How do you feel about this?

[jaideeguy]

In the last 5 yrs [since GWB's war in Iraq], I've seen fuel prices more than triple and it has slowed down my leisure driving considerably, but I don't see any slowdown in traffic....so can it be said that [other] people are not changing their habits and slowing down their driving. I still see songthows with one or two passengers, busses running almost empty and just as many traffic jams in town.

How much higher does the price of fuel have to increase before people change their habits????

[britmaveric]

Until petrol runs out, people will always buy it no matter what the price. So the simple answer is never. (people cut dosh elsewhere in their life)

[clausewitz]

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

[PhilHarries]

Look to the UK, when I was last there in 2005 petrol cost around £1 (62 Baht) per litre and people still drove just as much but they whinged more.

You could ask the question how expensive does tobacco/alcohol have to become before people stop smoking and drinking? As these costs increase relatively gradually people adjust their lives to incorporate the increases by cutting back elsewhere. I would guess if you increased the fuel cost some tenfold overnight that would bring about a change in people's driving habits.

[jdinasia]

speaking of gas prices ... time for me to go out for a nice leisure drive!

[PeaceBlondie]

It's a lifestyle, so much a part of habit that you can hardly let go. I will bet that most farangs and Thais have adjusted our habits. But my fuel bill does not amount to four percent of my total monthly expenses, and I am now getting 32 km per liter even by riding at 129 kph. So, there is just not much more that I can save.

[PattayaParent]

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

Hmmmmmmm. 1,000 baht of petrol (Gasohol 91) gets me 700 kms.

So where's your advantage?

[clausewitz]

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

Hmmmmmmm. 1,000 baht of petrol (Gasohol 91) gets me 700 kms.

So where's your advantage?

What sort of car do you drive?

[GuestHouse]

When using 'traffic density' as an indicatio of the response to fuel price rises I suspect that the impact of price rises on individuals already driving cars is masked by the numbers of new car owners.

The OP comments on his obseration of the last 5 years - but this has also been a period of rapid growth, and in Thailand a period of growth coming out of the post 90s economic problems.

My own observation over the last five years is that there has been a boom in new cars on the road.

Looking forward..... you see all those small motorbikes crowding Thailand's streets......

[jaideeguy]

Yea GH, maybe that accounts for lots of the traffic that we see and you are right in that it's mostly new vehicles. If that theory is true, I shutter to think how bad traffic would be if fuel was pre-2001 prices. High prices are a blessing for those that can afford!!

[PattayaParent]

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

Hmmmmmmm. 1,000 baht of petrol (Gasohol 91) gets me 700 kms.

So where's your advantage?

What sort of car do you drive?

Brand new Toyota Vios.

[cclub75]

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

Like thousands of other drivers...

On Viphavadi road, before Central Lad prao, there is a NGV station... Last week end of afternoon, I saw a queue of 500... meters ! Easy to figure out... a taxi was waiting just after the sign "NGV station 500 meters"...

This is really new.

And that shows the limits of NGV... PTT needs to build hundreds of stations... Investments... And I guess more in cities... Therefore the people who would really need NGV, poors up country, are likely to continue to use gasoline.

Back to the topic :

-as someone pointed out, the elasticity is huge... Many people can afford higher gas bills... They will cut other expenses.

-new drivers : as millions of people in Asia benefit from higher incomes... they all rush to buy this symbol : cars.

-this is why it's impossible to compare with the first or second oil shock in the 70s when huge prices increases leaded to a reduced demand from western countries and then to a decrease of oil prices.

-the figures give vertigo : each month, 45 000 cars (pick ups and passengers cars) are sold in Thailand... 94 000 in february in India. I don't even dare to look at the figures in China.

[cclub75]

Retail prices of gasolines (+ NGV and LPG) in BKK :

http://www.eppo.go.th/retail_prices.html

Edited March 25, 2008 by cclub75

[PattayaParent]

-the figures give vertigo : each month, 45 000 cars (pick ups and passengers cars) are sold in Thailand... 94 000 in february in India. I don't even dare to look at the figures in China.

A drop in the ocean compared to bicycle sales I'll bet

[clausewitz]

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

Hmmmmmmm. 1,000 baht of petrol (Gasohol 91) gets me 700 kms.

So where's your advantage?

What sort of car do you drive?

Brand new Toyota Vios.

LOL! A vios full tank would only get you 400-500km, and less than that in city driving.

[cclub75]

-the figures give vertigo : each month, 45 000 cars (pick ups and passengers cars) are sold in Thailand... 94 000 in february in India. I don't even dare to look at the figures in China.

A drop in the ocean compared to bicycle sales I'll bet

A big drop.

Passenger car sales in China in February increased 17% year-on-year to 488,900 units, Shanghai Daily reports, citing data published by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).(automotive world)

More seriously, the big question is : are they buyers who replace their old cars... by new ones... Or are they first buyers ?

I think we can guess -partly- the answer....

x12 = 6 millions of new cars per year in China...

It's scary . And it's only the begining : France with a population of 64 millions... had a total car market of 2,06 millions units in 2007.

[billd766]

Up country out in the boonies where most people live there is not the luxury of taxis and busses every 2 minutes or so. If you don't have a motorcycle or pickup truck you have to wait for the lorry bus to get around or the few baht busses between villages.

Now the price of some farm products are going up farmers etc are buying more transport.

[Plus]

There's no such thing as leisure driving in Thailand. People drive because they have to and because they don't have any other choice. Whatever the price - they need to go to work and back, send kids to school, go shopping on weekends etc.

To adjust to higher prices many sold gas gazzling Euro cars or converted them to LPG, but they didn't stop driving.

>>>

1000 baht - 700 km. That's about 20l/km. Not a realistic figure. 12, max 15 on highways for Vios. Big old Benz might do only 7-8 km/l, that's where LPG comes in handy, it's three times cheaper.

[clausewitz]

>>>

1000 baht - 700 km. Not a realistic figure. 12, max 15 on highways for Vios. Big old Benz might do only 7-8 km/l, that's where LPG comes in handy, it's three times cheaper.

Hey tell it to Pattaya Parent. You wonder how some people get through the day.

Edited March 26, 2008 by clausewitz

[PattayaParent]

LOL! A vios full tank would only get you 400-500km, and less than that in city driving.

You obviously don't own a Vios?

Drove it out of the showroom and filled the tank with 36 litres of Gasohol 91 (it's a 42 litre tank).

680 kms later when the fuel guage indicated 1/8th remaining filled it up again, again 36 litres of petrol.

Do the math.

Even my 13 year old Corolla was getting 570kms on a full tank.

[Heng]

I'm just glad they haven't phased out 95 octane gasoline like they THREATENED two years ago. Vroooomm!

[LivinLOS]

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

Hmmmmmmm. 1,000 baht of petrol (Gasohol 91) gets me 700 kms.

So where's your advantage?

What sort of car do you drive?

Brand new Toyota Vios.

Whats 91 cost ?? 30 baht ???

So you can do 700 kms on 33l ?? Or 21+ km/l ?? or 58+ MPG ???

I would have guessed half that !!!

[Ski_Goong]

Hmmmmm... I've had a VIOS for 1 year now and 1000 baht worth of 91 Gasohol gets me 650 KM. I've gotten a little less or more depending on how/where I drive. I normally cruise at 120 kph.

Ski....

P.S. I will be converting to LPG next month for 30,000 baht. Figured will recoup the cost in about a year.

(ooops...due to the increase in fuel price...I now spend 1150 to fill up)

* reason for edit...added info regarding increase in fuel pirce.

Do what I did and install LPG.

500 baht gets me about 350km.

Hmmmmmmm. 1,000 baht of petrol (Gasohol 91) gets me 700 kms.

So where's your advantage?

What sort of car do you drive?

Brand new Toyota Vios.

LOL! A vios full tank would only get you 400-500km, and less than that in city driving.

Edited March 27, 2008 by Ski_Goong

[clausewitz]

http://www.carsurvey.org/viewmorecomments_...ew_56770_1.html

23rd Jul 2006, 02:22

Hi there.

I drive a Vios (E) - Auto Specs,

I've read the earlier posts that they claimed that their Vios can go to 500km? For full tank? I'll guess that's possible if it's driving along a long stretch of highways only right? If you can achieve 500km / full tank on normal town driving, then please share on how was it achieved?

[PattayaParent]

Gasohol 91 costs 29.29 Baht.

Rearding fuel economy read post #20 and note this is a NEW Vios, with the NEW E20 spec engine but even Ski_Goong's 1 year old Vios gets 650 kms on a full tank so you guys that think it can only acheive half of that are way off the mark.

[PattayaParent]

Hmmmmm... I've had a VIOS for 1 year now and 1000 baht worth of 91 Gasohol gets me 650 KM. I've gotten a little less or more depending on how/where I drive. I normally cruise at 120 kph.

Ski....

P.S. I will be converting to LPG next month for 30,000 baht. Figured will recoup the cost in about a year.

(ooops...due to the increase in fuel price...I now spend 1150 to fill up)

* reason for edit...added info regarding increase in fuel pirce.

I fill a tank a week so to save 150 Baht each fill up it would take me a tad over 46 months to recover 30k Baht

Or almost 4 years.

How did you do your calc?

[PattayaParent]

From Today's Nation.

Bangkok to Chiang Mai on 1 tank of fuel within a 9 hour time limit

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/worldhotne...newsid=30038692

We reached Saraphi well before 5pm and got to the refuelling station. Here we would know how many litres of fuel we had used. It turned out that even with my unconcerned driving in the last few hundred kilometres, we still had a quarter of a tank of fuel left.

At the gas station, 30.14 litres of 91 unleaded was filled into the tank of our Vios, which translated to fuel economy of 21.56 kilometres per litre. With unleaded 91 costing Bt29.54 per litre, we had spent Bt890 to get to Chiang Mai.

However, this was far worse than the car that won. Saravuth Khamsri from Taladrot (Car Market), Kiatsiam Kerdsap from Autoplace and Narinthorn Chotipiromkul from Thai Post used only 26.65 litres, averaging 24.39 km/litre (Bt787).

--------------

And from another source http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summa...86-20518815_ITM

Data showed the automatic transmission, gasoline-fed Toyota Vios bested eight other sedans in the 170-kilometer fuel efficiency run as it consumed only 7.574 liters, for mileage of more than 22 kilometers per litre.

[Ski_Goong]

Why would you save only 150 baht on every fill-up?

Lets see....right now it cost me 1150 baht per to fill up. After LPG conversion, it should cost about 600 baht - a savings of 550 baht. I fill up 6 times per month...so that's 6 times 550 = 3300. In 10 months time I would have saved around 30,000 baht ( I hope).

Ski....

Hmmmmm... I've had a VIOS for 1 year now and 1000 baht worth of 91 Gasohol gets me 650 KM. I've gotten a little less or more depending on how/where I drive. I normally cruise at 120 kph.

Ski....

P.S. I will be converting to LPG next month for 30,000 baht. Figured will recoup the cost in about a year.

(ooops...due to the increase in fuel price...I now spend 1150 to fill up)

* reason for edit...added info regarding increase in fuel pirce.

I fill a tank a week so to save 150 Baht each fill up it would take me a tad over 46 months to recover 30k Baht

Or almost 4 years.

How did you do your calc?

[jumnien]

My Fortuner cost about 1.1 million baht and I spend less than 100,000 baht per year on gasoline. That works out to about 9% per year on fuel. Not bad! But believe me, I really wish the price of the vehicle would come down more than the price of fuel!

[PattayaParent]

Why would you save only 150 baht on every fill-up?

Lets see....right now it cost me 1150 baht per to fill up. After LPG conversion, it should cost about 600 baht - a savings of 550 baht. I fill up 6 times per month...so that's 6 times 550 = 3300. In 10 months time I would have saved around 30,000 baht ( I hope).

Ski....

Because on your fill up of LPG you will only get half the mileage for half the price according to Clasewitz in post #3.