In the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, Clarke Soule paid $3.31 a gallon to fill his Lincoln Navigator. The self-described ultra-conservative blames the high prices on drilling bans on the outer continental shelf and in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"I worked 47 years for AT&T, and when I want to buy something, I buy it," said Soule, 65.

For many Americans, the big car is too ingrained as a way of life to let go, said Kit Yarrow, a Golden Gate University psychologist who researches the effects of oil prices on consumer behavior.

"Driving is just so central to their lives, their feelings of freedom and so on, that they're to going to do what they're going to do," she said.

But for most other drivers, that way of thinking has been abandoned.

"People kind of understand now what their foot on the pedal means in terms of money," she said.

Bob Gomez, a state employee in Colorado, has begun to car pool.

In Los Angeles, artist Shahla Kareen gave up her 2007 BMW 530i sedan in July for a 1978 Mercedes fueled with waste vegetable oil. She pays $1 a gallon.

"I would spend $75 to $100 to fill up my tank per week with the BMW," Kareen said. "Now I spend maybe $20 a week."

There have been broad changes across entire industries as well.

Cruise lines have altered routes to save fuel. UPS Inc. and the U.S. Postal Service are turning to alternative-fuel vehicles, and UPS plans to use biodiesel at its Kentucky air hub. Airlines are shifting to more fuel-efficient planes.

Industry analysts say gas could fall as low as $2.50 to $2.75 a gallon, but many see that as a temporary pause before prices rise again.

Analyst Stephen Schork said that any return to more liberal use of fuel would occur a long time from now because consumers are already making big-ticket decisions about what cars they will drive.

In September, consumers continued shifting from trucks and SUVs to cars, with car sales representing 52 percent of the market. Sales of Ford's top-selling F-series pickup trucks fell 42 percent.

David Portalatin, an automotive industry analyst for the NPD Group, said research has shown both short-term and long-term behavior changes that will continue for an extended period regardless of the gas price.

"Consumers don't have a lot of faith that the price will come down and will stay there for very long," he said. "Today's consumer is more thoughtful about overall finances."