$10 per gallon gas???!!!!

So I was listening to the news today and the gas companies reported a 14 billion dollar profit for the last 3 months, nice...

Also, Allen Gaines(sp?), the man who predicted gas prices would be where they are at now over a year ago said that he expects gas to be $8-$10 per gallon two years from now. What do you guys know or think about all this? Obviously the season is here and we are all stoked but should this be in the back of our minds? I am in boat sales and it really worries me...

well, i remeber when i bought my audi 5 years ago it cost me 35 - 40$ for a full tank and yesterday my girlfriend ask me if i wanted to go fill for her the car i say yes baby no problem, and the same car cost 80$ for a full tank i was fall on my A*S, imagine in 2 years it will cost 160$ incredible. Anyway the only thing i remark yesterday outside the gaz price was that my girlfriend was really smart to ask me if i wanted to go fill the Car !!!

The big gas companies make more profit then Walmart. Lat year they averaged 10 billion a quarter which were record years. Now thy have increased that by 4 billion for the last quarter. It is nothing more then greed at it's highest level. (Money is not the rot of all evil, the love of money is the root of all evil)

10 dollars a gallon is what I pay every time I fill up driving in Europe. I have been over here for a month and I cant wait to get back to 4 dollar a gallon gas or whatever it is by the time I get back.

I read $7 by 2012.

its the gas companies.... in all reality the war in iraq/middle east not liking us has very little to do with gas prices. as you can see companies are just taking us up the rear!

I guess I'm not smart enough to understand how gas can go up in price that much. Imagine how much food costs will rise as a result of that. There are already millions who can barely afford food, $10 gas would make billions of people unable to afford food.

$50 wakeboard sets would be the least of problems

when it hits above 6 or 7 dollars i'm going to start making my own bio-diesel for my truck. i would probably switch my motor in my boat for a diesel motor and use bio-deisel in it too. or just get a street bike to handle the prices.

Think of the overall effect on the economy as a whole. Wakeboarding would be un-obtainable for all, but a very few. Housing prices would skyrocket near city "hubs". Economical housing far away from the city would be entirely undesireable driving prices way down. The used vehicle market would slump. SUV's would be value-less. Cost of all goods will become more expensive as transportation costs go up.

It's really not a good cycle. It's something that needed to happen to a certain extent, but it needs to be regulated in some way. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

That's how I look at it too, Evan. It's shocking to see how fast things are changing in this area.

How do you regulate it? Indian and China will demand more fuel than we have ever demanded. How are we to say 'It was ok for us to suck up resources for our industrialization, but now that fuel is in demand, you guys can't'.

These gas prices are going to CRUSH the boating industry. If it deters a WW nut, imagine what it does to the average Joe.

All the boat companies are going to be regretting their focus on these monster hogs of late.

Everyone is going to scrambling for 2001s.

CC2001 vdrive: a 4 to 6 person efficient wake boat.

If anyone is interested there is an article on MSN money today that explains that w/Exxon profit they will become more profitable then the entire GDP of Sweden which would make them the 18th richest "country" in the world. Gas needs to be regulated.

Gas has got to be regulated soon. It will destroy the US market if it isn't. Hardly any of the gas $ goes back into US market. The problem is that gas is able to be traded as a comodity so as long as people keep buying as investment it will keep going up. Nasty cycle.

someone has to pay for snow ski hills in the desert and private A380's

looks like i'm gettin another streetbike come august..YEA!!!

maybe I should sell my boat now while it is worth something and get out all together

Did you know a guy in the 70's patented a 100MPG system on a Ford?
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directo...or_Fuel_System

What about Charles Pogue and his 200 MPG carburetor invented in 1936?
http://blog.hasslberger.com/2007/04/...line_vapo.html

How come 40 and 75 years later we still are only getting 16 mpg on our trucks?

maybe we will pass thru a recession before that point IMO !

I read that $10/gallon article today too. My first thought was not only that it would make using my boat unaffordable, but also that my boat would lose at least 50% of it's value. Although I would never sell in anticipation of such a thing, the first thing that crossed my mind was that I don't want to be sitting on a "worthless" boat if that time ever comes.

I saw these two articles earlier today and thought they were relevant.

Oil prices and the value of the dollar
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/29/news/economy/oil_dollar/index.htm?postversion=2008042911

Another perspective of the oil companies profits
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/29/markets/thebuzz/index.htm?postversion=2008042912

The US Economy will far apart at $7 a gallon.

jay, your links didn't work for me?

So if the gas companies made a 14 billion dollar profit that means the US Gov made 16 to 18 billion dollars. I wish people would stop getting pissed at the oil companies and look where the real problem is. And all the while Im filling up daily in Saudi at $0.60 per gallon.

Just because the gov. made more doesn't relieve the oil companies of any fault.
At least the gov has some expenses of running the country...oil companies just put it in their pockets.

Todd must work for a gas company. I blame both the gas companies for being so damn greedy, and the government for letting 'em get away with it.

Leo brought up a good point that gets overlooked. Just because the United States rely's on gas doesn't mean that there aren't other places in the world where the gas companies can go to make money. As our economy decreases and other places in the world ramp up (i.e. China), the gas companies could push their efforts overseas. A giant recession in the United States will have little effect on their profits.

What needs to happen is for the United States to become less oil dependent. There are so many other answers to our problems that we have yet to explore. We've been the gas hogs of the world for years now. We should have seen this coming when we were buying up H2 Hummers to tow our X80's.

Evan, and Leo, who got it started, are 100% correct. China and India are following the paradigm for industrialization that the United States and Western Europe established. That paradigm is heavily hydrocarbon intensive and it only makes sense now that the up and coming industrial powers are focusing on the same sources of energy.

Another angle is...look at Japan in WWII, why did it invade China, at least part of it, and I would argue a big part of it, was resources and Japan's natural disadvantage in producing resources domestically.

Back to what Evan said re: becoming less hydrocarbon/oil intensive. This is exactly the strategy that my friends and I discuss, and it seems to be the only feasible strategy. For those married to the hydrocarbon way of life, you won't be left out. Hydrocarbons are, fortunately or not, a good source of energy, but it isn't being used efficiently nor is it's potential being maximized, and herein lies the problem, and the reason that normal people should be pissed at big oil companies.

Car companies aren't the only ones that lobby congress and legislators to limit the MPG standards on new cars. Just look at Canada, their standards are higher, and yet not high enough. The technology is there it is just being stifled for the profit of two major industrial powers, the auto industry and the oil and gas industry.

We have to demand that our engines (of all varieties) become more efficient. On top of that we need to build in a more sustainable manner. In the next 10 years there will be opportunities to have carbon neutral houses and buildings built, and while at first you might think this is only good for people who hug trees and wear flowers in their hair, it isn't. This applies to anyone who wants to *be paid* by the energy company for energy that their house produces over what they use. I wouldn't mind taking that money + the money you save and put that into a boat or a car or whatever you want. Think about it, you're producing so much energy just be building in a certain way, that you're getting paid.

I'm sure most people are reading (or skipping this) a thinking I don't have a clue, but you'll see, there's only a couple of options, 1) follow the suggestions here that mirror what Evan and Leo were saying, or 2) continue down our current path, face absurdly high gas and commodities prices, and eventually continue along our collision course w/ China. The scary part is how crippled our economy will be given that China holds so many bonds and has a vast numerical advantage should we be ignorant enough to attempt to "protect" our hydrocarbon supplies by the use of force.

/rant

I doubt we will ever see $10/gal gas in 2008 dollars. The U.S. has about 1/3 of the worlds coal reserves. If you add shale oil reserves it's more like 1/2. Add Canada who we're friends with and it's closer to 2/3's. Coal and shale oil is very easy to make into a clean burning fuel by chemically processing it and could be done easily at today's prices. Problem is that we , as a country, would have to be willing to dig very large holes in the ground and make wakeboarding lakes out of them after we've dug the stuff up. Right now this is not politically acceptable to many who live here. It will become more so though as middle east oil prices continue to rise as production declines. Stop waiting for hydrogen, which is an energy storage medium, and start thinking coal which is an energy source. Wakeboarding will have nothing to do with the drive towards coal as the real motivation will be affordable transportation and food. We have the technology now to do a nice clean job of energy extraction so fears of pollution problems are not that big a deal.

gas prices will probably continue to rise! since reserves are getting smaller and smaller while demand stays the same or increases! But there still is no reason gas prices should be this high..companies are making a killer profit and its unneccesary

Well said CIE Evan. You guys complain about fuel cost but I still see posts on here about extra ballast.???? If you want fuel prices to drop start conserving. Slow down, no extra ballast, less sets, whatever. You reap what you sow, this country has done it to itself. How many huge lifted up SUV and trucks do you see on the road? We are spoiled and it's come back to bite us. Don't complain, do something about it. As Evan said other countries such as China are getting alot more dependent on fuel. We have lots of technology to refine our own oil safely and build up our current refiners but to many damn tree huggers. It all boils down to spoiled Americans. Example: It would be one thing to pull your economical boat with an economical vehicle, but, we have a lifted up Hummer with a chip for more power and a blinged out boat with 5000lbs of ballast on a trailer with rims. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Sure it's a free country you have the right to have whatever but you pay to play. Not to mention we are a role model to other countries. They too will want what we have. It's not rocket science, this country takes it's freedoms and privileges for granted. People really can not understand why gas prices are high? Ignorant! We are all guilty.

Here is an economic reason why gas prices have risen:

Right now the dollar is very weak. Oil is traded in dollars. Euro’s and Yen for example are much more valuable than a dollar. The US big business is in a down turn, so stocks are probably not the best place for foreign investors to park their cash for the short term. Since gas is a global commodity and foreign dollars can buy more, speculators see it as a bargain. When foreign or domestic investors pile money into oil, the value of a barrel of oil rises. We then see that increase at the pump.

Here is an article that I found today:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080429/oil_prices.html

The proof is in the second paragraph. If demand is dropping and supplies are increasing, then why are prices STILL going up?

Dirty - I see your point, and surely fuel prices will go up, not down, but $14 billion for big oil this past quarter? How much would we be paying for gas if they would "settle" for $7 billion?

Jason you mentioned unnecessary and I'm just elaborating not picking on you. Americans always want someone else to conform to our needs, we never say hey, maybe I should change what I do.
Unnecessary things;
Owning a SUV or Truck (unless pulling something)
Fancy rims
Lift kits
Chips for more power
Extra ballast
Stereo systems
Fancy color schemes
New boat every two years
New car every two years
New setup every year
4000 sq ft home for two people
Wakeboarding (In the whole scope of things)

There are lots of things that are unnecessary.
The problem is we always have to go one step further than what we actually need to get by with. And really what we think is getting by, other countries would kill to have or take part in. We are all guilty!

Tank, because just like you corporations are greedy. I'm sure you could settle for alot less as well, but you want the best if you can get it. Just like the wakeboard industry, accessories, boats and clothing is going up because we keep paying for it wanting more bling, more ballast, more everything. If we were more conservative it would not be this way.

Return on Investment - the rate of "interest" on money that is invested in a company or security.

Inflation - the devaluation of a currency against a "basket of goods."

Exchange rate - the value of one currency as compared to another.

Constraint - an obstacle to business such as cost of goods, regulations, ethics, etc.

The overall return on investment for oil is less than Wal-Mart or almost every other major business. The oil companies have enormous exposure to catastrophic costs and market fluctuations. Nobody complained in the '80's when a glut of oil forced many companies out of business and entire communities were destroyed due to the market downturn. I know people who lost everything and were destitute for a long time.

Now the market for oil is up and there is "record profits." OK, only in an absolute sense in terms of dollars - not in terms of return on investment. That is still well below overall market average. The only record is in absolute dollars, now worth much less due to exchange rate and inflation, and not in terms of return on investment.

The biggest constraints on gasoline prices are the supply of oil, the transportation of oil, and the refining of oil. ALL are strictly regulated by the US government to nearly a nationalized enterprise of a socialistic state. If you want to see what happens, look at Venuzela. Their oil output is dropping due to a highly regulated oil industry. Their prices are going up, and they are rationing gas and diesel. Where free markets exist, the price fluctuates, but the gas and diesel are still available. Everyone has heard of ANWAR. There is a lot of oil there. There are billions of barrels within the US Exclusive Economic Zone ready for production, but we let Cuba get it rather than us. We can also refine gasoline from coal, but that is regulated out of existance by the EPA due to abuses in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

The previous posts about stocks and oil prices beign inverse is partially true. Investors seek profits. Oil is a sure bet right now. It will drop as the stock market recovers. There will be a lot of losers at that time. Nobody will weep for them. This happens every election cycle. Look back to every presidential election where the leadership changed - the headlines are exactly the same. Remember 1976? '80? 92?

Face it, we did this to ourselves by voting in fear mongers, scare tactics, and the goverment will solve your problems politicians.

End of rant.

I'm greedy? I did not see a check for $14 billion in my mailbox yesterday?

Let's face it, petroleum, just like electricity and natural gas, is pretty much a public utility, and the providers should not be gouging the public.

Tank, I'm not saying you are greedy. I'm just saying that the more people want something the more it will go up. Look at boats they went up 10,000 from a year ago. Why is nobody complaining about that? That's gouging. I mean if you want me to get really philosophical we don't need wakeboarding, gas, electricity or natural gas to survive, those are all luxuries.

Duffy, I complain about the boat prices too!

Thanks to our government, ethanol is now required to be part of the gasoline formula. So now many farmers have switched from growing other grains (wheat, rye, oats, soybeans, etc.) to growing corn. This is creating a severe shortage of these other grains, which is effecting the price of bread, cereal, etc. There is also a shortage of corn to feed animals since it's being used to make fuel, creating higher prices of meats, poultry, milk, cheese, dairy items, etc. It's a ripple effect that will be felt throughout the economy.

Oh, yeah forgot to mention that diesel fuel cost approx. $1.00 more/gal than gasoline, but yet cost much less to refine than gas. The government imposes a slightly higher fuel tax on diesel fuel, but most of the extra diesel fuel profits go to............you guessed it........the oil companies! (I saw diesel at $4.49 today here in NJ)

I also read that the government makes more money in taxes per gallon of fuel/gas than the oil companies.............AND THEY DO NOTHING TO EARN THAT MONEY, THEY JUST COLLECT IT.

We need to get rid of ethanol, go back to straight gasoline (better mpg anyway) and the government needs to remove the fuel tax and regulate the oil industry.

Rant over

Not to mention all the subsidies that the already rich as$ farmers get from the government.

Good bye corona

Hello busch light

Rich ass farmers?
Where?
%95 of farmers struggle every year to make ends meet.

Interesting read on MSN about how oil/gas has become unlinked to the laws of supply and demand and is now governed by "scarcity economics."

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/WhyWereStuckWithInsanePrices.aspx

America needs to wake up and invest some effort in developing renewable energy sources.

i hear by 2012 no vehicle can me produced unless it gets a minimum of 31 mpg... any truth to this?

what america needs to do is unite and everyone boycott gasoline until they oil companies lower their prices. it would be difficult but i gaurantee that after a week or two they will lower the prices.

on a side not to what people said about the government, under any other circumstance the gov would put a halt to the raising of prices. but the gov makes so much money on the oil industry they wont put a cap on it. its all crooked. what we really need to do is have a civil war and the general public needs to unite against the gov.

They would lower there price then jack it up 3x to make up for lost money.

well then we just do it again

The first person to invent a safe, reliable alternate fuel source will be the richest man alive.... Or the company that buys and expands on his or her idea!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvB3PiPBozU

jason- unfortunately oil companies have other places to go to sell that oil, and plus the American public is too opinionated on false information (see: the internet as a whole) and lazy (we all know it) that everyone wants someone to do something, but no one is willing to get off their lazy *** and do anything. The media sure isn't helping in this as well. (ugh I hate cable news. Give me a local station any day of the week.)

wow, that felt good. Rant over.

wow, I just have to put in my 2 cents. for all of you who think that driving a big truck is in part to blame I ask you to concider this. when your at home in your cozy house all dry and warm with the lights on and tv glowing.that guys like myself and many others have to drive big trucks to build that pretty house of yours. I would love it if i could show up in a nice prius getting 50mpg but some how I dont think thats going to happen. sorry to rant but im sick of the whole if you drove a smaller car crap. many industrial jobs requier it. I dont see anyone saying oh Im sorry you dont get a choice. let me pay you a little extra to help out. no you all want your homes to work and cost you next to nothing to build maintain and repair.

Who Cares, I don't think they are talking about the industrial guys. Come visit Texas A&M, almost every third male has a jacked up truck with nothing in the bed.

leo Im sorry, but the construction field has been getting pissed on for ever. I dont know a single sole that wants some thing done thats not looking to a friend or some one in the trades for help and expecting that they will at no expense. and god have mercy if a contractor shows up late etc. sorry for the rant just bitter about the economy and the bush that keeps screwing me.

its not an issue that can }be solved on a small scale like forcing ourselves to conserve fuel by not adding ballast or filling up our hummers. This is a global problem that wil have to have rules, with results on a global level. It is like global warming....If I use special lightbulbs in my house b/c of my morals it is not going to matter....but if the LAW was that everyone had to use an energy friendly bulb, then things would change. To me there are no good outcomes from this issue in the future especially being the Worlds Police here in the USA. WAR, HUNGER, POVERTY. I am thinking about learning chinese! lol

Rich ass farmers? Are you serious? Most of them are barely getting by. They have to make a living somehow too.

There are a couple of places to place the blame. One is the hardest and that is ourselfs. We are a very selfish society. Its the "all about me" generation. Population grows, we need more supplies. If we stop having so many kids we won't have the demand problem. Most people I speak to are not even educated in Darwins theory of extinction. Darwin's first theory is a population will outgrow its food source. Well we are starting to outgrow our sources of alot of things. Our second problem is environmentalists. I love the outdoors and the environment. I know in the past we have had problems with Nuclear power but now it is one of the safest ways to produce power. Environmentalists don't want us to build reserviors and dam's. Remember when it took 3-4 bad years of rainfall to have a drought? Now all it takes is one year and we are in trouble? Hmmm we need more dams to hold water. We release so much water when we have too much rainfall and snow like in 03-04-05. The water could have been stored for our use. Reserviors also produce power via the damn. Hydro power is one of the cleanest around. Also reervoirs start commerce and give people a place for recreation and start communities and economies. Solar power is great and it will take time but if the government took and gave grants to everyone to pay for solar panels we could solve a lot of our energy needs. Now let's go to the government. Who had the idea for ethonol? ?? probably the same guy as mtbe. Also why do we not have bullet trains in california? I would love to ride a train to LA or Vegas or Reno without having to stop and take a bus to another train etc. Hell rent me a prius while im there I don't care. Also why is public transportation so expensive 7 dollars for caltrain for one section etc. Ever been to NEW York city. 2 bucks anywhere you wanna go. Come on get with it California, atleast the bay area. Get that bullet train going from sac, stockton, tracy etc. Throw internet on it, and let people use that instead of gas. All state vehicles should be hybrids or electric. Why do meter maids need a gas car to print tickets? The state needs to lead by example. We need to allocate our tax dollars correctly. No more committe's to meet about making a committee to make a committee. Come on, get with it and get it done before we really dig ourselfs a ditch. And if gas was 10 dollars a gallon I would seriously buy a sail boat and sail for free. Slip fee's would be very affordable at that rate

Kana12- There is a mandated year for all cars to reach somewhere around 31 mpg. I believe it is a much later date the 2012.

In my opinion I believe that a gasoline based engine should be a thing of the past. Gasoline hybrids are NOT the solution to the problem. I believe that diesel and diesel hybrids are exactly what the US needs.

Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian based SUV/Truck manufacturer will be introducing their truck and suv in the US market in 2009. The first year will introduce their 4-cylinder diesel with around 30-35 mpg and a price tag in the low-mid $20k's. In 2010 they will introduce their diesel hybrid engine. The price is slightly higher in the low $30k's but will get 40+ mpg. The truck looks like an older model Toyota Tacoma and the SUV looks like an older Montero Sport. They haven't come out with the towing specs yet but the payload is just over a ton for the truck.

Supposedly the inflated profits of the oil companies are set aside for research and development. I haven't seen a lot of R&D in my opinion. Someone above said that fuel is a necessity and should be regulated, I agree.

Notice that there are few on here concerned about how they are gonna get to work. They are concerned about how its gonna affect their recreation.

Recreational use of fuel will soon be a thing of the past.

Its capitalism. The market will settle when it finds the max people will pay. Once it finds the ceiling, they will then begin to compete with one another and the prices will fall. We have not used our consumer power and dictated a ceiling. Look at the wakeboat industry. 10 years ago a loaded high end wakeboat was $35k. There isnt a ton of difference in the product since then and they are double sometimes triple the cost? Why is that? Its still just fiberglass. Its still just marinized v8's. Because suckers will pay it for recreation. As long as suckers keep buying boats and gas for recreation regardless of the cost, the cost will continue to rise.

We could never boycott gasoline when we are completely dependent on it.

If we did that the oil companies would just laugh at us, they know that we have to get to work and wherever else we drive everyday, and we have no other options right now. So until we have another option, we have to pay whatever they charge us

Bicycle!

Exactly. We arent dependent on it, we just like the convienence it provides.

I watched a show on msnbc or cnn (one of those channels)they were talking about gas prices and alternatre fuels. They said we are 2 years away from have gas from lets say coal or anyother source. So if we started today it would 2010 before we would see it. Botoom line is we havent started that i kinow of and thats what they were saying. We need to start now! Did anyone else hear they are building a coal refinery on the east coast or around there? I could of swore i heard something a few weeks back

This is simple,
If you think the oil companies can make a killing buy their stock so you can too.
If you spend too much on fuel, use less. They you're ahead and there is less demand to push up the price.
If you think the price is too high check what it is elsewhere and move there. Or compare it to the price of bottled water. (there's a lot more water here than oil)
To address Hart's original comment. Big changes in an elastic price commodity like gasoline will hurt the decision to use a piece of recreational equipment. Do I have enough Money in my pocket now to go enjoy myself? Buying the boat is more of a lifestyle choice and is not based nearly as much on economics.

As prices keep going up and there is a belief that the high prices will be steady or keep going up, more substitutes will enter the market. The problem is that it takes a lot of time for the market to use and develop substitutes. It takes a decade to get a nuclear power plant started. People can't change where they live, what cars they drive every time oil prices change, but over the long run many of them will. Case in point, in Europe many people swap out gas for natural gas fuel systems for wakeboats and cable riding is the norm not the exception. So even in our recreational world you will see people making energy saving investments but it will not happen over night. More regulation will only stifle the development of substitutes.

Unfortunately Bush has put us down a path of corn based EtOH which is not a long term solution, but something that can be developed quickly. The stimulus package that many of us will be getting over the next few weeks is a joke. For the people that do not use it to pay down debt they have already accumulated, the other half will go out and buy flat screen TVs made in China. I'm not against a stimulus, but would much rather see the money go to infrastructure development (light rail, high speed trains, energy research) where there would be many more economic multipliers.

AtTheLake, that would require a progressive congress.

'If pro is the opposite of con, then is progress the opposite of congress?'

All this doom and gloom means the bubble will pop soon. At least, that's my contrarian way reading into the overwhelming press/discussions regarding the subject. And I do believe we must focus on energy conservation no matter the current cost of energy.

This cycle wont turn itself over for many years. It's going to take a long time for people in the United States to get "used" to the idea that driving small, efficient cars is OK. It's not the way this country is programmed and never has been. We've always believed in the "american dream". The large SUV, large families, vacations, toys, huge houses, etc.

It is what it is..... The gas companies are out to make a profit from their work just like all the rest of us. It just pisses people off because they've got you by the balls because of the lifestyles we've chosen. I still plan on wakeboarding a lot this summer, but in exchange for paying the huge gas prices on the boat I've downsized my daily vehicle (from a truck to a car) and I plan on riding my bike to/from work whenever possible. If the fuel situation gets much worse maybe we'll consider downsizing the boat and running a smaller boat with less ballast. We'll see.

I really like the idea on focusing on being a bit more green. I'm not a tree hugger by any means, but there isn't any need to be wasteful. Why not capitalize on the technology that we have available to us.

William... Not true about the car companies. There is a mandate that their average will have to be 35MPG or greater for the manufacture. That just means that for every vehicle they make that gets 20MPG they'll have to make another that gets 50MPG to make up for it. I believe the mandate is for 2020. This is why companies like BMW are buying up companies like Mini and Mercedes is building Smart cars. They drive up the manufactures average without them having to introduce an econo car of their own.

(Message edited by guido on April 30, 2008)

Matt,

I spent 5 months in Costa Rica driving a 4 cyl diesel Toyota Prado.

Take a Lexus GX470, take out the big powerful V8 engine, put a turbocharged 4cyl diesel in and there you have it. It got me from A to B, but you definately had to amend your driving habits. It makes it a lot more dangerous to pass slow moving vehicles, that is for sure!

Chrysler builds 6 diesel models here in the us that cannot be sold due to emissions. they are exported every one gets better than 35mpg.

A diesel jetta gets about 45 mpg.

Very good leo, I like your pro/con bit

(Message edited by rallyart on April 30, 2008)