fuel prices!

[cowman]

I agree cowman, and nobody should feel they have the right to judge others for the vehicle they choose to drive, the house they choose to live in and heat.
I haven't heard any criticism of two or three family vehicles and huge RV's which are a luxury and use one heck of a lot more fuel than my SUV.
The owner of the vehicles and houses in question pays the shots to heat and fuel them.
Many people are doing their part to make changes to older homes to conserve energy, but it is a costly process.

[FarmRanger]

You don't need to take any extraordinary measures against SUVs. The marketplace will eventually -drive- them off the roads if they start being prohibitively expensive to operate. (pardon the pun!)

We don't need agreements like Kyoto to do what the marketplace will take care of. Making fuel prices artificially high in a few Kyoto following countries just makes it less expensive for countries like China to belch out the same fuel we would have burned in the interim. They already have the edge in labor costs, why make it easier for them to buy fuel too?

[FarmRanger]

I agree that the cost of driving any vehicle has to be weighed against the need to own that particular type of transportation.
Replacement cost of an SUV is comparable to a higher end car with the exeption of luxury cars so I don't forsee replacement cost of SUV's being the deciding factor in owning one. Fuel usage is another issue.

[cakadu]

Emrald, you have explained in other posts your choice to drive what you do and it is because you are on the road so much of the time. FarmRanger is right - eventually people will get sick of having to put in $100 worth of fuel and have it used up in just a few days. (Remember when with most vehicles there was no way you could even put $40 in????)

For many of the people that drive these so called luxury vehicles it is a matter of status and for show as many of them will never leave the city let alone drive out on the highway. I can't imagine what the fuel consumption must be in the city with these things. The insurance costs on them would be through the roof as well and I just can't imagine paying all that money.

China is now on an upward curve in terms of it's fuel consumption and for the first time is a net importer of oil. What is going to happen when these "developing" countries have their oil and gas demands go up?

The bottom line still remains that we are diminishing a non-renewable resource at an increasing pace, with very limited options for the future in terms of fuel sources. Not to mention what we are doing or going to be doing to the environment along the way.

[cakadu]

Again, insurance is based not only on the vehicle but the driving record. I have a clean licence which makes my insurance affordable even on an SUV. I do not consider my vehicle a luxury vehicle even though it is a big SUV. I opted for some of the features but not all the bells and whistles of a luxury vehicle.

There are many things we do that use up a renewable resource. Wasting energy heating water for hour long showers, washing a handful of clothes, and drying them in a dryer for starters.


We can all do our part and we can all likely do a lot more to conserve energy and fossil fuels...

[grassfarmer]

Cakadu, China and oil consumption is already happening - i believe their consumption doubled in 2004. My brother visited China last year after being there about 8 years previously and he said there were modern western style SUV's everywhere in the major cities whereas on his earlier trip it was bicycles and old jeeps.

[greybeard]

The one I can't believe is the price difference between "regular" and so called "premium". If my memory is correct, when we were paying 45 cents for 88 octane the 98 octane was 2 cents more. Now its 10 cents more ($4.50 a gallon) and only 92 (?) octane. Who pays that and why?

[cakadu]

Emrald, some of the insurance on a vehicle is definitely for replacement cost. Take a look at the BMW SUV. One of those puppies can set you back $80,000 plus. You aren't going to get low insurance rates on that, no matter how good your driving record is. I would hazard a guess that the people driving those are definitely not taking them out into the bush to go four-wheeling.

You're quite right - we shouldn't judge what other people are driving. If they want to pay for all of that, it doesn't bother me. What I objected to was the young lass telling me that it was for my benefit.

People have different thresholds for what they will and won't pay for. I do believe that those that can afford to keep buying no matter what the price end up making it a little harder for the rest of us who are trying to lessen our fuel consumption etc.

[cakadu]

Linda, the agent that told you exploration was for your benefit was an idiot. The exploration being done is not only for domestic comsumption so others benefit a great deal as well.

[cakadu]

Well, I don't have red hair emrald, but I think she understood exactly where I was coming from.