Summer, yea right. People who have to fill up with 93+ are going to be in the $4 range by May. *Wishes BMW would hurry up with their 120d in America*

Suddenly taking the bus doesn't sound so bad....

Time to go buy a bike.

Yep, I've been waiting for the $4/gallon gas for awhile now. My dad works for an oil company (he doesn't set the prices, he works in construction for them) and has been warning me that gas will get to $4. It's still cheaper than what people pay in a lot of places outside the US. I just wish more cars got better mileage.

And if you are in an area where they have to use certain, reformulated gases due to pollution control, then you will definitely see $4/gallon.

I guess I might keep driving my hybrid a little longer after all. Jeez.

This feels like the New Year's Eve countdown. You can see the $4 gallon dropping down on people like the NYE ball in Times Square.

We have a '95 Corolla, which he hardly use because we use public transportation to work every day. We live in a part of town where lots of things are either walking distance or a short car ride away. I take the bus or lightrail on weekends, too, if they take me where I'm going within a reasonable distance. So we're fortunate that this shouldn't hit us too hard. If I lived in South Florida, not exactly know for its stellar public transport system or pedestrian-friendliness, this would really be sucking right now.

I'm not worried; Dick Cheney has hopped into his Tie-Fighter and is en route to the Middle East as we speak.

@DrGirlfriend: I meant, "If I *still* lived in South Florida."

@full.tang.halo: Check your manual. "Recommended" isn't the same as "required". You may be able to use 87, just with a performance hit. You can take the hit for normal commuting, and save money. But be attentive to mileage drops; some cars do lose mileage with lower-octane gas. If your car requires 87 or higher, run a tank of 87 and see what happens.

Why should we worry about $4/gal? We might as well skip that and go right to $5/gal.

So if Bush wanted to really stimulate the economy, instead of increase the nations debt further by printing money and trying to purchase a better approval rating.......

What if he eliminate the current multi-billion dollar SUBSIDIES to to oil industries.

What if he prosecuted the oil companies under existing laws that make illegal war profiteering?

What if he put a cap on profits, via a windfall profits tax?

Wow, this could actually reduce the deficit by generating more tax revenue AND stimulate the economy, since the price of oil effects every single American, whether you drive or not.

As a P.S. We know this will never happen as the Bush & Saudi Royal families own companies together (and allowed the Saudi Royals to fly out of the US in the days after 9/11 when all other plans were grounded). Do you also know that the Saudi's donated 10 million dollars to the foundation that built the Bill Clinton's Presidential library?

So I guess President Hillary might not do squat about oil prices either. Ya think?

I'll pay a little more, but I don't really care that much. My car gets 30+ mpg and I don't drive nearly as much as a lot of people seem to.

@DrGirlfriend:

Thanks for clearing up the Florida thing, I was so concerned that I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonite.

@SkokieGuy: While I'm with you on the Bush/Clinton corruption stuff and the subsidies, "profiteering" is not the main reason gasoline prices have gone up. Largely, prices have gone up because of increasing demand worldwide (especially in Asia) and because of political instability in many oil producing areas around the world (leading to uncertainty over supply).

@DrGirlfriend: It may not affect you when you buy gas. But that stuff you walk to buy? It's shipped in. So expect to see price increases in the things you buy.

@johnva: You should care. The price of gas affects the cost of everything you buy. How do you think Wallmart gets all the cheap crap on the shelves? Your grocery store? It is eating up more tax dollars from city budgets to put gas in police cars, get supplies delivered, power contruction vehicles, etc. Where will muncipalities make cuts to make up for these extra expenditures? What about other employers?

High gas prices = higher costs of goods = reduced profits = layoffs = lost tax revenue and lost purchasing power

[clicks heels] there is no inflation, there is no inflation, there is no inflation.

Aw crap, Toto.

I think the Bush administration needs to step in. Yes the cost is going up but the companies are also making record profits. Theres some serious price gouging going on here.

Been paying $4/gallon for nearly a year now. Of course running a performance car/bike sucks @ the pump.

On the topic of octane, the octane number is just an indicator of how spontaneously explosive the gas is. The lower the octane the better, so you want to use as low as you can get away with. Where higher octane gets it's performance is the engine, an engine with higher compression ratio requires higher octane gas so it wouldn't knock.

I'm really perplexed to why $4/gallon is really a crisis for consumers. It's bad for shipping and airfare (the price of light crude oil that is), but anyone who can't afford $4/gallon for regular gasoline really should be driving a less expensive car. If you think about it, the price difference between a Prius and a Toyota Carolla is still more than the gas savings the Prius can generate over it's entire estimated lifetime. Gas will have to hit near $8 a gallon to get anywhere close.

@bustit22: You're welcome. Anytime I can help, you just let me know, li'l buddy.

@ThinkerTDM: Well, yes. But the way I read the OP, it seemed like they were asking how it would affect us in fueling up.

Meg don't remind me, its already 3.65 in parts around seattle. I know its coming, but I was hoping if I play ignorant, it will go away. (Doesn't look like thats going to work)

@johnva: John, IMHO, if 'demand' were the real issue, why would oil company profits be the highest in the recorded history of mankind?

Normally when quantities produced are increased, there are resulting efficiencies. It generally costs less to make more of something.

If the demand is going up and availability were the problem, (like diamond prices because the supply was supposedly limited), then there would be shortages. I am not aware of any economy suffering because of lack of availability of gasoline and petroleum products.

so...when can we start government funded and required trades for hybirds/no gas cars?

Luckily Toto didn't eat kibble manufactured by Menu Foods.

@SkokieGuy: That's true. I do care about the collateral effects. But I don't believe there is anything our government can do about it in the short-term. The only thing that will help is making ourselves less dependent on oil

Who else thinks these articles are a self fulfilling prophecy?

According to an oil analyst on NPR this morning the run up in prices is more due to a weak dollar and people buying futures in crude oil then anything else. US oil consumption has been steadily going down while oil reserves are at a 14 year high. He thought it might even be an "oil bubble".
So the feds rate cuts aren't helping the housing market in any appreciable way but are leading directly to inflation, this is just a case in point.

I've been in cities (I think Phoenix may be one) where late night, the traffic lights all flash, allowing you to slow down and proceed (with caution) through the intersection without stopping.

This certainly saves gas. Nothing more annonying than to sit at a red light when you're the only car for miles.

It's amazing the improvement in mileage you can get with simple changes to driving style and maintenance:

- anticipate the road ahead
- reduce heavy acceleration
- note what the rev meter is doing
- coast down hill
- close windows
- take off the un-used roof rack
- check your tire pressures
- turn off or reduce AC

Now I'm glad I didn't buy a SUV. Not that I drive enough where this will actually hurt. But then again, this will make everything cost more. I think it's time to replace those big delivery trucks with delivery bikes [www.bikesatwork.com]

@SkokieGuy: It IS being driven by demand with flat supply. Demand has increased, hence the price that oil companies can charge has increased. If we didn't pay the higher prices here, then the oil producers would sell the oil to someone else who would (like China). Oil is a commodity. Oil companies make more money when oil prices are high (duh). They are simply selling at the price the market bears.

@jscott73: Yeah, the devaluation of the dollar is a major factor as well.

@SkokieGuy: Problem is, there are only so many refineries working at any given time to turn the oil into gasoline. Guess who controls the refineries? The same companies that get to set the price for gas. They tell us that they have to set the price high to account for demand, but really they're artificially limiting supply, then jacking the price up accordingly.

@sir_eccles: It's a bad idea (and against the law) to coast for long distances. What if a deer jumps out in front of you and you have no engine power? Don't get yourself killed to save a few bucks. I guess that also means don't fly Southwest.

@Buran: Trust me, run a BMW on less than 93 and you'll find yourself in the service garage getting o2 sensors replaced like they were going out of style. On 93 I get 28 MPG and that is in a 330xi.

As a property appraiser, I have no choice but to operate a vehicle (my own) for my line of work; the money to buy the gasoline comes out of the fee for each order I take. For the furthest reaches of my coverage area, this can already mean $15 in fuel alone.

I've been eating fuel cost increases for quite a while now. At some point, I'm going to add fuel charges to recover this cost from the customer; $5 may not sound like a lot, but it's yet one more place where the rising cost of gasoline can sneak in and bite you (how many people would expect to see fuel cost increases reflected in the fees to refinance their homes?).

Diesel here in my town in Florida is 4/gal right now. It jumped about 35 cents last week alone. So much for having a fuel efficient car, I might as well drive a hummer or a ferrari. I think I'd be paying the same amount.

Looks like I will be investing in a syphon hose soon.

@urban_ninjya:

So I ran the fuel cost savings from this CNet calculator: [reviews.cnet.com]

Assuming $3.25/gallon gas, which is what it costs around here (NC) right now, I would save about $600 a year by driving a Prius. (I assumed about 31 mpg -- reasonable for normal city driving in my Corolla-- and 12k yearly mileage.) Quick and dirty scan of cars.com tells me that a Prius runs around $24k while a new Corolla runs around $17k. That's about $7k difference, which means I'd pay for the difference in approximately 11 years.

At $4/gallon gas, I'd pay for the difference in approximately 10 years.

I don't think 10 years is an unreasonably long time to drive a car. I expect to drive my Corolla for at least that long.

Now yes, if you drive a lot less than 12k miles a year, get significantly better mileage than 31, or compare the cost of a new Prius to an older used Corolla, then it'll take longer (or gas will have to cost more) for the cost difference to even out.

However, it's not true that gas will have to hit $8/gallon to get "anywhere close" to evening out the price difference.

btw.... we need to start drilling in alaska & opening new refineries. At least for a start.

THEN start truely considering fuel alternatives.

I will be resuming my use of public transit at the start of next month. If things get really bad, I can do that during the winter, also, but the bus stops at both ends of my commute are shelterless, making it a not-very-attractive option.

Taking the bus costs me $36/month (This is for a month-long unlimited weekday pass). Driving, even in a fairly efficient car such as I have, uses 1.33 gallons/day (actually more now that they are selling E10 in this area instead of straight gasoline). At $3.00/gal, that's $4/day or around $90/month, hence I save $54/month. At $4.00/gal, it would cost about $120/month to drive, hence the bus will save me $84/month.

@forgottenpassword: No, we do not need to drill in ANWR. That oil would be a drop in the bucket and would not be available for years anyway. You might not care about destroying a large chunk of unspoiled land to save a few cents (at most) on gasoline, but I do. That is not going to fix our problems. We really need to just stop being so wasteful on gas here. No one needs an SUV to drive their kids to school.

How long until the lame "gas boycott day" chain letters rise up from the grave?

I'm going to set up a pup tent across the street from an Exxon station and laugh at the Hummer owners crying their bitter tears of regret into their Big Gulp cups.

Got news for you all by summer gas will hit $5 a gallon. Right now gas is $4.60 in southern calif. Its going up, up, up I am sad and I am glad.
I am sad because it now takes $44 buck to fill up.
I am glad because
1. Gas is on the way to be a thing of the past and new technology will be arriving.
2. I drive a Honda Civic and I get 37mpg and I drive and accelerate fast.
I cant wait till hydrogen fuel cells take off all that is needed is a better way that is green to create the hydrogen.

Solar power is the power of the future as well.
In one second the sun generates more energy then has been used in the history or human civilization.
Imagine if we could effectively harness only a fraction of the Sun's energy that hits our planet, energy problems solved worldwide.

opps that was 3.60 a gallin in calif sorry for typo.

I am seriously thinking about distilling my own ethanol from all the oranges I have on my property.

I know its TECHNICALLY illegal, but the allure of $.75/gal fuel is tempting.

High gas prices just don't bother me at all. My Honda Fit gets 38 miles per gallon highway 36 combo and I only have to fill it up once a week. I hope the high gas prices help to get all the idiots with Hummers and the like off the road in my neighborhood. I ditched my SUV a couple years ago when I noticed I was spending 80 dollars a week on gas. Now its 26 bucks and I'm good for well over a week.