Just curious if the price of fuel would impact your purchase decision. I'm looking at replacements for my '07 Overland but I'm torn between something similar to what I have ('11 Overland) or something a bit smaller and more fuel efficient (Ford Edge AWD). I just wish Jeep had the 8 speed trans for the Hemi now. And now the talk of much higher fuel prices in the near future has me more perplexed.
I just saw on the news that $5.00 a gallon gas will be back within the next 14 months. Fantastic!!! Projections are that it will be worse then 07-08. I personally wont be purchasing a new rig anytime soon.
The former president of Shell Oil is predicting this. Anyway if your finances are that sensitive to the pump price of gas then buy something more efficient, if not buy whatever the hell you want.
Seriously every forum about trucks or suvs has a thread like this at least once a month. Pump price means nothing since you are already getting gouged through your tax dollars. The only people the pump price should really make a difference for are people who shouldn't be dropping 35-45k on a non-work vehicle anyway. I hate people whining about gas prices when they made the choice to buy something inefficient to begin with. I wouldn't buy an elephant and then complain about the cost to feed it.
Also having a heavier vehicle is worse in a collision. Having more surface area to absorb the force of the collision is what counts. Weight is actually a detriment because it means more kinetic energy is involved, which has to go somewhere, usually through your spine. A well designed small car is fine in a collision and more likely to avoid one altogether, being more agile and having better braking ability.
I drive big, heavy cars and trucks for the luxury not the safety.
Yes. I look at it as a safety issue. Everything else being equal, a 5,000lb vehicle colliding with a 3,000lb vehicle will win every time. As a surgeon, I have taken care of a lot of motor vehicle accident victims. I recently had a lady in a Suburban that was hit head on by a sedan that crossed the median. Both people in the sedan died at the scene. 4 of the 5 people (including the 3 kids) in the Subruban walked away uninjured. $5 a gallon means more people in smaller cars, which means I'm more likely to walk away when some drunk or teenager hit me.
We sold off our gas guzzlers, F150 and Expedition back in '08 and bought my wife a 4 banger Acura TSX to drive 60 miles a day back and forth to work. Since gas prices have remained stable for the last year and a half we decided to get her something a bit bigger and go back to a V8 SUV. Now, this news. EXCELLENT!
There are 3.785 litres per US Gallon.
The price per litre for 87 was $1.149 CAD, yesterday.
The price per litre for 91 was $1.249 CAD, yesterday.
The current currency exchange rate at 11:55 today at my bank is (BUY US)
$1.0252 CAD = $1.00 USD.
The current currency exchange rate at 11:55 today at my bank is (SELL US) $1.00 USD = $0.9974 CAD.
Therefore, in Canada we pay more $4.00 US per gallon now.
Well, we pay about $3.05 (national average) right now here in the US. So it's about a dollar difference. Two dollars higher than today's prices will definitely force many people to change their habits, buying choices, and/or limit their driving.
My wife's car is a 2010 Honda CRv. If Gas goes up to $5 a gallon then we will just drive that car more then the WK2 around town. In addition, I office from both my house and an office about 2 miles from my house however I spend most of my time traveling around the country (40+ weeks last year) so my WK2 sits in the garage or at the airport. I am not really concerned with $5/gallon gas right now.
40 wks/year of travel is a lot. I did that pace for 4 years straight earlier in my career...still living off some of the reward program points I amassed! I was the Clooney character in "Up in the Air", except I wasn't firing people for a living.
My calculus on this debate is evolving. Honestly I didn't factor in a spike in gas prices. My thought was bang for the buck compared to what I have driven in the past. The WK2 is a win for me in that context no matter how you slice it.
I work for myself from my home office and my wife runs her business from a dedicated office outside our home. This means that I'm the default transport solution when the kids need rides during the day. I put 20K+ miles on the WJ I'm driving over the last 15 mos. Fortunately, that will go down beginning in April when my daughter gets to solo. Not sure what the net-net will be when we add a 3rd driver. My miles will decrease but I'm sure she'll make up for that with her overhead. Then she goes to college in '12 (w/o taking the WJ), so another change on the trendline, but my son starts driving...
Bottom line to my analysis: Screw it and get what I want and can afford. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.
Even people in "economobiles" will be hurt as that nearly doubles the amount spent on fuel. Everything will go up in price if fuel prices rise, so the economic hit is NOT simply at the pump. I'd still buy the WK2, and the Hemi for that matter, and simply adjust my habits to drive less. In fact, I already drive less and walk/bike more for the small errands for the health benefit. Keeping things in perspective, the majority of the price of a gallon of gasoline is due to taxes at all points from extraction, to transportation and then again at the pump.
I drove both the Edge and the Lincoln version.....if one thinks the
new Jeep 6 cylinder is under powered..drive the Edge. Secondly,
my Jeep (09 Hemi) is sooo comfortable and, well, over-powered.
BTW I ordered the '11 Summit (mineral Gray Hemi)..in code "D".
Yes. I have a 2010 Jetta that I use to drive to work everyday. The WK2 will be for the weekends. I'm trading in a Lexus GS350 that uses premium gas. The milage sucks on that thing (awesome drive though). I figure I can get regular gas with the WK2 and it will even out.
we pay around 1.7$ per l -> 6.44$ per Gallon the highest price was around 8$. That makes a Hemi to absolute no go for me. Thinking about a 3.6l or waiting for a diesel.
It's not so much as the cost of the fuel but the perceived value of your $40K plus vehicle when they fall out of favor when gas goes up. As an example when gas was $4.00 plus per gallon, my neighbor wanted to trade his Surburban for something smaller. The Chevy dealer to him he didn't want the vehicle period. Basically at that time in the market his 3 or 4 year old Surburban had very little value. I would hate to see my one or two year old Grand Cherokee loose 50 or 60% of its value. Perhaps a lease takes that variable out of the equation.
This video (at minutes 1:32) illustrates the importance of mass in a head-on collision. The organs in your body (brain, heart, abdominal organs, bones) can only handle so much energy. I don't know how fast the cars are going, but lets say they are doing 50. The Mercedes keeps going forward after impact, which means the occupants were exposed to the amount of deceleration they probably would have felt from driving into a brick wall at 30. The "Smart" car actually changes directions and starts going backwards, which means the occupants were subjected to unbelievable acceleration forces, like they would have felt had the "Smart" car hit a brick wall at 80mph. The people in the Mercedes would probably have walked away. The people in the "Smart" car would have died in minutes as they bled to death internally from having their heart literally torn away from their aorta, etc.
But this is a modern, new Mercedes with all the features you can get. Older and bigger cars don't have the safety cage from the new ones. If you reduce safety to weight, its just not the hole story.
We all sound like total pussies having an argument about safety.
Anyway if the price of gas has you fearing being forced into a smaller vehicle and that will make you feel less safe I recommend a two pronged approach:
Come on now.... it's not only about having balls or money. Fact of the matter is that high gas prices WILL force some people into smaller and lighter vehicles. Maybe not you or me, but some people for sure.
Have you ever been to Europe? They have much higher gas prices than us and the vast majority of them drive tiny little cars. If gas prices rise to levels similar to Europe, it's only a matter of time before we see the masses driving in the same kind of small cars.
I'd also bet a lot of people here have a WK or WK2 and another smaller and much more efficient vehicle. When gas prices rise, which do you think they'll be driving more often?