The folks out here are starting to hurt with the fuel prices. Here in Placerville the cheapest regular unleaded is now $3.98, with premium at $4.45...diesel is also $4.45 US gallon. There was a front page article in USA Today yesterday about how the latest increase is having a major impact on how people are changing their driving habits...big trucks sales are taking a hammering, and even my friend with her 2.5 Outback now remarks on how expensive it is to gas up.
If only it was as cheap in the UK!
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i don't think the Americans will get any sympathy for high fuel costs when its still only around £2 a gallon and over £5 here
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UK prices are around £1.10 per litre for unleaded, and £1.20 for diesel.
This equates to around $8.11 per US gallon for unleaded and $8.85 for diesel.
When I was in the US (back in 2001), I thought that running the hire car would be cheap because fuel was cheaper. How wrong could I be. The fuel was one-third the price, but the car used three times what my (diesel) car at home used.
I can only think that smaller, more economical Japanese or European style cars will become popular in the US.
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Last time I was in the US in 1999 we hired a 28 foot RV with something like a 6.8 litre V10 petrol engine (like this tinyurl.com/6k8f6h )
At the time, I worked out it cost the same per mile in fuel as my youngest brother's 1.1 litre Rover 111.
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I think either your math was faulty, or I'm not understanding you correctly!
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wildcolonial, if you're referring to me, it went something like this: fuel was 3 times cheaper in the US but the RV had 3 times worse MPG (imp.) so cost per mile was the same. Does that make sense?
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Yes, Billy, thanks - it's late over here and I'm tired! Some of those motorhomes get truly atrocious fuel mileage and as a result some of the bigger ones can be picked up for amazingly low prices - typically with very low mileage. I have seen 35 footers that really look good with asking prices in the $20,000 range - £9,000 or so.
Russell
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The difference is really more severe for America even though the cost of the fuel is lower. We've seen fuel prices go from ~£1/l to ~£1.10 a litre. They've seen fuel go from $3 to $4.50 a gallon in the same time. Yes it's cheaper but they've seen a 50% rise to our 10% rise. To some extent the tax burden helps soften the blow of the rising oil price, otherwise European countries might easily be in the same hole as America is right now - especially when you think the shipping costs for food etc has also seen a 50% rise there.
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While prices have shot up there I think there's a huge amount that Americans could do to drive more economical vehicles - I find it baffling that often there you see petrol automatic delivery trucks of quite substantial size. Likewise with pick up trucks - the only diesel ones I've seen there are effectively the "commercial" end of the spectrum with double tyres at the back and are effectively a proper truck.
Just switching away from Automatic and petrol on things like trucks and SUVs/pickup trucks would help.
I've always thought that there was one single step Americans could save 15% of their oil consumption - the whole nation learning and being comfortable with changing gear in a manual. The vast majority have no idea.
Alongside this another "downsizing" round to me is due. Whether this results in trucks and cars getting smaller but certainly there needs to be a downsizing of engines etc. To me it is baffling that a typical Accord/Camry car comes with a 200bhp V6 and 3.5 lt plus engines in family vehicles when most are driven sedately between 0 and 60mph. Also wonder if diesel will re- emerge there (california excepted) like it did in the late 70s for cars. Cept the main manufacturers have practically no experience of building such engines at least in their US model line up.
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One of the main reasons diesel consumer cars havent taken off is due to the fuel standards. www.licroc.org/Tech%20Articles/diesel%20fuel.pdf Details the problems that occur due to the poor standard of diesel fuel within parts of the USA.
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>>>Just switching away from Automatic
As i understand it new cvt autos are more economical than manuals
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Of course gas (as they call it) in the US is both subsidised and taxed (the magic dollar I think it was reffered to).
It is subsidised more though so the real price is not reflected in what everyone pays.
Edited by Pendlebury on 11/05/2008 at 17:22
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Well very few if any US cars have CVT as far as I know. Almost every car has a conventional auto even quite small cars and also service vehicles eg minibuses, coaches, delivery trucksetc.
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You have to remember that while some in the US earn very good salaries, there are large numbers who don't. It's accepted that in the UK many items will cost in £sterling what they cost in the same number of US$, and that's because for many people in the US a salary of $30,000 is not bad.
Remember, in the US they've had cheap Latin-American labour for far longer than we've had cheap East Europeans, and before that they had cheap Afro-American labour.
Edited by oldnotbold on 11/05/2008 at 22:25
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