how have gas prices effected you?

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:16 am

Todd Breakey wrote:

And that is part of the problem with the Diesel reputation. People who remember the old GM/ Mercedes/ VW/ Volvo of the 80's only remember the noisy, smelly, black smoke belching beasts of the time. Alot has changed in the past 30 years. The new cars are very quiet, don't have that bad smell and are actually cleaner than alot of new gas powered cars. Go take a look at the new Mercedes BlueTech diesels. They are extremely nice cars and are actually cleaner than the PZEV cars from Honda, Ford, etc. The new CleanTDI from VW is said to be even cleaner than the BlueTech, but we won't know that for sure until they hit the shores this summer.

My neighbor has a '98ish TDi. First you are awakened by the awful sound of an engine that sounds like it's about to puke the rods out, then you see the cloud of black smoke blowing across the cul-de-sac like the monster in Lost, followed by a horrible smell. At least the mosquito population is dwindling!

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:18 am

Jason Mauldin wrote:

My neighbor has a '98ish TDi. First you are awakened by the awful sound of an engine that sounds like it's about to puke the rods out, then you see the cloud of black smoke blowing across the cul-de-sac like the monster in Lost, followed by a horrible smell. At least the mosquito population is dwindling!

You owe me a new keyboard and monitor Jason. :lol:

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:35 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

When I *do* go driving, I get every last penny of fun out of it. Full-throttle romps in the 540i keep my average at 18 MPG. But it's worth it.

You need to try a BMW motorcycle

Full-throttle romps and still get 45 mpg. I decided last Friday I needed to unwind. Instead of heading home or to happy hours, I stayed on the bike. A 110 miles through Durham, Granville, Franklin and Wake counties and only 3 gallons of premium fuel. Only about 10 of those miles on a 4 lane highway.

Glad I got rid of my boat. I could not imagine enjoying taking it out when it got only 2 mpg at WOT on premium fuel. That 100 gallon fuel tank would be a budget buster.

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:39 am

A real effect is the value of my Silverado. When I was looking to trade it in on a new Silverado, came to discover the trade-in value had dropped by 50% from a year ago!

The reason is that the market has totally fallen out of the big truck market. Demand for large trucks is so low because of the price of gas. So even if you want to downgrade and get rid of that SUV, good luck.

clinehall · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:47 am

RE: Mikes comments.

I am slightly older than most of you guys, when I was a kid, that's how you lived because that is all middle class people could afford. The pool in the yard was a sprinkler to run through but the the other stuff is the same. You got more deliveries because not everyone had two cars. I really think this rise in gas is a good thing (yes I do own XOM and Coneco stock but nevertheless) America won't change their lifestyles until it hurts in the wallet. God bless the free market economy!

I am also looking at alternative HVAC systems as I probably could gain a lot of effeciency there.

Funny, as I was typing this between working, a client of mine with corvettes, lexus, and traveling to Europe on vacation, called to add an old Triumph 250cc bike so he could save money on gas. Perhaps this is really going to chang how we live.

clinehall · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:48 am

JIm,

I only use 89 octane in my beemers. Do you need the higher for the boxer engine?

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

jimpastorius wrote:

You need to try a BMW motorcycle

Full-throttle romps and still get 45 mpg.

Haven't you noticed my trend of increasing the "number of doors and seats per vehicle" metric in my household?

Sold Miata bought a 330ciC
Stopped daily driving M3, bought a 540i
Sold motorcycle

I am recreationally shopping for a F650GS though, if you run across one.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:21 pm

PhilFausz wrote:

However, I have proven unable to apply efficient driving techniques anytime a slow car gets in my way. Oh well!

There's the quote of the day!

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:08 pm

Jason Mauldin wrote:

My neighbor has a '98ish TDi. First you are awakened by the awful sound of an engine that sounds like it's about to puke the rods out, then you see the cloud of black smoke blowing across the cul-de-sac like the monster in Lost, followed by a horrible smell. At least the mosquito population is dwindling!

Again, that is the old diesel technology. The 01 - 03 diesels were much better, then when they went to the PD engines in 04 they got even quieter with less smoke. Fast forward to the 05 New Jetta and their 1.9L Turbo diesels and you couldn't even tell they were diesel without looking at the badge.

Diesel technology has changed alot since your neighbor's Jetta was born. The *only* thing inticing about his 98 is that it CAN run on full bio or be turned into a "greaser" and run on waste vegi oil. Talk about giving the oil companies the fickle finger of fate. That would be the way to do it!!!!

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:08 pm

clinehall wrote:

JIm,

I only use 89 octane in my beemers. Do you need the higher for the boxer engine?

Well, the cost difference between filling up my bike with mid-grade and premium is eighty cents. That is a pretty cheap insurance against any possible predetonation or pinging. Motorcycles really hate that and worse, you can not hear it while riding.

My brother has a sidecar for sale Mike that could be an option. The F650's are a hot ticket. It took me about 2 days to sell mine. The best place to look is the chaingang web site.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:26 pm

jimpastorius wrote:

You need to try a BMW motorcycle

Full-throttle romps and still get 45 mpg. I decided last Friday I needed to unwind.

Sounds great . . . but what percentage of motorcyclists live to "normal" life expectancy. :wink:

I know, they have more fun so higher risk is worth it (actually it probably is) :lol:

Dick (who survived brief periods of motorcycle ownership but has known too many people who were killed or maimed by either stupid/blind car drivers or by their own stupidity)

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:33 pm

My Mom, in desperate need of a kidney transplant, calls motorcycle owners PODs...Potential Organ Donors!!! :lol:

MartynWheeler · **Joined:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:30 pm **Posts:** 303

The car payment alone on an efficient vehicle would be more than I pay in gas per month for the Trans Am using Premium. Even if I keep autocrossing Kit's Mazda, gas costs is no reason for me to replace the TA.

Like Jim says, a bike's the way to go. My Harley gets around 45mpg around town and 50-55 easily on trips. (It's a 2005 and mechanically stock, so it doesn't get that efficiency from getting lighter as parts fall off.)

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:01 pm

jimpastorius wrote:

Let's see how my May 3rd and 4th race at CMP stacks up to your autocross trip.

- $200 worth of tires
- $150 worth of gas
- $50 worth of food
- $300 entry fee

So it is $500 cheaper than your tires. My track time will be 70 minutes per day. Nope, don't miss those kinds of autocrosses.

I will leave Raleigh around 1 PM Friday afternoon and be home by 6 or 7 Sunday evening.

Jim,

I agree that cost of those consumables (assuming the $150 includes towing and track gas) is high per minute of competition driving time for autocrossing.

What happens to the cost comparison if you factor in relative wear and tear, engines, brakes (pads, calipers, rotors, fluid), drivetrain, and, unfortunately, crash damage (not "if", but "when")?

Also, what about time working on the car?

Seems like the total cost of track racing has to be substantially higher than for autocrossing (unless the autocross car is a high bucks stocker which is replaced frequently).

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:53 pm

DickRasmussen wrote:

Jim,

I agree that cost of those consumables (assuming the $150 includes towing and track gas) is high per minute of competition driving time for autocrossing.

What happens to the cost comparison if you factor in relative wear and tear, engines, brakes (pads, calipers, rotors, fluid), drivetrain, and, unfortunately, crash damage (not "if", but "when")?

Also, what about time working on the car?

Seems like the total cost of track racing has to be substantially higher than for autocrossing (unless the autocross car is a high bucks stocker which is replaced frequently).

Hell, I will toss in the cost of my pads and rotors without spreading the cost out over the race weekends they are good for and still come in slightly cheaper than the cost of tires to be competitive at the big autocrosses.

As for wear and tear, they are different between AX and track. Failures at the track usually involve motors. Failures at AX usually involve suspension. As Donnie pointed out a while back, that is the risk you accept in any form of motorsports. You run the motors at the track at their limits. In AX, you are stressing the suspension beyond what it was designed for. Both will break if you do it long enough.

I still have the receipts and monthly statements to show how expensive it is to run mid-pack at the national level nowadays. For those 6 years, I could have bought a couple of well-prepped CMC cars.

Building a nationally competitive AX car is the same as building a competitive race car. Except you need to factor in the cost of the safety equipment. But that is way cheaper than buying a new car every couple of years.

Back on topic, with skyrocketing fuel cost, the utils of satisfaction for an autocross at our sites do not justify me spending the additional fuel cost to go. Now if I had a streetable car, I would be there.

I know you are going to see the cost of fuel (and the trickle down effect) start to impact attendance at autocross and then at the track. Danville is only 60% full a week away. NASA-MA bumped up the registration fee for Hyperfest (that event sold out all groups & racers in 6 days) weekend to make sure the CMP event next weekend is covered.

I am purposely ignoring the crashing ... it is the risk you take and is factored into the cost.

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