Readers' comments:
Latest first

Mark H. :   I think we need more small rvs like the VW Westfalia Vanagons and Toyota Chinook pop-top motorhomes. I find that with my work schedule getting away on 3 day weekends or weeklong trips is the norm for most people(excluding retirees/full-time rv-ers). My Toyota Chinook got about 18 - 20 mpg. I truly believe that the large luxury coaches are going to die like the dinosaurs. Fuel prices will drive the development of the next generation rv/campers. Only the smart rv companies will survive by downsizing to small, fuel efficient mini-rigs... I can't wait.

greengal :   We would love to have the option of getting an RV with hybrid/diesel technology that would get at least 20mpg. We aren't into the denial or pointing fingers to justify owning a 38' diesel pusher. What we do is pull our Prius and use it for day trips while we are traveling. It isn't perfect, but it is still cheaper than having to stay in hotels and eat out everyday. Keeping the RV well maintained and keeping the speed down a little does help. We just returned from a 10K, 3 month trip and it will be awhile before we can justify paying $4.899 for diesel again at 10 mpg.

thecluelessworld :   The real problem. Population explosion. Who uses more fuel. The RVer that puts on maybe 4000 miles a year or the mom driving all the kiddies to the soccer games, baseball games, dance lessons, yada, yada day after day. How much more does each person consume in resources?? Those kiddies have to be feed. Takes fuel to produce food. Those kiddies wear clothes, buy toys, etc. All of that takes fuel to produce. If there were a hell of lot less people there would not be such a shortage of everything, fuel just being one of them. Oh and how many kids does Gore have? Bottom line is that most people just don't get it....

Reggie :   It's George Bush's fault. Or was it Carl Rove. I forgot. Please enlighten me. Oh, BTW, when one of the three Morons gets in office everything will be just fine. I would suspect that oil prices will drop overnight to about $10 per barrel. Fuel prices solved. No problem!! It's amazing how a new adminstration always solves our problems. Just amazing. I can hardly contain myself. The mesiah is coming!

Mr. Frustrated! :   Mini to large motorhomes have on-board generators. So with all of the hybrid technology why can't can't motorhomes go hybrid since the power source is already installed. Note with the large roof area could also have solar to recharge the batteries with a small wind generator you see on some sailboats to add "free" energy. In addition, they are using the large diesel engines on ships to power generators used to power the electric propellar pods!

zucchini :   It all goes back to supply and demand. No supply, the price goes up..oversupply or NO demand, price comes down. Oil companies statistically get about 8 cents out of that gal. of crude. The rest goes to the middle man. For instance....why is a by-product (diesel) more then refined gas? One reason is holding supply. OPEC controls this by regulating our supply. US Oil companies cannot supply all we need. It all goes into one big basket to dictate prices PLUS what the states add on and the station you get it from. There is no global warming and even if there was, we as humans could not control it. Get over yourself! Clean air...maybe. Climate,.forget it. In the seventies they were screaming ICE AGE. Its a ploy for taxes and controlling your behavoir. Motorhomes..its a second home. Whats it worth to you to take your house and put it where you want 6 mos out of the year?

cookie :   My husband and I would love to have an RV but will not consider one unless they can get at least 20 miles per gallon. Until then we will drive our hybrid prius and stay in motels

Karl, in Kenilworth, Ontario, Canada :   To speculate about biofuels and switching to hydrogen, and to talk about going only a few thousand miles a year with an RV is just plain DENIAL thinking. We'll have to give up the gas-guzzling monsters we're towing around with our big 4X4 "boy toys", and insist on 2500-lb trailers. The car manufacturers figured out how to do it, but the RV folks are in a fantasy world, adding more features like twin air conditioners and jacuzzi's, for heaven's sake. Very soon, our fuel price will have to go to the European model - $5.00, $8.00 a gallon and up, and then watch the market for those 10,000 lb luxury RV's go down to zero! I also predict that owners of fancy RV's will have to camp behind compounds that have security guards, because the public is going to get very hostile about people who flaunt their wealth and thumb their noses at Kyoto. My grandparents lost everything when the rich nobility in Russia (translated, that's today's conspicuous spenders) were tossed out and the working class formed a government.

Richard A :   I think that the potential for growth in the industry is muted unless the manufacturers get very busy and develop much more fuel efficient RV's. Three to four hundred dollar tankfils, with the prospect of even more cost looming large, are no way to develop the industry. Especially true when the cost of upkeep is factored in.

Sue E :   I think we need to pressure congress for biofuel to be a bigger priority and more available at a competitive price. RV manufacturers should be looking at their RVs and presuring engine builders and equipment manufacturers to come up with more fuel efficient systems.

enviroment 03 :   ALL vehicles not just motorhomes should get better fuel economy. Why attack one group when Big cars, SUV's, Hummers, Planes, Trains, power boats, burn as much or more. Let's get Bio diesel going with lower pricing. Tell your congressman to help with lower bio-diesel pricing, then we don't have to count on foriegn fuel as much.

Ray :   Much to be gained from slower speeds. My F250 w/460 can get 14 mpg at 55 and 10mpg at 75. We saw slower speed limits during the oil embargo of 72/73 mandated by the government. Now we see states like Kentucky increasing the speed limits on it's interstates. Why doesn't the government just slow everybody down and E N F O R C E it!!! Fuel savings could be started today instead of waiting for some kind of technology that may be decades in the making. State and Federal governments should act today.......they did in 1973!!! So what has changed? People now are so hell bent on reaching their destination that running at 80 is considered such a normal thing and slowing them down will meet oposition. I guess when their bank account is empty and the nation is in a horrible recession/depression they will wake up and smell the coffee.

Louise Benton :   I think it's a pity Arnold Schwartzenneger doesn't have an RV. If he had and he converted that to hydrogen it might start a trend. I think we do need to do something fast we can't depend on Arab oil much longer.

Maddy :   There is a place in Ojai CA that converts diesel RV'S to running on left over vegetable oil from deep fryers at MacDonalds etc. I hear they have really good results.

Bobby Rodgers :   I don't think it's a question of saving the world from global warming so much as every sector being pressured to do better. In this case it's RV and truck engines. I don't think it will affect existing RVs and trucks but I do think it will bring pressure to make new RVs and trucks - as well as every other vehicle - more efficient soon. I do think that SUVs and RVs will get more criticism though even though there's no logic to it.

Ben Berg :   Our 2003 Holiday Rambler 35' has 9,000 miles on it. So That's about 330 gallons of gas in each year. Now our car a lincoln used in town and area (Orange county ) which probably gets about overall 18 miles to a gallon and we drive an average of 14,000 miles per year that's about 780 gallons. So over 3 years the M/home used 990 gal. and the car about 2,300 gal. last year we only travelled 2,700 miles on the M/home because of high costs..... Summary, it's not the M/homes that is the problem but large SUV's, large cars etc. which goes from A to B. with one passenger. An RV uses all aspects of it's size and provides more that just transportation but, a way of living without driving thousands of miles to enjoy the country side ( RV parks etc.) SO if the M/home gets 10 mpg from 9 mpg that won't save the world from global warming.

Norm Sachs :   I think this is going to turn into a problem sooner than we think and it's not a question of fuel price. Cummins was approved by the EPA. California is not only suing the car manufacturers it's also suing the EPA for failing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Whatever happens it means the EPA will apply stricter regulations to the engine builders. Thanks to Al Gore and all the money that's going into alternative energy, the pressure to decrease emissions is going to really increase this year.

JACK M :   I don't think the answer is lower speed limits, as the most mileage can be gained on a constant speed of 55 to 65 MPH on the highway.

Lazy T :   I work on over 2000 motorhomes a year, the average odometer reading on a 10 year old coach is 40,000 miles, that doesn't compute to be a major fuel user. RV's are not the problem, it,s more like the millions of auto that run around the cities going somewhere the have already been. Milage is not the issue, I have a full size 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup that gets 20mpg, to me that is fantastic. How about controlling the oil companies, they control the prices. In my business if I purchase a part that is sold alot it is less then an equal part thats sold less, yet the more gas that is sold the higher the price. They say they raise the price to curve demand. Right, they raise the price to increase profits. A profit report for one oil company lately was over $38 BILLION with a B. Need I say more?

Homer :   While it is true the RV is a fuel guzzler, it is infrequently used on the highways. The surest way to decrease fuel consumption is to impose strict speed limits on all vehicles. This will make even Rv's a little more fuel efficient.

Steve (from California) :   Wow - interesting to read that the car manufacturers are being sued, reminds me of the tobacco manufacturers. I wonder what Fleetwood and Monaco think about it? I guess they must be working on it. I read that Cummins had made improvements to their emmisions for this year that had been approved Environmental Protection Agency. But I guess that wouldn't stop California from going after them.

Sean :   We rvers have been all too aware of the fact that we drive "fuel-guzzlers". That is why we take shorter trips and stay longer in one place. The manufacturers must be or should be working on the problem.