$4 gasoline predicted; where's our mpg forum?

[howieschoon]

Hello all,
I just got back from Cancun, Mexico on Friday and the gas prices down there are something like 7 pesos (roughly 70 cents) per liter which works out to, unless I'm stupid, about $2.80/gallon. I assume that their gas is horrible but why is it $1.20/gallon less than ours? I was there 3 years ago and I don't think it has changed much in price since then, although I could be wrong. I assume that it has gone up some but I don't think it has been much. Anybody else do any travelling recently, maybe to Canada? What are other places in the world paying for gas? Have they had such steep increases in price as we have?

One thing I must add, even though it probably wont make me many friends. I don't particularly care that gas prices are high right now. I would love for them to go back down in the near future but right now everyone that thought they needed a huge SUV to tote themselves (and nobody else usually) around are suffering for trying to keep up with the joneses. Some people do need trucks and SUVs and I think that its great to have the choice to buy them but the vast majority of people that I see in them are by themselves and have them as nothing more than a status symbol (not really trying to insult anybody, tons of people really enjoy driving them and don't have them for a status symbol or anythong like that and I think that is fine, I have wanted a truck serveral times to haul something and its always fun to play in the mud!). I love engines and hope to work more professionally on them someday (see one of my threads called "Job Search") and if people are more concerned about fuel economy then they will hopefully be more willing to pay a little extra for a more efficient engine, not just one that makes more power. I wouldn't care if gas prices were less than $1.00/gallon again, I would still try to think of someway to make engines more efficient, thats just the way that I am. Anywho, I do hope that gas prices come down but sometimes it takes a lot for Americans (me included) to realize how much we waste.

[BlackCat13]

I don't think that the gas prices will ever go down significantly, in fact I expect that it will continue to rise at least another 50% due to availability and the deflating dollar value (down 31 % in 30 months// 45% in 60 months).Euro to U.S. Dollar Exchange Rate - Yahoo! Finance

As horrible design as the Ford 5.0 fuel injection manifolds are,
I am thankful that I went to full fuel injection and T-5 transmission in my hot rod 15 years ago.
It does get good mileage. 20 average and 25+ on the highway using 87 octane with the AC on, and does have decent power and broad torque curve making it fun to drive in a boxy 3400 pound car.

Just my 5 cents (inflation is hitting everything).

[rookie]

Originally Posted by Belgian1979vette

Actually we cannot go back to the way the Amish live, simply because they live like 200 years ago and that way of life will never sustain the number of people living on the planet. There is not enough fertile soil on the plain to grow food and to supply cattle/horses with enough food. You need fertilizers etc which are all derived from oil in one way or another. The oil problem is not only a problem of vehicles but also of things like plastics, electricity fertilzers you name it. Everything these days is derived one way or another from oil.

Amish population nearly doubles in 16 years

Amish population nearly doubles - Faith - MSNBC.com

Over the same period, Amish settlements have been established in seven new states, putting them in at least 28 states from coast to coast. The new states are: Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Washington and West Virginia.

[Blownoiler]

Sweden decided in the early nineties that due to the volatility of the price of crude oil (and the effects that the price swinging had on it's economy) that they would become the first country in the world to become oil free. Since then, they have taken all sorts of measures to minimize their use of crude oil derivatives (namely oil/fuel) . They have a 25 year plan to be oil free by 2020 and they are on target thus far. This isn't spoken about by the popular press, it would seem that they don't want you to know about Swedens acheivements, they would rather keep this sort of knowledge quiet . Do a google on sweden and have a read.