Gas Price Check...

[EricMM 0]

I3k, that doesn't poll well in Peoria.

[NoCalMike 0]

So gas at the CHEAP stations here is about $3.94, but most places have cracked $4.00.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

It's $4.18 here. I'm considering bringing the rickshaw back.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I'm thinking about maybe taking motorcycle classes and getting one of those eventually. Would certainly save me money on the drive to work.

[SuperJerk 0]

The truth about hybrid car batteries (buried in an article that was anti-hybrid)...

 

When hybrids first hit the road in 2000, there was plenty of fear-mongering, especially here in Detroit, where the Big Three were drunk on cheap gas and big SUV sales. Back then Motown execs warned darkly that rescue workers could be electrocuted trying to save trapped motorists who crashed in these high-voltage contraptions. And those giant batteries could cost $10,000 or $15,000 to replace once they ran down, maybe after 100,000 miles or less.

 

It turns out those safety fears were nonsense. But while the battery replacement cost was overblown, it is not insignificant. Philip Card of Utica, N.Y., says a Toyota dealer wanted to charge him $3,900 to replace the battery on his 2001 Prius, which had 350,000 miles on it when he bought it used on eBay this year for $4,357.

 

...Toyota, Honda and Ford all say hybrid battery failures are extremely rare. Out of more than 100,000 Honda hybrids on the road, the automaker says fewer than 200 have had a battery fail after the warranty expired. Honda, like Toyota and Ford, covers the cost of battery replacement for the first 100,000 miles in most states and 150,000 miles in California and a few other states with tough green car laws.

 

...Toyota says its out-of-warranty battery replacement rate is 0.003 percent on the second generation Prius that debuted in the 2004 model year. That equals about one out of 40,000 Priuses sold, says Toyota spokesman John Hanson....

 

... On June 1 Honda is slashing the cost of its batteries from $3,400 (excluding installation) to as low as $1,968 on an Insight or as high as $2,440 on an Accord hybrid. Toyota also plans to substantially cut battery prices, which now stand at $3,000 (excluding installation), down from $5,500 on the original Prius. Both automakers attribute the price cuts to improved technology and lower production costs.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/138808

 

So...worst case scenario: your Prius will need a $3,900 replacement after lasting 350,000 miles.

[NoCalMike 0]

As if a majority of cars(non hybrid) aren't going to need about that much maintenence after 350,000 miles, if they even last that long to begin with, which most don't.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I find it hard to believe that gas in NJ was $3.72 for FULL SERVICE on the NJ turnpike last friday. I waited 45 minutes just to get 6 gallons of gas (1/2 tank) because right over the Delaware Memorial Bridge into Delaware gas was $3.95 and down here its $3.79. How NJ has gas that cheap and full service to boot is beyond me.

 

I got gas 3 times last week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday for 23 gallons total) and it got me 920 miles til today, exactly 40 MPG.

 

 

[EricMM 0]

You drive way too much.

 

This must be hurting you.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

You drive way too much.

 

This must be hurting you.

 

It doesnt hurt as much when you know you can get 35-40 MPG.

 

And I dont drive way too much. Even with the 920 miles in the past week, I still have only 11,200 miles on my car that Ive now had 14 months. If it weren't for the fact Im going to Harrisburg/Hershey in about 12 days, I could probably stretch this tank I got today for a good 3 weeks at least.

 

 

[Dandy 0]

If I am not mistaken, gas is full service everywhere in the state of NJ. State law, maybe? Seems like I remember hearing that from a former coworker from Jersey.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

^^^

Yep.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Marvin, we don't need your life story in every post.

[Guest Smues]

2001 Prius, which had 350,000 miles on it when he bought it used on eBay this year

 

350,000 miles in about 7 years? Dear lord. So even if that car got 4 times the MPG I get, the owner would still be paying more for gas in a year than me. Go gas guzzlers!

[EricMM 0]

Good lord, thats gotta be a lot of highway driving.

 

Prius isn't going to do that good regarding that, get a motorcycle...

 

Actually, you'll use less gas, but those engines are much more polluting than cars', even in terms of hydrocarbons emitted.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Depends on the kind of two-wheeler you get. If most of your driving is done in-city, a Vespa or something similar is better, and they're making some mopeds these days that are hybrid or fully-electric. Once I save up some money, I might be getting one of those for errands and such, especially since during the summer it's more difficult to rely on cycling and transit for when I have to move around town for film/video projects and jobs.

[bob_barron 0]

The cheapest around here is $4.30. Thank God for my employee gas card

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I find it hard to believe that gas in NJ was $3.72 for FULL SERVICE on the NJ turnpike last friday. I waited 45 minutes just to get 6 gallons of gas (1/2 tank) because right over the Delaware Memorial Bridge into Delaware gas was $3.95 and down here its $3.79. How NJ has gas that cheap and full service to boot is beyond me.

 

I got gas 3 times last week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday for 23 gallons total) and it got me 920 miles til today, exactly 40 MPG.

So let me get this straight. Six gallons at .23 a gallon, you waited 45 minutes to save less than a buck fifty on gasoline?

 

Oil fell $4 a barrel today, prices are beginning to fall back.

[Hawk 34 0]

That's not the case here. It went from $3.79 to $4.09.

[Dr. Zoidberg 0]

It's 4.25 in my hometown. That's the highest I've ever seen it anywhere.

 

But isn't it, like, 9 bucks a gallon in Europe right now? For America to be using SO much gasoline, our prices are pretty low.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I find it hard to believe that gas in NJ was $3.72 for FULL SERVICE on the NJ turnpike last friday. I waited 45 minutes just to get 6 gallons of gas (1/2 tank) because right over the Delaware Memorial Bridge into Delaware gas was $3.95 and down here its $3.79. How NJ has gas that cheap and full service to boot is beyond me.

 

I got gas 3 times last week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday for 23 gallons total) and it got me 920 miles til today, exactly 40 MPG.

So let me get this straight. Six gallons at .23 a gallon, you waited 45 minutes to save less than a buck fifty on gasoline?

 

Oil fell $4 a barrel today, prices are beginning to fall back.

 

Considering where I stopped on the turnpike was a good 75 miles at least from a gas station in DE, meaning I would have at least burned 2 more gallons of gas and I dont like to run my car below 1/4 of tank which would have been about 3 more gallons give or take, it made sense to me. There was only like, 1 or 2 more free exits off the turnpike for gas between where I stopped and DE too so its not like I could have drove up to a couple miles and got in a shorter line, all the turnpike stops were backed up due to it being memorial day weekend friday and the idiot places only having 3 old guys working to fill up 6 lines (12 pumps) worth of cars. People will drive clear across town to save a nickel a gallon and I cant wait in line 45 minutes to save almost a quarter a gallon ? $2 is $2

 

[Jingus 0]

But isn't it, like, 9 bucks a gallon in Europe right now? For America to be using SO much gasoline, our prices are pretty low.

For several reasons. First of all we buy more than any other country in the world, so we get a relatively sweet wholesale price. Secondly a lot of the oil is pumped out of America anyway, so we don't have to rely completely on imported gas like many smaller countries. Thirdly, a healthy chunk of the world's refineries are located here also. Fourthly, we have a tendency to blow up your country if you piss us off, especially if you coincedentally happen to be near a bunch of oil fields, so we do tend to get a "military discount" as it were.

[Dr. Zoidberg 0]

Touche, good sir.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

You drive way too much.

 

This must be hurting you.

[EricMM 0]

Oil fell $4 a barrel today, prices are beginning to fall back.

Optimism I see.

 

I hope you're right though. Stuff is creeping up in price, it's no good.

 

Christ, imagine if we got hit by Katrina now.......

[Matt Young 0]

$4.39 in Riverside, California.

[NoCalMike 0]

$4.12 is the cheapest you can find it in Sacramento right now.......funny how the gas prices kept going up the past week even though it has been reported that oil prices have been dropping for a few days.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Oil fell $4 a barrel today, prices are beginning to fall back.

Optimism I see.

 

I hope you're right though. Stuff is creeping up in price, it's no good.

 

Christ, imagine if we got hit by Katrina now.......

 

The poor people in New Orleans wouldnt be able to afford gas to evacuate..aww. They need a better excuse this time..and gas being to expensive to be able to drive out of the city will work. Then someone who died will have a family member who will sue the oil companies because they didnt give gas away for free to people evacuating or some nonsense and they'll win some obscenely large amount of money.

 

Next week is the big Cap and Trade debate in Congress. We need the cap and trade to stop global warming fund our universal health care, and who better to pay for it than everyone eventually the big evil oil companies, who certainly would not dare pass on those costs to consumers. the EPA has said it will hikethe cost of a gallon of gas at a minimum of $1.50 almost immediately...but hey, we'll have won the war on global warming Universal Health care..but we wont be able to afford to drive to the doctor to use it.

Maybe the government will mandate the return of doctor housecalls and traveling surgery teams..

[EricMM 0]

as long as we're auctioning them away and not giving them away.

[GCWPatrick 0]

Living around St. Louis, prices on each side of the Mississippi River are very different. I saw 3.89 today in St. Louis and filled up last week for around 3.75, but I saw at least one IL gas station that had 4.19.

[Jingus 0]

Prices can drastically differ even within a small geographic area. One station will be twenty cents higher than another one which is only like ten minutes away.

 

You know, within my lifetime I actually bought gasoline for my car at under $1 per gallon. And I didn't start driving until I went to college, and I'm not even 30 years old yet. But I bought $0.79 unleaded regular gas. I'm still waiting for a real damn good explanation for why prices have jumped 500% in the past decade.