US gas prices near 6 year lows: guess what that means for the forum! (Crickets)
 

If you have the impression that things are quiet around here lately, here's why:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1425244594

From: Historical Gas Price Charts - GasBuddy.com

Forum activity tracks US fuel prices nearly perfectly. So I was not surprised that last month saw our lowest number of new member sign-ups & the lowest number of forum posts (not counting the first few months after we started).

But I'm not worried about it. It'll rebound -- it's the nature of the beast.

And we may have seen the "bottom" in fuel prices, as the chart suggests. Someone smart once said "the best cure for low prices is low prices".

Frankly, I kind of like it when it's quieter around here -- there's a better chance of keeping up on peoples' projects!

So thank you Saudi Arabia, Alberta and US shale oil production.

It means I practically stole an Insight last month! A year ago I'd have paid at least another thousand to fifteen hundred for the same car!

Yessir, that's another upside! :D

I've missed out on three <$4k Priuses, 2nd gen. I'll nab one sooner or later!

I predict gas will be back to 3.25 by the end of may. Another huge benefit is we're saving around $200 per month on fuel.

Im building automated grille shutters for my senior project and i also ordered an under body panel that is missinf from my car. Hope to break into the 30mpg range this summer.

is gas still cheap in other parts of the country? I paid $3.37 for it here in California yesterday.

Cool. Do you have a thread going on this?

Not yet. I plan on doing a full write up with testing results when im done. A problem i see with effectiveness so far is that the design is to put it directly in front of the radiator. Ill need to seal the front end of air leaks.

Gas is around $2 a gallon in the States? Man I need to find more pick ups and SUVs to export! Diesel trucks are always worth a lot down there, but with fuel that cheap, no wonder we've had so many people looking for F150s etc. In the year 2001, Ford sold 107 new F150s every minute, of every day, for the year. I see that happening again, manufacturers love selling trucks as they are crazy high profit vehicles, and with gas that cheap they'll be trying to get as many out the door as possible.

But then gas prices will spike, and sales will crash. And the whole time I wouldn't have cared because I drive a 25 year old Civic haha. Personally I enjoy being a part of this site because I like the ideas of being efficient, having nerdy old cars, and improving my driving. Old cars, hot rods and drag racing have always been things I really like, but this site shows you how to do things that are just, well, smart. I like saving money on gas, but I like not wasting the stuff, regardless of price, more. Just my 2 cents. :snail:

I've moved a few posts with gas prices (and no reference to forum activity) to another thread:
Fuel Prices

Was gas ever cheap in California?
I filled up four times for less than two dollars a gallon, the least that I paid before discounts was $1.699, although I saw it for cheaper. There is one station 27.6 miles away that is supposed to have gas for $1.999. PhoenixGasPrices says that was reported four hours ago. The next cheapest in the entire Phoenix Metropolitan area is twenty cents more and not necessarily any closer.
Well, I am going to see if I can get some $1.999 gas!

I filled two cars at 2.23 Arco and 2.26 Chevron on January 28th.

The prices went up immediately, and now the same stations are 3.35 and 3.57.

Yep, gas at my Chevron station was like 2.21 at one point, now it's 3.49. Absolutely ridiculous.

That station in North Phoenix was commercial-only. I could have paid less at a local station, although not any that I passed.

I wouldn't want to be the Saudi's right now. But while your price and the oil price is dropping here our government takes full advantage and increases the fuel levis. Price of petrol here is expected to rise by 18% putting it almost at 1 USD to a litre.

We're not the only fuel economy forum hearing crickets these days:

I also keep an eye on CleanMPG and GasSavers (RIP... now Fuelly's forum), and activity on those has also tanked. Pardon the pun! :)

We're still more active than those two by most measurements though.

Nevertheless, EM's "Active member" count (members who have signed in at least once during the previous 30 days) is also at an all-time low (not counting our first few months).

It would seem we are getting back to basics. Less of the people that create an account to ask about the new HHO system they just heard about. Like MetroMPG said, it's all about the projects right now. I don't know what that means for site longevity, but it is nice to get away from saying the same things to the newest ears on the forum all the time. I know we were all there at one time, but it adds a lot of chatter. I did all my research quietly with the search button. I don't know why I like the projects so much, I don't ever do any, but they sure are interesting.

First: thank you for using the search tool! :)

Second: I agree we do get a lot of chatter when fuel prices are high -- people get desperate for easy magic bullet solutions.

But I like to think that some of the people who join to talk about implementing documented mods & techniques end up developing a deeper interest in the subject matter beyond the strictly financial. (Not that there's anything wrong with that sole interest.)

Metrompg - ever created / overlaid a chart of traffic on the site, compared to fuel prices?

Hey, that does sound interesting!! Thanks for the suggestion.

Jim.

It's a direct plot. Just change the axis labels. :)

I'm really not kidding -- I think I did it a few years ago in a similar thread.

Gas is $2.35 here in Delaware. One day at the very bottom it was $2.01; none of the gas stations ever dropped below $2.00...Instead the "people in charge" decided that they could temporarily increase the gas tax to help the state and that it would be ok because people's budgets had already "absorbed" the higher gas prices. So instead of giving everyone a break, taxes were increased to keep everyone paying more while the government raked in the extra cash.

I looked at the graph and had to laugh- I joined in May of 011, right when it was at its highest. It really was a coincidence, I swear! I stumbled across the site from somewhere else and was intrigued by the driving techniques and quantifiable results that could turn the most brain dead commute into something really engaging. Gallons are just how you keep score. The money's a plus, though. :thumbup:

A gallon in finland is 5,92 U.S dollars. I should get more serious aboutmy crappy MPG.

One nice thing about Delaware, in Va the meals tax at some local restaurants is 13.5%. In Delaware it's 0, also no sales tax, which is 5.5% in Va.

Thats 22.5% for Va and 0 for Delaware.

regards
mech

It used to be in the Oil and Gas biz that more projects are approved when the Oil prices are down so it'll be ready to produce when they pick up. So I would say it should be time for more research and development for us all with the extra savings that we have.

I'm using this opportunity to try and drop my lifetime fuel cost down below 8 cents/mi. These 46ish mpg tanks (45.6 mpg last tank to school, commute from motel all week and back home, 47.3mpg back to school from home today) on the weekends to and from home are helping...

I logged in to help out with the statistics !

I don't think its just here. On other vehicle related forums I've been on for several years I've seen the gradual lack of activity/posts there attributed partly to social media such as Facebook. Not sure to what degree, if any, that may apply here?

Facewhat?

I for one don't Facebook and never will. If someone wants to know my mood, and every little detail of my daily routine they will have to see me in person for that.

I'm going to fill up on the way home tonight. After I get in in the morning I'll do a status update. It's going to be a (relatively) good tank.

Hereabouts most places are back above the $3/gal level, though the cheapest ones are still at $2.89.

Still low-$2 range here. Lovin it.

Wow, is this place dead.

Should I do something bannable, just for excitement? :eek:

LMAO nope we need you around here to keep it real:thumbup:

Would something almost-bannable be almost-exciting? :)

It would if the mods don't delete it! :eek:

Do a backflip! :D

42!!! :eek:

^Careful... all the women and children here might object...