I was a bit shocked TODAY when, in the Target store parking lot I saw a Brand Spankin' New BigA*SUV drive in. I knew it was new because it still had the paper "license plates" with the dealer's name and logo. This was one of the big time Biggies... an Exploder or a Denial or one of those.  As hard as it is to pay $4, I'm actually thankful that people are finally wising up, and I'm always a bit disappointed when gas goes down a nickel or a dime, because it gives the BigA*SUV-heads a justification of sorts to keep plowing along. I heard a very interesting perspective related to this recently... the scenario was a family with two vehicles -- a 12mpg SUV, and a 25mpg sedan. They were deciding which to upgrade -- the SUV to a 15mpg van (3mpg improvement), or the sedan to another sedan getting 30mpg (5mpg improvement.) Both vehicles were driven similar annual distances, say 15,000 miles. The somewhat counter-intuitive best choice is to upgrade the 12mpg vehicle to the 15mpg one. Why? The 12mpg vehicle burns 1250 gallons/year. The 25mpg vehicle burns 600. Upgrading the 12mpg to 15mpg means burning 1000 gallons (250 fewer), compared to saving "only" 100 gallons by upgrading the 25mpg for 30mpg (burning 500 instead of 600.) The speaker did conclude by saying it would be even far better yet to trade out the SUV for that 30mpg sedan (saving 750 gallons), but that a 12mpg-to-15mpg change is more significant than 25mpg-to-30mpg. I used to sneer at the idea of a, what, 18mpg hybrid SUV, but looking at it from this unarguably valid perspective, it's incredibly less evil than its non-hybrid predecessor. Paul Bruesch Stillwater, MN (where most people have more money than I do and can still "afford" to drive monsters.) <div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 9:51 PM, Kerry <<a href="mailto:kkean@neo.rr.com">kkean@neo.rr.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">It seems like a great concept Holly, and I find it fascinating that $4 a gallon seems to have been some kind of line in the sand or psychological flashpoint. At $3.50 people were still buying gas hogs, and now you can't give a big SUV away. Kerry Kean Kent, Ohio </blockquote></div>