"Michelle Rable was in the middle of car shopping on Wednesday morning when she stopped to fill up her Pontiac Aztec, a sport utility vehicle, with gas -- at $3.09 a gallon.
That was enough to get Ms. Rable, a registrar at a local college, to spend her lunchtime test-driving the hybrid gas-electric Prius at a Toyota dealership. She was all but sold.
''When you walk up and see that sticker that says 60 miles per gallon, you can almost say, 'I can live without that S.U.V., ''' Ms. Rable, 35, said as she stood next to a metallic blue Prius. ''At $3.09, it just hits home.''
If Ms. Rable buys the Prius, which she said she was leaning toward doing, she could drive roughly three times as far on one gallon of gas as she could in her Aztec, which gets relatively good gas mileage for an S.U.V. With gas prices at record highs amid the volatility Hurricane Katrina has created in the oil markets, more consumers appear to be taking Ms. Rable's approach to car shopping.
Less than a half-mile down the strip of car dealerships that line West Central Avenue in this town just outside Toledo, Angie Motylinski examined the sticker on a new Ford Five Hundred. The sticker listed 21 miles per gallon in the city and 29 on the highway, better fuel economy than the Ford Explorer that she now leases but has to give up soon.
''I really want my Explorer back, but I'm thinking about not getting it because of gas prices,'' Ms. Motylinski, 45, a bank teller, said. ''If they gave me an awesome, awesome deal on an Explorer, I might consider it. But who's going to want it when gas is $3.19 a gallon?''
Nationwide, consumers are gradually shifting away from buying large S.U.V.'s and toward smaller, more fuel-efficient S.U.V.'s and cars. General Motors, whose brands include the truckmakers Chevrolet, GMC and Hummer, said this week it did not expect sales of large S.U.V.'s to return to the record high levels of the past, in part because of high gas prices. Dealers here said they had seen a marked increase in customers trading in their S.U.V.'s for something smaller.
''If I had a dollar for every time that somebody said I'm looking for something with better gas mileage, I'd be a wealthy man,'' said Bill Roemer, the manager at a Chevrolet dealership here, who said his truck and S.U.V. sales had fallen as prices at the pump increased. ''With gas prices the way they are, people just aren't looking at minivans, S.U.V.'s, trucks.''
Mario Said, the general manager of a Ford dealership here, said that the vehicles generating the most interest from his customers were smaller ones like the small Escape S.U.V., the compact Focus and the midsize Freestyle. He said more buyers were switching to those vehicles as they realized high gas prices were not likely to go away anytime soon. ''Customers are now making it a consideration in their buying habits where they weren't before,'' he said.
Even among drivers who cannot live without their S.U.V.'s, some are compromising as fuel costs continue to rise. Heather Dusseau, 18, was completing the purchase of her first new vehicle on Wednesday, a four-cylinder Escape. She could have gone with the six-cylinder, but she said she wanted to save money on gas. Her four-cylinder will give her three more miles a gallon.
Ms. Dusseau, a waitress, considered bigger S.U.V.'s like a Dodge Durango or a Jeep Grand Cherokee. ''But it costs like $50 to fill up the tank,'' she said.
She added that the smaller Escape would be cheaper in the long run. ''I think gas will probably stay the same or go up. I don't think it will go down.''
Idell Watson, 53, was filling up her Acura MDX, an S.U.V., on Central Avenue on Wednesday and watching the meter tick higher and higher. At $3.19 for unleaded plus, she pumped in about three-quarters of a tank for $40. She said it normally cost her about $48 to fill the tank.
''It's ridiculous,'' Ms. Watson, a homemaker, said. ''I even thought about catching the bus to some of the things I do.''
Not everyone is heading for the hybrids just yet, though. Does she wish she had bought something a little more fuel-efficient?
''I don't regret it,'' Ms. Watson said without hesitating. ''I love it.''"
i DO NOT understand why the hell these fucking jackasses are complaining. THEY CHOSE THE SUV WHEN GAS PRICES WERE WELL OVER $2.00/gallon ALREADY, for one. for two who the fuck "could not live without an SUV" do you go off road? NO, do you do ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE to the purpose of what an SUV is designed for? NO. Seriously, when will people stop fucking thinking about their image and start thinking with a logical mind? UGH this pisses me off to no end about how stupid people in this nation are. WHY WHY WHY do auto manufacturers still continue to produce these ginormous piles of shit in such huge numbers? FUCK. FUCK THIS PLANET /rant
I'm excited to announce that thejdm is now updated to the latest phpbb 3.2 software. You may notice the site is now mobile friendly but with the upgrade comes some hiccups. theGarage, theGallery, theArcade are no longer supported. In due time the developers should be working to release the modifications to work on the new software. #LetsMakeForumsGreatAgain
a testament to show just how stupid people are
a testament to show just how stupid people are
Just call me Dr. Vice.
Re: a testament to show just how stupid people are
i DO NOT understand why the hell these fucking jackasses are complaining. THEY CHOSE THE SUV WHEN GAS PRICES WERE WELL OVER $2.00/gallon ALREADY, for one. for two who the fuck "could not live without an SUV" do you go off road? NO, do you do ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE to the purpose of what an SUV is designed for? NO. Seriously, when will people stop fucking thinking about their image and start thinking with a logical mind? UGH this pisses me off to no end about how stupid people in this nation are. WHY WHY WHY do auto manufacturers still continue to produce these ginormous piles of shit in such huge numbers? FUCK. FUCK THIS PLANET /rant
someone is a little upset here and is not happy with the country he lives in....Re: a testament to show just how stupid people are
hahah hence the reason i am moving to JDM land once i graduateJDMcd8 wrote:i DO NOT understand why the hell these fucking jackasses are complaining. THEY CHOSE THE SUV WHEN GAS PRICES WERE WELL OVER $2.00/gallon ALREADY, for one. for two who the fuck "could not live without an SUV" do you go off road? NO, do you do ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE to the purpose of what an SUV is designed for? NO. Seriously, when will people stop fucking thinking about their image and start thinking with a logical mind? UGH this pisses me off to no end about how stupid people in this nation are. WHY WHY WHY do auto manufacturers still continue to produce these ginormous piles of shit in such huge numbers? FUCK. FUCK THIS PLANET /rant
Re: a testament to show just how stupid people are
congrats on the move.....JDMcd8 wrote:i DO NOT understand why the hell these fucking jackasses are complaining. THEY CHOSE THE SUV WHEN GAS PRICES WERE WELL OVER $2.00/gallon ALREADY, for one. for two who the fuck "could not live without an SUV" do you go off road? NO, do you do ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE to the purpose of what an SUV is designed for? NO. Seriously, when will people stop fucking thinking about their image and start thinking with a logical mind? UGH this pisses me off to no end about how stupid people in this nation are. WHY WHY WHY do auto manufacturers still continue to produce these ginormous piles of shit in such huge numbers? FUCK. FUCK THIS PLANET /rant
Re: a testament to show just how stupid people are
then i can send all you guys sexy JDM partsJDMcd8 wrote:congrats on the move.....JDMcd8 wrote:i DO NOT understand why the hell these fucking jackasses are complaining. THEY CHOSE THE SUV WHEN GAS PRICES WERE WELL OVER $2.00/gallon ALREADY, for one. for two who the fuck "could not live without an SUV" do you go off road? NO, do you do ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE to the purpose of what an SUV is designed for? NO. Seriously, when will people stop fucking thinking about their image and start thinking with a logical mind? UGH this pisses me off to no end about how stupid people in this nation are. WHY WHY WHY do auto manufacturers still continue to produce these ginormous piles of shit in such huge numbers? FUCK. FUCK THIS PLANET /rant
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Sean @ NDF
- Posts: 13082
- Joined: January 24, 2005
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banzai wrote:yea, and spend over 4 dollars a gallon for gas (us dollars). Hate to break it to you temp, but things are even more expensive on the good ol' island.
this i already know, i have been to japan and they charge per liter lol, just like europe. anywho, the public transportation system in japan is so developed that you literally don't need a car. you can get everywhere by train, plane or bicycle (which is what we used most of the time when i was there). and even planes become obsolete unless you want to go to hokkaido or okinawa. on the mainland you can take the shinkansen for far trips (lets say osaka to tokyo).
kotomile wrote:I really don't understand having an SUV for everyday transport either. They're ugly, inefficient, unsafe, frumpy blobs of traffic-slowing stupidity.
egg fucking zactly.....and the same people that want to BITCH AND MOAN about gas prices are the ones driving SUV's, well guess what fuckers, i DONT drive an SUV, i drive a fuel efficient car and you guys are personally causing the gas shortage. from now on EVERYTIME i see someone in an SUV they are getting flipped off. only if they are driving it and its clearly been taken off road (mud all over the fucking thing) or if they live in a climate condition that would require such a vehicle (such as an area that gets constant snow, etc).....but in nor cal, every last one of these fucks is getting the bird....fucking twats