So that's the end of the Acura -- and any other car Travis might have considered sporty or fun. Instead, he's looking for an "econo-box" to slice his gas bill in half. This has lead him to a Toyota Scion xB, which averages 33 mpg and affords him a little room.
Not that Travis is the least bit thrilled. "It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life," he said. "If gas prices weren't this nasty, I would get another Acura."
Travis considered going all out and buying a hybrid Toyota Prius, which averages 55 mpg, before deciding against it.
But what if he had gotten the Prius? And what if everyone else in the region did, too?
Under that scenario, Washington area motorists would pay about $6.4 million a day for gas, less than half what they pay now. Over a year, that would amount to $680 million in their pockets, bank accounts, travel budgets or wherever they could think to spend that money.
Or, say Washingtonians went to the other extreme, toward the bigger cars they prefer, and everyone bought a 10-mile-a-gallon General Motors Hummer. That would result in nearly six times as much spent on gas -- $35.3 million a day pouring straight from the pump into all those trucks.
Bob Leipold of Manassas isn't going quite that far, but he is planning to get rid of his Toyota 4Runner in favor of a bigger SUV, possibly a Ford Expedition.
"I use about a tank every other week and don't pay much attention to the price," Leipold said in an e-mail, adding that he carpools to work and drives his SUV only for recreation. "A $.30 rise per gallon means $3.00 more in a ten-gallon fill-up. That's less than a trip to Starbucks. What's the big deal?"
District Transportation Director Dan Tangherlini said the big deal is the impact on air quality. "When vehicle miles traveled goes up . . . but miles per gallon goes down, it's a double threat because of the extreme amount of fuel burned," he said.
Tangherlini said he understands where SUV owners are coming from, since he was one of them. Like many people he knows, he recently traded his in for a more fuel-efficient wagon.
"I think perhaps we'll see that trend more and more as people see the limitations" of owning SUVs, he said.
