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Gas prices in Massachusetts have dropped for the first time in nearly four months, but that's cold comfort if you drive a gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle or other large truck.

A statewide survey Monday by AAA of Southern New England found an average price of $4.06 a gallon for self-serve, regular-grade gasoline, down 2 cents from a week ago.

Even with that puny dip in prices, all it takes is a 24 gallon fuel tank to fetch $100 per fill up.

Generally, the rule is the bigger the car the bigger the fuel tank, so it's not surprising that over the past year the ubiquitous SUV so coveted by Americans has been causing car companies serious losses.

Although many drivers were once willing to dish out up to $80,000 for the oversized vehicles, America's love affair with giant SUVs is becoming conditional at $100 a tank. "When the gas hikes started last year, I knew eventually I was going to be paying $100 for gas. I didn't think it would come this soon I guess, but I told myself that if it got this bad I'd get a different car," said Gary Freeman, a business owner from Mansfield who drives a GMC Yukon SUV.

Freeman, who estimates his Yukon has around a 38-gallon fuel tank, uses the SUV for frequent road trips with his large extended family from the Midwest, easily packing all necessary gear into the back.

"I didn't want to do it but I have to. I don't need it for work, so I can't really justify it any longer," he said.

The grim omens are everywhere.

Companies like Ford and GMC that are known for SUVs and trucks are temporarily ceasing production on many vehicles with large fuel tanks, shutting down production plants, while recording up to a 40 percent decline in sales in recent months.

At the same time, car buyers are finding themselves on growing wait lists for hybrid cars, most notably the Toyota Prius, whose sales also dropped last month - but because Toyota couldn't supply them fast enough to satiate the demand beyond May.

Edmunds.com, a Web site that aides car buyers, even has a "Gas-Guzzler Trade In Calculator" to ease the inevitable.

And then there is the notorious Hummer which authoritatively looms above them all.

At 6 1/2 feet tall, 17 feet long, and 6,614 pounds, the Hummer H2 has successfully made military muscle look suburban chic for over a decade now. But at 8 miles to the gallon, the Hummer H2 has also made $4.09 gallon gas look impossible.

Rumored to be in severe crisis, Hummer, a division of General Motors, will most likely either be sold or discontinued this summer. For many large automobile owners like Freeman, SUVs and trucks are dispensable; they can settle for smaller, more fuel efficient cars.

Drivers who can't because of work or other obligations are having even more trouble.

Last week, in the midst of the SUV meltdown, Rich Cote, of Bellingham, bought a 1998 Ford Expedition.

"I need it, I can't give it up," he said while filling up the tank. "I can't have a limit on what I spend on gas. I have to keep pumping like most everyone else to work, eat, and live."

For Cote the Ford Expedition, which gets about 16 miles per gallon and has a 28 gallon tank, is a fact of life that he copes with by cutting back on other expenses.

"I haven't had a vacation in a long time. Vacation seems to be spent every week on this car," he said.

About this time of year, Freeman usually visits his family in Iowa and Illinois for camping and hiking trips.

"The drive is scenic and I like to do it, but I didn't go this year because I'm selling the Yukon," he said.

Freeman believes many large SUV owners can and are willing to switch to smaller cars.

"I am currently shopping for a smaller car. I don't want a tiny one, but I wouldn't mind driving to Iowa in a hybrid of some sort," he said. "As long as I can fit some of my bike and fishing gear in it I can manage."

While the threat of global warming might be a bit too existential, $100 a tank is anything but.

The last time prices fell in Massachusetts was March 24.

Prices in the Bay State are 4 cents below the national average.

A year ago, the average price in Massachusetts was $2.92.