Do to the ever rising gas prices and that I get 12-14mpg in my jeep.  I think that I have finally decided on getting a gs500.  What years should I looking at?

What ever you can afford with the lowest mileage and no serious problems.
lol
Seriously, everyone will shortly jump in with their fav, but I'm pretty sure there is one of everything running tip top represented on this board.

01 and up have newer plastics and we bit larger tank and carbs. Otherwise they are pretty much the same.

Don't kid yourself , no one buys a motorcycle to save gas money.  If you ride a bike getting 60 mpg for say 10,000 miles in a year that you otherwise would have driven in your Jeep at 12 mpg (and you never joyride), you're still only gonna save somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,200 on gas at $1.75/gal.  Figure you're spending a couple grand on the bike, a few hundred on insurance, easily a grand or more on gear, accesories, and maintenance, and you'll find that riding, unless you're getting rid of your car completely, ain't a money saving proposition.  

That said it's way more fun that driving a car and well worth the expense!

jeff

OK Les see...I have 40K+ on the GS, and bought in 95 with 8K, in that time I put 10K on a virago, ...Basically I counted into the high 70K range and own only 2 of the bikes still having sold the rest all for right around what I had in them, with the bikes turning in an avg of 40 mpg and a truck that made 13 barely. Gas was consistently at over 170/gal in the last 3 years. To this add tolls and insurance savings (due to car insurance droppping to weekend use only vehicle) on the bike as savings and tires, chains, parts etc as expense and I am at over $6-7K positive due to owning the bikes and not to mention the added 70K depreciation on the truck...and the 89 GS has borne 1/2 the burden.
BTW at one time with gas even cheaper than 1.7/gal and a truck that gave me 17/gal...I roughly observed savings of $175/mo excluding insurance and maintenence.
Right now...The mileage is too small to make a significant diff in just gas but I have free parking with the bike...while it costs $2.50 with the truck...Katching...either way I save over $4 a day including gas and oil...yea the GS has an oil budget...300 miles a quart.
The time saved (CA has carpool and splitting for bikes si huge time savings) needs to be taken into account and that's the time you need to give yourself to fix it in case its needed...believe me I have spent less than 1/10 the time fixing it.
The numbers are in the bikes favor...the longer your commute, the bigger the city you live in/work in the bigger the chasm, but it takes discipline to maintain the positive...a 100 mile weekend joy ride will kill it, as will a few wheelies/burn outs that toast your fork seals/tires/chains as will multiple bikes unless your commute is so long you need a few to make the week work.
Cool.
Srinath.

Get whatever fits your budget, but remember that if you find a good, low mileage bike thats more than 5 years old like I did ('97 with <8000miles) that you will probably need to replace some of the odds & ends like fuel lines, brake fluid & pads, fuel petcock, etc (this list is based on what I had to have done)... if you're buying a bike around that age, ask about what's been replaced and what hasn't.  All those little bits can start to add up on you.

Happy hunting!!!