Gas Prices and SUV drivers

[abbydog]

*Disclaimer* This is not a thread in which to bash SUV drivers. We've heard it all before. It is to commiserate & get advice ONLY. Thanks :) !

Well, the cheap stuff has now jumped to 2.92 here. As an SUV driver, I am screwed. I am a SAHM, so I don't have a commute or anything, but it's still crazy. We go out of town alot b/c we have no family here- the closest is 2 hrs away. It cost $65 to fill up today! Luckily, we have another car and a truck, so DH & I will be switching the carseats to the car today. I think I just feel screwed b/c we just bought this thing (Dodge Durango) in Oct. & paid cash. Now we couldn't get rid of it of we tried. I talked to a car salesman friend if mine today and he said they cannot get rid of SUVs now. We should have bought a small little hatchback or something I guess, but we need the room! I feel stuck and I don't even know if this post makes sense. I guess I just want to complain :) . If you were in this situation, would you try to sell it? Do you think that's even likely? Do you think this gas mes will die down anytime in the near future?

[1_mommy]

we just bought a explorer 2 weeks ago. so i feel your pain. i am not looking foward to filling up. luckily the dealership said they would give us one more tank of gas.

[abbydog]

When we bought, we got I think a $25 gas card. That did about 1/2 a tank, but def. better than nothing! Are you just crossing fingers that this will settle down? Do you think it will?

[lml41981]

I don't think gas prices will go down. They know that we're *willing* to pay this much for gas and so they will keep charging this much - or more - for gas.

We've got a 2003 Escape that runs regular...last fill up was $47. Our BMW X3 runs premium...I don't know what DH paid to fill it up. I'm sure it was over $50. It is a choice we made when we bought the cars we did, but now we're considering moving somewhere that would give DH an hour-long commute with stop and go traffic. We might trade in the X3, despite loving it a whole lot, for something with better fuel economy that runs regular. I'd even be willing to let him ride a motorcycle to work, but his parents would disown us (this isn't a threat they made, it was a promise :rolleyes: ).

[Natasha]

We just bought a CRV, which is fuel efficient, but an SUV none the less. It's my around town car (I'm a SAHM), so not too bad. except our fuel efficient 87 Toyota just broke down, so he's taking the SUV to and from work (2 hours commute a day). Gas is just under $3 p/gal. around here for the cheap stuff.

[Marie]

Currently I drive a Saturn and I'm actually reconsidering my next purchase because of gas prices - was going to get another Tahoe but I'm not so sure right now. I'm a GMC SUV fan but jeesh, yesterday it cost me as much to fill up my Saturn as it used to cost to fill up my Suburban. Yikes.

Of course, I'm now really glad I didn't get the suburban in the divorce like I wanted. :p

[Dotsie]

I just filled up today to the tune of $45. I have a chevy trailblazer.

[Neen]

I'm in the same boat. We bought a Buick Rendevous back in February. Grated, it does pretty good on gas, but it's going to hurt when I fill it up. I filled up on Sunday at $2.50 and it cost me $32 (I still had a 1/4 tank left).

Oh well.

[abbydog]

LML and any others who are considering selling/trading in the near future- do you think it will be difficult to get rid of? Do you think that you will take a huge hit in it's value b/c of what it is? We knew we'd pay more in gas when we bought this, but like I said, we needed the room for 2 kids,a dog & stuff on our frequent roadtrips. We are considering selling, but despite the other 2 cars, would still have to buy something else b/c the others are older than 10 yrs and not as reliable in long distances. I think I am coming to the realization that maybe we have just learned a very$$$ lesson. :( :rolleyes: :mad:

[rene']

abbydog We are trying to sell our Ford Expedition and haven't had a single call on it in a month. I think it may be a while before anyone bites. :(

[abbydog]

Rene-
Crap! That's exactly what I was afraid of...

[BethIrish]

We bought a Pathfinder back in April. I'm regretting out decision a bit, but whatever gas prices wind up being, they'll be and we'll pay for it. Thankfully, I take public transportation to work so DH (who usually drives the Pathfinder) will now be driving my car to work and I'll drive the Pathfinder for 5 miles a day....

[mimieliza]

Heck, I drive a Subaru Forester that gets 25 mpg, and I'm feeling the crunch. I'm really, REALLY wishing that we had a Prius right now. Or at least a Honda Civic that gets 30-35 mpg.

[lawyergirl25]

I too am wishing I had my Prius already. I planned to get one for Christmas, but I wonder if I can start shopping as soon as I start my job next week?

[2kCougar]

The latest reports say that the prices won't go down until october at the earliest. It really sucks when we have to fill up our 4Runner, but what else can we do? We've been in our new house for 8 months, and are still going to home depot and lowes every weekend. There is no way that the 8 bags of rocks, 2 cabinets, and 6 8' shelves that we picked up last weekend would fit in my cougar. What we won't be doing is taking any trips on the weekends.

[amew]

This is no fun. I just paid $42 to fill up my Jeep Liberty (it was totally empty, though), and it is a relatively small SUV. We plan on getting a hybrid for our next car, but that will be a while, as my Jeep has less than 20,000 miles on it. I am so grateful that my commute is short.

[DiscoDiva]

How about me? We HAVE to own a SUV or truck for our business to haul equipment (pulling a trailer) plus we travel up to 60 miles each Saturday to work! And, it's hard for us to raise prices because brides always think "those vendors just hear the word 'wedding' and automatically raise their price!" But, we HAVE to travel to do the job. *sigh*

[jennylou]

Gas here is up to $3.15 per gallon. I am not looking forward to filling up my small 13 gallon tank (that is on empty - why oh why didn't I face the downpour and fill up last night at $2.69????) We will surely feel the crunch this weekend when we take our F150 to Pittsburgh. We'd take my car, but my car is a POS and well, I doubt whether it would make it there AND back.

[Secret_Squirrel]

This is no fun. I just paid $42 to fill up my Jeep Liberty (it was totally empty, though), and it is a relatively small SUV. We plan on getting a hybrid for our next car, but that will be a while, as my Jeep has less than 20,000 miles on it. I am so grateful that my commute is short.

I have a Liberty, too. I bought it last year and got the manual transmission because it got another 4-5 mpg. Still, I haven't been able to bring myself to fill 'er up in a week. I'm making lots of stops at the pump at $20 a pop.

[chefker]

I have a Subaru Forester (classified as a 'small SUV' apparently), and it used to cost about $22 to fill up. Now it's $35....and that's with buying gas at Costco. Scary.

I do get good mileage too, but still...I'm staying at home a LOT more lately, and not making any unnecessary trips in the car.

[greenbunny]

DH's escort wagon didn't pass inspection, but luckily he fixed the problems himself. I am so afraid of it finally dying because he wants a truck or SUV for his amps. I don't want to deal with the gas!

My mom bought a new Jeep Liberty two weeks ago and she is really kicking herself. We bought her old car, so I guess I'd sell it back if she asked.

[KaliLily]

DH and I bought a Highlander (considered a midsize SUV, I believe) in January. This was my dream car and I was so excited we could afford it.

Now, with gas prices, I feel a little bad about getting the Highlander, but I can't imagine being without it. I can fit SO MUCH in the back - with & without the seats down. And it's particularly useful in the winter with DH has to drive through the mountains to get to work.

DH also pointed out that the gas mileage isn't that bad and since I don't work I can limit my driving. And if we didn't have the Highlander, we could not have transported all the large items we've bought at Sears, Home Depot and Target this year. Without the Highlander, we'd be paying either shipping charges (which are HIGH for large, bulky items) or van/truck rental fees. And you have to fill up the tank in rented vehicles before you return them.

I did get a great tip from my FIL tonight. We've switched from Plus to regular gas, which may car can use but it concerned me because my car doesn't run as smoothly on regular. I mentioned this to my FIL and he told me to get bottle of Octane Booster at the auto supply store and put it in the tank with each fill-up to improve my car's performace on regular unleaded gas. He said it costs about $1.50-2/bottle - much less than the difference between a tank of regular and a tank of plus!

[boilermaker]

We have an F250 Super Duty Deisel that was costing about $50/tank to fill up. I'm not looking forward to filling it up next week. Thankfully we carpool together to work in my little Grand Am, so that helps.

I don't have any tips..just hoping that more hybrids/deisel SUV's hit the market next year so I can buy one rather than a sedan. I think Jeep is coming out with a deisel Liberty soon.

[mel7dog]

We were starting to think about an SUV with the with a baby on the way, but now I'm thinking I must make my Jetta (just bought new in Nov) work for at least a few more years. Even my little car costs almost $35 to fill up, SUV scare me :o

[karlatta]

I have a Saturn VUE, so I get decent-ish gas mileage, but it's certainly making us re-think our driving decisions. We're taking DH's little Saturn sedan pretty much everywhere we go.

Fortunately, my commute is only 6 miles round trip, so I'm okay. But we're planning on moving in a couple of months, making my commute 60 miles round trip, and that's going to be tough. :mad:

[Abby'sMom]

Just a little note, mostly in response to meldog - You don't need an SUV or a minivan for ONE child. I have an almost 10 month old DD and I drive a Civic coupe. :)

[Freckles]

any others who are considering selling/trading in the near future- do you think it will be difficult to get rid of? Do you think that you will take a huge hit in it's value b/c of what it is? We knew we'd pay more in gas when we bought this, but like I said, we needed the room for 2 kids,a dog & stuff on our frequent roadtrips. We are considering selling, but despite the other 2 cars, would still have to buy something else b/c the others are older than 10 yrs and not as reliable in long distances. I think I am coming to the realization that maybe we have just learned a very$$$ lesson.

We just traded in our 2000 Ford Expedition a month ago, and we definitely got less for it than we would have a few years prior. The dealer told us they are sitting on the lots at the moment. Thankfully, it was paid off, but still.
We purchased a semi-SUV---Chrysler Pacifica and it is still a bit of cash to fill-up. At this point people with compact cars are probably feeling the pinch as well. We only have one vehicle at the moment, and we were thinking of purchasing a hybrid-Highlander before the end of the year, but we are seriously reconsidering now. I don't even want a 2nd vehicle at all at this point. And there are waiting lists for the Prisus. Here in Chicagoland the mid-grade gas is $2.95, and seems to go up everyday. :eek:

I really wonder about the impact these new costs can have across the board in our country. :(

[jeanine]

We have an Explorer - last night it cost about $55 to fill up, and that was before the prices jumped up this morning. Yikes. I have a 25 mi commute, and DH has a 35 mi commute each way. Until today, I was driving the Explorer and DH drove our Accord. Starting today, I now have the Accord, and the Explorer sits in the train parking lot. There was just no way we want to fill up 2 cars twice a week for gas. It sucks, cause i really love driving the Explorer, and DH hates the train, but the prices are just too unreasonable.

[mimieliza]

Well, I've definitely decided to keep my Forester. We were considering selling it and getting a minivan because we have two huge dogs who go everywhere with us, and are planning on having a baby soon. But instead we're going to get one of these:

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/images/products/689.jpg

The dogs ride in the station wagon trunk, and all our gear can go in the rooftop container.

It'll probably cut down a little on gas mileage, but it will definitely be better than a larger vehicle.

[hockeybrat]

I too am wishing I had my Prius already. I planned to get one for Christmas, but I wonder if I can start shopping as soon as I start my job next week?

Lawyergirl25, I think the new 2006s will start arriving in the states around November. There are places where a waiting list isn't required for a Prius. Check out Priuschat.com, that is where I've gotten a lot of info on my dream car :)

[Belm]

We have an F250 Super Duty Deisel that was costing about $50/tank to fill up. I'm not looking forward to filling it up next week. Thankfully we carpool together to work in my little Grand Am, so that helps.

I don't have any tips..just hoping that more hybrids/deisel SUV's hit the market next year so I can buy one rather than a sedan. I think Jeep is coming out with a deisel Liberty soon.

Boilermaker - I posted this in the other thread, but you may want to checkout http://www.greasecar.com.

[ManteoChik]

I am really starting to worry about the gas prices....it cost me $36.00 to fill up my Chevy Malibu last night at $2.95 a gallon. I was seriously considering trading it in for a new Trailblazer about a month ago....I'm so glad I waited.

[EmilyBronte]

I bought a CRV in April and it cost $33 today at the gas station, at $2.99 per gallon. I think I put in 11 gallons. Anyway, I am a SAHM so it doesn't really effect me (and the CRV is pretty fuel efficient. I haven't noticed a difference, really, from when I had my Accord). My husband drives a 1996 Jeep Cherokee and it cost him $45 to fill up today.

We aren't really worried about it right now... but my DH will be going to grad school starting in January and he will be driving about 100 miles per day (unless we decide to live closer). We are seriously considering buying something fuel efficient for him. I was thinking it would be smart to buy something cheap just to get him through grad school.

[TexasYankee]

DH are I are looking at switching cars right now. His commute to work is around 40 miles but with his call schedule it's sometimes 3-4 trips a day and there's no way we can afford for him to keep filling up his Expedition every 2-3 days at $65 a pop. I'm a SAHW so him driving my Galant makes a lot more sense :(

[IrisHope]

We have a Jeep Cherokee and at $4/gallon it will cost us over $100 to fill up. Not good :(

[Dotsie]

Gas here in Philadelphia has gone up over .30 a gallon in less than 24 hours. In some places in the suburbs it's already $4 a gallon :eek:
My DH has a Dodge Ram quad cab. It costs $65 to fill up and it last only 1 week. It's sickening. I've already started walking to a lot of places to try and save a bit of money. I only work 2 days a week but my commute is 40 miles one way. Thankfully Dh's job is only about 10 miles away.

[SingleWhiteFemale]

What bugs me was prior to Katrina, there wasn't a real reason the gas kept going up and up. With Katrina happening, I can deal with paying the higher prices for sometime... I still have my life, and I'd rather be paying high prices for gas than go through what they're going through down there.

I only drive around 300 miles every 10 days or so. My Explorer gets usually 20mpg, sometimes up to 23. It's at par with the lightduty truck I wrecked, so I can't really complain. I did look at the Lexus hybrid SUV, and those people are getting 25mpg. Not worth it at all at this point, and it will be a while before it's worth it to me.

We're a family of SUV drivers, but we don't do much driving. We're quite boring honestly! If there is any change in my behavior, I'm making sure to combine my trips. I've been looking to do that not only to save gas, but to save my time too. I have always attemped to do my errands during the day, so I'm not stuck in traffic and wasting gas idling (what can I say, heavy traffic frustrates me big time).

I won't be trading this car in. I got a great deal from my aunt, so the amount I saved in that respect is worth it (at $3/gallon, the difference is enough for me to travel almost 50,000 miles if I get around 20 miles). I will never buy a Prius (never buy a Toyota in any respect), and I'm not running out to buy a new car when my Explorer works wonderfully, just because gas is high (it will go back down, just not anytime soon, and I'm okay with that). I will reevaluate my needs and everything come the time when this car is either totalled or it's driven into the ground.

I hate to whine, but it always bugged me that the people who can afford gas whine the loudest (I'm not talking about here, just in general and what I hear around school and on TV!). Of course, they do that while sipping their daily venti Starbucks latte :o A teacher at the school I subbed at was whining what gas was costing for his Jetta, yet he had an $8/day Starbucks habit. What he spends in a year there is more than my gas! [/rant]

[shopaholic]

I could not imagine having an SUV or even a 6 cylinder car right now.

I have a 4 cylinder celica (obvious huh) and it just cost me about $30 to fill up from E at $2.60-ish (last week sometime).

[hockeybrat]

SWF, I am not trying to start anything but I was just wondering if you knew that Lexus was made by Toyota? I wasn't sure since you mentioned that you would never buy a Toyota.

[lildan]

I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and it cost me $51.65 to fill it up this morning. The cost was $2.89 per gallon.

I'm employed part time as a program manager of a mental health case management program (two PT moms split the manager position! :) ) and we do A LOT of traveling with and for our clients. As of August 15, we are reimbursed .405 per mile to cover gas and upkeep (up from .345 per mile). But with prices rising is that going to be enough? We're a private, non-profit so the employees aren't necessarily raking in the cash. Ugh.

[MrsSmith]

We have a SUV and a 6cyl. car. and it's expensive to fill it up, but I wouldn't trade it in at all. I can't drive a little car in the winter here. Plus, we're both tall and I can't imagine squishing into a tiny car everyday. Torture.

[Weddings by]

I don't even have any idea how much it really costs to fill our vehicle. A few weeks ago, I found that we can't use our atm card at Costco's gas pumps (don't know whose policy it is--the CU or Costco) for more than $74. Yup, have paid $74 a couple of times and still not had it full.

[Kristy]

I have a Chevy Equinox and lately it's been running around $30, give or take, to fill up the tank. We've really limited our driving lately, and luckily the one place we go to most often, the grocery store, is right next to us so we just walk instead of driving. I waited and dealt with a crappy car for a long time, so there's no way I'm getting rid of it.

DH just bought a Dodge Ram with a gas-guzzling hemi engine last month, and sadly we're going back to the dealership on Saturday to return it and get something else. He drives 50 miles roundtrip to work everyday and has to fill up every 3 days or so. It's about $50+ to fill it, he gets about 17 MPG city and 22 highway, so yeah, it adds up real quick. He's really disappointed because he wanted this truck so badly, but he'll end up spending more on gas than what he's paying per month for the car. It's just not a good decision to have it anymore.

[SingleWhiteFemale]

SWF, I am not trying to start anything but I was just wondering if you knew that Lexus was made by Toyota? I wasn't sure since you mentioned that you would never buy a Toyota.Yep, I found that out earlier this year. Before I could even drive, I thought the RX330/that style of car was the best and I wanted one. Then, I went inside of one and it didn't wow me like I thought it would have :( For the price tag, I was super disappointed. Then I had several run ins with Toyota and am morally opposed ;) to buying anything made by them. So no Lexus for me :)

What suprised me is I recently found out that GM owns Saab :eek: Yeah, that one suprised me, it doesn't strike me as fitting in with Chevy/Hummer/Pontiac/Cadillac that is GM!

[Phen]

I havent' read the rest of the posts; this is just in response to the OP's Original Question.

We have a small-size SUV (Mazda Tribute) as our babycar and it actually gets better gas mileage than our other vehicle (Ford F150), by a surprising amount! I love our car, even in these crazy expensive gas times. But if I had to do it all over again, in light of the current gas situation, I think we probably would've gone for the hybrid version of the same car (well, Ford makes a hybrid small SUV, the Escape, and that's virtually the same exact car as the Tribute). My friend with a Hybrid Honda gets incredible gas mileage...PLUS the tax writeoff!!

~ Phen

[abbydog]

It took me some time to come back b/c lightning struck our monitor yesterday!
Bellefior- what kind of trade in value did you get for the Durango? We are also considering the Accord Hybrid! TIA!

[Bellefior]

Abby--we got $9800 for the Durango, but its an older (2000) model (and was a V-8 to boot). The only reason we got as much as we did was because the salesperson was related to my husband and literally browbeat the sales manager...they originally wanted to give us $8500 and weren't budging! Had we traded in 2 months ago when we originally discussed it, we would have gotten 2K more (Blue Book value at that time was somewhere in the neighborhood of $12500). DH did the research on it so we knew what the Blue Book value was and what we could realistically expect to get before we made our trade in.

[kam]

We have a small SUV (Infiniti QX4) and it generally takes $45-$50 to fill. We actually only own one car (we traded in our small useless cars and got one small SUV - I work from home so I refused to pay $400 per month to have my car sit in a lot) so for us we wanted something that would be multi-functional. We're definitely considering a hybrid car or SUV in the near future!

[Bellefior]

One thing I forgot to mention in my prior posts. Certain Hybrid cars (if they are new and you are the original owner are eligible for a 3K tax credit. For us that translates into 700 dollars less in taxes, and will help in part to offset the higher price.

[Kristen78]

What suprised me is I recently found out that GM owns Saab

Yeah, you can tell GM owns Saab now because the quality of a Saab has gone way down hill.

[jbenny75]

Trade-in values of SUV's are also down due to the employee-pricing discounts that the dealers have been giving. It cost me $53 to fill up last night at $3.19. I'm torn about getting rid of our Jeep Grand Cherokee cause we were trying to have only one vehicle payment at a time and we were going to have it paid off in the next year. I don't really want to go back into debt for a car, but the gas prices are killing me, too.

[mimieliza]

We have a SUV and a 6cyl. car. and it's expensive to fill it up, but I wouldn't trade it in at all. I can't drive a little car in the winter here. Plus, we're both tall and I can't imagine squishing into a tiny car everyday. Torture.

I have a Subaru Forester, which cannot be beat for winter driving. It's great! Throw on some studless snow tires, and it's like a tank (but with much better gas mileage, of course).

My parents have a Subaru Outback which is more spacious (my dad is 6'4" and finds it very compfortable to drive) and gets the same gas mileage as my Forester (around 25 mpg).

I just wanted to throw out an alternate POV to the idea that large cars are the only safe option for winter driving idea (not that you were saying that necessarily). :)

[BethElena]

Yeah, you can tell GM owns Saab now because the quality of a Saab has gone way down hill.

Wow - how do you substantiate that? Just curious --

[manda_kate]

Just cost me $50 to fill up my Jeep Grand Cherokee. Luckily I have a car, too, although I'd REALLy like to trade it in for a Jeep Liberty, despite the ridiculous gas prices. We paid $3.19/gallon for the cheap stuff here.

[lawyergirl25]

Down to $2.99/gal here - down from $3.19/gal yesterday. Unheard of on Labor Day weekend...it was a pleasant surprise.

[justHB]

We got our Highlander in November of last year and I'm not at all sad about it. We use it for so much. Yes, gas is more expensive, but not prohibitively so for us. Our Mini Cooper takes about $40 to fill (premium gas) and my Highlander takes about $55 to fill (regular gas) at today's price of $3.10, so it's really not that much more.

[SingleWhiteFemale]

Yeah, you can tell GM owns Saab now because the quality of a Saab has gone way down hill.Do you realize that when GM bought Saab, Saab was on it's last leg? Furthermore, Saab has never been known for high quality cars. Good cars, sure, but not superb vehicles. Seriously, what's with the GM hating? I had more problems with my Toyota (as a vehicle) than my parents have had with their 2 GM car combined. Yet, Toyota is known for their "quality." I wish my Toyota/non-GM car didn't have quality issues, because everytime I had to have the stupid thing serviced, I was treated like complete sh!t at the dealership (2, actually). Why is it when there is a problem with a Ford/GM/Chrysler, it's quick to be mentioned and blown into more than it really is, but it's completely downplayed if it's a Toyota/Honda? If GM was so crappy, would people still be buying them? Hmmmm, NO. No one is going out with the intention of purchasing a car with problems. I'd take a GM car any day of the week over any other manufacturer out there--and I'm a person who will drive the same car for 15+ years (although I haven't had that chance to have my car make it that far yet, due to an accident).

Edmunds.com lists the Saab 9-2x as a vehicle as a "Lowest True Cost to Own Vehicles for 2005." If it's such crappy quality, how in the world could it be cheap to own? Wouldn't you have high bills if the car was falling apart and therefore wouldn't have been slapped with this title? [/rant]

[Dotsie]

I personally love GM. I had one foreign brand vehicle and I had so many problems with it that I had to sue them under the Lemon Law. My past 2 vehicles have been Chevy and I love them. My DH and I are going to be getting another vehicle in the next 2 years and I know it's going to be the Buick Terraza...another GM.

[KarenS]

Our Mini Cooper takes about $40 to fill (premium gas) and my Highlander takes about $55 to fill (regular gas) at today's price of $3.10, so it's really not that much more.

But what's the mileage difference? It doesn't really matter how much it costs you to fill it. That's just the size of the tank. What counts is how often you have to fill it. If you have to fill the Highlander 2x or 3x for every time you fill the Cooper, then it's a heck of a lot more.

Karen

[BethElena]

Edmunds.com lists the Saab 9-2x as a vehicle as a "Lowest True Cost to Own Vehicles for 2005." If it's such crappy quality, how in the world could it be cheap to own? Wouldn't you have high bills if the car was falling apart and therefore wouldn't have been slapped with this title? [/rant]

Thank you! I was going to say that we bought a 9-2x in May (same as a Subaru WRX) and I am impressed with "GM Quality."

Okay, back to the topic.

[MrsSmith]

I have a Subaru Forester, which cannot be beat for winter driving. It's great! Throw on some studless snow tires, and it's like a tank (but with much better gas mileage, of course).

My parents have a Subaru Outback which is more spacious (my dad is 6'4" and finds it very compfortable to drive) and gets the same gas mileage as my Forester (around 25 mpg).

I just wanted to throw out an alternate POV to the idea that large cars are the only safe option for winter driving idea (not that you were saying that necessarily). :)

Thanks for the idea. I honestly haven't even considered buying any other cars than the ones we have. I know it sounds crazy, but the last 3 cars I've owned have all been the same model.:eek: I'm so predictable...LOL..but my car isn't really as bad on gas as hubby's truck.

I have heard good things about Subaru though. I'll definiltey consider it when we look for something new. Thanks :)

[mimieliza]

MrsSmith - I wasn't trying to say you needed something new if you're happy with what you've got - I just wanted to offer my suggestion to others who might be looking for an alternative. :) I think DH and I are on our way to becoming like you and only buying one model - we're actually thinking of buying a SECOND Subaru Forester (or an Outback). :)

[justHB]

But what's the mileage difference? It doesn't really matter how much it costs you to fill it. That's just the size of the tank. What counts is how often you have to fill it. If you have to fill the Highlander 2x or 3x for every time you fill the Cooper, then it's a heck of a lot more.

KarenYou're right, in a sense. My commute is very small, so I don't have to fill the Highlander as often as DH fills the Cooper (in fact, I only fill my tank once ever 2.5 weeks unless we use it for out of town trips). We actually do take the Highlander out on the weekends and on road trips and it gets about 28 mpg, whereas the Cooper gets in the 32 mpg range, which is why I said overall it wasn't that much difference when you factor in the gas we each purchase.

[Little Angel '77]

Right now , I drive a Toyota Corrolla, and it cost me 40.00 to fill up, and if you think about it, I get 400 miles to a tank., Its costing me 10 cents to drive a mile for gas.
I commute 38 miles one way to work, 70 miles round trip.

I am not going to quit my job, I am not going to change my life style.,

If I can't find an eztra 20 bucks a week to come up with, I need to severly change my lifestlye.
The gas prices right now are a disgusting display of people and companies taking advantage of a situation. People know we get gas from the south.. the other places we get gas from are raising the price of a barrell due to the storm.

DH and I plan on getting an suv dispite gas prices, we aren't worried about it. Its called inflation, we are just seeing it now, and should see it in our pay raises at the end of the year :) It all balances out in the end. IMO.

[lml41981]

LML and any others who are considering selling/trading in the near future- do you think it will be difficult to get rid of? Do you think that you will take a huge hit in it's value b/c of what it is?
We got rid of our X3 today. We ended up getting a Jetta, which isn't really what I wanted, but it was the "smart" thing to do. :( We gained some fuel economy, but not a ton. What we really gained was a drop in payments and a drop in fuel cost because now we don't have to use premium gas.

We did take a hit on the X3...though I think not as much of one as we might have if we had traded something like a Yukon or Tahoe.

[Kimberland30]

Thank goodness we didn't have to fill up when the gas prices went crazy. It went from $2.59 to $3.59 in a day. We were on vacation in NC so we weren't driving much. When we left, we filled up with low grade at $3.29 per gallon...which still cost us about $100. We have a Suburban. God help us.

I have a Mustang with a half tank sitting in it now. I think I spent $35 at my last fill up two weeks ago. I'm not working now, so I only drive it for errands (not many). That is the only thing saving us right now. I hope I find something close to home. DH fills up every 10 to 14 days, but the gas prices really are going to kill us. I thought it was bad when it hit over $2.50!! Ack!

[justHB]

Gas prices today in Oakland, CA range anywhere from $2.96 to $3.15 for regular unleaded.

[KarenS]

I only fill my tank once ever 2.5 weeks [...] We actually do take the Highlander out on the weekends and on road trips and it gets about 28 mpg Gotcha. That makes sense. Actually that's a lot better mileage than I thought a Highlander would get. Who knew! :)

Karen

[ejs]

lml, did you trade the x3 in or did you sell it on your own?

We have an Expedition, but only use it for certain things: trips to Home Depot, the nursery, the dog park, road trips when we take the dogs. We call it the dogs' car.