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Skyrocketing gasoline prices
This morning, I noticed that my local BP station has raised prices again, the third time ten days. I never buy gas there except as an emergency as it's a pricey station at the best of times, largely because of their location (on the beltway) and county taxes. Still, about ten days ago, the lowest grade of gas was $1.359 $2.359. By mid-week it was $1.559 $2.559. This morning, it was $1.759 $2.759.
There are two stations in downtown DC which routinely charge $0.30 per gallon more than anywhere else in the greater DC area. The first is immediately adjacent to the Capitol: why bother charging normal prices when your customers have charge cards backed up by a $4 trillion economy? The other almost exclusively serves the SUVs exiting from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the only service station I know with a commanding view of the Potomac River and Georgetown. Some time this week, Kent & I have to go to the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop to dismantle the stage lights following the close of "HMS Pinafore" last week so I'll have a chance to check out their prices while I'm in the neighbourhood.
One of the (dumber) guys at my office confided in me this morning that he's going to approach his manager for a raise because he's having trouble affording his Ford Excursion. I thought he was joking. After an awkward silence, I suggested that perhaps the proper course might be to replace the Excursion with a more reasonable vehicle. From the look on his face you'd have thought I had asked him to shoot his mother.
I'm quite content with my 2001 Honda Civic. I calculate it gets about 35 mpg as it now spends most of its time at highway speeds rather than inner city travel. Fuel efficiency was one of the primary criteria when I bought the car, which I suppose makes me a statistical oddity. When I replace it in a few years, I'll be looking seriously at a Prius or other such hybrid although in my ideal world, Kent & I dispose of either my Civic or his Caravan to become a one vehicle household again.
What's the price of gasoline in your area?
There are two stations in downtown DC which routinely charge $0.30 per gallon more than anywhere else in the greater DC area. The first is immediately adjacent to the Capitol: why bother charging normal prices when your customers have charge cards backed up by a $4 trillion economy? The other almost exclusively serves the SUVs exiting from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the only service station I know with a commanding view of the Potomac River and Georgetown. Some time this week, Kent & I have to go to the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop to dismantle the stage lights following the close of "HMS Pinafore" last week so I'll have a chance to check out their prices while I'm in the neighbourhood.
One of the (dumber) guys at my office confided in me this morning that he's going to approach his manager for a raise because he's having trouble affording his Ford Excursion. I thought he was joking. After an awkward silence, I suggested that perhaps the proper course might be to replace the Excursion with a more reasonable vehicle. From the look on his face you'd have thought I had asked him to shoot his mother.
I'm quite content with my 2001 Honda Civic. I calculate it gets about 35 mpg as it now spends most of its time at highway speeds rather than inner city travel. Fuel efficiency was one of the primary criteria when I bought the car, which I suppose makes me a statistical oddity. When I replace it in a few years, I'll be looking seriously at a Prius or other such hybrid although in my ideal world, Kent & I dispose of either my Civic or his Caravan to become a one vehicle household again.
What's the price of gasoline in your area?
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Lowest price around here is about $2.59 a gallon, but there are places over $3 a gallon.
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I suspect the more expensive places around the greater DC area are now above $3 but I haven't confirmed that directly yet. Fortunately, I now work in Frederick County which has slightly lower taxes than Montgomery County where I live, so I'm still paying "only" $2.599 near my office.
Only five years ago, I was paying $0.78/gallon (no typo: less than $1). Ah, the good old days... :-^
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The few times I have gotten to car shop the milage is my big questions as well. This time I -really- wanted to replace my pickup that had be wrecked by a hit and run driver while I was at work a few years before and just wanted the same thing. It was a little '89 toyota pickup (they were still called "pickup" then, they had not been given the name "tacoma" yet), about car sized and perfect for hauling stuff from here to there in a city setting. It got over 20 miles per gallong. Not a lot, but enough. When we went shopping there was not a two wheel drive version on any lot in Seattle. It does not help that the 4wheel drive version from that era are sexy as hell, so I ended up with a '93 (still "pickup"...I don't know when they switched over to "tacoma") It does not get over 20 miles per gallon. I'm glad it is 4 wheel drive though. I felt silly at first...I just drive on the street after all, and that does not help in any of the weather we have here, but the first winter I had it the weather was awful and highway 305 in Kitsap county is really a crummy, poorly banked road.
I still wish it got better mileage though.
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I have a Prius. One of our new (young, VERY young) engineers has a huge Silverado truck-thing. He's been carefully pimping it and plans to add "dubs" (22-inch wheel rims), and and and ...
And he has the nerve to complain about how much of his salary is going down his gas tank.
After he complimented my Prius during a brief mid-day excursion for lunch, I suggested (politely, for once) that he replace his gas-sucking vehicle with something like a Prius, or a hybrid Civic, or even a regular Civic or Accord.
Silence. Then ... "But that's not my STYle, MAN. I got to have my STYle on the STREET, or I ain't got no CRED."
I suggested that a hybride might provide him with less cred but more cash.
He was just too horrified at giving up his pimped ride to answer.
[shaking my head]
Different people, different values.
As for me ... I used to fill up my VW Passat V6 between 2 and 3 times a week. Now I fill up my Prius once a week. I've saved at least $50/week since buying the Prius ... which is a substantial amount of my monthly payment. The higher the gas prices go in this area, the more money I save.
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Ah, for the days in Toronto when I didn't need a car at all. sigh
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Over the last 30 years, I've gone from a '74 Vega to an '84 Rabbit Diesel to a '94 Saturn SL2 to an '04 Saturn VUE. (See a trend there?) Since my annual driving is in the neighborhood of 5k to 6k miles a year, I HADN'T been concerned that about the cost. Of course, I got the VUE in December just when gas started its uphill climb. I'd always consider a hybrid for the future...in 2014. :-) And fewer trips in my current car.
Oh, I did have a hiccup in car buying with several very temporary vehicles between the Vega and the Rabbit. A '66 Plymouth Fury wagon (gas sucking, OMG, gave it to the ex-wife), a Honda Passport 70cc 'motorcycle' (loved this, but it was stolen and found five days later torched), and a '66 Ford Econoline Van (I was afraid to drive more than 100 miles without a fillup, since the gas gauge was broken). What was I thinking!
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