Fill It Up..With Water!

Talk about simple - what if you could just put water in your car instead of gas? This video a friend sent me on YouTube showcases a brand new car that runs simply on water. Unveiled in Japan, the car could be yet another answer to our oil issues. While it's just a test vehicle, they hope to go into mass production soon. Take a look at it - it's very cool!

Car Sales - How Low Can You Go?

Here it is - the results are in for the month of June! Front page - CNN - reports car sales being significantly down for the month of June. How far down? GM reported an 18% year-over-year drop, with Toyota sinking 21% (I'll go into that more), and Ford down a whopping 28%. Surprise, surprise. The article cites overall economic concerns, along with a shortage of fuel-efficient vehicles.

Which brings me to the real point of this post....there aren't enough fuel efficient/hybrid vehicles in dealers. The Toyota Prius saw its sales fall by a third!!?? You may ask how can that be considering you can't even find one at a dealer - there are actually wait lists for the car. It's really quite simple - they don't have enough to sell. Pretty ridiculous if you think about it. Toyota did not make enough of the Prius and now it's hurting them. Somebody is going to lose a job over that....

What do you think - is July going to be worse or will the recent rebate stimulus checks sent out by the IRS radically change car spending? Also, please comment if you HAVE found a new Prius!

Save on Gas

I just read an interesting article written by a CNN Money editor about how she is saving money on gas with several good methods of driving. They seem like pretty good ideas - especially if you're driving an SUV or a pickup truck. Here they are:

• Drive a smaller car if you have access to one: If you have a boy/girlfriend, wife/husband, or a roommate that has a smaller car that gets better gas mileage - use it!
• Logging and Planning your driving: Take a piece of paper and write down everywhere you go throughout the week and how many miles you go. After that week is done, plan to either eliminate some driving or consolidate errands.
• Use public transportation: This one can be tricky depending on where you have to go, but try and use the public transportation in your town or city. Buses, subway systems, and trains could all end up saving you money depending on how far you're driving.
• Better driving techniques: Consistently check your tire pressure, and also more importantly, easy up on the gas pedal! Don't accelerate too fast and always try to drive at or below the speed limit. On the highway, set the cruise control for 60 or 65.

Seems like some good ideas to me! Anyone else have any good suggestions?

Free Gas for Summer...?

Pump prices got you down? It's definitely got the car manufacturers down! While people struggle to figure out ways to afford gas prices, car dealers are struggling to sell cars that don't have high fuel efficiencies. Some car manufacturers have now released gas-price incentives such as "Free Gas for Summer" by Suzuki and a fixed $2.99/gallon price for 3 years by Chrysler.

They must be pretty desperate to start basing incentives off of gas prices, because any knowledgeable person knows that gas prices will not be declining or leveling off in the near future. On the bright side, hopefully this also means that these same manufacturers are putting a lot of investment into raising fuel efficiency and alternative energy vehicles.

Would you be swayed by one of these gas incentives? Leave a comment!

Oil Price Rises - New Record High

Think oil prices are leveling off and you don't need to worry about fuel efficiency? Think again! This just in...one barrel of oil now costs $140 - a new record. According to a CNN article just released this afternoon, fear of reductions in oil supply from Kenya and comments made by OPEC officials citing a $170 price later in the summer has caused this record spike in price.

Good luck finding a Prius!

>>>>>> CNN Article - Oil Price Record <<<<<<