$5 dollar a gallon predicted by 2012

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Someone's claiming that a Big Mac is food?

My thoughts exactly.

Originally Posted by USDA

The all-food CPI increased 1.8 percent between 2008 and 2009. Food-at-home prices increased by 0.5 percent—the lowest annual increase since 1967—with dairy prices declining 6.4 percent and fresh produce prices dropping 4.6 percent, while food-away-from-home prices rose 3.5 percent in 2009.

Food prices for 1992-2008 increased less than 5% per year, and generally kept pace with inflation.

Nope, food's not more expensive.

Britons managing to survive despite $7/gal gasoline is proof that $5/gal won't doom us. I'm occasionally skeptical that it'll even change us. Here we are at $3/gal, and people are still out there buying pickup trucks and six cylinder cars to drive twenty miles to work each day. Sure, we're using less gas than we did in 2007, but we're still very wasteful.

[SoobieOut]

Originally Posted by JasonG

A company I run into regularly has the Connects.
Only issue we found is the back is a couple of inches too short for a ladder once the safty "wall" is installed.
Do you have any info of a solution?
Are they planning a diesel version ?
They would cut our fuel use by nearly 1/3
I figure half of us can fit in smaller vehicles, the other half carry too much.

We use ladder racks, I know, I know there goes your FE. Short of using a little giant, I doubt you can fit a regular step ladder inside.

Ford Transit Connect Ladder Racks from Adrian Steel


I have heard that the diesel for the Connect is only available in Europe, and gets 38 MPG! Seems like a broken record here with great FE engines only available in Europe. I don't buy the emissions story about why diesels are not available in the USA. I vote for a conspiracy theory once again. Who killed the diesel engine? Sounds like a great movie idea!!! From what I remember of the 1980's, General Motors did a hack job on producing a diesel engine from a stock gas small block chevy. Barely made it out of warrantee before blowing up. This soured the public on diesels in cars. GM has a positive genius at negative PR.
However if my house was heated with fuel oil I would want to keep the small diesels out of the USA too! Since #2 fuel oil and diesel are very close in pricing and uses.

[cfg83]

RobertSmalls -

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

...

Britons managing to survive despite $7/gal gasoline is proof that $5/gal won't doom us. I'm occasionally skeptical that it'll even change us. Here we are at $3/gal, and people are still out there buying pickup trucks and six cylinder cars to drive twenty miles to work each day. Sure, we're using less gas than we did in 2007, but we're still very wasteful.

Yup :

2010 Trends: Higher Sales, Lower Incentives, More Recalls, Lofty Used-Car Prices, Additional Technology - Auto Observer - December 2010

Stable gas prices through most of the year meant that consumers were more willing to buy gas-hungry pickup trucks and SUVs, especially large ones. The rise of sales in those segments is due, in part, because those were the hardest hit by the recession and 2008's gas price spike. And buyers of vehicles like pickup trucks, who use them for their work, had simply put off replacing their old ones during the recession and could wait no longer.

And don't forget China :

China Jan-Apr SUV sales soar 118% to 373,527 units - May 2010

n April, China SUV sales jumped 113% to 105,585 units, of which the Great Wall Hover ranked first with sales reaching 13,000 units, followed by the pre-winner Honda CR-V (12,000), Toyota RAV4 (8,059), Zotye (7,513) and Toyota Highlander（6,524), with all five models' sales rising more than 40% from a year earlier.

CarloSW2

[cfg83]

MorphDaCivic -

Originally Posted by MorphDaCivic

The company I work for is switching over to Ford Escape Hybrids and the Ford Transit Connect. They plan to be carbon neutral as a company in 5 years:

2011 Ford Transit Connect Side-by-Side Comparison
Starting MSRP $21,200 – $23,200 Change Vehicle

Snapshot
EPA Fuel Economy:
City: 21 Highway: 26
Available Engines:
136-hp, 2.0-liter I-4 (regular gas)

Available Transmissions: 4-speed automatic w/OD

2011 Ford Transit Connect Summary
...

We saw the Ford Transit Connect at the LA Car show and it's nice. The price seems very reasonable to me because you get gobs of interior volume. I think the MPG is comparable to a Honda Element.

CarloSW2

[user removed]

At $5 a gallon I would not have to stay away from so many SUVs on my 125 or 250 cc motorcycles, both would push 90 plus MPG if I tried hard and keep speeds below 45 MPH.

regards
Mech

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by MorphDaCivic

I don't buy the emissions story about why diesels are not available in the USA. I vote for a conspiracy theory once again.

Especially as I see (and hear & smell :-() a lot of big diesels in "full-sized" pickups. Gotta cater to the "I wanna pretend I'm a macho trucker on my commute to the office" crowd, you know.

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by Jim-Bob

This is old news for those who have been watching and listening. Say what you want about him, but Glenn Beck has been talking about this and food price inflation for a long time now and the mainstream media is just now catching up to it.

At least you didn't buy gold!

[320touring]

itrresting to hear talk of the transit connect..

I had a 2l tdci diesel one as a company van for 2 years- did approx 15000 miles in it.

Observations-

the long wheelbase i had had some issues..
1. The side doors didnt offer a wide enough aperature for loading larger items

2. They are too long to fit in a standard parking bay if you need to open the rear doors

3. The rear arches intrude a lot into the loadspace

4. The above cab storage is useless

5. They will happily take a 1 tonne load-it handles better with the cart springs bent level

Mechanical issues-
1. Balljoints- it doesnt like potholes
2. Front tyre wear can be heavy
3. Watch out for the timing belt tensioner
4. Exhausts fall off after 3 years.

These observations were confirmed by several other fleet users, so i do t think it was me having a bad van.

On the plus side i regularly got 420 miles out a 12 us gal tank.

The tdci lump pulled well

Carrying capacity was huge for the van size

Spares were cheap, and replaceable in a fleet workshop

I'm sure i could source some diesel lumps to post over

[redyaris]

The radio is saying that we can expect to be paying $1.50 / Litre = $5.65 / gal US. by next summer 2011, this will result in an increase of $681.- / year for me. not much of a problem that i can see. If I get to my objectives for ecomodding for the year it will only cost me $388.- / year more than the year before, I drive 30000km/year [18750m/yr]. This is in the land of the tar sands Alberta Canada. I can see the TV images next summer of some person filling up there gas guzzeler and complaining that the government should do some thing about those price gauging oil companies. after all don't we have a right to cheep fuel? When I ask myself at what price would I change my driving habits it would be at $5.-/Litre, = $18.85.-/gal. US. I suspect others would change sooner. at $5.-/L, driving 30000km/year, at average 3.5L/100km consumption, would use 1050 Litre at a cost of $5250.-/year, which is still less than many people pay today! What do I plan to do when this comes to pass? build/modify myself a recumbent hybrid [human power/petrolium power]terratrik with a 50cc honda GC50 at 2.5bhp, that gets better than 250mpg and do as little driving as posible, in the winter. I would use 75 gal /year at a price of $1413.75 / year.

[Jim-Bob]

The problem with the CPI food index is how it is weighted. It is not a pure reflection of cost. The indexed items change to reflect what the majority of consumers are purchasing within a given category. So, for example, if more people start buying hamburger and less buying steak, it indexes the price of hamburger. The price of hamburger may well have increased substantially. However, the prior calculation would have been based on steak, not hamburger. Thus the index remains little changed whereas the actual price the consumer sees has changed substantially. I do my own grocery shopping and have seen a substantial increase in cost. Even staples like ramen noodles have gone up by around 40% in the last year and milk and dairy products have also shot up substantially.

As for gold, I think it is over bought at this time. Yes, the dollar is being heavily devalued but I just don't see long term support for the price of gold remaining where it is unless we see total currency collapse. If I was going to speculate on precious metals right now I would buy silver. It is trading at a percentage of the price of gold that is a historical low at the moment and has the best potential for growth. Plus, it has high industrial demand that outstrips production by 20% per year so it is unlikely to crash.