Not sure if this is the right forum for this but the answer could potentially determine how the history of our cars ends.

All of us are familar with the rising cost of fuel. Also, you may have heard about how India, and particularly China, has rapidly growing middle classes. I heard China is fielding 1000 new cars a day on their roads.

So what happens to the value of our cars when gas is 8 bucks a gallon or more? Maybe the third gens end up being weekend cars only due to the sheer cost it may take to drive them? Maybe driving a V8 end up being a status symbol or worse, it become like wearing fur (if you know what I mean).

Like I said... I'm worried.

 

We will have the nicest paperweights around.

 

Ethanol baby!

 

V8 vs V6 ... There was not a whole lot of difference in economy for our cars.

in 1989 here is the EPA's numbers for Firebirds:
5.7TPI 16/25
5.0TPIwM5 16/26
5.0TPI 16/23
5.0TBIwM5 16/25
5.0TBI 16/24
3.8 Trubo TBD
2.8 wM5 19/27
2.8 17/27

Jeck for that extra 1 or 2 Mpg, I would not get a V6... Its not worth it.

 

I figure that not only is everybody going to get raped filling their tank up but there will also be significant taxes levied on "gas guzzlers" or cars not getting 25 MPG in town.

~sigh~

The American way of life. I love it so. Everything progresses because of our dependence on oil. Without it, the tractors don't till the soil or harvest the crops. Planes, trains, and automobiles require it to move people from here to there. Think of what a week of your life would be like without gas.

Carpe diem, eh?

 

Gas Guzzler tax I thought was only on the inital purchase.

On a isde note, I thought by purchasing a more efficient car I would be able to pay it off in a year. I was wrong:

I figured out the annual cost for gas at the current time. If I get an average of 22 mpg now, and use premium, If I bought a car that gets 30 Mpg and uses regular, and I drive the same 1000 miles a month, at $2.50 a gal for Premium and 2.30/Gal for Reg I would save about $400 a year.

To save $2000 in gas in a year, the price of gas would have to be about $12.50/Gal for premium before I would break even by buying a newer car that got better mialage and used regular.

It is just one of those things that usually does not pay off.

John

 

Gas for 2.50 a gallon!

Lucky.

 

Less than 2 bucks here

 

Here in oklahoma its only $ 1.93 for regular

 

1.89 at few stations however I go to one station that has E10 for 1.91. But everyone remember to fill up now, Memorial Day is coming up and with it gas prices.

 

I was using regular, and even read one official 'something or other' stating you could use lesser octane if need be and the car would adjust it's computer, but I've been told extended use of standard 87 octane wreaks havok in the long run, for my case, a 350 TPI car. Now I look for 90 octane at standard prices, the lowest around here is $1.89 to $1.93 for that. Not bad. It's stayed steady for over 2 weeks now, but was changing weekly.

Predictions US wide are that prices will remain high through the summer of '05, when peak travel season is anyway.

I think some aftermarket party will have to come up with an alternative fuel source for previous internal combustion engines, if at all possible, if not, replacing the powerplant that can mate to the standard drivetrain.

Not long ago, on TV, they made mention of some folks who got a vehicle to operate on used grease, or something equally absurd. It was so strange, I'd been looking for a followup story somewhere on this. Since I don't have cable, I doubt it will get coverage where I'll see it. This was, I think, one of several expirements to come up with an alternatice fuel.
The industry is heavy on hybrids right now, but I feel there are other options to explore. The downside is the great roar of a V8 likely will be a thing of the past with these methods

Bill

 

Here you go.

It's a diesel basically.

 

Hehe! You guys want some REAL gas prices? Pop over to good old Blighty. In my local area, unleaded is around 84p per litre. That's £0.84 Sterling!! So a gallon (UK) is about 4.536 litres makes it about £3.81 per gallon.

$6.95 PER GALLON!! FFS! Taxes? What taxes??

No wonder people look at me with incredulity when they see that 5 litre V8 with a bucket, sorry Holley 4 barrel on top of it...

My local motorist shop has blamed the Chinese for upping the cost of anti-freeze; they're buying up ethylene glycol apparently

Any good ol' country boys over in the States now how to make a still so's I can run my 'Bird on alcohol?

Cheers,
Mark.

 

Gas prices here have dropped a full $.25 in the last month. & we were paying 2.50 for reg a month ago now its 2.25 or lower

 

im paying about 2.20 for 89 in MI. Im not so sure 3rd gens are looked upon as gas guzzlers, i think today's crowd saves that for suvs and older muscle cars like 'Cuda's and the like.

 

Since were talking about gas, this is a related comment. Anybody remember the midwest black out of '03? I do because, well i experienced it. As a kid i was fascinated with the 70's, and always pestered my dad about thembecause he lived through them. When the power finally came back on to our area he motioned me over to the window in our house that overlooked a gas station and said, "this is what it used to look like back in the 70's There were tons of cars in the station and even more waiting to get in the damn station... The power was only out for a week. This goes back to what cadilac said because the chinese are starting to have and impact on the demand for gas, which could cause a shortage in some areas. I think the streets would be clear in my area after 3 weeks of gas shortages and stations that got gas would most likely post a limit of gallons you could pump, just like the 70's...

 

rising cost of fuel?

how about inflation?

price of gas isnt going up, its all inflation. we have been lucky to pay so little for gas for the past 10 years.

consider that the acctual price of gas adjusted for inflation was $2.09 in 1985.

and $3+ in 1936.

adjusted for current inflation, gas should be about $2.10 a gallon. i dont complain, i get 27mpg on the freeway in my gta. if it was $10 a gallon id still drive my car. id just have less money to blow on crap i dont need. my bills account for only 1/5 of what i make per month.

if you want to pay $.23 a gallon for gas and think that 1957 was the good old days, then go ahead and live like its 1957 and make $1 an hour/$40 a week/$2080 a year.

people dont really think about how much money they make compared to "th good ol days", when hamburgers were $.5 and a new car was $2000. i just wish people would start thinking of logical reasons as to why things are the way they are instead of coming up with conspiracy theroys.

 

SIMMA DOWN NAH!! no need to get all riled up on people like me.. Im pretty familiar with what people made back in those days and how cars were 2500 bucks but you only made around 3k a year. I just think the times were cool back then, imports were rare, plenty of things carried an "made in America" sticker... And unlike some people i will continue to drive what i want to drive, be it my bird or my 1970 HEMI 'Cuda (hopefully) as of now i only make 7.50/hr workin for a crappy dealership but when i go to the gas station i dont stop pumping gas until the pump stops itself.

 

Bah, my 67 Riviera GS got 7/8mpg, and it was still worth $$. I'm sure no muscle cars will ever loose value due to gas prices!

So, worry not, just worry about how you can afford to drive it! Gas is around $2.20 for regular here now.

 

Huh? 7/8 mpg, what did you do to that thing? drag race light to light? My 67 Riv gets about 18mpg. And I have a 430Hp cam in it too Granted you had the 3.42 gear where I have the 308 gear, but that would not make that much of a difference.

Really gas prices are not that bad, I can live with them, granted its not as cheep as it was in the mid 90's when I could get premium on occasion for $.90 / Gal ...oh the good ole days.

John

 

.030 over, Offehnhouser intake, Holley 750 double pumper, cam, dual side-exit exhaust.

Imagine how bad the car would be if I could rev it higher than 4000rpm

 

Looking at the Pontaic magazines as well, it seems we can be worried about the RWD platforms at GM as well.
Maybe they need to do 4 wheel steering to compromise

 

I think I just missed a newstory on TV about it too, this past week. I keep changing channels during commercials and miss something. Oh, sorry for the DP too
My bad
Bill

 

This happened back in the early 70's. What are you worried about? Not being able to afford the gas? The value of your car? (sure hope you didnt buy it as an investment). The future of gas powered vehicles?

Dont worry about any of that stuff. I've been watching trends, and most vehicles on the road arent all that old. If for some reason we went to an alternative fuel, there would be no need for the govt to get rid of gas vehicles, in 5-10 years it would happen by itself for the most part... and the chances of that coming soon arent so good. The production and delivery system of gasoline is way too deeply rooted in our country for it to just go away, they arent going to leave without one hell of a fight.

At least prices have dropped for the memorial day weekend. Very unusual, they usually go up. A lot.

 

Well,every since gas went up i bought an 81 diesel rabbit and have been seriously considering swapping it over to run on vegetable oil from that same company in the link.My car is getting about 64 MPG now and i dont know that it would be worth it from a MPG standpoint.I just wish it had more than 52 HP and 72 LB/ft of torque!!

 

Aye. Most large manufacturers are doing nothing but front wheel drive stuff these days..... In the UK, RWD cars tend to be at the higher end of the market (Merc, BMW, TVR, Aston Martin, Lotus), or you own something unusual and secondhand (Firebird!)

Should be fronts for turnin' rears for burnin'. Ever noticed that the quickest dragsters are RWD? (Top Fuel)

Mark.

 

i see gas not being used as a fuel right about the same time we adopt the metric system and commie-democrats take over and subsidize everything, from bussiness to health care to the auto industry.

agenda is opinion, and opinion is biased.....

 

I admit I'd like an alternative but feel we are dangerously dependent on fossil fuels, we should actively look for a better solution to not only cut cost but save the one and only planet we have. Who really wants to live in space? huh?? hehe
Anyway, I'd want cheap, first and foremost, also not to sacrifice the car's attributes, including speed...a tough one for sure, and better mileage as well

I hope we can get a miracle out of this at least.
Bill

 

And what would you drive exactly. Consider that if/when they go into pushing alternate fuels, who sais they HAVE to work in older vehicles? Look what they did to Leaded Gas, granted those old cars still run BUT not like they used to. My old Riv ran like a raped ape on leaded 100, but it runs acceptable on prem 94.

John

 

Premium 93 Octane for $2.05 a gallon here, doesn't matter which brand. Exxon, Texaco, BP(Amoco) even the cheapy places are about the same