Rising Gas Prices and SUV's Don't Mix

I couldn't wait to lease my new Volvo XC90 SUV. My four year lease was finally up on my Volvo S60 and I couldn't run fast enough to the car dealership to turn it in. Truth be told I actually turned in my S60 four months earlier than I was supposed to. I don't think my husband was too thrilled with this idea but he went along with it. He always says whatever makes me happy. I had no idea what I was about to quickly learn about gas prices and gas mileage.

I never paid much attention to gas mileage, gas prices, how many miles to the gallon, how big is the tank, etc... until I leased my SUV. Boy was I in for quite a shock. My S60 got great gas mileage. I don't think I filled that tank up more than 3 times in one month. I could drive on one tank a gas for what seemed to be miles and miles before I needed to refill it. Quite the contrary for my SUV. I am filling up the gas tank almost 2 times a week. It is getting ridiculous. I will pay anywhere from $3.09 all the way up to $3.25 for a gallon of gas nowadays. It depends on where I am getting the gas. I leaned that you never want to fill up your tank in a gas station that is close or next to the highway. They always have the highest prices and rip you off. The best prices I have found were gas stations that were no names like Empire. The cheapest gas prices I have found are near where I work in Brentwood. I can fill the tank for $45 as opposed to almost $60 near the highway.

I never thought that I would actually think twice before getting in the car to go somewhere. Now I think to myself, is it worth the gas mileage or should I just stay home. It is bad enough that I work 35 miles to and from home every day. That equals 70 miles a day I am burning in gas just to get to work. I think I might have made a huge mistake with leasing this vehicle. Thankfully this is only a 2 year lease. I think when it is over I am going to turn the SUV back in and go back to a car. The problem with that is I have a 2 year old son who takes up a lot of space with the stroller, diaper bags, etc. I don't think I am going to be able to downsize. Maybe the answer is not a car but an another SUV that is a little more reasonable with gas mileage. My husband had the Cadillac Escalade, talk about a gas guzzler. Horrible. That thing only gets 13 miles to the tank. At least the Volvo can get 18 miles to the tank on a good day.

Will the gas prices ever go down? It doesn't look good.