Posted on Thu 04/27/06 in My So Called Blog
With gas prices approaching $3/gallon for regular, eighty-seven octane, I hear more people chatting and complaining about how much it hurts their pocketbook. I hear this at the mall, on the radio, at the pump… everywhere.
What really irritates me is that people say things like, “It costs $80 to fill my mini-van!” What exactly does that mean? Maybe you have a 45 gallon tank or that $80 will last you two months. Simply saying how much it costs to fill up is quite meaningless. More information is needed to give the statement meaning. If you say, “It costs $80 to fill my tank, and I fill it twice a week,” I can relate that to how much I spend and how often I fill up. It gives perspective. Miles Per Gallon (MPG) is another piece of info that provides more pieces to the puzzle. If you say you get 8MPG and I know I get 16MPG, I know you are paying twice as much as I am at the pump.
You wouldn’t tell someone you live on 15th street and not give them a crossroad, right? 15th Street could be 100 miles long. You get the point.
I get about 19MPG in my car and my wife gets about 16MPG. We both pay the same at the pump, but I know my dollar goes further than hers. Simple math.
Oh, check out for up-to-date gas prices in your area.
My 2 cents:
If people would stop buying Cadillac Escalades or Lincoln Navigators and putting 24 inch rims and low profile tires on them with 3 rows of seating, duel location air conditioning, and dvd players with monitors in the head rests making their 4.5 kids watch tv (so they dont have to parent them) during the 15 minute ride to soccer practice things would be much different. Buy an economical vehicle that doesnt drain the tank in 100 miles and maybe talk to the kids about their everyday lives so they don’t become mass murderers or spoiled brats with cell phones and PSPs at the age of 6. Just my opinion
Agreed; Toning it down a bit would help. As a disclaimer, I own one SUV, and I love having it for many reasons.
I think in places like South Florida where people are driving, often far distances, to get anywhere, it is more of a problem. Since we are spending much of our day on the road, we want more comfort. The public transportation systems down here are some of the worst in the nation, so people resort to commuting on their own. Improving public transportation would heavily impact gas consumption. The government would have to budget for bass-pumping sound systems and 21” rims to get anyone to use it.
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