Anyone Happy about the price of Fuel??? - Page 6 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Carrameow · #76 04-24-2006, 10:46 PM

Anyone Happy about the Price of Fuel?

Yes I am ! I really feel good about this, I am very excited for when it reaches $4.00 a gallon ! You see, I am gald to give Lunch and Cable TV so I can drive to work every day!

Tiredofagasser · #77 04-25-2006, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I'd rather pay $5 to get as much fuel as I want, then sit in line for 6 hours once a week to get a few gallons at $2 or $3.

I have to agree with you. Wouldn't the 6 hour wait be counter productive? I mean all that idling may defeat the ration to help 'conserve'. There are MANY more vehicles on the road today than there were during the embargo of the 70's. I assume that is what you are referring to.

rchase · #78 04-25-2006, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mespe

Personally, I can't wait till we see $5-$6 per gallon. Owwww so much more room on the highway for me and my WVO ride

When the prices reach those levels WVO will have a value to people and it won't be as cheap. I am glad to see prices going up. Too many people take it lightly to just jump in the car and go somewhere. With our population growing there are way too many cars on the road.

rchase · #79 04-25-2006, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greasybenz

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.

FYI My Gasser S320 is getting 23.8 mpg in mixed driving pretty good since its one of the biggest S class cars made. My 300SD does not get anywhere near 30mpg and I would never expect it to because its over 24 years old.

Here are some interesting MPG ratings

MINI Cooper 28/36
Toyota Corolla 32/41
Honda Civic 30/40
VW Golf 30/40

All of those are gas powered cars. Its amazing what new technology can do. While im a big fan of the OM-617 engine its not as fuel efficent as you would think. I was rather pleasantly surprised with my S320 as it lists 24mpg highway. I never expected to get anywhere near that figure but with the new computer controlled engine management systems they do better than you would think. Now the "Hypebrids" are another story entirely. I cant wait until the fleet of hypebrids starts to age and those outrageously expensive dealer only parts suck up any fuel savings for the people who are enviromentally hip.

andmoon · #80 04-25-2006, 09:16 AM

I put in $49 of gas in my IMPREZA yesterday!
The Honda FIT is starting to look real pretty.

TimFreeh · #81 04-25-2006, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rchase

Its amazing what new technology can do. While im a big fan of the OM-617 engine its not as fuel efficent as you would think.....

I'll go a bit further than that, when judged by modern standards the OM61X series of engines are fuel hogs. The OM60X engines are better but not really anywhere near state of the art, well the OM606 is still pretty good from an economy perspective.

My son in law has a VW TDI with a 5 speed manual transmission, while its certainly not as well built as a Mercedes it sure is nice to drive a stick and it will routinely return 50+ MPG on the highway. I've heard if you are careful and keep the speeds down 60 MPG is possible. This is over 400% better economy than a typical GM or Ford SUV. I sure wish MB would consider importing some C-class Diesels with a 6 speed, I'd buy one in a second.

I'm not thrilled by the prospect of $5.00 a gallon Diesel fuel but, believe it or not, I'm not convinced its a bad thing for our country. I think its absolutely unforgivable that 30+ years after the oil embargo of the mid-70's we have made absolutely zero progress on the energy independence front. The primary reason for this is cheap oil and lack of leadership from Washington. Collectively we don't seem to be able to do much about the lack of leadership but 5-7 dollar a gallon Diesel fuel will force changes in our society that will be in our long term best interest. But it's going to be a painful transition. Fasten your seat belts.

83-240D · #82 04-25-2006, 10:21 AM

with our leaders sleeping with big oil this country will never have the backbone of brazil and find a way to get off petro fuel. i don't care if there is a 400-600 yr supply of petro in the ground we need to find alternatives now.

check out the may 06 ish of pop mech for their take on alt fuels.

aklim · #83 04-25-2006, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimFreeh

My son in law has a VW TDI with a 5 speed manual transmission, while its certainly not as well built as a Mercedes it sure is nice to drive a stick and it will routinely return 50+ MPG on the highway. I've heard if you are careful and keep the speeds down 60 MPG is possible. This is over 400% better economy than a typical GM or Ford SUV.

I sure wish MB would consider importing some C-class Diesels with a 6 speed, I'd buy one in a second.

I'm not thrilled by the prospect of $5.00 a gallon Diesel fuel but, believe it or not, I'm not convinced its a bad thing for our country. I think its absolutely unforgivable that 30+ years after the oil embargo of the mid-70's we have made absolutely zero progress on the energy independence front. The primary reason for this is cheap oil and lack of leadership from Washington. Collectively we don't seem to be able to do much about the lack of leadership but 5-7 dollar a gallon Diesel fuel will force changes in our society that will be in our long term best interest. But it's going to be a painful transition. Fasten your seat belts.

And a motorcycle has even better economy than your TDI. How about compareing it to a bicycle?

When you and your buddies write MBUSA and tell them you will buy enough, they will import it provided it can clear the regulations.

It MIGHT be better in the long term IF we can recover. If not, we will be screwed. $5-7 diesel will wipe out commerce if it is too sudden. At that price, Chinese agriculture will seem a better deal to me. I will stop exporting US Ag products. If many stop, what do you think will happen to the farmer? Your scenario is a nice rosy one that everyone will be happy in the end. I doubt it. Tourism will definately be shot all to hell. Imports and Exports will have been flushed down the toilet. Easy to go downhill. Way, Way Way harder to rebuild, if even possible.

kip Foss · #84 04-25-2006, 10:43 AM

I talked to a friend who just came back from Turkey. Gas there is over $14 a gallon and over $12 in Germany. Be happy, be very happy, for what you have here.

aklim · #85 04-25-2006, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kip Foss

I talked to a friend who just came back from Turkey. Gas there is over $14 a gallon and over $12 in Germany. Be happy, be very happy, for what you have here.

I wouldn't compare it with somewhere else. Their situation is totally different from ours so it would be comparing apples to oranges.

83-240D · #86 04-25-2006, 10:54 AM

It MIGHT be better in the long term IF we can recover. If not, we will be screwed. $5-7 diesel will wipe out commerce if it is too sudden. At that price, Chinese agriculture will seem a better deal to me. I will stop exporting US Ag products. If many stop, what do you think will happen to the farmer? Your scenario is a nice rosy one that everyone will be happy in the end. I doubt it. Tourism will definately be shot all to hell. Imports and Exports will have been flushed down the toilet. Easy to go downhill. Way, Way Way harder to rebuild, if even possible.

thank our allies in the middle east. they like our military technology and our gold and dislike our politics. thank our "friend" hugo chavez. everytime you go to citgo you support hc. most of the new stations i see going up are citgo. he dislikes america like the arabs but likes our consumerism. thank exxonmobil for giving the outgoing ceo a 400 million$ severance package. okay its mostly filled with stock options so the price of fuel has to be up to support the stock. thank the pres of iran who thinks the price of a 40gal barrel of oil is still too low. finally thank all america who will not share a ride to save fuel.

i wonder how much fuel is going on the public credit cards these days?

deniss · #87 04-25-2006, 11:47 AM

I'm sure discussing fuel prices is in itself counter-productive. Talking about it here won't really change the way things are, but it *will* waste our valuable time because we aren't really talking about the diesel itself or the diesel MBs - just how much it costs and how much of it gets eaten up by these diesel cars we own. Probably can't change that a whole lot either, unless you buy a brand new diesel Benz or something. There's already one fuel price thread, and this one has already dragged on for much longer than really necessary.

kip Foss · #88 04-25-2006, 03:41 PM

There situation is not totally different from ours. They are working people trying to get buy on average with less wages than US workers make. Fortunately they had the good sense to build both good public transportation systems and economical cars so they won't suffer quite as much as we will. They also have the good sense not to haul around one person is an 8,000 pound car that gets 14 mpg.

boneheaddoctor · #89 04-25-2006, 04:04 PM

Wonder if the enviromentalists will give up their share of the fuel to stay out of Alaska, off the Cali coast and off florida now. Or if the concept of energy self sufficiency is going to sink in now. Yeah we need better milage cars, but we also need more of our own oil as well. Biofuels can only go so far.

fantom71 · #90 04-25-2006, 04:18 PM

Sorry that I am just now getting to reading this thread. While going through what has been going on, I cam across this gem:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zerohour3k

In my opinion, the fuel industry should be treated as a utility, and controlled by the government. Since our economy relies on it, they shouldn't be making much profit. Maybe if they made two or three cents per gallon on it, we'd be in better shape. But, since it isn't regulated as a utility, these corporations are free to ream the general public for all they're worth. If the American economy fails, it will be the oil industry to blame.

Zero hour,
I am not aware of your background, but I can only assume from your post that you do not own or invest in a business. Why would anyone want to make a margin of less than 1% on their investment? Even with interest rates as low as they are, I can make much more by parking my money in a savings account. There are some big risks in the oil business. Do you want people that do not know the industry to place "earning limits" on that business? I know that there are people that do not know the ins and outs of the used book business (my business). Do I want people that do not know what the risks are to place limits on my business? How about your business? When making a business plan, the generally accepted margin is 17-19%. If the feds were to come in and impose a set margin, according to GAAP, that margin would be around 17%. That would mean that prices would go UP at the pump. (Remember what happened when the government came in and "fixed" cable prices? Just in case you dont remember, they went UP by about 15%)

Lets get some facts out there. The "BIG OIL" profit on a gallon of gas is 9.4% according the the SEC. That margin is very low. As a business owner, if my margin was that low, I would not be able to convince my other investors that the risk/reward for their money is worth it. If the profit from "BIG OIL" is only 10% (lets round for the sake of understanding), where is the rest of the cost of a gallon comes from. Here is a big shock

, the federal government takes 27% for the cost in the form of taxes from the retailer (dont forget that the "BIG OIL" profit is also taxed to the tune of $4BILLION for Exxon/Mobil alone last year). Another great thing is the State taxes. Here in Alabama, the state tax is about 15%. Almost HALF of the cost of a gallon of gas is TAXES. At $3.00 a gal, the feds collect $0.81 a gallon. A the same time, "BIG OIL" rakes in a mighty $0.28 per gallon. Just who is the profiteer here? Who would make the biggest/fastest improvement in prices if they would take their hand out of the cookie jar?