Automobiles have been around for a long time now with new designs and concepts coming out every year. I remember how when I was in school, I would see pictures in books of cars that have to be winded up to start. Even back then cars would run on some sort of petroleum and I’m pretty sure before petroleum, cars were running on other types of matter. Reality now shows that a huge percentage of the population in the whole world have some type of automobile transportation that is owned. I’m not talking about public transportation like buses, but rather the cars and motorcycles that you see on the streets and freeways. The reason why a huge population owns a type of transportation is because going to work isn’t just a stroll to the park anymore, but more of a 10-20 mile or more walk. I know there are some crazy people out there that loves to walk far to work to save on some money and the Earth, but most are just commuting through all the traffic. No matter how much gas costs and no matter how much it is hurting the Earth, driving an automobile is just a need in most families these days.
Gas prices are just soaring through the roof these days. I don’t know about you, but I hate George W Bush for having all this happen. Now it is more difficult for the US to obtain gas from the Middle East. Some of you may not agree with me, but some of you may. Now I drive an 1996 Isuzu Rodeo SUV an my wife drives a 2003 Nissan Sentra. My SUV is just a gas using truck that runs about 280-300 miles on a $60+ gas fill-up. My wife’s car is a bit better because it gets 200 miles for every $30-35 fill-up. Even with the prices so high and my wife and I dead broke, we still drive a car to go out and eat or go shopping.
Drive A Hybrid
A hybrid may be the best thing that has happened to the world since pure electric cars. If you don’t know what a hybrid car is, it is basically a automobile that is able to run on both gas and electric depending on your speed. An average hybrid vehicle could get you about 30 miles per fill-up. The average used to be about 40-50 miles per fill-up, but because of the new SUV and truck hybrids, the average is lowered. More hybrids are getting into the market as we speak, but are they really reliable?
Saving gas means you’re saving money, but from what I’ve heard, hybrid vehicles require a battery change every 3-4 years with a high cost of about $3,000. This may be a stereotypical remark because everyone was stating this problem when the Toyota Prius began to sell in the market, but I did some research. The research was done back in 2005 when hybrids really started to knock us on the head by how much money they would save, but I still consider the information to be true tested facts. According to Toyota and other hybrid makers like, Ford and Chevy, the battery of a hybrid vehicle is suppose to last the life of the vehicle itself. Most dealers give you a warranty of about 8-10 years or 100,000 miles, but Toyota has tested one of the Prius hybrids with 150,000 on the same battery. I don’t know of anyone that drives a hybrid vehicle and can confirm this, but it really depends on how you drive. A typical vehicle still requires maintenance every few thousand miles, but if you drive your car hard and fast, you can see yourself in a car shop about once every 1,000 miles.
Maybe now that you can see that the supposedly “dead on 3-4 year battery life” is untrue, you can fork out about $35,000 for one of these puppies to drive. I mean hey, TreeHugger says if you drive a hybrid for a few years, you’ll end up paying for the car itself 
Gas Facts
All the scientists around the world are trying to form some sort of way to save on gas, so they came up with an idea that has been proven to be an inevitable facts. To make things easier, I’ll list them and you could tell me what you think.
- Driving fast burns more gas, but only in some cases.
- Keeping your speed at 55 would save you more gas than the speed limit, 65.
- Driving over 60 mph would mean you would be spending 54cent more on the price per gallon you’re paying.
- Driving slower would only make you about 5 minutes late to your destination (on average).
- Speed limit used to be 55 mph.
Early Planning
Apart from saving gas and money by driving a bit slower, you could also plan your commutes. Commuting to work is inevitable, but while coming back from work, you could drop by markets, restaurants, shops, or even the mall before you arrive home. This way you won’t be driving out of your way to those destinations because you’re just coming home from work.
You shouldn’t stay at home and have no fun just because gas prices are soaring. As long as you’re planning the routes out, you should be able to save time, gas, and money.
Compact or SUV/Truck
If you look to your left or your right when you’re driving or walking on the sidewalk, you would notice that a higher percentage of cars now are either a SUV or a Truck (which is considered the same in some cases). Now these big cars don’t use very little gas because they run purely on gas. The Hummer 2 or BMW X5 that a lot of people would want to drive just burns on gas with about 10 and 15 miles respectively and those numbers are only highway mpg. The number that is posted on the window of each vehicle at the dealer shops are usually higher than the average amount of mpg you would receive 
.
6.2 Liter V8 Engine (used to be 6.0 Liter)
All Wheel Drive
32 Gallon Fuel Tank
Crusing range of about 310 miles
Average of 9.6MPG
3.0 Liter V6 Engine
All Wheel Drive
22.5 Gallon Fuel Tank
Crusing range of about 405 miles
Average of 18MPG
These are just the stock numbers of both SUVs. Who would know how much heavier it is when you add those grills and 30″ DUBS?! Although the X5 is a very very bulky vehicle, it still gives about a decent amount gas mileage, while staying at a luxury state. I could’ve sworn the X5 burned more gas, but I’m totally wrong. I also wonder if Shoemoney or Zac Johnson care much about paying for their Hummers . The price tags of the above 2 SUVs are about $50,000, but lets take a look at 2 more reasonable compact automobiles.
Certain newer cars are being “made cheap”, which means that the price tag on some of these cars could range anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 OTD (out the door). Depending on how you pay and if you pay in full or not, the prices could become higher or even lower than $10,000. Although SUVs are more powerful in torque, compact cars are much ligher
2008 Toyota Yaris (Manual Transmission) -
1.5 Liter V4
2 Wheel Drive
29 MPG city / 36MPG Highway
1.8 Liter V4
2 Wheel Drive
28 MPG city / 37MPG Highway
The above 2 cars are cheaper in market price, but they run a lot of miles before you run out of gas. Not to mention a fill-up for a full tank should only cost you about $35 and $40 tops. It also seems like these two vehicles have been very popular lately. I see a lot more Corollas (since it’s an Asian car here in LA), but the Yaris seems to be a lot more popular lately. The gas mileage on the two cars are very close, but the price range is about $5-7,000 apart depending on which model you want.
So now is your choice to choose whether you want to drive an SUV/Truck or a Compact car. Here in Los Angeles, driving a bigger car would be more safe because of all the accidents on the 10 Freeway and lately all the late night gang shootings that are killing innocent drivers. With a SUV/Truck, you would a least be higher off the ground and your vehicle would be a lot tougher. That is probably one of the reasons why I drive a big car and would probably buy an SUV in the future. I would take safety over gas prices, but if gas prices continue to rise to the predicted $10 per gallon, I may just walk and get shot lol.
A Reason To Change
Now that the prices per barrel of oil has raised to about $100 per barrel, scientists are coming up with a lot of new ways to save gas, use less gas, and save the Earth from global warming. I don’t have facts to back this up, but I hate it how scientists don’t come up with new ideas to save a situation until the situation occurs. Electrical cars were available for a long time, but it wasn’t until the economy saw an increase in oil that Hybrids were put into place. Because oil is dropping in supply, scientists are going out of their ways to think of new matter to substitute for gas oil. For some time, there were hypes about using vegetable oil, but it somewhat disappeared off the news and the Internet. Lastly, the gas being used, the more pollution to the Earth. I don’t know about you, but I hate breathing in second hand smoke and breathing in the pollution from the mufflers are just as bad. I know I contribute to the problem, but some cars are just wayyyy overdo for a smog check.
Since saving money is a huge factor, you should check out MoneyNing because he provides a lot of great tips on saving you money.
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let’s be 100% honest. Gas prices in the USA are STILL lower then gas prices in Europe. Still Far less at this point. We have had it good for so long we dont realize how good it has been.
The real issue is how the car and oil companies have held down the development of realistic other alternative fuel sources. and if you don’t think the gas companies have held back progress in these areas you are nuts. of course they have. why cut into their cash cow. It will be very interesting to see what happens when a true alternative fuel source is developed and mass marketed. will the gas companies hold it up with government pressured delays and rules, or actively help its progress. obviously the first one. And hybrid cars are not the answer because they still require gas.
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Political Disgust
Very interesting remark. I think you’re absolutely right that people don’t know how good it has been and took advantage of these things when they were “cheap”. We’ll really have to see what will be developed in the future.
-Mike
I am right there with you man! Since I drive 20 miles to work each day and my wife drives the same distance twice a week, we had to make a change. Instead of having to fill up our Explorer twice a week (at $60 a pop) we decided to purchase a 2006 Hyundai Accent as the family commuter car.
It’s nothing fancy and quite honestly it doesn’t need to be. It costs me $35/week to fillup and gets anywhere from 300-350 miles on a tank of gas! I’ll never understand why people would pay 50,000 for a Hummer or other luxury vehicles. They think cars are an investment, when in reality they’re money pits. I’ll take my $8,000 Hyundai over an overpriced gas hog anyday.
I really want a compact car too, but it’s just the safety issue here in Los Angeles that causes a problem
God forbid, but if you were to get into an accident with my SUV, the outcome is the thing that matters the most. I don’t know…I just want to save gas, but a hybrid SUV costs way too much.
-Mike
But we SHOULD NOT have to make compromises in my opinion. If we want a big large SUV car then we should be able to get one. Everyday it upsets me that I do not have the skills to create a real alternative energy source like using clean burning (somehow) garbage (which would be the best), or common grass or some other abundant resource that could be used.
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Political Disgust
True, we could drive anything we want, but it’s the government that is limiting us now.
-Mike
is the government limiting us, or have we got so lazy that creativity and invention has replaced by complacency? Someone, in some backyard, somewhere in this huge world, has to have an alternative fuel source!
I’m sure there are hidden methods, but they’re not being told. It’s either being hidden by the government or by a local resident
-Mike
Despite all that gas price in the us still reasonable, here where i live the gas price is about 1.80$ / 1 liter.
Wow…I feel your pain
My wife’s cousin and aunt just came down from Belgium and her aunt told us that gas costs $100/week to fill up a BMW…:(
-Mike
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