As a teen driver, relegated to sharing the family car with my brother, I would routinely fill our mutual transportation with just enough gas to get me where I wanted to go for the evening, always being careful not to leave one drop more in the tank than absolutely necessary for my elder sibling. It was not unusual for me to make gas purchases totaling 35 cents, or even 50. On days when I was truly flush, I might have shelled out an entire dollar for gas for the old wood-paneled station wagon. I am certain there were more than a few times my brother barely made it to the filling station on the fumes I'd left in the tank.
When I told my teenage sons that story, they looked at me with their eyebrows raised in disbelief. Not disbelief that I could be so cheap; this they already knew. They were incredulous that I could drive around all evening on less than a dollar's worth of gas.
Today, my mid-sized SUV -- my pretty new toy that I truly adore -- is a gas guzzling glutton at the pump.
Before you judge me too harshly, you should know that I really did look into buying an energy-saving little hybrid. Unfortunately, little hybrids don't work well with three sons and a husband who are so tall they could form the better part of the starting lineup for an NBA team.
When we were car shopping, watching my husband continually smack his head on the door frame as he got into these compact vehicles, then watching him have to try to pry himself out with some dignity still intact, was almost as entertaining as seeing my 6-foot-3, 15-year-old sitting in the back seats, hunched into a stooping slump with his knees just inches from his chin. But I was willing to get out the shoehorn and make my men fit into a hybrid just for the potential gas savings -- until I read a Consumer Reports analysis on the true long-term cost of hybrid transportation.
The analysis determined you could drive a hybrid for 10 years and 150,000 miles and still not recoup the money in gas savings that you paid to cover the extra costs to buy and maintain the hybrid vehicle.
The cleaner air would have been a nice benefit, especially since the better part of my family would, no doubt, have to ride with their heads out of the window to be comfortable, but in the end I threw common sense to the wind and bought my thirsty, shiny beast.
It is now running me more than $60 to fill up my tank. I am trying to do all the little things to save gas. I am driving smoothly and steadily, with no sudden starts or stops. I'm keeping the air conditioning off, unless I really need it. I've made sure my tires are properly inflated. Most importantly, since extra weight in the vehicle consumes fuel, I am going to my Jazzercise class religiously.
In the long run, if gas prices continue to stay over $3 a gallon, I will be spending more on my car than I do on my kids.
Perhaps that's the answer. Here is a head's up to Chaya, the lady who prepares my tax returns every year: Next year I will be claiming a new, four-wheeled dependent.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
