Five Dollar Per Gallon Gas

[stringmachine]

I still love my fj and will keep it, it is not the fjs fault at all. And I cannot help but love to drive it, play in it,. and get it muddy. yeah its a keeper..

[RabidPooch]

wvuhillbilly previously said:

So....what say you, what will be the fate of your FJ should we hit the $5 milestone? Think with logic, not emotion before responding.

1. Buy the supercharger? (rumor has it....if you don't "get on it" it actually helps save a few MPGs...LOL
2. Visit the in-laws less?

3. Take Greyhound when I make the 2 hour trek to my mom's house? (ooops..already do that)

We bought, never intending this to be a daily driver....other than for local errands. And, even though I HATE chain stores, we had two brand new shopping centers and a Fresh & Easy open in the last year, so life is good.

But I saw a documentary on the rising demand (that will be practically insatiable) for fuel for China and India, long before we made the purchase. So we made the decison with full disclosure.

Sadly, I expect fuel to hit $6 or $7 a gallon in the near future.

We have been looking for an older diesel wagon (to run SVO) for quite some time now. I have a contact of someone locally who builds the conversion kits. Then, we can just drive the FJ for fun. My only concern is not having a source for SVO ....(currently we have friends who own a restaurant and have offered us their oil )....then diesel is expensive.

On the flip side, diesel wagons (needed so we have room for the dog) get good MPGs ...should be have to run diesel on only.

Sorry to say.....but fossil fuel is NOT going back to the old prices. We have entered a new era....and there will be many adjustments to be made.

Hopefully the "algae" alternatives or something similar will pan out in the near future.

[uphill]

frankthomson previously said:

i thought that was a way of Toyo getting out of their warranty?

no premium gas = no warranty

??????..i could swear i read that here

No, to the contrary: TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETINS (TSB's): For the FJ Cruiser

Urban Myth.

[logan9967]

it runs nicely on 89, i've done it a few times

[DominicG]

i run 89 or 91..

my mileage takes a dump on 87 (then again i don't drive conservative unless i have passengers.. which is rare.)

[Crotalus]

DominicG previously said:

i run 89 or 91..

my mileage takes a dump on 87 (then again i don't drive conservative unless i have passengers.. which is rare.)

X2!!! Seriously folks, do a careful comparison of your mpg using 87 octane vs. 91-93 octane. I have carefully kept track of my mpg on just about every fillup I have done on my FJ since last November - ~ 14k.

I have done the math/calculations on another thread, so I won't repeat it here. However, I get 15.5-16.5 on 87 octane and 17.5-19.5 on 93 octane. Assuming an average of 2 mpg difference, IT SAVES ME MONEY - about $5 per tankful when there's a 20-cent difference in cost! Try it! Sure, you can run your FJ on regular... But if when you use premium, you get more power, it runs better, and saves you money... why not?

[brian71]

Yeah Boone Pickens (oil magnate who donated millions to Oklahoma State) says 8 dollar gas in 5 years. He's building wind farms and water pipelines so you know what's coming and it won't be fun. At least by then my FJ will be paid off and I can pick up a battery powered Yaris as a daily driver. Things are changing my friends.

There are ways to increase domestic supply, i.e. opening up ANWR and doing more drilling in the gulf. It is a no brainer that once things reach a certain point the environmentalists will lose that battle. Those supplies will help reduce our foreign dependence for a while, but compared to Canadian, Russian, Venezuelan and Middle Eastern reserves those are small and will not impact prices all that much. At best they may keep things from increasing as fast for a couple years. Colorado is full of oil shale but the amount of water (remember water is gonna be the next big problem soon) and energy to extract it combined with the open pit mining makes it a pretty desperate last resort at best.

It's a complex issue, but heres one thing nobody has brought up: the price of oil is set by OPEC in US dollars, so when the value of the dollar falls against other currencies, the price of gas in the U.S. must go up. There is no dispute on this.

Economists point to the main reasons for the falling value of the dollar: government deficit spending and monitizing of debt by the federal reserve. Deficit spending happens when the gov't spends more than they bring in with taxes. They sell interest paying IOUs to foreign countries in exchange for goods and services. Right now we're paying for a 3 trillion dollar war with borrowed money because the powers that be don't want to pay the political price for the war by making everyone pony up for it. Does anyone really think you can have a 5 year war and lower taxes at the same time without the costs coming home to roost somehow? The second cause is that the federal reserve lowers interest rates charged to banks (and therefore the rates charged on credit cards, home mortgages, etc.) by injecting more money into the economy. Essentially the government writes an IOU to the fed, who then prints up more money to loan to banks. When the banks have more money on hand, they want to loan it out so they lower interest rates they charge to customers. But there is now more dollars out there, and the amount of goods and services hasn't changed, so the value of each dollar must go down. The fed has been using this tactic lots to keep the economy afloat during the housing meltdown.

So lets simplfy things - higher gas is caused by falling dollar. 2 primary reasons for falling dollar and thus 5 dollar gas are
1. War in Iraq paid for with borrowed money.
2. Housing Meltdown caused by predatory lending by major banking institutions (which brought huge profits to the rich finance guys).

$5 gas is a TAX ladies and gentlemen. It is a tax well understood by the very people who like to pretend to do us favors by 'lowering' our taxes while at the same time borrowing trillions from our children. It is a tax that destroys the small guy who needs gas to get to his minimum wage job, makes life tough for the middle class, but has no impact on the rich. The classic bait and switch. Also note that the petroleum industry has had record off the charts profits for the last several years.

Who benefits - who pays the price? Dig deeper people - the answers are out there if you educate yourself and ignore the sound bite politics. When somebody says they will lower your taxes, do not automatically assume they are doing you any favors. The real world isn't that simple.

[frankthomson]

uphill previously said:

No, to the contrary: TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETINS (TSB's): For the FJ Cruiser

Urban Myth.

i guess it furthers the notion that *a LITTLE knowledge is a dangerous thing*!

thanx 4 the clarification, uphill

[MKOAZ]

Well it's gonna get worse... A little birdie told me that Exxon Mobil refinery employee's union contracts are coming up. So they are looking to strike any time between now January 09. Once the media hears about this gas will sky rocket.

[FJ666]

$5 a gallon gas. Yep... Those were the good old days.