Reading this, if I were a executive at a car company, the solution to keeping people in big SUV's is simple. Just put a smaller gas tank in em' to keep the perceived cost of gas bellow that $100 emotional threshold.
Riches to anyone who invents a gas tank that adjusts its capacity according to gas prices in real-time so that you always pay exactly 99.99$ (taxes included) to fill it up!
I thought you might be joking at first, but from the article:
“I don’t know if it gets better gas mileage, but I like her car because it costs $100 to fill it,” said Ms. Hammond, 40. “I think $100 for a tank of gas is cheap now.”
So as long as it is less than $100 per fill up, she doesn't care what the mileage is.
I have to say I'm grinning whenever I read one of these articles. I'm not sure why... I think it's a religious-like inducing the Apocalypse sort of glee. But seriously, you park your Yukon to drive a Land Crusier? wtf.
I recently hit a $70 debit card prepay limit here in Canada (Google says the price is equivalent to US$ 5.75/gal). Here's to $200 tanks! $300! $500! When does it end?
It makes me laugh too. Here in the UK has cost more than $100 to fill up a Ford Focus for at least a year. God known how much a full fill up of a Hummer would cost.
It makes me really happy to see this happen. I would be even happier if gas hits $8/gallon heck even 10 or more. Innovation in gas consumption efficiency in the automobile industry has been close to null since its inception.
I believe this will really make people change, and most likely people will stop buying gas powered cars if they were given the option. Automobile makers should be forced to think of alternatives to oil.
Although I resonate with your sentiment, I don't like to see families hurting by paying higher gas prices.
Say what you will about the state of the American mind, the bottom line is this: we drive big vehicles, gas prices aren't going down, we live month-to-month, eventually something has to give.
I always thought there was something just a little bit Dr. Seuss about the giant Danali with built in tvs and cup warmers and seat-heaters....
Like those giant contraptions the Whos are pictured riding around on.
I'd never drive one, and they do scare me when right next to me in my Corolla but I'm gonna miss that 5'2" woman climbing down outta that thing in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart lookin' like Cindy-Lou-Who.
its simple don't buy a big ass SUV if you don't need it. Too many people buy them because they give them a higher view of the road, not because they need to haul a boat/lots of stuff in the back
Bryan Carisone, a heating and air-conditioning contractor in Raritan, N.J., “absolutely loves” his new GMC Denali XL, an extra-large sport utility vehicle...
