gas

[AestheticalFilm]

haha, i just went and looked at smartusa's page and it said that the fourtwo version of the car is coming over in '08

[Yaris Revenge]

Originally Posted by AestheticalFilm

haha, i just went and looked at smartusa's page and it said that the fourtwo version of the car is coming over in '08

Yup, been eyeballin' those for many months now. I like 'em, but I don't think they have enough cargo space for my daily needs. However, with my 25 mile, 2 stoplight commute, it'd be kickin' ass in the fuel economy department!

{/threadjack}

~YR

[AestheticalFilm]

yeah im in the same boat, ive got all kinds of video equipment that i need to carry around on a day to day basis, so im think the fourtwo isnt really a good choice for me, however, i would throughly enjoy owning one of the first few over seas

[Sabina74]

in italy is 1,22 €/litre = 6$ /gallon
little bit expensive uh?

[eco]

I dont see how you guys pay $4-5.00 a gallon,I thought we had it bad,guess not.

[ECHOKnight2000]

Originally Posted by AestheticalFilm

as much as we complain about the gas prices, do you think that have the members of this board would be driving a yaris without them?


not saying that they would get a SUV, but if prices of gas weren't going up, do you think Toyota would have decided to bring the yaris over?

hopefully if things continute going the way they are for gas prices, we'll see some more economic cars coming over.

i for one, cant wait to get my hands on a Smart roadster or something.

I can totally see what you're saying. I don't have a Yaris but I have the previous car that was positioned where the Yaris is now (for the U.S.) the infamous ECHO. Anyway gas was pretty cheap especially compared to now back then (those were the days ). Anyway despite other obvious reasons the ECHO didn't take off in the U.S. gas prices were not enough to run out and buy one, there certainly wasn't a rush for such cars. I remember a quote somewhere along the lines of "The ECHO was the right car at the wrong time," referring to its economy on fuel but at the time it wasn't pressing.
The new Yaris came out in time when gas was hitting an all time high at least in awhile especially after Katrina hit our shores. But yes I believe the gas prices play a very significant role in buyers choice more so when they are higher up. Just look at SUV sales across the board, the overall market is down (one of the many reasons the Domestics are hurting). And now the CUV or Crossover Utility Vehical (something like that) which is pretty much a combination of a car and SUV so its in-between. Better cargo room than a car (generally) but more efficient than an SUV. So its pure economics when it comes down to it.

[St_G]

I would. Or something like it. I just really like the style of small cars. And I have the most fun behind the wheel of something a bit darty.

Plus, while I gain some small amount of joy in featherfooting the Yaris for a tank of gas just to see what sorts of MPG numbers I can get (which, despite the claims of others here, have not for me risen to the level of the old EPA numbers), I gain much more joy from driving the thing like an idiot through the twisties, which pretty much shoots those numbers straight to hell.

Originally Posted by AestheticalFilm

as much as we complain about the gas prices, do you think that have the members of this board would be driving a yaris without them?

[Typer73]

Originally Posted by St_G

I would. Or something like it. I just really like the style of small cars. And I have the most fun behind the wheel of something a bit darty.

Plus, while I gain some small amount of joy in featherfooting the Yaris for a tank of gas just to see what sorts of MPG numbers I can get (which, despite the claims of others here, have not for me risen to the level of the old EPA numbers), I gain much more joy from driving the thing like an idiot through the twisties, which pretty much shoots those numbers straight to hell.

I'm with you St_G! This car is just plain fun & at 30+mpg, who cares?! I even like dancin' with the wind!

[Sabina74]

Originally Posted by eco

I dont see how you guys pay $4-5.00 a gallon,I thought we had it bad,guess not.

$ 6 /gallon is the cheapest fuel available in Italy. If you want a better fuel you have to pay $6,50-7...
i pay about $350 per 1000 miles each month...

[tiksman]

Thank god I have the Yaris 27.00 to fill up when it was 2.55 now it is 2.63 my van was 50 bucks to fill up

[Nimble]

$2.99 here....doh!

[Sabina74]

Originally Posted by tiksman

Thank god I have the Yaris 27.00 to fill up when it was 2.55 now it is 2.63 my van was 50 bucks to fill up

my yaris is 70 dollars to fill up!!!

[msagowitz]

Gas is so expensive in California because EVERYTHING else is too. Do you think everyone from California could move out here to Ohio and make the same salary they did before? No way. Their wages are some of the highest in the country, so their gas prices are too.

[foober]

I was talking to a friend today about gas prices. I mentioned what do you think will be the gas price that Americans actually stop driving so much. He said americans would sell their children to be able to buy gas.

What do you all think is the point where americans start getting frugal with thier driving their cars around.

[BailOut]

I don't think Americans will get frugal about fuel until it costs $20/gallon, is only available in their city 2 days per month and has a maximum allowance of 5 gallons per purchase.

[BMGYaris]

well i dont really want to do my homework, so im joining in...also when you said "stop driving so much, im going to interpret that as using public transit systems to cut down on personal gas consumption--though there is always the option of work pick ups etc...whatever im just wasting my time...

One critical element is going to be region. If you live in a region like myself where everything is very spread out--grocery stores several miles away, the mall 15 miles away the movies 20 miles away--its obviously going to be significantly more conventient to travel on ones own, rather than all of the stop and go of a public transport system.
To further create problems with the public transport system is that the houses are spread out, and around here people have a pretty handsome chunk of land. that means that there arent very many convenient pick up locations to pick up a large number of people, meaning alot of driving and stopping for 1-2 people. and even worse, the companies, buisnesses and places of employment are very spread out. So its not like in japan, where they have thousands of people working within just a couple of blocks, here there might be...50 people... working within a couple blocks. The combination of diverse pick up locations and diverse drop of locations would create a major hinderance for any public transport system and woudl really slow down travel time--an 8am work day might mean getting ont he bus at 530am rather than leaving your house at 720am.

Another key element is going to be income. Here in America we have some pretty decent incomes. So even a dollar raise in gas, while we all feel it, really doesnt take a major chunk out of our yearly income. This is even more true for those in higher paying areas--like cities--where public transportation is a reasonable and viable option--but the citizens are making so much money that one dollar or two dollar increases in gas prices do not take away a large enough percent of their income to merit the inconvenience.

I am sure that with some research you could come up with an equation that takes into account variables that represent M, the theoretical monetary value of the additional time spent on the bus, and S, the aditional stress and general inconvenience caused by taking a public transit system (it obviously takes longer, if it means waking up at 530 instead of 7, thats a pretty big daily inconvenience), P, the price of using such a public transit system compared to driving ones self, A, the income of a group of people and, G, the price of gas. Im sure using those values and probalby a few more it could be calculated, but obviously in some places there really is no other option available at the moment, and I cant really imagine how a truly effective alternative could be managed and made to maintain itself financialy. Plus, it isnt necessary until gas prices can take out a significant portion of our income.

Just to get some figures, lets say you make 25,000 dollars a year. taking the public transit adds an extra 30 mintues to and from work. (lets not even consider going to the movies or going to meet friends that life 30 minutes away). thats an extra 1.5 hours five days a week. lets say its a 30 mile commute. that means 1,200 miles a month at lets say 25mpg. Thats going to be 48 miles. at 3 dollars a gallon that means 144 dollars a month, now lets say to cover that 30 miles (though it is more to take backroads and pick people up) it takes 2 dollars, thats going to be 80 dolalrs a month. That means at 3 dollars a gallon you are paying $64 additional a month to save yourself 20 hours of riding the bus. for that person how is making 2,083 dolalrs a month that is 3% of his monthly salary that he spends to get home to his wife 30 minutes earlier and sleep an extra 30 minutes (which means 30 extra minutes of making love the night before, because she will be happy you got home early) in the morning.

Now take those same numbers and increase them. The point is what percentage of your income is it worth to get home 30 minutes early and leave 30 minutes later every day? 3%? 6%? 10%? im going to go ahead and say that for me, it would probably be something along the lines of 15%

so lets say 15% of $2,083, thats $312 over the cost of driving your self, at $80 a month in bus fare tha menas you woudl have to spent $382 dollars a month driving. So, at 1200 miles a month to get to work at 25mpg thats 48 gallons that menas that I personally, at $25,000 a year driving a car that gets 25 mpg and taking a 30 mile trip to work every mornign would not use the public transit system until gas was $7.90

But then, i get 30-32mpg. Also, many people make $50,000. For those people they wouldnt start using it until $16 a gallon...etc,etc...

anyway i know nobody will read this but it kept me from doing my homework, but i better get on the ball now....time for me to post this "quick reply"

[BMGYaris]

well damn , i hope i didnt kill this thread with my long as post. gas around here is anywhere from 2.55-275 for regular, within about a 10 mile range:) they can never keep it together down here

[msagowitz]

I don't think you killed this thread at all. In my opinion, considering Al Gore is using a private jet to fly around, not even his hypocrite liberal following will stop regularly filling up at the pumps. Now I think I killed this thread. Or seriously pissed some people off.