GM: high gas prices mean less trucks

I am glad to see GM is getting the message the market wants mpg. Hopefully they will follow thru and deliver vehicles that do so. And a 4 cylinder diesel in the colorado would sell well. As would a diesel in HHR.

And the chevrolet hhr is currently running 4.17 rear end ratio. I wonder if GM could easily drop that to a 3.0 since the hhr is a front wheel drive. What say you mechanics out there?

Tom Loy wrote:

And the chevrolet hhr is currently running 4.17 rear end ratio. I wonder if GM could easily drop that to a 3.0 since the hhr is a front wheel drive. What say you mechanics out there?

That is a massive (30%+) gear ratio change that would really kill off the acceleration of this vehicle and put too much strain on the 4-speed auto. They should back up the 4.17:1 final drive ratio with a 6-speed so they could enjoy two overdrives to get the RPM's down at highway cruising speed. Trying to launch a 4-cyl 4-speed car with a steep gear ratio would produce sluggish results, and disappoionted prospective buyers, so they need to drop in the 6-speed auto.

Less trucks is the least thing to worry about. Every thing is going to sky roket. Milk will probably be 6 dollars a gallon, 4 dollar bread and a good old pizza will be $20 bucks before you know it. I hope everybody is ready for the next great depression..

Tacomas are rusty wrote:

Less trucks is the least thing to worry about. Every thing is going to sky roket. Milk will probably be 6 dollars a gallon, 4 dollar bread and a good old pizza will be $20 bucks before you know it. I hope everybody is ready for the next great depression..

Sounds like you are getting depressed already! Lighten up.

Not long ago you were taking a firm stance that you'll always drive your massive pickup regardless of how high prices get. I'm sure people can make lifestyle changes that will allow them to eat.

I see plenty of people lined up at McDonald's drive through trying to get another sack of fat for the family. All of the chain restaurants are packed. People aren't carpooling yet or using mass transit.

Time to make some budget adjustments, some people will have to differentiate between what is a given right and what is a priveledge. Rather than the Great Depression repeating itself, we are most likely seeing the second coming of the Gilded Age....the Have's and the Have-nots!

I am not depressed, I am just makin a point. I could care less. Let fuel goto to $10 dollars a gallon, less traffic I have to contend with. I am not giving up my truck. Like I said high fuel prices are destroying the economy. People are going to have to make adjustments, there is no doubt about that. But adjustments mean buying less and spending less, in the end which means that buisness will fold and more jobs will be lost. So like I said sit back and watch as the US folds like a deck of cards. I am just concerned for the State of the Country, because this place is going to get ugly when our high standard of living turns into third world equality. I remember years back people laughing at me when I said the housing boom was going to kick us in the A$$ down the road. Most of those guys laughing have now lost everything and have slowly moved away. Now who is laughing.

I don’t think it will be that bad, and gas should stabilize.

Truckin wrote:

<quoted text>
Sounds like you are getting depressed already! Lighten up.
Not long ago you were taking a firm stance that you'll always drive your massive pickup regardless of how high prices get. I'm sure people can make lifestyle changes that will allow them to eat.
I see plenty of people lined up at McDonald's drive through trying to get another sack of fat for the family. All of the chain restaurants are packed. People aren't carpooling yet or using mass transit.
Time to make some budget adjustments, some people will have to differentiate between what is a given right and what is a priveledge. Rather than the Great Depression repeating itself, we are most likely seeing the second coming of the Gilded Age....the Have's and the Have-nots!

Mass transit and other transportation ideas are great in the city, but places like here in the urbans there is no mass transit system, busses, vans, sub-ways, etc. There is one grocery store, and 10 fast food restaurants. Our winters are harsh and PENNDOT usually forgets about us come a snowy day (our roads get plowed last) so 4x4, at least on the side, is a necessity. Not to mention you and I both know the value of trucks and suvs has fallen. So say hypothetically I were to take my durango with leather seating, rear ac, power heated mirrors, fuel computer, and all that other electronic junk to a dealer for trade, I would drive off in a late 90's cavalier with cloth seats and roll down windows. Not everyone can just afford to go out and buy another car. Not everyone can just afford to buy another house closer to their job or school. Also most homes out here are stick-built construction farm houses (or mansions) from the 17-1800's with little (some with no) insulation. The best jobs here outside of the school, hospital or small business are manufacturing. Basically my point is that not everyone can just change their lives within a night, a week, a month, or a year. Most cannot afford this drastic change. So I feel everyone should think twice before pointing out how people who drive trucks or other large vehicles, drive alot, eat alot, etc. should just miraculously make a life change and save money.

It is sad to see the end of the good old days. I am glad that I got to grow up driving full sized V8 powered american pick up trucks. It will always be a fond memory to me in the future as I grow older. I wish that everyone could have the pleasure of owning all the ones I have had. Soon there will be nothing but eco boxes with tiny engines. Sad to see them go, I always loved GM, Ford and Dodge trucks.

I still remember rumbling down the road in my dads 69 mustang mach 1 back in the day. Hell I remember he let me drive it to school a few times too. Such a shame cars like that are now substituted with 4 cylinder Hondas with cheap body kits and a fake spoiler.

Colorado Ray wrote:

It is sad to see the end of the good old days. I am glad that I got to grow up driving full sized V8 powered American pick up trucks. It will always be a fond memory to me in the future as I grow older. I wish that everyone could have the pleasure of owning all the ones I have had. Soon there will be nothing but eco boxes with tiny engines. Sad to see them go, I always loved GM, Ford and Dodge trucks.

Don't be sad Ray, Trucks are not done with. People will have to adapt to the prices, people are still going to need trucks, they are just going to have to up the mileage on these engines. Ford is introducing the Eco boost engine next year which should up the Mpgs. Eco boost engines are proving that you can get 8 cylinder power out of 6 cylinder economy. I think one engine is producing over 400hp out of a V6!!

As soon as there is a equal, solid reliable fuel competitor to gasoline, gas will be under a dollar again. I belive that fuel and oil companies know that they are on short time. It may not be now, but the time is coming that gasoline will not be the only fuel source for automobiles. I am not giving up my truck yet, there will be a new alternative fuel source someday, I give it five to ten years before we start seeing new alternatives fueling cars. Just look at Ethanol, it is a start, but is failing to show that it is a reliable cost efficient substitute to gasoline, but it is a start and it may be just the start of things to come. Synthetic fuels are already showing to be the next step along with Hydrogen. The US is already running these fuels in Jets and it is proven they can work. It will all be a matter of time. It will be a expensive change over, but with ridiculous fuel prices, alternatives may pay off now.

One thing that does have me bothered is that I always thought the auto makers were hand and hand with the oil companies. You would think that one leads the other, I mean with out gas, cars are worthless and without cars, oil and gas are pretty much worthless. We still use lots of oil for heating and manufacturing, but for the most part I would say that the oil industry relies on cars for thier industry. It just pisses me off that oil companies are sticking it to the entire auto industry. Every auto maker has made oil companies buku rich and now they are puting auto makers under along with every other gas powered machine.. Boats, motorcycles, Planes, Jets..all takin hits, hell I know alot of guys that are not putting thier boats in the water this summer. Something has got to give, because the next company going under is going to be the oil companies, I say bring it on. But every time alternative fuel sources are brought up and go into testing, oil companies seem lower the price of a barrel of oil and the alternatives get throw back in the bottom of the pile.

trucks will still be around. I saw a report a full sized pickup running a 4 cylinder just generating power for the battery packs, got 100 mpg. The only thing guaranteed in life is change.

Everyone needs to start calling in to work, taking Mondays OFF. SOLODARITY PEOPLE, SPREAD THE WORD. sICK DAY, VACATION DAY, WHATEVER THE EXCUSE.IF WE COLLECTIVELY SHUT DOWN AMERICAN BUSINESS ON MONDAYS, WE CAN CHANGE THINGS. BUSINESS WILL START CALLING CONGRESSMEN, SENATORS AND OTHERS.
AVOID THE FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS, IF WE HURT THEM, WE WILL ALSO MAKE A POINT.
HASNT ALL THIS CRAP BEEN OVER THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR?
HIT EVERY BUSINESS IN THE WALLET...DAY AFTER DAY, WEEK AFTER WEEK....WE WILL WIN....YOU'LL SEE....SPREAD THE WORD FELLOW AMERICANS....SPREAD THE WORD
THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE AMERCICAN MIDDLE CLASS TO REVOLT.....
STAND UP AND BE HEARD
STAND UP AND BE COUNTED
THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS IS OVER 200 MILLION STRONG
THAT BEATS THE CRAP OUT OF ANY UNION

NO WORKING ON MONDAYS...WE WILL REDUCE GAS CONSUMPTION EXPONENTIALLY

NO FAST FOOD BUYING......McDs, BK, KFC, WENDYS, ARBYS, SONIC AND THE REST WILL RISE UP IN ANGER

DONT BUY COFFEE AND A ROLL IN THE MORNING, PASS THE CONVIENIENCE STORE UP

CUT ALL EBERGY CONSUMPTION AT ALL COST...THE UTILITIES WILL UNRAVEL

THE ONLY VOICE, STRENGTH WE MIDDLE CLASS HAVE IS TO SHUT DOWN OIL DEMAND, STOP SPENDING, STOP WORKING ONE DAY A WEEK

UNITE, JUST DO IT

200 MILLION PEOPLE NOT SPENDING $25 BUCKS A WEEK IS $5,000,000,000, 5 BILLION DOLLARS A WEEK MY FRIENDS
65 BILLION DOLLARS IN A FISCAL QUARTER

200 MILLION SAVING 25 GALLONS OF GAS PER WEEK IS
5,000,000,000 GALLONS OF GAS
65 BILLION GALLONS OF GAS IN A FISCAL QUARTER

LET THE SAUDIS FIND ANOTHER CUSTOMER
TELL THEM WE ARE NO LONGER GOING TO TAKE THE SHAFT FROM THEM. WHO ARE THEY TO US ANYWAY? OUR SENATE AND CONGRESS BLOCKED A BILL TO SELL THE SAUDIS 1.4 BILLOIN IN ARMS. THEY BLOCK ANY AND ALL FUTURE SALES. LET THEM START THEIR OWN WEAPONS FACTORIES.

WE NEED TO STAND UNITED AGAINST THE WORLD AND TELL THEM ALL "WE ARE MAD AS HELL, AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE"

I MAY SOUND NUTS, BUT BROTHERS AND SISTERS WE ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL THE ARMED FORCES IN THE WORLD.

WE CHOOSE IF, WHEN, AND HOW MUCH MONEY WE WILL SPEND, AND WHAT WE SPEND IT ON.

THINGS IN THE USA DIDNT CHANGE OR FALL APART OVERNIGHT, AND WE WILL NOT CHANGE IT OVERNIGHT, BUT WE WILL OVER TIME.

GOD BLESS THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS

Colorado Ray wrote:

It is sad to see the end of the good old days. I am glad that I got to grow up driving full sized V8 powered american pick up trucks. It will always be a fond memory to me in the future as I grow older. I wish that everyone could have the pleasure of owning all the ones I have had. Soon there will be nothing but eco boxes with tiny engines. Sad to see them go, I always loved GM, Ford and Dodge trucks.

me thinks the best is yet to come,
people just wont give up hi perf vehicles,
they just use different technology:

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

check the cost per mile on this electric
www.teslamotors.com

Tacomas are rusty wrote:

Less trucks is the least thing to worry about. Every thing is going to sky roket. Milk will probably be 6 dollars a gallon, 4 dollar bread and a good old pizza will be $20 bucks before you know it. I hope everybody is ready for the next great depression..

heck with pizza,
I can still get a big huge steak here for 5 bucks!!
and burgers are even cheaper.
depression,...not around here.

Let's all move to Canada!

no thanks gas is more expensive in canada then it is here.

Diesel is 4.65 a gallon near my house, how much more could it be in Canada? I understand the Canadian dollar is now worth more than US currency.

Colorado Ray wrote:

It is sad to see the end of the good old days. I am glad that I got to grow up driving full sized V8 powered american pick up trucks. It will always be a fond memory to me in the future as I grow older. I wish that everyone could have the pleasure of owning all the ones I have had. Soon there will be nothing but eco boxes with tiny engines. Sad to see them go, I always loved GM, Ford and Dodge trucks.

Trucks aren’t going anywhere. Times will change and so will the MPG.

Truckin wrote:

<quoted text>
That is a massive (30%+) gear ratio change that would really kill off the acceleration of this vehicle and put too much strain on the 4-speed auto. They should back up the 4.17:1 final drive ratio with a 6-speed so they could enjoy two overdrives to get the RPM's down at highway cruising speed. Trying to launch a 4-cyl 4-speed car with a steep gear ratio would produce sluggish results, and disappoionted prospective buyers, so they need to drop in the 6-speed auto.

The corolla runs a .89 fourth gear ratio with a rear end ratio of 2.96.