Anyone Happy about the price of Fuel??? - Page 5 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Austin85 · #61 04-23-2006, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

If any car company could make money selling a 60mpg whatever they would do it. Their stock holders would shoot them if they didn't.

Supposidly Toyota loses money on each hybrid they sell, so is this good business sense?

I'm not an economist or an oil lobbyist; but I wouldn't be suprised if there was like Payolla from OIl Co's to Auto Mftg's back then and now till this day.
I don't think it would've cost Ford or whoever so much more to make these cars , if they knew how the materials cost the same. They had to have "incentive" not to market them. If I was a stockholder I would be pretty PO'd at them.

But getting back to the origianl post question:

I'm not happy about the increase , but I definetly would love to see SUV s off the roads and minivans and jacked up PU trucks driven by 16 yr olds w/o jobs .....

greasybenz · #62 04-23-2006, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zerohour3k

Think about it. We all get 23-30mpg with the W123 / W124's. Some of the 126's get the same. For many of us, these are daily drivers. Heck, some new SUV's are getting 30-35mpg, and sedans in the 40-50 range. I live in NJ, so I get some of the cheapest fuel in the country.. and I'm paying $2.79 a gallon for diesel. To fill my tank, it's costing me almost $40.. where, a little over a year ago, it cost 25-30, tops. Let's say that fuel hits the $5 mark.. almost doubling the cost of fills. Your 26mpg diesel is no longer "economical". If you live in a cold weather state, WVO isn't an option. You're now forced to buy a new car, costing you yet more money.

Im not sure what SUV's your talking about or cars. no gasser sedan i know of gets 40-50mpg. The best mpg gasser thats not a hybrid is a honda civic that gets 35mpg hwy when you baby it. The hybrid model doesnt do much better in real world driving either only 5mpg more WOW extra $2K for an extra 5mpg.

As for SUV's unless your talking about a ford escape or even the hybrid they dont do that well either. Real world driving is what you have to look at not whatever EPA says since they test at 55mph.

Only new sedan that will reach the 40-50mpg range is a 06 VW jetta TDI. And yes in REAL WORLD driving. EPA states 33/44mpg and as you break the engines in they go way above that. Older VE TDI's can go as high as 60mpg.

No gasser SUV or car can ever reach what a newer technoloy diesel can. and shoot no gasser can out run a new technology diesel in performance either.

Hatterasguy · #63 04-23-2006, 05:17 PM

No car maker is going to make a high mpg anything if thats not what the buying public wants. If the buying public wants SUV's they make SUV's. If they want AWD sedans with 300hp+ they make those. When fuel was cheap people didn't care about mileage. I certianly would't, if fuel still cost $1.50 a gallon I wouldn't think twice about buying an S500. Who cares when its cheap?

Recently like in the last year fuel mileage has become an issue, more so this year. So all of a sudden car makers are placing importance on it, BUT only because the public with the money is voting with their wallets.

greasybenz · #64 04-23-2006, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

I'm not in a warm weather state nor do I know what standard they are making it to. But, if you are going to dump millions into a factory like that, I'll bet they would have thought of it. In any case, they can still make it and ship it to warm weather states or maybe add something to make it to that standard

Ohhh youd be surprised how many refineries go down the hole or switch to virign oil to meet standards and stop law suits. Read many of the "bad" biodiesel stories that the news seems to point out alot. They are all because of manufactures not making their fuel properly. bayarea bio fuel was one of them. didnt wash their biodiesel, didnt follow the ASTM specs, and still sold it anyway since it ran fine in old benz's or VE TDI's. Once the PD TDI's were introduced to the market and got a dose of bad fuel, all kinds of problems and law suits were thrown at them for making bad fuel.

To this day theyve changed they do make it to ASTM specs and wash it, but dont get it tested. But for the most part their repuation is building back up since they followed the specs.

NO you cant ADD anything to make it to spec. I have the spec sheet that i got from a member on the TDIclub forum. Its pretty easy to follow it but it amazes me that many refineries decide to not follow it since its not mandatory. and this is why alot of those big rigs or school buses that tryed out the non-spec fuel in their vehicles ended up breaking down on the side of the road, and it was all from a commercial retailer that didnt follow specs.

To bad it isnt mandatory, and is the problem we face here in the US. But we are still in our infancy stage of biodiesel. As it becomes mandatory we will start seeing better fuel and it will be made from virgin oil.

aklim · #65 04-23-2006, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

If any car company could make money selling a 60mpg whatever they would do it. Their stock holders would shoot them if they didn't.

Supposidly Toyota loses money on each hybrid they sell, so is this good business sense?

I would say it is good business sense. Yes, I lose $1000 on a hybrid. BFD. It scores me points on the green scale. It gets users into a Yoda. Who knows what will happen when that happens. Polaris allows all sorts of ATVs on tours they heavily sponsor. My wife rides piggy back on my machine. Well, the guide, employed by Polaris asks why. He lends my wife his wife's machine (Polaris Sportsman 500) and when she came back, what did she want to get? Guess! A year later when I wanted an EFI machine, Guess which brand I bought.

aklim · #66 04-23-2006, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austin85

I don't think it would've cost Ford or whoever so much more to make these cars , if they knew how the materials cost the same. They had to have "incentive" not to market them. If I was a stockholder I would be pretty PO'd at them.

But getting back to the origianl post question:

I'm not happy about the increase , but I definetly would love to see SUV s off the roads and minivans and jacked up PU trucks driven by 16 yr olds w/o jobs .....

That I definately disagree with. When I bought the first Casio digital watch, it was about $150. Date, time, light. I don't think it adjusted for leap years. Today, a Casio can be had for $20 that can do way more. Yes, part of it is marketting and all that. However, fact of the matter is that today's technology allows us to do things at astounding costs compared with yesterday. Just like "dry" oil wells. All it means is that at today's prices, it is too expensive to get any more oil out of it. If we had better tech, it would be cheaper.

I don't know why people are so hung up on trucks and SUVs. What is it worth to you to get what you want? Destruction of industries? Gas goes up and tourism goes down. The last few years have been easy on me as far as plowing snow goes. However, if you are a landscape company and that is your winter income, well, life sucks. We won't even talk about the ski industry.

aklim · #67 04-23-2006, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greasybenz

and shoot no gasser can out run a new technology diesel in performance either.

I would have to say it depends on what you define as performance. Towing, definately. Quarter mile or road course, I don't think so.

POS · #68 04-23-2006, 11:24 PM

When I was commuting in my Chevy 4x4 pickup and putting $60 in the tank every two days, the prices hitting $3.50 last year made me panic.

Good thing, too. Because this diesel w124 is the best thing I ever spent money on. Fun to drive, cruises above 80mph all day long, and still gets 30 mpg.

If the prices go up, I don't even worry anymore. I fill up once a week now with about $55.

greasybenz · #69 04-24-2006, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geekcomputing

if we are in such a great economy why is min wage 5.15 still?

HOLY CRAP!! min wage is $5.15!!!

Here in SF its $8.50!!! and people still complain!

Well my 2 jobs both pay higher then that anyway. And im just finishing hs!

aklim · #70 04-24-2006, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greasybenz

HOLY CRAP!! min wage is $5.15!!!

Here in SF its $8.50!!! and people still complain!

Well my 2 jobs both pay higher then that anyway. And im just finishing hs!

Maybe so but Cost of Living in the Republik of Kalifornia is a bit higher than some place in BFE.

greasybenz · #71 04-24-2006, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Maybe so but Cost of Living in the Republik of Kalifornia is a bit higher than some place in BFE.

true unless you want to live in fresno or any of those boring places, they have nice big houses for cheap but the area has nothing but walmarts and mcd's. in other words: its a boring place to live

aklim · #72 04-24-2006, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greasybenz

true unless you want to live in fresno or any of those boring places, they have nice big houses for cheap but the area has nothing but walmarts and mcd's. in other words: its a boring place to live

But is it a bad neighbourhood? I don't mind living in a good but boring neighbourhood seeing as how I can go elsewhere for trips. Good excuse for me anyways.

deniss · #73 04-24-2006, 08:39 PM

No, I believe Fresno also has an Internal Revenue Service Center... It's a hoot!

bullwinkle · #74 04-24-2006, 08:40 PM

I remember when the SUV first got popular-a good friend of mine bought a Grand Cherokee, with AWD, I think it was a 5.2/318-less room inside than my wife's xB, got only 10 MPG in the city, ate a set of front brake pads & rotors about every 10-12K miles, and was a general POS all the way around. I remember thinking that if this was the best thing out there, there had to be a better way. I think it's sad that GM, for so many years the world leader in value and quality vehicles(I'm showing my age here), now is reduced to rebadged Daewoos & the like in small cars (remember the 90s LeMans!!

). In this time of runaway fuel costs, who has the AFFORDABLE solution-VW(TDIs), Toyota(hybrids)-the General, bleeding red ink, has left the building.

aklim · #75 04-24-2006, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullwinkle

I think it's sad that GM, for so many years the world leader in value and quality vehicles(I'm showing my age here), now is reduced to rebadged Daewoos & the like in small cars (remember the 90s LeMans!!

).

In this time of runaway fuel costs, who has the AFFORDABLE solution-VW(TDIs), Toyota(hybrids)-the General, bleeding red ink, has left the building.

When was the last time GM built a quality vehicle? Now they are trying to catch up but it is too late. The customer has migrated to Yoda, Honda, etc, etc. Once he is there, it is hard to dislodge him. So they do what they can to survive. Trim aound the edges. Management is a big problem in the US auto industry. HOWEVER, so is labor. I read it costs over $1500 more to build the same car in a UAW plant as opposed to say Yoda or Honda, etc, etc. Same circumcisions since we are talking about US workers. Different results. Bottom line, it is screwed. Also, when youa re that screwed, it is harder to try come up with a radical approach since you are suffering from the results of catch 22.