

So many of us wind up spending as much for fuel...even those of us who don't drive gas guzzlers.

 

[LowDownDave]

The UK is much more compact, and the public transit systems are much better. It's a lot easier to avoid driving long distances there. Here, it might be 20 miles or more to the next town with nothing at all in between but farmland or desert.

Are you speaking from experience adouglas? I'm pretty sure there are a lot of Brits who would disagree with you. We may look compact on the map, but I doubt your typical daily driving distances are very different from ours. And our public transit systems are better? I can't speak for the public transport systems in all 50 states, but the ones I've used over here are not great by any means. In my opinion "more compact" translates to more dense traffic on the roads, longer travel times for equivalent US distances, and increased petrol consumption. I could be wrong, but that's what I see. Not trying to start anything at all, but having driven in Canada, the USA and the UK, I'd say you've got it better than we do.

 

[SteveB]

My father worked for BP (the company, not the man) for many years. I wanted to be a 'good son' and use their gasoline, but I couldn't. It was always overpriced and underperforming. Much like their stock.

 

[adouglas]

Are you speaking from experience adouglas?

I do have experience traveling in the UK by car and public transit, but only as a tourist (three visits). So my impressions are probably about as inaccurate as any visitor from a foreign land. I was speaking first-hand, albeit without daily experience over the long term. I was always able to leave where I was staying and walk a bit to get what I needed. I was always able to find a way to get around conveniently. Perhaps that was an artifact of where I chose to stay.

I don't drive excessively and try to avoid unneccessary trips, but I still manage to put 20-25000 miles a year on my car. How about you?

And I live in a densely-packed part of the country. My commute is "only" 16 miles each way, far shorter than that of many in the US who live in rural areas. When I lived in North Carolina it was 9 miles to the nearest store, with absolutely no way to get there except by driving.

Public transit? Despite the heavily-populated nature of the region where I live, it's not great. To commute, I could take a bus...if I wanted to spend two hours each way, and walk a mile and a half to the bus stop to boot. I could take the train, but service to the town where I work is so thin it would take even longer. Or I could drive 30-45 minutes each way. So I drive.

 

[Strangeglow]

I bought a Prius hybrid not too long ago. Paid $2.88 per USG to fill it up here in Austin. The 373 mile roundtrip to Dallas for sushi, beer, pretty ladies, and cowpilot used 7.6 gallons of fuel, costing a whopping total of $21.88. I like my new car.

 

[MingusBASS]

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good... Larry David drives a Prius on Curb your Enthusiasim(and I think in real life).

 

[dhuffguitars]

I bought a Prius hybrid not too long ago. Paid $2.88 per USG to fill it up here in Austin. The 373 mile roundtrip to Dallas for sushi, beer, pretty ladies, and cowpilot used 7.6 gallons of fuel, costing a whopping total of $21.88. I like my new car.

I grew up with 4x4's and it is what I still drive today. My wife has a Honda Accord and I cannot stand driving it because of how you are looking up to every other vehicle out there.

 

[Strangeglow]

My other car is a Jeep. The Prius costs less than 1/3 to drive. I can get used to looking up. Especially at the gas station. Yesterday, a Suburban pulled in behind me. They had to fill up twice since the pump stopped at the $75 limit.

 

[bovinehost]

We're going to have to change the way we think and what we drive if we hope to be free of the chains that bind us to certain oil-producing nations.

We're way behind the power curve. Except for strangeglow, maybe.

 

[shamus63]

I'm right there with you, BP - if I could ride a bike to work w/o getting flattened by an 18 wheeler, I would!


Next car's definitely gonna be a hybrid!

If gas prices keep going up the way they do, you won't have to worry about as many 18-wheelers being mobile...problem solved on your end.

 

[SteveB]

Shamus,

They can convert those 18-wheelers to run off of used french fry oil. There's a guy here in Pittsburgh with an SUV that he modified to do the same thing. The exhaust smells like whatever was cooked in the oil, but he gets the oil for free from restaurants. They are only too happy to unload their old fryer oil somewhere.

Bovine is right, though. Fossil fuels are a dead end. If only the innovations in alternative energy were not suppressed by big money. I can't honestly believe that we can't come up with a viable, renewable, clean power source in 2006.

Combustion is so 20th century.