Gas Prices

[Insidious Rex]

They are getting out of hand wouldnt you say?

Three questions:

1. How much are they where you are?

2. What kind of car do you drive/your parents drive?

3. Have you changed any of your normal habits because of the huge increase in gas prices recently?

[Lady Tinuveil]

I live about 10 miles from town, about 5 from any gas station.
It cost 28 dollars to filll up the gas tank in our ford, & That is too much.
It is usually under 20$, & now I cannot go anywhere, or even go for a drive, because all the gas is waisted on getting to another gas station.
I just dont have the money to waste.
The last time I went in to town, It was 2.88 dollars a gallon.
(& thats at the cheapest station!)

[Beruthiel's cat]

WOW!! I thought Upstate New York prices were bad. I paid $1.959 per gallon yesterday for unleaded regular, and that is at one of the less expensive stations.

I drive a 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser and if I let it go below 1/4 tank, it costs about $25.00 to fill. I can't even imagine how much people who drive pick-ups or SUVs must pay to fill up.

My commute is 14 miles one way, so 28 miles round trip. There is a gas station about 3 blocks from my house with lower prices than in other parts of the city, so I'm pretty lucky.

But it's getting pretty bad. I'll be driving to visit my mother in July (about 300 miles one way) and I'm not very happy about the price of fuel!!

As far as changing my habits, I haven't been able to yet, since I have to commute to work, and my family and friends are scattered all over the area.

[brownjenkins]

1.

gas in the boston suburbs is about $1.75 a gallon

most expensive is in-town late at nite... about $2.10 a gallon

2.

i drive a beat-up old subaru wagon ~ 1990 ~ i keep meaning to buy a new car, but i like to get every last bit out of this one first

it averages about 24 mpg

family car is a ford minivan

it averages about 18 mpg

3.

if i wanted to save money there would be quite a few habits i'd change before driving even came up

[mithrand1r]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
They are getting out of hand wouldnt you say?

Three questions:

1. How much are they where you are?

2. What kind of car do you drive/your parents drive?

3. Have you changed any of your normal habits because of the huge increase in gas prices recently?

1.
Diesel -- $1.549 to $1.799 Depending on station
Gas -- $1.689 is the lowest I have seen but I have not been really looking.
This is in Central New Jersey, USA.

2. I drive a 2002 VW GOLF TDI (45-50 mpg) --
It runs on Diesel Fuel.

3. No.

[Lady Tinuveil]

You are lucky.
The closest gas station to my house doesnt even tell you their prices, they wait untill after they pump your gas. I prefer to use the chevron where they post their prices.
BP sucks, & they steal from you!

[Beruthiel's cat]

Originally posted by Lady Tinuveil
You are lucky.
The closest gas station to my house doesnt even tell you their prices, they wait untill after they pump your gas. I prefer to use the chevron where they post their prices.
BP sucks, & they steal from you!

In New York state, all gas stations are required to post their prices so they can be seen from the road. The prices must also be displayed as part of the pump's electronic display. It's too bad your laws don't mandate that. It is a good peice of consumer protection, I think!

[Andúril]

1. Here in SA, it's about R4 per litre of unleaded 97 octane petrol. Don't ask me how much that is converted to $ per gallon. Hang on, it's 57c (US) per litre, so it's about $2.14 per gallon.

Basically, to fill a 60 litre (16 gallon) tank, it costs me R240, which is about $34.

Okay wait, it doesn't cost me anything--my company pays my petrol expenses...

2. Toyota RunX 140RT (2003 Corolla hatchback not available in the States)

3. Nope, since I haven't spent a cent on petrol for the last 30000km (18645 miles).

[Insidious Rex]

Originally posted by mithrand1r
2. I drive a 2002 VW GOLF TDI (45-50 mpg) --
It runs on Diesel Fuel.

good for you. yer a better man then most. whats the deal with the gas stations on the NJ turnpike? they seem surprisingly low priced compared with other high way gas stations. someone must have a great contract set up there somehow. course the fact that the refineries are right there probably doesnt hurt. i always remember to fill up on the last stop in Jersey because once you hit New York the price jumps like 15 cents.

[gollum9630]

hmmmm, i cant convert hte cost into american dollars, but here gas is about 97.5 cents a litre. I got lucky though, the last time i filled up gas was 85.9 a litre so it only cost me about $40. I havent really changed my driving habits though, seeing as i dont drive around a whole lot.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Beruthiel's cat
WOW!! I thought Upstate New York prices were bad. I paid $1.959 per gallon yesterday for unleaded regular, and that is at one of the less expensive stations.

I just bought gas for $1.59 by me.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
good for you. yer a better man then most. whats the deal with the gas stations on the NJ turnpike? they seem surprisingly low priced compared with other high way gas stations. someone must have a great contract set up there somehow. course the fact that the refineries are right there probably doesnt hurt. i always remember to fill up on the last stop in Jersey because once you hit New York the price jumps like 15 cents.

New Jersey Turnpike is low - because they have contracts with the state. It's to prevent price gauging - since those gas stations basically have a monopoly. To enjoy the benefit of supplying gas the entire length of the Turnpike - they are only able to raise prices once a week - and it has to be an averge - not the going rate.

Also - NJ has low taxes on gas - which helps our gas prices.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by mithrand1r
1.
Diesel -- $1.549 to $1.799 Depending on station
Gas -- $1.689 is the lowest I have seen but I have not been really looking.
This is in Central New Jersey, USA.

2. I drive a 2002 VW GOLF TDI (45-50 mpg) --

The gas station just north of Cranbury - on the south bound lane of Rt 130 was $1.59. I can't remember gas station though - because it's not a name brand station. I think it's Mr Gas or something like that.

Based on Gas prices and other factors - I decided to take the train to trenton and then take the new light rail system - The River Line to the Camden Waterfront to see the USS New Jersey again.

Even though it was $3.00 for parking, $4.75 round trip for the train and $2.20 round trip for the light rail - it was still cheaper when the gas, parking and tolls are taken into account (I usually go through PA and then cut back into NJ over the Ben Franklin Bridge). The only problem is that it took me over 2 hours to do that - instead of the usual 45 minutes to an hour by driving. I wanted to try out the River Line anyway though.

[Ruinel]

Mother of Mergetroy (sp?)!!!

Gas is friggin' $1.78 here!

That's it... I'm sittin' my fat ass down and I'm not going anywhere... except .... work... and groceries... and... if I want to go out and meet my friends ... wait.... that's all I do anyway.

O_o crap! They've got me by the cajones, if I had any.

edit: forgot to say, I have a ford explorer (6 cylinder, though). I got it to take off road and carry my kayak. I do not plan to give up neither camping, nor kayaking. These are the few pleasures in my otherwise crappy existence. Without that, what's the point of living.

[zinnite]

I just filled the tank today at a whopping $1.95 p/g. I saw the "premium" variety went for $2.15. That's the highest I have ever seen it here in the west-midwest.

Fortunately (i suppose) the only vehicle I drive is the "company" van, but it has to be filled at least twice each week. My wife and I do have our own car, but we only fill it up about once a month, as we rarely use it.

[crickhollow]

meh...they've been hovering just below the two dollar mark here in Northwest Washington. Today when I went to fill up at the AM/PM (the only place cheaper is Costco, and I don't have a membership there), it had jumped up to $2.07.

I drive a little red '91 Mazda 626, and Red usually gets about 30 miles per gallon.

Unfortunately for me, work is 16 miles south of my house, and school is 25 miles north of my house, so I'm on the road a lot (sometimes 2 hours per day). Right now it feels like it's costing me more money to drive to work than I'm actually making. :-(

If I could change my habits, I would, but I can't very often take the bus right now, because I can't take the bus from work to school.

Ruinel: I miss $1.78 already. Last rumour I heard is that it will make it all the way to $3.00/g this summer before it starts easing back down.

[mithrand1r]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
good for you. yer a better man then most. whats the deal with the gas stations on the NJ turnpike? they seem surprisingly low priced compared with other high way gas stations. someone must have a great contract set up there somehow. course the fact that the refineries are right there probably doesnt hurt. i always remember to fill up on the last stop in Jersey because once you hit New York the price jumps like 15 cents.

When I was ready to choose a new car a few years back I test drove several cars.

I wanted the following from any car I was going to buy:

Get at least 30 mpg (7.84 L/100km)

Comfortably fit 4 people with some luggage.

Have decent pickup speed (0-60 times)
This, for me, was more based on real-world feel than actual numbers.

I was unsure about the Diesel so I did look around for information and did a few test drives. The car drove well, got great mpg and it easilly 4 people with some luggage. The car being a hatchback was a bonus (very versitile (sp?)).

Since I drive over 30k miles (48k KM) per year it made it a lot of sense. (all things being equal a car driven by diesel gets 20-40% more miles per gallon than the same car driven by gasoline)

Part of th3e reason NJ has lower gas prices compared to other states is due to relatively low fuel taxes and close proximity of the fuel refineries.

(Although I have at times seen same or lower fuel prices in MD.)

I think the other reason is that New Jersey is better than all of the other states.

[Ruinel]

Originally posted by mithrand1r
...Part of th3e reason NJ has lower gas prices compared to other states is due to relatively low fuel taxes and close proximity of the fuel refineries.

(Although I have at times seen same or lower fuel prices in MD.)

I think the other reason is that New Jersey is better than all of the other states.

Texas has numberous refineries. Beaumont has the highest cancer rate in the nation for it. The port in Houston sees so many tankers coming in and out, I couldn't even begin to tell you how many. Yet, our gas prices have jumped over 15 cents a gallon in a week. Go figure.

And Texas is better than New Jersey... so there.

[crickhollow]

yeah, we've got BP and Texaco refineries in our area, too...they take in crude from Alaska. At this point I wouldn't be opposed to the US starting to take more from our AK resources, but that's another thread for another day.

[Ruinel]

Originally posted by crickhollow
yeah, we've got BP and Texaco refineries in our area, too...they take in crude from Alaska. At this point I wouldn't be opposed to the US starting to take more from our AK resources, but that's another thread for another day.

I'd be more in favor of developing alternative fuels. We need to think of the future, rather than the "here and now". We're suffering now because we failed to consider our future, in the past.

Our government spends money each year in alternative fuel research and developement. We currently get an incentive for purchasing hybrid cars through our taxes. If your windmill or solar panel system makes more fuel than you use, the local electric company is required to buy the excess from you.

But we're too focused on the rest of the world and our present rather than our future. It will be our undoing.