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October 16, 2005
Habits change as prices soarMore drivers are turning to gas-friendly carsByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Shock at the gas pump is making people rethink their driving habits in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. More than a month after the storms whirled through the South, Brian Dreves is paying about $68 to fill up his three-quarter-ton Chevy Silverado - almost twice what the 21-year-old cattle farmer paid to fill up his pickup when he bought it over a year ago. Few could have predicted the storms' catastrophic toll along the Gulf Coast - or the trickle-down effects of high gas prices have had on people thousands of miles away. Dreves commutes 40 miles a day from his home in Buckley to Traverse City to bank and feed livestock. Soaring gasoline prices are changing his habits. "I try not to drive into town for useless stuff, try and get two or three things at a time," he said. "I work on a farm so I kind of have to do what I have to do." Though his truck gets only 11 miles per gallon, the 6-foot-5 Dreves has no plans to downsize to a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle. "I'm not a car-type guy. I just don't like cars," he said. "They're hard for me to fit into." Mary Stocking also has considered making some lifestyle changes in the wake of the gas hikes but says it hasn't changed much of what she does now. "You do what you have to do. You just cut back on other things, like maybe go out to dinner less." Stocking and her husband live in Traverse City but have a second home in Manistique 230 miles away. They continue to vacation there as often as they can. "We think about how much it's going to cost, but we still go," said Stocking, who drives a Jeep Liberty. Because Traverse Motors sales associate Mike Henriet sells luxury "higher-end" cars, most of his customers are unconcerned about higher gas prices, he said. But the company has received plenty of calls from other drivers looking for more fuel-efficient cars like the Toyota Prius, a midsize gas-electric hybrid. "They're not our customers. They're Chevy, Ford, GM people that get on the Internet and give us a call," Henriet said. "They don't understand there's a waiting list of a year for a Prius." At Grand Traverse Auto, fewer people are buying big SUVs just for passenger use, long-time sales consultant Dan Isaac said. "The people that have boats, big campers, horse trailers, they still buy them," he said. "But the others, those people are moving into the much more economical vehicles that have all-wheel drive, like the Ford Freestyle, Ford 500, Mercury, and Ford Escape." Isaac believes the trend is not just a result of the recent gas hikes but a natural consumer progression as old body styles get "long in the tooth" and more economical cars with the advantages of all-wheel drive come on the market. "We predicted this five years ago," he said. See Related Stories: In-town living looking more attractive - October 16, 2005 Getting innovative in response to high gas prices - October 16, 2005 Riding planes, trains - and scooters - October 16, 2005
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Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
