Unless you followed them 24/7, you won't really know if they never use their big SUV to it's full potential. I'll agree with you that many people drive them when a smaller car will do, but you can't just assume that's the case every time you see a large SUV with one or two people in it.

In addition to that point, this is still the United States of America, isn't it? If someone can afford the luxury of driving a gas guzzler, even if they don't really need one, good for them! I don't get the hostility some people have for drivers who aren't affected by high gas prices.

The idea that gas would be cheaper if we didn't use as much is a bunch of baloney. In Europe and Asia almost everybody drives smaller, more fuel efficient cars, and they pay more for fuel that we do.

 

There we go, people who understand my dillema!! I have to do a research paper for my english class, and guess what my topic is?? (Guess for a rep point!!)

Anyway, we should have seen this coming. European and Asian countries have so many more engine options to chose from and we only the get the biggest, baddest, and least efficient engines. Even Brazil, they thought twenty years ago to set up an ethanol based fuel system, and they are all fine and dandy. Gas prices suck. At least most of us on this website get a little relief from the Fit.

Ha, lol.

 

One of the reason is... they are BIG PEOPLE.

Around 200 Ibs +++
6 ft +++

 

Topic is, the rising cost of fuel and its affect on American culture..

Did I win?? Haha.

 

Your topic is: "America's Priority is WHORES POWER to oil company"
Do I get a rep point? hehehe...

Maybe you should try to explain why DOHC, turbo, and superchargers were even developed in the first place when some regular SOHC and NA engines are not fully developed to its full potential. We live in an interesting era of technology right now. Everyone seems like Horse Power and Fuel efficiency are the two big tradeoffs. Car technology will probably be interesting for the next couple of years.

 

Not Congress, but philanthropists
Not fully electric, but 100mpg
Not 1 billion, but 10 million.

Automotive X Prize - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A good side effect to the spike in gas and oil prices is more conversation on the issues at hand and more action to solve these issues. I really believe that innovation will help our country out of this mess.

The original question, "Why does nobody care?!!!!?" stems from an attitude problem that our country has. I think we are on the cusp of an paradigm shift driven by leaders like Al Gore, scientists, engineers, and policy makers. Even Bush realizes this problem and calls for better cars and alternative energy.

I want to believe that the future is brighter.

 

People have the right to drive whatever they like and can afford. If you like driving a three ton SUV and can afford the 80-100 dollar fill ups then more power to you. Wish I had that much money.

Another reason is many of these people owe enough money on their cars that trading in for a newer more fuel efficient car would actually cost them more.

Even if your vehicle is paid off, why spend 15k+ on a new car when it'd cost years to break even?

(15,000 miles/year)/(15 miles/gallon) = 1000 gallons per year.
(1000 gallons/year)($4.00/gallon) = $4000 per year.

At 30mpg that goes down to $2000 per year.

You save 2 grand per year. Sounds pretty good until you realize you spent 15,000 on a new car. That means you'd have to drive it for over seven years to break even.

Sure one can buy a used car, however I doubt many people who are currently driving loaded Suburbans and Expeditions are going to be trading in for used Metros or Civics.

I guess what it boils down to is different strokes for different folks.

Oh, and I think many don't really realize why the SUV boom happened. In the 60s and 70s most American cars were big, heavy, and had powerful V8 engines. (There are few holdovers from this time, i.e. the Ford Crown Victoria and other cars on the Panther platform.) Americans got used to this because they were practically giving away gas. When cars started to get smaller more people moved to trucks and SUVs because...they were big, heavy, and had powerful V8 engines.

 

You also have to give people time to react. The latest gas spike only happened 4 months ago. We've gone from the $2.90's in early Feb. to where we are today. The first few months people just ride it out, like the spike after Katrina. There gas went from around $3.15 back down to the $2.70's. Still high, but manageable. If gas stays up this time, I think you'll see a number of people downsizing. Ford has already said they are cutting their numbers for SUV's and Trucks. They believe people are going to start reacting soon.

Also, for many people buying a car is a big undertaking. They don't just wake up one day and decide. They spend months researching what they want. I tend to be an impulse buyer. So I decided a couple of weeks ago I was getting rid of my truck, although I first thought about it 6 months ago. I just wasn't in a position to do anything at that time. This time around I test drove one day, and bought the next.

Now for the payoff. I went to the pump for the first time in my Fit. I had put 240.3 miles on it. For my truck that would have meant 18-20 gallons (12-13 mpg). I paid $3.97 a gallon. The truck took midgrade so I would have paid $4.07. Or roughly $70 - $75. In my Fit the total cost was $29.79. It took 7.483 gallons.

Give it time, there are plenty of people like me that will eventually see the light.

 

The private sector can not cause an immediate impact. Private companies may one day produce a good alternative (if their ideas aren't bought out and buried by those who do not want change) but only action by the government can force change in the short term. Action by the Federal government would scare investors away from oil and also spur oil producing countries into doing whatever they could not to lose their biggest client. Just like the steroid meetings spured baseball and the player's union into drug testing enough noise on the Federal level would produce similar results with gas prices.

 

Close, but no.
Its like you were there, good job. Ha, no. What you said after was quite close though.

Since no one really guessed my essay topic, it was alternative fuels, and Blaw sorta talks about it so he gets a +1.

As for everyone, you all make good points, and i like that this thread has really hit it off. Thanks again for all the contributions.

Don't we all. Don't we all.

 

I've also heard a lot of people complain that the Fit is "too slow" or even "dangerously slow." Dangerously slow? A 9.3 second 0-60 time (manual) is hardly neck-breaking, but I wouldn't call it dangerous. Around here most people try to merge onto the interstate (65 mph speed limit, most people do 70-75) at 40-55 miles per hour. THAT's dangerous. I've never not been able to reach cruising speed before merging in my Fit, however, even with three other people riding along.

Personally I wish we U.S. Fit Freaks got some of the smaller engine options. I know a lot of people are spoiled due to the fact that cars now have ridiculous amounts of power (anyone think they'd see the day when you could get a 268 hp Accord?) but the Fit isn't that slow.

Poke around this site to get an idea: 0-60 and 1/4 mile times for Factory Stock Vehicles

As far as fuel economy; I hope that someday diesel really takes off in the U.S. Lots of usable power down low and great mileage. New technologies also make modern diesels cleaner than ever.

 

i have always hated those a$$holes driving around in their huge hummers, moms with 1 or 2 kids in those huge and ugly expeditions, etc. i have always drove small cars (1979 toyota corolla hatchback, 1990 nissan sentra se-r, 1995 honda civic, 2000 Honda CR-V, 2003 honda civic and now a 2008 honda fit) so i have never worried about gas prices...true $20 is a lot better than $40 when filling up, but it sure beats those who are paying well over $80-$100 if not more, to fill up their huge suv's...
if i was a mother and had only one or two kids and needed lots of space, i would buy a honda CR-V. the 2000 cr-v i had got 25 miles per gallon and sometimes more!
i can't wait to see the new Honda hybrid that comes out next year...it's a shame that the Fit wasn't offered as a hybrid....the Civic hybrid is beautiful but compared to my 2003 civic and my new fit...it's bigger than i need for my dog and i...the Fit is perfect.
and it's a shame that people are still driving and buying huge suv's that they don't need...that is why ford is loosing so much money.
that is why i love Honda...everyone laughed at them back in the 80's because they were thought to be too small and not perform well..just the opposite. and look where honda is now...you don't hear honda laying off workers...to save money, some fords are made in mexico!!!!!!!!!!!!!! those people that say i wanted to buy an american car! well surprise, the fact is that the honda accord, civic, etc. are more american than most fords or chevy's.
these greedy americans need to start caring about what they drive and how because oil is not going to last forever...and not to mention global warming.
i wish i lived in LA and could afford the new honda clarity!!!! damn that is one beautiful car..and i love the fact that the seats are cooled so you use the air conditioner less...maybe one day soon the gov't will wise up and start installing hydrogen fill up stations nationwide. and use solar or wind to produce the hydrogen instead of oil

 

I've never had any trouble hitting 55 before the freeway started. Uhhh, well, unless there's a pick up truck or SUV in front of me that can't accelerate through the curved entrance holding 35 mph. They're like dogs... ROLL OVER! lol

 

I care enough to have gotten rid of my Kia Rondo in favor of a new 2008 Fit Sport AT. I was getting MAYBE 20 mpg if I was lucky. I really liked the car, but even though it was comfortable, it had no character, and bad mileage. Originally I wanted the space, but I didn't realize at what cost that space would come.

I SHOULD have purchased a Fit last year instead of the Kia. Now I have negative equity to deal with, but fortunately, with the much better mileage and lower maintance of the Honda, it will equal to about the same amount of money in roughly three years, so I could be a lot worse off. And I have a better car out of the deal.

If I had waited any longer, the negative equity would have been far too much to absorb. Kia's have NO resale value. I learned an expensive lesson, that's for sure. But I'm on the right track again now.

 

ive got a 08 silver fit bought new in jan for sale =D ill give it to you for payoff lol

 

I went through the Diesel vs Petrol debate before buying my Jazz and came to a very interesting conclussion: buying a diesel car was not going to save me money!

Sure it used less fuel, but the car would have cost 10%-15% more and our diesel price in South Africa is more than petrol, enough so that I would never break even. Diesel is very much in demand in SA and I've seen the price go from way below that of petrol to wave as it goes on by.

 

I'll concede the gas vs. diesel decision has a lot to do with where one lives. In the U.S. and a lot of other places diesel is more expensive than gasoline. I think a lot of that has to do with that fact that for every barrel of crude, around 60% becomes gasoline, 30% becomes diesel, and 10% becomes kerosene and other products. Don't quote me on those figures because I'm not 100% sure on that. I'll have to look it up I guess.

More people driving diesel cars = more demand for diesel = more diesel is produced = diesel prices fall more in line with prices for gasoline. Hopefully, at least.

 

Diesel always used to be cheaper around here until a few years ago. Now it's almost $1 more per gallon.

 

It's unfortunate that the U.S. is so into corn for ethanol and bio-fuels when it isn't very efficient and does take away from food production. I think food is a bit more important than fuel personally, and I think our focus should be on higher energy plants for biofuel; i.e. sugarcane, or hemp. (Like that will ever happen, though.)

 

I personally think that hydrogen is the way to go. With the technology we have today it can be made on the spot and has no negative side effects on the nature. Like someone said earlier, people in LA have the Honda FXC Clarity, which i think will be the future of cars. If we could learn to use hydrogen/electric vehicles, we would be so much better off. The only problem is getting hydrogen available and getting to mass produce hydrogen vehicles.