Mequon station owner shuts off gas pumps

[SeriesFinale]

Link

 

My favorite parts of the article:

 

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Maria McClory, 38, drove 10 miles out of her way to buy a diet soda from Pollack's station after seeing local television coverage of the protest.

 

"I just wanted to support them and thank them for making a statement," said McClory, who drives about 100 miles a day for work in her sport utility vehicle.

 

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Schwartz called that "outrageous" and said even he can't fill up his SUV at that price.

 

"If it keeps going like this, my kids will never be able to afford to drive," said Schwartz, who has an 18-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter.

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There really are none so blind as those who will not see.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

It's Memorial Day weekend. This weekend and Labor day will always have insane prices from now on.

[Brian the Automator]

Yeah, what good is a Hummer if I can't drive it on the freeway cross-country?

[patrickgpe]

its people's choice to have an SUV or not, but if they get one, they can't complain how they can't afford to fill up their tank. Gas has been crazy for about 6 years now, so this is nothing new, its just worst than ever. If you have a 100 mile commute to work and back every day, that may not be the way you want to go. People need to think better when purchasing a car.

 

I drive a civic now and when i get my next car i am going to get something more efficient than that, and I only have a 20 mile commute to work. I couldn't imagine how expensive it is to drive to work every week in an SUV and a 100 mile commute.

[SeriesFinale]

The best part is how she drove 10 miles to show support for someone "making a stand" against the expense of gasoline.

[mothershipconnection]

"SUV" isn't as awful a label as people make it out to be. My Cherokee gets 25 highway and some "SUV's" get near 30, which is better than many cars. There's a big difference between an H2 and a Vue or Santa Fe.

 

Sports cars with oversized engines, IMO, are the worst. You're paying a ton of money and wasting a ton of gas on a feature that does you no good. Who cares if it goes 170 when you never get above 30 in metropolitan traffic?

[JoeHova]

Well, hopefully people will go back to caring more about gas mileage than they do now, like they did back during the gas crisis in the 70s/80s. If consumers clamor for that, companies will put more money into developing such vehicles and we will all win.

 

If cars needed to be able to get 50 mpg in order to be competitive in the market, I bet that car manufacturers would find a way to make that happen.

[backup catchers]

sorry mothership but 25-30 tops isn't very good. I get that in mixed driving with most of it coming from city driving. Last I checked when I drove only hwy I got 40. That was real mpg not the inflated dealer rating. The real problem with everyone driving short busses is it effects all of us who drive normal sized vehicles. Air quality and gas prices alike. It is funny how people complain about the high gas prices and live 100 miles away from the main place they drive to though isn't it?

[Team Canada]

I'm just loving that diesel is $.40 cheaper right now that unleaded.

[pogokat]

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Sports cars with oversized engines, IMO, are the worst. You're paying a ton of money and wasting a ton of gas on a feature that does you no good. Who cares if it goes 170 when you never get above 30 in metropolitan traffic?

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trucks and SUV's make up over 50% of the market

 

8 cylinder coupes probably cover about 5% of the market...

 

and an h2 gets comparable mileage to a lamborghini...

 

25 highway is ok, but 15 city is horrifying...

 

and of course, the CAFE gas standards ( or EPA mileage estimates) are based on a vehicle moving 48 mph with no ac and the windows up---that's how they calculate highway mileage---i kid you not---so, if you take the 25 higway cherokee and drive it 75 with the ac on, i doubt you are getting 20 to the gallon...

 

and if your cherokee was 4 a 4 wheel drive hemi, you'd get, and i quote rainier wolfcastle here, "1 highway, 0 city."

[Fatter than Joey]

If cars needed to be able to get 50 mpg in order to be competitive in the market, I bet that car manufacturers would find a way to make that happen.

 

Maybe -- the thing about SUVs is that the SUV market is where all the gravy is for the auto manufacturers. My guess is that the auto industry hangs on to that tooth and nail.

[Oldcity]

This is probably even a business-savvy move, as the media coverage will probably get him more customers when he opens the pumps again.

[mothershipconnection]

sorry mothership but 25-30 tops isn't very good. I get that in mixed driving with most of it coming from city driving.

 

I'm not saying it's great, but it's much better than behemoth SUV's that get lumped into the same category and isn't worse than many mid-sized cars. Many small SUVs have a similar or better EPA rating than the Chrysler 300 (15 city 22 Hwy), but the Chrysler doesn't have the stigma attached to it. Even the 4x4 Jeep Compass and Patriot get 22 cty 27 hwy with the small engine option.

 

 

 

and if your cherokee was 4 a 4 wheel drive hemi, you'd get, and i quote rainier wolfcastle here, "1 highway, 0 city."

 

Yeah, it's 2wd with a 4 cyl, the same size as my '89Ford Tempo had. That's why the city EPA mileage is the same as the Tempo while Hwy is 3 mpg less.

[Oldcity]

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Yeah, it's 2wd with a 4 cyl, the same size as my '89Ford Tempo had.

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Ah, the Tempo. I had the teal '94 model. Brings back some great memories.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

SUV's are modern station wagons. Only dorks drive them.

 

People buy them because they are scared of driving and feel safe in them because of their high seats and raised bumpers. It's all part of our hyper neurotic society. The funny thing is, they are generally more dangerous than most cars.

 

And now they're under powering them to make it appear they are better with gas.

[Fatter than Joey]

This is probably even a business-savvy move, as the media coverage will probably get him more customers when he opens the pumps again.

 

It's probably business savy on a number of levels.

 

Gas stations lose cash-flow when gas prices increase rapidly, essentially they have to replenish their stock for more than their last stock sold for. (They get it back when the prices drop).

 

The other thing I would guess is that more people are putting their gas on the plastic, and that chips away at their margin as well.

[temke]

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with the ac on

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i just had a friend tell me that consumer reports did testing and found no significant difference in gas mileage with the AC on or off.

 

about halfway down this LINK

 

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People buy them because they are scared of driving and feel safe in them because of their high seats and raised bumpers.

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not i. our SUV makes life much easier when toting around a 1 year old, her stroller, and all her junk. the honda accord and civic just couldnt carry everything we needed at times. making it back from christmas in one trip was really nice!

 

we try to keep the SUV in the garage as much as possible though.

[PKBadger]

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SUV's are modern station wagons. Only dorks drive them.

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"It is you, sir, who are the dork."

 

--Every professional athlete and celebrity.

[adamb100]

Yeah SUV's are required for some people. Those living in snowy areas like the rockies should drive SUVs with all the snow and hilly terrain or for big families.

[dadofandrew]

There are plenty of SUV's that get decent mileage, our Vue being one, 27 highway is passable. Sure, it may not tow a boat that well, but if you can afford a boat and a $40K truck to tow it, who cares about gas?

[YutakaEnatsu]

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I'm just loving that diesel is $.40 cheaper right now that unleaded.

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Team Canada, do you drive a diesel car or truck?

 

I'm pretty smug right now too - my VW TDI gets 45 mpg anyway so I'm lapping the field on the whole gas-prices issue.

[JoeHova]

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if you can afford a boat and a $40K truck to tow it, who cares about gas?

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But isn't this kind of the problem?

[SeriesFinale]

Yeah SUV's are required for some people.

 

About 5-10% of the people driving them

[dadofandrew]

Joe, I don't get your question. My point is if you can drive a $40K vehicle and a boat, it makes little difference if it costs you $60 to fill up or $105.

[JoeHova]

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Joe, I don't get your question. My point is if you can drive a $40K vehicle and a boat, it makes little difference if it costs you $60 to fill up or $105.

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What I'm saying is that excessive gas usage doesn't occur in a vacuum.