Effects of high fuel price in USA, poll

[Frankie]

Price of fuel have risen rapidly within few weeks in USA. Have you cut down driving due to the higher fuel costs? Whats the alternative, public transportation, bicycle, car pooling etc.

If not, what is the treshold of fuel price which would make you to think the alternatives

[christophbmw]

call me retarded but i hope it hits $6.00 a gallon. i quit my job and got a job accross the street so i wouldnt have to drive to work. i ride my bike to school and to work. hardly drive my car anymore. I am a geography major and i am studying first hand what the effects of the vehicle emisions are to the enviroment, and its scary. oh im a rupublican so dont criticize me, im just trying to do my part.

The reason so many people drive there SUV's around is because of cheap gas, so hopefully if it goes up this will change. i hope i didnt stir the ants nest or anything......

[Frankie]

I would consider my question rather a practical issue than political. Of course politics are involved, but when it comes to fuel price affecting daily life, politics are forgotten quickly.

I wonder why European car manufactures have not imported diesel engines to US. I have heard different reasons (high sulfur level in diesel destroys engines or emission laws), but never anything conclusive.

I think average engine size in Europe is between 1.6 to 2.0 litres, but what it is in US? MPG is better comparison factor, but to my knowledge the definition of US and EU mpg's differ.

[ose30]

What high fuel prices? In the States fuel is almost free compared to european prices.
The average price in capital Helsinki area (Finland) just now is 1.49€/liter (lowest grade 95E, european standard ), which mean over $8 / gallon, so i suppsoe americans pay only about the half what we do.
What is going on in the States, we can watch almost daily basis on TV news of your bad economy and bank crises.

[Frankie]

There is no relevance with high prices between EU and US when it comes to consumers buying power.

Consolitated loans...no one knows who owes to who.

[tjts1]

The price of gasoline hasn't risen at all on the west coast. Only in the midwest and south east. I'm paying $3.60/gallon today vs $3.80 2 weeks ago. Its down 80 cents since the peak in July. But even if gas cost $10/gallon I probably wouldn't change my driving habits. If I need to drive, I drive. Thats all there is to it.

[///m42 sport]

Umm yeah, sucks when your still a student on loans.  I drive only when I have to.

[AcSchnitzer318is]

Well driving habits definitely change... but frequency hasn't.  The wife and I try to get the best mpg possible with every tank, check our tire pressures alot more frequently, and do our oil changes religiously at 5k.

If the gov't would pay down it's share of the national debt our gas would be a ton cheaper.  But I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon.  And it's a wonder the average citizen is in debt up to his/her eyeballs... we learn from the feds.

[strad]

Alternate forms of transportation, like bicycling for instance, are way too risky around here for me to attempt.  Besides, I/we have a very young kid to transport with us wherever we go.  So right now the extent of conservation is making sure the vehicles are maintained properly, and combining errands.

[nuvolarossa]

when we will start to see smaller engine AND better emission friendly in USA?
 
eheheh here we are at 1,43 (Euros / liter) = 7,84634476 U.S. dollars / US gallon
a couple of months ago we were way over the 1,5eur/liter...
in big cities here a lot of people is starting to use the public transportation to go to work... the bad thing is that outside big cities, the others doesn't have a good public transportation...
diesel was really cheap 10years ago here. All were buying diesels car, now it cost the same of fuel. Sure it has better mpg...
 
Ok that there isn't replacement for displacement, but if a mother in USA use a 5.0L pickup to go to shopping... here they use a 1L car that go the same for how they use it

[ose30]

According to Forbes here are the best selling cars in the USA:

1. Ford F-Series pickup
2. Chevrolet Silverado pickup
3. Toyota Camry convertible, coupe and sedan


Ford pickup has been in the pole position over 50 years....

So this list means americans still want to have big V8 engines and only "cheap" way to get it is to buy a pick up. Quite sad

Toyota Camry is quite interesting. If i can remember correctly Camry has held #1 passanger car ranking for years. It's interesting because in Europe Camry selling is quite marginal and it is not even for sale in quite many european country (Not in the Nordic countries, Germany, UK etc.). Here in europe Camry is in tough class, lot's of european cars in the same category available, so europeans buy these insteadt of Camry.

Back to the USA statistics; it's interesting to see that first US made passanger car is in the 8th position (Chevy Impala) all others top selling US made cars are trucks. Top seller passanger cars are Japanese models.


Here's top seller marques from last August here in Finland. Note Chevys sold here are not the "real" ones. In Europe they sell Korean Daewoos as Chevrolet.

1.   TOYOTA
2.   VOLKSWAGEN
3.   FORD
4.   VOLVO
5.   SKODA  
6.   KIA
7.   NISSAN
8.   HONDA
9.   PEUGEOT
10.   AUDI
11.   CITROEN
12.   MAZDA
13.   OPEL
14.   BMW
15.   MERCEDES-BENZ
16.   FIAT
17.   HYUNDAI
18.   RENAULT
19.   SEAT
20.   MITSUBISHI
21.   SAAB
22.   DODGE
23.   SUZUKI
24.   CHEVROLET
25.   SUBARU
26.   CHRYSLER
27.   JEEP
28.   MINI
29.   LAND ROVER
30.   JAGUAR

Currently here in Finland diesels sell very well, mainly because of their lower taxes (less pollution compared to gas). The best selling diesel powered car here is currently Skoda Octavia. I suppose Skoda is not available in the States.
My better half bought last april one of these Octavia RS', diesel ofcourse

[tjts1]

Your list of the best selling cars in America is a little out of date.
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080604-Honda-Civic-Now-America-s-Best-Selling-Vehicle/

January-April 2008

1. Ford F-Series
2. Chevrolet Silverado
3. Toyota Camry
4. Honda Accord
5. Honda Civic
6. Toyota Corolla/Matrix
7. Nissan Altima
8. Chevrolet Impala
9. Dodge Ram
10. Ford Focus

May 2008 (percent change vs. may 2007)

1. Honda Civic (+33.3%)
2. Toyota Corolla/Matrix (+16.8%)
3. Toyota Camry (+2.3%)
4. Honda Accord (+37.0%)
5. Ford F-Series (-30.6%)
6. Chevrolet Silverado (-42.0%)
7. Nissan Altima (+43.6%)
8. Ford Focus (+53.2%)
9. Chevrolet Cobalt (+19.2%)
10. Chevrolet
http://www.examiner.com/x-244-Automotive-Examiner~y2008m9d9-With-high-gas-prices--Americas-new-bestselling-car-is-
The times they are a changing.

[ose30]

New statistics just reflects what is going on just now in the States. i suppose American car manufacturers are in big trouble. Marque which can rapidly change their production to what consumers want will survy. Japanese cars seems to be popular over there. Not a single european one on that list.

[tjts1]

Cheap European cars fall flat on their face in America. They simply can't cut it. Its impossible to import small cars from Europe and to America and make a profit. The French and Italian automakers pulled out of this market 20 years ago. Most of VWs US bound cars are built in Mexico and Brazil. They are over priced and the build quality is atrocious by comparison to the Japanese cars. With the exception of the TDIs, the 2.5 liter 5 cylinder engine found in Rabbit and Jetta are extremely inefficient. VW and Mercedes does sell a handful of diesels but again they are expensive and have a hard time passing California emissions. California and a handful of other states that adopted California emissions rules represents 1/2 of the US car market.
Japanese cars on the other hand have built a reputation for high build quality, are built in America and are extremely cheap. A Civic sedan starts at $15,000. An Accord is $19,000. You can get a Civic with a regular 1.8 gas engine, hybrid or natural gas. There's nothing special about these cars but they get the job done for the majority of Americas. With $4/gallon gas this summer, some sanity has returned to the US market.

[ose30]

Also here in Europe most of the Japanese cars are actually build in Europe, mainly in UK (Honda & Nissan). Toyota makes cars at least in Portugal and several Corolla models come from Turkey. Compared to build quality these japanese cars cannot compare for example to the quality of German made VW's etc, which has very high quality. Only "real" japanese cars nowadays are Mazda which imports cars still from Japan. Japanese Marques cannot compete with price, they are about the same level as european cars. For some reason here in finland people just keep buing those Toyotas which is selling quite well, i suppose it's just an old tradition; Finland was the first country in Europe where Toyota and Nissan started to import cars. During that time most of the cars were german or UK made, UK made cars dropped off quite soon, because their quality was so poor compared to japanese ones.

With $4/gallon gas this summer, some sanity has returned to the US market.

Somehow this is a good joke for us europeans, it's about the half what we pay, so you guys drive almost free
I suppose we paid that little over ten years ago.