people thinking you have stalled your car?
 

hi

i always EOC up to lights now and if they don't change before i get there then i have the choice of either bump start at last minute and ideling till they change or leave switched off. more times than not i leave switched off. but some idiots think i have stalled it and drive like a girl! some boy racer punks laughed at me yesterday when i restarted the engine!

Yup, thats what we are faced with. But we get the last laugh when we fill up don't we!

ollie

hang up a red LED output of your instantanious FE in the back window so they can see what it is really about!

Can the scanguage support this function?

ollie

probably illegal in most states :confused:

LED license plates have been available for years:

LED license plates - Live Search

Personally, I really do not give a damn what they think. I believe that their awareness will go up as time goes on. This is why I was hoping gas would stay at $4.00. We already had the grocery increase due to it, and you know groceries will not go back down.

I cut off my engine a few blocks from the turnoff for work, but on weekends the gate is closed and I have to badge in. When I restarted at the gate after badging in the other day, the guard told me that my car had stalled. I just said, "Alrighty" and went on my way.

You wanted gas prices to stay UP?? just to teach some people about driving better?? are you insane?? If people want to drive poorly and spend more, it's their right in this free country!!! making people pay more to punish/change bad habits sounds very much like socialism and marxism. In America, we have the freedom and right to drive SUVs and sports cars and big trucks. We also have the right to hypermile. It's about choice and freedom.

And yes, if gas prices continue to drop, all other prices that are affected by the cost of oil will drop as well. Not right away, as price rises have lagged behind fuel rising. Most companies have eaten the extra cost as long as they could, driving down profits. As they start to recover, they will lower thier prices, too. Its called capitalism!! God bless America!

Gasoline prices have been too low. Taxpayers continue to subsidize oil companies, despite their record profits. The federal tax on gasoline is a fixed 18.4 cents per gallon (or a measly 4.6%, as measured against $3.97/gallon total.) That doesn't even cover the cost of the federal highways, much less pollution damage, war over oil, subsidies to the oil companies (Cheney's secret $15 billion "energy bill", anyone?), etc.

Define "subsidize," because if you are talking about tax breaks, who do you think ultimalty benifits from thoes? You and me. Both in lower prices at the pump (ALL taxes on ALL busnesses are passed to the consumer) and in higher stock values (any one own an IRA/401K/mutual fund that does NOT invest in energy?). Higher taxes lead to less money in low and middle-income families, both from paying at the pump and at retail stores. the top 10% of income earners pay 70% of the tax, so these "subsidies" are paid for by the rich (not that i'm for the current unfair tax system). In CT taxes are over $0.44/gal!! Oil companies on average make 8% on the sale of gas. Most retail stores have a markup of up to 40%!! Do we need to raise taxes on these small businesses because they have a high profit margine? The oil companies have huge profits because they produce a product that you and I desire, and we buy lots of it! Its called capitalism and it is what makes America GREAT! You are complaining about a "war over oil"?? what war? what county's producton have we taken over? what additional oil supplies do we have from OIF? NONE! You better educate yourself before posting

Subsidies benefit the executives and investors. The only place subsidies make sense is where an emerging technology needs investment to build more infrastructure. The oil companies are not using that subsidy to build infrastructure (why would they? More infrastructure would just lower prices, and thus, profit), and they're certainly not passing it on to consumers.

Too bad we didn't think about low and middle-income families before we started spending $300 billion a year in Iraq.

The top 10% of income earners also rake in 48.5% of all "reported" income. Average yearly income increased for the top 10%, and decreased for the bottom 90%. And specific to gas taxes, the top 10% pay the same measly 4.6% federal gas tax as everyone else, but only pay more because they use much more, so I'm not crying for them.

Oil companies make 8% on the artificially inflated prices THEY created by shutting down refineries (especially in the 90's) to, according to internal memos from Texaco and others, increase profits.

I don't know what retail operations you're referring to that have a 40% profit margin, but Walmart's margin is 3.38%, and they haven't colluded with all other retailers to keep newcomers from opening new stores and artificially keep prices high.

Really? I thought it was called an oligopoly, cronyism and anti-competitive behavior.

You better educate yourself. One of the talking points when Bush was trying to sell us this war was that the "New Iraq(tm)" would be able to pay for the war and reconstruction using profits from its oil sales. Obviously that's not going to happen now.

Whoa. Did this thread take an ugly bounce.
modmonster; I usually go ahead and bump start at the last second when coasting up to a stoplight. I've heard that key starting shoots a squirt of gas. I don't know if it makes much difference.
Bump starting saves the wear and tear on the ignition switch.

Sorry about that. I'll try to keep my off-topic posts to the Lounge. :-)

whats great is with the larger exhaust that I have on the xB, when I use the clutch to start the car (if im coming to a light that just changed) I always tend to scare those around me...

Um you're in Iowa now, it's not your exhaust ... LOL

Bumper Sticker Idea: "I didn't stall, I shut it down about 1/2 mile back! - ecomodder.com"

A couple of times I've gotten a really wierd look. This is because the car is shiny and doesn't look like one that would stall out. But most of the time people don't know (usually only EOC in my neighborhood), especially since my music & tire noise is usually louder then my engine would be. :D


Nice idea.

LOL @ this turning into a debate on gas prices.

Sounds like I am inline with most posters here--and I consider it an honor to have my personal feelings shared by members on this board.

Not too worried about what others think when we know we're doing something right.

i saw a good bumper sticker today:

I drive like this
to piss you off!

yeah, i actually ran into a couple people today who had never seen a florida license plate... then asked "does it get real cold up there by maine"

WTF, how can people be this stupid

Florida... Maine.... well, now I know where they find those people for that "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" show. :D

In April, during a college visit in the beautiful state of Virginia, the young lady at the hotel counter asked where in Canada was NH? :p

I used to think this as well. After taking some economics courses, I've understood that it's not true. It depends on what's called "the price elasticity of demand." If demand is inelastic, taxes can be passed on and profits maintained, if demand is elastic, they cannot. You'd immediately think that gasoline pretty much defines inelastic demand, but the reduction in gasoline consumption this year shows that it is more elastic than many had thought, albeit at the cost of a slowing economy, lost jobs, etc. If and when substitutes become available at economic prices, elasticity will increase. As people move to more fuel efficient vehicles, elasticity increases.

Further, externalities distort the market. Even if we assume that, one way or another, "we" will pay for the external costs of fossil fuel extraction, production, distribution, and consumption, if this doesn't happen "by the gallon" which, with the present model can only occur through taxation, then the market cannot properly allocate resources.

Where I drive, most people have their windows closed and the A/C on. I have a car people wouldn't think was having problems, and those few who apparently notice don't seem to react strangely - it's almost as if they figure out "what's up." Of course, I never delay anyone at a light by restarting. If I'm close to the intersection I can see the other direction turn yellow and restart. If I'm behind several cars and can't see the light in the other direction, there's plenty of time. If neither holds true, I don't wait to restart.

i hope they stay up too, with my hypermiling i can afford it even though i don't make alot of money. I used to get 19 mpg, now get 29, big difference.

p.s. i see your from ct, add yourself to the map (im all lonely ). (if you want)
Frappr Maps - My Maps

Rocket- Yes, I wanted gas prices to stay up for awhile. First of all, as a veteran of the US Army personal freedom is of prime importance to me. It has always been, and will always be so.

I wanted prices to stay up on oil to encourage auto makers to put out better FE choices. No one can convince me that even with tougher crash standards we could produce better FE results 10-20 years ago than we can today. I am not saying no one should drive SUVs, only that there should be more choices.

It takes something like this little "oil spike" and the accompanying public demand for better FE to get the automakers off their butts. Otherwise, we will keep getting more of the same thing we already have.

So, how do we create the public demand if not high price?

I don't care if people think my commuter car stalled. It's a '94 Escort wagon, doesn't look great, not quite a beater. It wouldn't surprise me to see one of these stalled out, or broken down, these days. Of course, mine runs perfectly. But if the appearance of driving a beater means people will stay clear of me and not give me a hard time when I drive slower and coast to lights, then I say good deal!

What college are you looking at? Not all Virginians are that ignorant but yea you can find a good amount here. :D

people say i drive like a grandma. (I drive using as little gas as possible, i drive the speed limit on flats and lose tons of speed on hills (hills in my area i start going 60 mph and fall down to 30 mph))

I've gotten a few laughs from my bumper sticker, and i've never gotten road rage from it either.