You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
i have a 3 yr old going to be 4 on sun. there is absolutely no way i will put him in a car that i can deadlift the rearend by myself. most vehicles here in tx are trucks and if i get in an accident i want to be in my tundra. one of the safest things on the road for the $.
as for gas, my earlier statement stands. SOMETHING is going to drain our pockets one way or another. As an educator of AP History I will also say this, not that that means much,
The apparant cause of this is simple greed. We have seen it throughout history along with its immediate and long term results time and time again.
This time there is another factor though that no one wants to research or admit.....to simply put it we are being held by the balls by OPEC.........and we have allowed it to happen. We put politicians in office time and time again of all parties that try to appease the minority instead of setting the mandate that serves the greater good of the public.
Everyone is so afraid of offending someone else that nothing ever gets done.
We get so tied up with the little things that we NEVER see how simple it would be effect the big picture.
So, research and refuse to buy gas from companies that import their oil from nations who blatently damn our nation and fund terrorist activities....including Citgo that gets its oil from Venezuela.......another country whose govt pledges death to the U.S. and is in our own backyard..........and they are looking through the screen door right at us.
__________________
2005 Silver Texas Edition DC SR5 w/sunroof, 20" rims, Magnaflow Catback, Doug Thorley Headers, Downey FSB Endlinks w/ES Bushings, Downey HD Off Road Skid Plate, Hellwig RSB, PP springs, Tokico Trekmasters, Bilstein 5100, ASP Underdrive Pulley, Bazooka VSE, Panasonic CQ-C8803U w/bluetooth/Sirius, Polk 6750, Polk 675, SS Ultra High-Low-Fog Beams, LED Cool White Bulbs everywhere, TRD Mesh Grille Insert
2005 Lunar Mist Camry LE, Custom Leather, TRD Strut Bar, TRD Rear Sway Bar, TRD Lowering Springs, SS Ultra Beams, K&N AF, JVC KW-XC410 w/Sirius, Polk 690
We are under the control of OPEC because we choose to drive trucks like Tundras. If you want less of your money going to support terrorism, use less gas. Drive less. Buy a more fuel efficient vehicle. No one forces us in any way to consume gas. You don't have any control over the price of gas, but you have a whole lot of control over how much you choose to consume. You may not like the choices, but they are certainly there.
It's easy to blame oil companies and government and OPEC for our problems, but the root cause is us. If you want cheaper gas, use less of it.
I think we are in a gasoline shortage, thanks to countries like China, that are rapidly expanding and with their exploding industrial sectors, their need for gasoline has exploded. I was recently over there, and OMG!! Its such a changed country and growing faster than you can imagine! They do have a population 4 times of the USA.
I only travel 20 miles a day, total, to & from work. Most stores I patronize are along the way. One or two trips to the grocery store or whatever on the weekend doesn't make sense to trade when I get 19 mpg around town with the Tundra. I injured my back in the military & had a stroke when I was 26 leaving me partially paralyzed on my left side. I have a hard time getting into little cars & they hurt my back to drive them very far. I also love the way I can get around the woods with the 4WD Tundra and I wouldn't even be able to get to the hunt camp with a gas saver. I have cut way back on driving but as long as I can afford the gas for hunting trips I'll keep the Tundra. I use it for hauling firewood, and tons of other stuff. My son recently borrowed it to move to a new apartment. It's just too useful to give up. Besides, I am spoiled and do not want to drive anything less. A V8 power when I want it. I like to ride the woods with a cold beer, pull a log back to camp, & find new hunt areas. I've had 2WD cars & trucks all my life & I've been stuck more times than I can count & now that I'm 61 I don't care to dig myself out or walk back to camp anymore. I've been a hunter since I was ten years old;it's what I am & I can't & don't want to change until I'm too old & decrepit to do it anymore. Even then, I'll want to drive to the hunt camp & sit around the campfire at night & tell lies. The woods, the animals, the clear starry nights, the company of old friends, the smell of the big cooker smoking a dozen slabs of ribs...I'll do that as long as I'm able.
I plan on keeping my 05 V8 Tundra also. My work commute is short, I only ring up about 10k miles per year. My Tundra will be 3 years old on June 5th and I now have just under 26k miles on the odometer. A lot of my extra mileage is from pulling my lightweight Bass Tracker to take my son and grand sons fishing. I could pull my boat with a RAV4 4 cylinder, in our hilly region of GA that would be asking the max from a RAV4 I-4. Even at $4 per gallon, the math would not pay off. Let's say I go to my local Toyota dealer and give them $10k to trade my Tundra for a RAV4. With my 10k miles per year, based if I drove my truck another 5 years. For 5 years at my current 10k miles and an overall average or 15.7 MPG would be aprox 3200 gallons of gas, at $4 per gallon would be $13k. Let's say I trade for a RAV4 and average 23 MPG, 5 years at 10k miles per year would be 2200 gallons or $9k. So I could save $4k for spending $10k, I'll keep the Tundra, have more sheet metal around me, more tow power and bed to haul with. I would have to up my MPG to over 50 MPG to pay the difference in a $10 trade up, or would that be a trade down?
If you have the truck paid off then there's no reason to get into another car payments plus pay for the gas. It makes more sense to just keep the truck. Unless you really have to have a new car.
Having had both a car and now a truck, the benefits of having a truck, FAR outweigh the money in gas you would save. The first time you need a truck for something, and trust you don't realize how often you actually need one, you will be sorry. Everyone is certainly entitled to there own opinion but you should really think about this one.
My wife and I solved our problem by buying a 98 Chevy Prizm aka (Toyota Corolla) and absolutely love it for our everyday run around car, but we both wish we could drive the Tundra more often. All I can say is that the rich get richer, and the middle class get poorer. As far as the claim by DH, People in other countries are also paid more towards the cost of living. Here in the US how many working class people do you know have gotten raises to offset the higher cost of living, do to the greed of the oil companies? I can tell you that eight years ago my wifey and I had much more debt and less pay than we do now, but yet we have less disposible income to spend on things like a vacation, or buying something for our home. Our gas in Louisville, KY is $3.85 a gallon, I don't know about any of you, but that hurts rather you're driving a truck or a compact. By the way we the people were the dumb A$$es that wanted a second term of an oil company owner, you'd thaught we would've learned the 1st 4 years.
What do you mean...we are the most over paid spoiled country in the world? This argument holds NO water!
__________________ MODS:
2.5" SAW Coilovers, 1" AAL, Added Heated Seats, Under Drive Pulley, K&N drop filter, Electric Fans, 295/70-17 Nitto's, 1.75" Wheel Adapters, Rhino Liner, Under Coating, VSE w/Dynamat coating.
Little known fact: Cars ( and trucks ) use less than 20 % of our country's oil consumption. Even if every car and truck in the US today would STOP, we would still use 80 % or more of what oil we use.
We use twice as much energy to heat and cool houses and buildings that we use for gasoline. Why dont we design better houses with passive solar features and hot water solar heaters ? It wont pollute and that could save millions of barrels of oil. We have the Technology, why dont we use it ?
How do I know ? I am a mechanical engineer who designed and built his own passive solar house 20 years ago. People were laughing at me then. I am the one laughing today when I get my cooling bill in the summer and my heating bill in the winter. Mine is usually about a third of my neighbors'.
I drive a small car around town every day but I will never give up my TUNDRA ! I need it to pull my trailer with my race car on it anyway.
__________________
Boosting happily ...
List of mods ( growing Daily ): L.E.D.s inside , Camper Shell with inside lights, Back up sensors and Camera , Subwoofer and Amp , Scangauge II , Hellwig Rear Bar , Billet Rear windows hinges, K&N Air Intake , Heated Seats, Tailgate assist bar, Westin Bull Bar and Skid Plate, Under hood lights, 1.25" Spidertrax spacers in Front, 1.50 " wheeladapter spacers in back.
Little known fact: Cars ( and trucks ) use less than 20 % of our country's oil consumption. Even if every car and truck in the US today would STOP, we would still use 80 % or more of what oil we use.
We use twice as much energy to heat and cool houses and buildings that we use for gasoline. Why dont we design better houses with passive solar features and hot water solar heaters ? It wont pollute and that could save millions of barrels of oil. We have the Technology, why dont we use it ?
How do I know ? I am a mechanical engineer who designed and built his own passive solar house 20 years ago. People were laughing at me then. I am the one laughing today when I get my cooling bill in the summer and my heating bill in the winter. Mine is usually about a third of my neighbors'.
I drive a small car around town every day but I will never give up my TUNDRA ! I need it to pull my trailer with my race car on it anyway.
I too am a mechanical engineer who has designed and built my own house. I live in maine and this past winter I used 260 gallons of oil to heat keep it at 68 degrees. I don't even have AC (don't need it). I believe you are off on your oil consumption however. The latest data put out by the federal govt. puts transportation consuming about 2/3 of all oil used in the US, about 2/3 of that is in the form of gasoline. The rest being diesel, jet fuel, bunker fuel etc. I believe within 25 years no vehicle will be using petroleum oil to run on. What little there is left will be dedicated to other uses. None of us will be driving the trucks of today.
Upon researching the subject of how much energy is used by what I came up with 1975 thermodynamics numbers :
43% of the US energy is used by industry
24 % by transportation
33% by residential/commercial buildings
Most of that "energy" is oil based, obviously, and some is nuclear, coal, natural gas and other sources.
Not sure of the exact numbers of which is which and not exactly sure if the proportions have changed since 1975 either.
I was not trying to start an argument, just trying to point out that there are more sources of waste than just cars ( and trucks ).
I also agree, TOM14, that we will be using other fuels in the future ( maybe the near future ! and sooner than we think )
The numbers that you are posting , TOM, are probably correct. I think they are referring, however, to REFINED oil, not crude oil in general. Some of that oil also becomes heating oil, LP, plastic bags, and all plastic stuff along with tar, pesticides, fertilizers ............etc .........etc
__________________
Boosting happily ...
List of mods ( growing Daily ): L.E.D.s inside , Camper Shell with inside lights, Back up sensors and Camera , Subwoofer and Amp , Scangauge II , Hellwig Rear Bar , Billet Rear windows hinges, K&N Air Intake , Heated Seats, Tailgate assist bar, Westin Bull Bar and Skid Plate, Under hood lights, 1.25" Spidertrax spacers in Front, 1.50 " wheeladapter spacers in back.
........... and the stuff from Wal Mart ( I mean china) is always packed in super tough plastic shell that goes directly into the landfills, generating pollution beside the wasted plastic material. Most soft drinks, water, prepared food, and many many other items are packaged in plastic at the stores, then we all carry that stuff into plastic bags !
What a waste it is. It's all used once then discarded, then most of it it chemically inert so it won't biodegrade, thus filling the landfills for hundred of years. Not a pretty picture.
Rant over now.
__________________
Boosting happily ...
List of mods ( growing Daily ): L.E.D.s inside , Camper Shell with inside lights, Back up sensors and Camera , Subwoofer and Amp , Scangauge II , Hellwig Rear Bar , Billet Rear windows hinges, K&N Air Intake , Heated Seats, Tailgate assist bar, Westin Bull Bar and Skid Plate, Under hood lights, 1.25" Spidertrax spacers in Front, 1.50 " wheeladapter spacers in back.
Re: Time to sell the Tundra???
Linear Mode
