Tony K

And of course people from two of the country's three largest cities had to chime in and be sarcastic . . .

Sorry Mr. Chicago and Mr. LA, you fellas are the exception!

In case you forgot, the majority of the country's metropolitan areas are 1-3 million people, not ten. I was speaking for these other 30-40 or so cities, not you guys.

Also, please note that I did not say downtown, rather specified a distance from it. Downtown is expensive in most cities.

M758

Down town is dump or too expensive in most cities. Not much in between.

Even here in Phoenix close where I work I would NOT want to live. Not the best area in town. There are places in the city close than my 40 mile one way drive, but they are either dumpy or too expensive.

Most of the time if you want a nice place in nice area you must either spend a boat load or trade that for distance. Since I like cars and like driving and also would rather feel like I am away from things rather than being stuck in the middle of the city... I chose distance and found and nice house in a nice family oriented area for an acceptable price. The big downside is my 45 min drive into work each day. At least my wife's spends most of her days less than 10 miles from home.

At least my BMW gest 28-29 mpg.

ljibis

I know it's partially sarcastic, but you did a nice job reconfirming everything I dislike about SoCal. If it wasn't for the weather and the women, I would see no reason at all to live there!

All this talk of bike commuting and mass transit has me feeling like Minneapolis/St. Paul is the promised land. Both core cities have their bad sections, but are generally very nice and vibrant with great neighborhoods. Both cities have great bike lanes and bike commuting trails that avoid busy roads. We also have a good bus system, a new light rail that they're planning to expand, and are in the planning stages of a commuter railroad line from the northwest into Minneapolis. Most of the mass transit has transportation for bikes, so you can bike to a convenient transit stop, load your bike on the rack, and bus or train the rest of the way!

Gas will go up, gas will come down. The only rule now, though, is that we're going to be on a seasonal see-saw tied to the machinations of dictatorships and theocracies. The oil companies, already swimming in money, haven't increased refining capacity in 30+ years and just got Congress to pass a $14.5 billion energy bill that lavishes them with tax breaks. We also got a $286 billion transporation bill that encourages more ridiculous, exurban road building. What we really need is obvious: a focus on efficiency, development of alternative fuels, and a logical mass-transit strategy. We won't get it under the current circumstances, though....the situation isn't painful enough yet.

If you're tired of feeding the pockets of the oil shieks and robber barons, go buy a car that can run on E85 or Biodiesel.

WolfeMacleod

By the way, here's some interesting tidbits for you.

When I started delving into tax stuff for my company, we learned that if we buy a small, economic company car, we can only deduct a small portion of it off our taxes.
However, if we buy a HUGE gas-guzzling monster, we can deduct a MUCH higher amount off our taxes.
I don't recall the exact percentage amounts, but it was rediculous. I'd think that you'd be rewarded for buying an economical company car. Not the other way around. Government is rewarding companies who buy thirsty vehicles.

WolfeMacleod

How old are you? That's a term I haven't heard in years.

jonnybgood

If your vehicle is over 6,000lbs you used to get a tax credit. There was an uproar over this a few months ago but I don't know it they changed it.

Porsche-O-Phile

$200k here isn't a purchase price, it's a down payment.

I wish I was kidding.

Yabo

Guess I really should switch over to the volvo rather than the range rover..

Fishey

I didn't take time to read all the post so sorry if someone has already mentioned this.

There are gas stations around the US that sell E85 but as regular unleaded prices started to rise the E85 prices shot up as well. Can anyone tell me how this is possible? seeing as E85 should be 90% uneffected by the cost of crude oil. The only thing that could change its price is the cost of distribution? or am I somehow incorrect?

my84-944

I can not speak for the other 29-39 other cities, but Portland Oregon is no picnic
either.
Our city is spread out a bit and we do have great mass transit ,but going from the suburb of beaverton to gresham is not only time consuming but, also dangerous. You have to basically get downtown to transfer or catch the right Max or bus. Forbes called our Rose City that is nessled in the green tree hills of Oregon the 3rd most overpriced city in the entire USA with Seattle being # 1 and New York being #2. How could anyone justify living downtown and still get to work or afford the $350,000 to $700,000 condos there, when a good home will cost only like $250,000 in the Burbs?
I will do like my father did and his father before him and DRIVE MY CAR (even if I have to complain about the Gas prices, it is better than not having a car to drive at all)

Campeck

werent deisels originally designed to run on veggie oil anyway.
ive seen cars that they did that too.
a simple fuel filter, stop by MCd's, filter, add an additive to the now filtered grease. and your off.

i think thats the conversion anyway.

eohrnberger

I'd have to agree with the idea that all the facilities are antiquated, but I'd be verifying that with the refineries before standing solid on that position. Who knows? They coul dhave been performing rolling upgrades all along to keep the systems fresh in those plants. If they are indeed all antiquated, I guess it would be another instance of those that inherited the infrastructure, don't appreciate what it took to get it there, and are not maintaining it properly. Kinda like what the roads have degraded into.

Yea, I remember some TV commentator observing the the oil refining business was strange, in that the less you did, the more money that you got for it. I think the industry has figured that out, and it playing to their advantage.

What I don't understand was the billions of tax deferrments for the oil companies that got added to the transportation bill (or was it the energy bill?). Yea, sure. Thow billions at the feet of the billionairs. How does that make any sense? But this is probably leading off into another topic that really does belong on a Porsche board, now would it?

ljibis

I noticed this too and did some research. It comes down to simple supply and demand...

The reason behind it is that as prices have risen, so has the use of fuel ethanol. In June (the latest month with available data), fuel ethanol use oustripped production by about 35 million gallons. I'm thinking that all the people who have FFV's started using them, thus the price of fuel ethanol rose with the increased demand.

One upshot of the energy bill for actual consumers and taxpayers is the investment it makes in renewable fuels. More and more ethanol plants are being built, and the bill pours more money into it. There is a pretty large impact for rural economies, and more capacity will be coming on line in the coming years. This energy bill aims to have ethanol and biodiesel displace something like 5% of our currently imported oil.

It's a start...

WesM951

In regards to my post yesterday where gas had dropped $0.05. I went by the same gas station where gas had dropped and today, it went up $0.09! Luckily the sign and pump where diffrent. Sign said $2.89 for 93, but i only ended up paying $2.83.

eohrnberger

Hey! If my P-car can run on it without causing it problems, I'm all for it!