Gas at $3.25,will affect attendance

When will it stop!?! ::cries::

Oh yeah now I remember, NEVER!

Andrew,I was thrilled to get 36MPG on my KIA Optima with a 2.4 engine.It's hardly an SUV.We are considering a Prius,but we would take a huge loss on our KIA,so maybe not.

The federal tax credit for Prius is over in September. Get em while you can.

zskoz3 said:
I think 23 mpg is pretty good for a car that can fit my family of 4 with a car seat, full sized cooler, stroller and luggage.

Are you kidding? That sucks! My Corolla can fit said people and gets pretty close to 40 highway. Loaded like that, probably upper 30's, but 23 is terrible.

Jeff said:
Are you kidding? That sucks! My Corolla can fit said people and gets pretty close to 40 highway. Loaded like that, probably upper 30's, but 23 is terrible.

Watch out jeff! Someone might call you names too (although after being the moderator of this fourm you must have developed superhuman powers of ignoring :)

I drive an '07 Jeep Liberty and besides a Wrangler, will never drive any other company. For a vehicle that can drive in all kinds of weather and terrain, (and yes, I do go off-road, in photography, you kinda have to), then I don't mind the lower gas mileage as much..although I hear Jeep has some sort of hybrid set for 2009, which is nice, since I'll be trading mine in around then.

I don't complain too much about gas, mainly because I live in tourist central, gas is going to go up for me no matter what the cost of a barrel of oil is.

Thank God for the Coast Guard, me and my wife are outta here the end of June.

I want to get a wrangler. I traded in my Grand Cherokee a couple years ago and I miss it. My car may get better gas mileage, but that Cherokee was a beast.

So, mk, if you know anyone who has a wrangler for under 5 grand (I know it'll be an older one, but that's what I want) that is mechanically sound let me know. I keep looking everywhere, just haven't found one yet.

To Andrew: My apologies for the use of language. I just thought it awfully rude of you to tell someone their car is inefficient and then brag about your new Prius. I suppose I was just a bit jealous and bitter.

I have the full intentions on buying a Prius (I absolutely love Toyota) when financially able. But in all likelyhood, I will see my Paseo hit 300,000 before I am willing to take on such debt.

Jugga, I most certainly will keep an eye out. After all, it's a Jeep thing. :) And I stand corrected, as of fifteen minutes ago, I guess the CG is keeping us here after all. But they do pay the rent, so I won't complain.

That's not too bad. What do you do for the CG?

I'm actually more interested in the variable-displacement Hemi on the Grand Cherokee's. But since I'm going to skip the new vehicles for a while, I'll have to wait until one gets old enough for me to buy used. Until then, I want to get my hands on a Wrangler.

She is an HS, basically a nurse. I just photograph their Aviation stuff, helo flights, crews, etc. Its used by the CG and local papers, along with the other photography I do. It's cool, because I see what the public very rarely ever sees, up close. Edit for smiley, so you don't think my putting the word she in italics was being rude. :)
*** Edited 5/23/2007 7:00:03 PM UTC by mk522***

Well, I couldn't tell because even though your sig says "Freelance Photographer" your statement didn't make it clear if it was you or your wife that was CG. And I didn't want to offend you by saying it was your wife.

That's cool though. You guys come down this way for the CG festival in Grand Haven?

John, there are also some new diesels in the pipeline for many of the CG vehicles, including the Jeep brand.

Diesel on a Jeep just doesn't seem right though.

I'm not against diesel by any means, but it's not a sound I would expect from a Jeep (especially a wrangler).

I would almost rather see them come up with a Variable Displacement Hemi Hybrid that would run 8, 4 or 0 cylinders. Now THAT would be some awesome technology.

Well, that's actually a misconception about diesels. You could drive one, and if no one informed you what it was, you'd never know the difference. The smell, the sound and the "sluggish" response are all things of the past.

And, as I understand it, there will be a dual-mode hybrid Hemi coming to the Aspen/Durango first, likely followed by the Grand Cherokee/Commander, and so on down the line. If memory serves, look for them to start appearing next year.

*claps like an excited little girl*

I've driven diesels (both old and new), so I know about the response differences, so that's not an issue. But it just always seems that I can tell which TRUCK has a diesel and which doesn't. Now, its usually a lot harder to tell its a diesel in the Volvo or VW, but the trucks it always seems more obvious (even without seeing the Cummins or Duramax badge).

True, the trucks are noticeably louder/harsher. While in Europe, I drove a VW Touran with a diesel, and it felt (and sounded) like any other 4-banger-esque US-spec vehicle. The diesels in Europe are the ones heading to the states (well, more specifically, the technology is heading here, rather than the engines themselves), as the domestic 3 have complex partnerships with VW, BMW, etc.

Is a Touran the same as a Touareg here? I didn't think VW changed the names of their vehicles from continent to continent.

To get back to the real topic of this interesting thread,does it seem like the gas prices have affected attendance so far?

I assume that the local attendance will stay strong,but if people cut back on long distance Trace,the area hotels will be in big trouble.

Well it will affect me...or mainly my bank account, but it won't stop me from coming. Maybe I need to fill up some gas cans and bring those....I filled up at $2.97 a gallon here today!