Diesel $3.30/ Gallon Time for a Bicycle!!! - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

aklim · #16 05-02-2007, 02:24 PM

2.85 in WI.

Yep, wife talked about getting a more fuel efficient car than the E300 that does 33mpg and I told her it wouldn't make financial sense. Even if I did get a TDI, it wouldn't work. Firstly because I don't know about how to work on them and secondly because I won't work on a FWD lunchbox.

bullwinkle · #17 05-02-2007, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

Katrina proved to the oil companies that we US consumers will pay anything for fuel.
until that stops, the prices will not go down.

Absolutely CORRECT!!!!-in my area the oil companies function as if they were ONE company on pricing-they all move up together at just about the same time on the same day (this USED to be called "collusion" and is supposed to be illegal!)-as long as there is no other alternative, the consumer has to pay whatever the oil company (s?) think that they can chisel out of the public. It's definitely starting to hurt the economy here, many of my small business customers are close to going under.

cewyattjr · #18 05-02-2007, 03:24 PM

I'm probably raising a controversial issue on the thread, but it all seems to me like an argument for alternative fuels. One of my attractions to my 82 300D is that it is hardy enough to accept WVO without all the "oh gee it might hurt the IP" worries of the TDI.

True it may not get 45 MPG, like my Beetle did, which was really amazing. And with WVO I could go over 2,000 miles on a tank of diesel in the summer. Yowza. However, my beef with the car was not so much the engine, but just the overall poor quality. Plastic crap of some sort would break off all the time. Just to name a few: glove compartment, seat release, hood release, A/C controller, headlight release. At 80K miles I lost the water pump, which made the timing belt skip, which bent the valves and cost over $3k to fix.

My bad, it was a maintenance item I should have checked when I bought the car. Still... a seizing water pump immediately ruins the engine!?

OK, sorry for the TDI rant. I just sold it last week, this time, cracked block having hit a small 5" piece of stray asphalt in the road (!). RIP.

MB's are ideal for WVO, but probably many wouldn't go this route even with the price gouging from the oil companies that's going on?

-Chuck

bgkast · #19 05-02-2007, 03:25 PM

I just filled up with B20 for $2.97 in N. Portland.

#20 05-02-2007, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cewyattjr

MB's are ideal for WVO, but probably many wouldn't go this route even with the price gouging from the oil companies that's going on?

Some of us drive these cars just because we like them, and do not want to run them on garbage. Honestly, the cost of fuel is a small part of the total cost of ownership so it's just not worth messing up the engine with alternative "fuel." If I cared about the cost of fuel I would probably buy a new TDI or CDI and put up with all the crap associated with driving a newer car.

mamali · #21 05-02-2007, 03:44 PM

May be we have to wait for the next administration ( Hopefully one with no ties to the oil industry) to get the prices down and hopefully the war finished.

cewyattjr · #22 05-02-2007, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamali

May be we have to wait for the next administration ( Hopefully one with no ties to the oil industry) to get the prices down and hopefully the war finished.

Agreed! Meanwhile, I'm happy to run my car on garbage.

bgkast · #23 05-02-2007, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamali

May be we have to wait for the next administration ( Hopefully one with no ties to the oil industry) to get the prices down and hopefully the war finished.

Don't count on it. The only way prices are going is up. We have reached or will shortly reach the peak of oil production. I doubt demand will decrease as quickly as supply will....

#24 05-02-2007, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgkast

Don't count on it. The only way prices are going is up. We have reached or will shortly reach the peak of oil production. I doubt demand will decrease as quickly as supply will....

Absolutely, this is just the beginning. We are probably looking a doubling the price at the pump within not too many years. The price may dip a little now and them, but the trend is only going up. As someone said, I was so shocked at the price of gas I almost spilled my $4 cup of coffee.

Seriously, compared to the rest of the world, and the price of just about everything else we consume, the price of fuel (and other forms of energy) is still ridiculously low. The fact is that the U.S. has about 7% of the world's population and consumes something like 20% of the energy. This situation will correct itself, it always does.

That reminds me, I saw a brand new smart car in the parking lot of my daughter's high school yesterday, that's the first one I've seen around here.

cewyattjr · #25 05-02-2007, 04:14 PM

Yeah, its true we consume 20% and pollute in a major way as well. I guess that makes the US pretty much the global "pigs," but apparently China is catching up very quickly.

Hopefully higher CAFE standards will help if we can get 'em through the gov't.

Pretty bad to be driving a 25-year old car that may be called by some a "dinosaur" in some technical respects, but certainly isn't a dinosaur in terms of fuel economy. It should be, and it could be, but it isn't. I imagine my 300D gets better mileage than my neighbor's Lexus SUV.

-Chuck

#26 05-02-2007, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cewyattjr

Yeah, its true we consume 20% and pollute in a major way as well. I guess that makes the US pretty much the global "pigs," but apparently China is catching up very quickly.

I agree, especially with regard to china and india. Both of these countries are on the cusp of major industrialization, and we are talking about a combined population of about 2.5 billion (more or less 8 times the population of the U.S.). If their per capita energy consumption even approaches western levels, the impact on the world energy market will be huge. We can only guess what impact this will have on energy costs (and the environment) over the next 10 or 20 years. Truly scary.

If the U.S. has any influence left in the world, they should be using it it to encourage "green" development in that part of the world. There is a fairly short time window available to influence the direction of their development.

Old300D · #27 05-02-2007, 04:38 PM

Methanol prices are skyrocketing too. I had to pay $4.00 a gallon, making my B100 cost me $1.00 per gallon now.

Bruce Kennedy · #28 05-02-2007, 04:55 PM

Recently a freind helped deliver a boat, they stopped in Venezuela for fuel and it was 20 cents U.S. per gallon. Turns out they have no tax on deisel fuel! The oil companys and the government are to blame for the prices. They have us by the balls and they know it.