2.45 a gal for 93 octane yesterday. in central maine area. had a driver complaining to me about the high price when fueling up his big suv yesterday only to have him pass me on the highway doing about 80 mph. speed limit is 65 mph. he's using about 20% more fuel at that speed . it's time to start doing the speed limits to save fuel and also lives. I have also installed water injection on my 1967 chevelle and toyota 4 runner. 2 to 3 miles per gal. gains on fuel mileage. we drive the chevelle to florida every year and average 22 to 23 miles per gal. with a 283 v-8 engine and 93 octane and water injection. doing the speed limits.
does that '67 Chevelle have a 2-bbl or a 4-bbl? And what kind of tranny? I have a '67 Catalina with a 400-4bbl, THM400 tranny, and it would actually get around 17-18 on the highway. Not necessarily doing the speed limit, but going with the flow of traffic. Considering the size of the engine and the bulk of the car, I was actually pretty impressed. Heck, I also have a '68 Dart with just a 318-2bbl, and it doesn't even do that well on the highway!
2-bbl carb and 2 speed powerglide transmission. if you think about it ,for the size of the older cars and the plastic throw away cars that are being made today . you would think that we should be getting 60 plus miles per gal today. if the 60's cars can get 20+ miles per gal. but the gov. , oil companys and auto manufactures don't want that.
that you're getting that kind of economy with a Powerglide! Back in the 60's when Consumer Reports would do their car tests, usually anything with a Powerglide in it would suffer in both economy AND performance compared to an equivalent model with a Hydramatic. For example, with big cars, it was common for a Pontiac Catalina to do 0-60 in 10 seconds or less, yet still get 20 mpg on the highway in CR testing. And that was with a 389 or 400! In contrast, the Impala, which would have a 283, 307, or whatever, with the Powerglide, would sometimes be as bad as 14-15 seconds, and would only get around 17-18 on the highway, IIRC.
I recently picked up a '76 Grand LeMans, and had to drive it home from Cincinnati. A buddy of mine drove my '00 Intrepid back. The Trep was getting around 25 mpg, but the LeMans was only getting around 15! But then, that was the 70's, not the 60's, and this thing probably weighs as much as some 60's full-sizers!
I drove by Burlingame in California on the El Camino Real, the most expensive gas I saw was at a Chevron station that had regular 87 octane gas for...$3.05 a gallon self serve. :surprise: $3.19 for 91 octane, forgot what the mid level one was thou. $3.14 for full service regular gas. I can easily see $3.00+ gas prices at the cheapo places like Arco in California this summer.
Stuck at $2.099 for 87 at Sheetz, Exxon, and Citgo north of town here. In town, 87 is $2.169 at Hess. Still, it costs $30 to fill up the tank in my '98 Frontier, which holds 16 gallons.
...I don't currently own a car (last car, beater '87 Accord, kinda crapped out and ended up being towed away by the city!), but when I do drive, it's either brother's '96 Blazer (guzzler, but not as bad as before the tuneup) or S.O.'s '01 Jeep Wrangler (bit of a guzzler, but he's been toying with the idea of replacing it with a Corolla 5-speed). If we move to the burbs as planned, I'll likely get a small 'grocery getter' (old Tercel/Corolla/Escort/Civic). I just discovered that in some of the burbs near where I grew up (40 minutes south of here), we can buy a small house for $100-150k pretty easily, there are even some less than $100k (average frame house in my current 'hood on the north side of Chicago=$800k, many $1-3M), so we might get out of here. One can't even buy a basic 1BR condo around here for less than $180k. So while trolling for houses on-line, also trolling for beaters. :P
Gas in the suburbs is also 10-15 cents a gallon cheaper (so $2.239 up).
Gotta warn you, the '91-'95 (-'94?) Tercel gets bad highway mileage unless you go real slow. They all burn oil too (the engine's too light; poor design); it's a fun little car and well built for its price range, but I can't really recommend one.
Berkeley, CA:
87 octane from $2.45 (one of the cheap-looking places, and Costco) to $2.75. Sometimes even the cheap places are close to that upper figure though. Looks like things are lightening up.
good luck on the house hunt, and the beater hunt too! Moving can be fun, but can also be a pain in the you-know-what. Just like car shopping, I guess, but on a bigger scale!
Gas is still holding here, too. The Citgo on my way to work was $2.259 for 87 this morning, which is actually down a bit from their high of $2.299. The Shell's holding at $2.319, tho.
Makes me glad I live "down here" in central VA and not "up there" in the DC area anymore. Our gas is about 16-20 cents less. Plus no horrendous traffic tie-ups.
BTW, you mentioned Leon's junkyard in another topic. It's not too far from me, still in business, but the woods are really starting to close in. I don't think he ever sends cars off to the crusher, so the hulks just sit there rusting away. I bet it would really be hard finding useful parts.
next time I come down that way, I'll have to let you know! He did finally start crushing in 1994, but only in a limited quantity. He was having financial problems and needed to start raising some money. Last time I was down there was in 1997, and at that point he had actually started moving some stuff around, trying to reorganize.
The first time I went down there was in 1978, when my Granddad took me down. At that point Granddad had just bought a '53 DeSoto from his brother inlaw for like $150.00. It had been his BIL's mother's car, and she had a stroke while driving it and hit a parked car. The car was parked and never fixed, and years later when she died, when settling the estate that's how my Granddad got it. I remember we got a hood, driver's fender, bumper, all the grille teeth, and a few other minor pieces for like $85 or $90 bucks! I drove down there myself for the first time in 1992, just for a nostalgia trip, and that old '53 was still there! One thing that was really odd though, is how ingrained that junkyard was in my memory. I actually REMEMBERED a lot of the landscape, and where some of the various cars were located! Sometimes I wish my memory was that good when it came to school work and such back then!
There was still a lot of good stuff in there the last time I was down, but often it would depend on where in the yard it was placed. Some parts of that yard stay pretty dry, some of it's low and swampy, etc. He had a 1962 Pontiac Bonneville hearse that I would have loved to have rescued! It was so far back in the yard though, that It would've taken an act of God to dig it out! He also has (had) at least three '76-77 Pontiac LeManses (2 coupes and a sedan), so I might take a run down there sometime and see if there's anything salvageable off of them, and stock up on spare parts.
BTW, my uncle works down in VA, and he always fills up down there, since gas is so much cheaper. I think he always loads up on cigarettes down there too, when he's not trying to quit smoking. I even remember as a kid, when Granddad would watch me, sometimes he and his BIL would make a run over the Wilson Bridge to stock up on cigs and take me with them. Sometimes if I was lucky, I'd get a model car to put together!
It's the same here N of Seattle. Not a penny decrease. Premium has been 2.69-2.79 for 3 weeks now. I am just glad it hasn't gone up more, esp as I am going on a road trip of about 1000 miles next week.
I am sure these are all legitimate market forces...right
The prices are so skittish, that it reminds me of a stock price that has run way up when the stock is overbought and there's nothing real to sustain the high price.
What I'm really trying to figure out is how the pricing works. Obviously it's not as simple as the station taking delivery on a load of gas at a price and then selling at the market price. If that wree the case, we'd see more variation from station to station at price since I'd have an short term advantage over competitors gas stations if I had gotten a delivery at a lower price and they didn't. i could undersell them for a period of time. I know the margins aren't all that big on gasoline at the pump, but I would still expect to see price differences at different stations.
But they're pretty much in lock step, and not being a big conspiracy guy, there has to be an explanation beyond "they're out to get us".
Who knows what rpice I'll see this morning since oil dropped over $2/bbl yesterday to go under $50!!
yesterday on the way home I noticed the Shell was down to $2.279, from $2.299. Couldn't see the Citgo sign though, because the trees are now obstructing it from most angles, and I don't like to turn around and look behind me while I'm driving...better to watch where you're going instead of where you've been! :surprise: They're probably still around $2.259 though.
Gas prices have gone from $1.98 up to $2.18 back down to $2.09 within the last week here in the Atlanta area. No wonder the "Runaway Bride" took Greyhound.
...that she managed to get from Atlanta to Las Vegas, then to Albuquerque via Greyhound in only three days!!! Last time I took Greyhound (from downtown Chicago to Champaign/Urbana (a whopping ~140 miles), it took like six hours. If you're gonna run away from your wedding, at least do something fun or exotic. Greyhound? I would rather have married Henry VIII.
Gas, oh yeah. Last night I think I paid $2.359 for 87 at my local ghetto gas station/currency exchange/crackpipe stand (Diversey/Damen), which didn't seem too bad, considering it was $2.289 in the suburbs (where I thought it was sooo much cheaper).
I have to disagree with you about the Tercel. I have a '93 with a 4 speed manual and it's a great car. It's well built and very reliable. Mine has 120K miles on it and it gets over 40 MPG running at 75 MPH. It uses a little oil, but only during engine start after it's been parked overnight. It doesn't leak a drop of any fluids. I've had a compression check done and all 4 cylinders are within 5 psi of spec. I suspect the oil during startup is coming from the valve guides, which is no big deal. I have no doubt this car will go 200K miles with little or no problems. Let's see a Cavalier or a Neon do that!
Ghulet, I looked into taking the bus out to Cincinnati to pick up that '76 LeMans I had bought. At the time, I think it would have taken around 24 hours! The bus actually went to NYC first, and I'd have to transfer. Then it went dancing all over the PA map, and then finally into Ohio. Then, I think I would've had to transfer again in Columbus to make the finaly leg to Cincy. Also checked into Amtrak, which, IIRC, was around 12 hours and I think had one transfer. In the end I said screw it, and just drove it!
I didn't check into the Greyhound pricing, but the train was only $68. Which is less than what it cost in fuel to drive that beast back home! :surprise:
If you took Amtrak, I would guarantee you that the train would be 3-4 hours late. You would arrive in the middle of the West End, which is one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Also, you would need to find the local bus downtown (which is NOT running at the time the train is schedules to arrive in Cincinnati). You could get a bus near where you needed to get the car BUT it would be a 2 hour bus ride (assuming a half hour layover at Government Square for the transfer).
The last two times I have gone to Cincinnati to pick up a car (from Chicago), I have ended up riding down on one of my company's tractor trailers and being dropped off in Covington, KY. It is easier (and cheaper).
While having a conversation with a friend about alternative powered vehicles, he made some good points that I hadn't thought of before. Whatever technology brings us in the future, whether it's hybrids, CNG, or even hydrogen powered vehicles, some entity is going to have control over whatever these vehicles need for power and we're going to be paying through the nose for sources of power. If the demand for gasoline ever decreases because of a new technology, the powers to be will jack up the price of replacement batteries (in the case of hybrids), or the price of natural gas, or the price of water for hydrogen powered vehicles. Any way you look at it, the days of cheap transportation are gone even if we're somehow able to ween ourselves off our dependancy on dino fuels. What's the difference if we're paying $3 a gallon for gas, or $3 a gallon for water?
water if there's gonna be enough water to go around. It's not a cinch that there will even be enough water to produce hydrogen-powered vehicles, ya know? And if there is, there very well could be an "artificially-high" price hike for everyone to pay just in the nick of time for that H2O. Hate to sound dismal, but alternative-fuel rigs are a tough route to go to find longevity. If you're after the noteriety of being the first kid on your block to own one, well, then, that's different. I don't think it's gonna ever be cheap enough for the masses to afford. So, then, what's the point of pursuing it?
Sure, Dennis Weaver is all for the Toyota Prius and any other freak-show rig that can be produced. I think that the novelty factor is still the over-riding driving force at this juncture. Might as well find our own oil sources and drill until our hearts content and just run our internal-combustion gas and diesel engines to our hearts content.
Oh, 16 million more rigs are introduced to American roads each year. It's already in the works, man!
Time to kick off our weekly chat schedule. Mazda Maniacs meet tonight, although EVERYONE is welcome and we usually get into everything automotive (and some non-automotive stuff as well)
We've had a lot of new faces at the chats in recent weeks, and I hope tonight is no exception.
So are you saying the auto industry should just stop pursuing APV's all together? Are we just supposed to continue driving vehicles with internal combustion engines until all fossil fuels are completely gone, and then just plan on walking, bicycling, and horseback as our means of transportation? Wow! Talk about just giving up!
no, not at all. Let those with wads of cash and tons of free time pursue hybrids-fuel cells-hydrogen powered-rigs till their hearts content.
Once they de-bug everything and get the technology down so they can mass-produce it they can start planning stations for all of us to re-fuel at, too. Once that's decided on (you should be thinking partisan politics now, with all that that entails!!) they had better come up with a great re-charging system and a fairly-priced replacement battery for those vehicles.
Oh, and draft up the owner's manuals so that non-engineer-types can understand what they must do 100% of the time to run them efficiently, too, please. If you don't have a headache by now keep researching alternative-fuel-sourced vehicles. At the same time do something about soaring medical insurance and social security and job security for America's manufacturing workers.
I know, just take two of those and lay down for a nice nap. It will get even better down the road, man.
Hey, could you please turn up that Drive-By Trucker tune while you're at it?
State College, PA... on Saturday, the price starting out at $2.15 in the morning. At about 1PM, it had dropped to $2.13. At 5 PM , it was down to $2.09
I only look at premium prices, heres what I have seen. North Puget sound, $2.79 range. Seattle area and points south - 10-15 cents less. No logic behind it, other than to maybe gouge Canadian tourists.
in southern MD, I filled up at a WaWa station for $2.099/gal. A week or so ago, a couple of gas stations got into a price war, and 3 or 4 of them dropped their prices to under $2.00 per gallon. But then the State stepped in and put a stop to it. Turns out there's a little-known Maryland law that states you can't sell gasoline for less than what you paid for it, unless it's to match your competitor's price.
So, if your competitor gets his gas for $2.00 per gallon and sells it for $2.05, but you paid $2.10 for yours, you can still sell for $2.05. However, in this case, the first guy started selling for less than what he paid, prompting others to follow, and then the law came a'running.
Sheetz increased their prices to Exxon? Looks like the spot market has been captured.
Georgia has a paradox distinction....
That being there are no oil wells in Georgia and it has lower prices than most oil rich states.
Cigs are still pretty cheap here and tobacco used to be one of the biggest crops. Our governor just signed a public ban on smoking indoors. Now, all the butts that vendors had to clean up in their establishments will end up being strewed all over the sidewalks, streets, and parks. Yech.
Thanks for blurting-out Georgia's low fuel taxes....calling attention to that shall certainly get state government to raise to national averages... :mad:
No, Sheetz actually calls the shots north of town. Whatever they do, all the others follow. So Sheetz dropped the price 10 cents in one day. Exxon and Citgo followed. Shell is just 2 cents higher. Then there is off-brand "Lowest Price" (cash only). They keep regular 2 cents under Sheetz.
Meanwhile, in town, regular is still $2.149 at best, compared to Sheetz' $1.999.
So how did conservative Georgia pass an indoor smoking ban? Seems pretty incredible to me. I don't think Virginia is ready for that yet, but there are more and more establishments that are smoke free.
of gas dropping below $2.00 in southern Maryland. Like WAY DOWN in southern Maryland, beyond where I'd ever have any need to go. They were mentioning it on the news today, quoting prices like $1.959-$1.999 per gallon. I wish it would spread up this way!
Comments
I recently picked up a '76 Grand LeMans, and had to drive it home from Cincinnati. A buddy of mine drove my '00 Intrepid back. The Trep was getting around 25 mpg, but the LeMans was only getting around 15! But then, that was the 70's, not the 60's, and this thing probably weighs as much as some 60's full-sizers!
regular : $2.79 at shell
89 octane is $2.89
91 octane is $2.99
East Bay area/ San Francisco..
Last week, in Hong Kong , it was about 10 HK dollar per liter...which works out to about $5 per gallon
in Taiwan, it was $ NT 28 yuan per liter...which works out to about $4 / gal.
Gas in the suburbs is also 10-15 cents a gallon cheaper (so $2.239 up).
Berkeley, CA:
87 octane from $2.45 (one of the cheap-looking places, and Costco) to $2.75. Sometimes even the cheap places are close to that upper figure though. Looks like things are lightening up.
Gas is still holding here, too. The Citgo on my way to work was $2.259 for 87 this morning, which is actually down a bit from their high of $2.299. The Shell's holding at $2.319, tho.
BTW, you mentioned Leon's junkyard in another topic. It's not too far from me, still in business, but the woods are really starting to close in. I don't think he ever sends cars off to the crusher, so the hulks just sit there rusting away. I bet it would really be hard finding useful parts.
The first time I went down there was in 1978, when my Granddad took me down. At that point Granddad had just bought a '53 DeSoto from his brother inlaw for like $150.00. It had been his BIL's mother's car, and she had a stroke while driving it and hit a parked car. The car was parked and never fixed, and years later when she died, when settling the estate that's how my Granddad got it. I remember we got a hood, driver's fender, bumper, all the grille teeth, and a few other minor pieces for like $85 or $90 bucks! I drove down there myself for the first time in 1992, just for a nostalgia trip, and that old '53 was still there! One thing that was really odd though, is how ingrained that junkyard was in my memory. I actually REMEMBERED a lot of the landscape, and where some of the various cars were located! Sometimes I wish my memory was that good when it came to school work and such back then!
There was still a lot of good stuff in there the last time I was down, but often it would depend on where in the yard it was placed. Some parts of that yard stay pretty dry, some of it's low and swampy, etc. He had a 1962 Pontiac Bonneville hearse that I would have loved to have rescued! It was so far back in the yard though, that It would've taken an act of God to dig it out! He also has (had) at least three '76-77 Pontiac LeManses (2 coupes and a sedan), so I might take a run down there sometime and see if there's anything salvageable off of them, and stock up on spare parts.
BTW, my uncle works down in VA, and he always fills up down there, since gas is so much cheaper. I think he always loads up on cigarettes down there too, when he's not trying to quit smoking. I even remember as a kid, when Granddad would watch me, sometimes he and his BIL would make a run over the Wilson Bridge to stock up on cigs and take me with them. Sometimes if I was lucky, I'd get a model car to put together!
90 minutes later when I drove past the same station, it was at $2.15
This morning it was at $2.19 at the same station.
Two changes in less than 12 hours.
Somebody is spinning a wheel somewhere to determine prices aren't they?
I am sure these are all legitimate market forces...right
What I'm really trying to figure out is how the pricing works. Obviously it's not as simple as the station taking delivery on a load of gas at a price and then selling at the market price. If that wree the case, we'd see more variation from station to station at price since I'd have an short term advantage over competitors gas stations if I had gotten a delivery at a lower price and they didn't. i could undersell them for a period of time. I know the margins aren't all that big on gasoline at the pump, but I would still expect to see price differences at different stations.
But they're pretty much in lock step, and not being a big conspiracy guy, there has to be an explanation beyond "they're out to get us".
Who knows what rpice I'll see this morning since oil dropped over $2/bbl yesterday to go under $50!!
Gas, oh yeah. Last night I think I paid $2.359 for 87 at my local ghetto gas station/currency exchange/crackpipe stand (Diversey/Damen), which didn't seem too bad, considering it was $2.289 in the suburbs (where I thought it was sooo much cheaper).
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I didn't check into the Greyhound pricing, but the train was only $68. Which is less than what it cost in fuel to drive that beast back home! :surprise:
The last two times I have gone to Cincinnati to pick up a car (from Chicago), I have ended up riding down on one of my company's tractor trailers and being dropped off in Covington, KY. It is easier (and cheaper).
Hey Pitman, NJ... home of one of our favorite PSU basketball players, Joe Crispin!
Sure, Dennis Weaver is all for the Toyota Prius and any other freak-show rig that can be produced. I think that the novelty factor is still the over-riding driving force at this juncture. Might as well find our own oil sources and drill until our hearts content and just run our internal-combustion gas and diesel engines to our hearts content.
Oh, 16 million more rigs are introduced to American roads each year. It's already in the works, man!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
kcram - Pickups Host
We've had a lot of new faces at the chats in recent weeks, and I hope tonight is no exception.
PF Flyer
Host
News & Views, Wagons, & Hybrid Vehicles
The Mazda Mania Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule
Once they de-bug everything and get the technology down so they can mass-produce it they can start planning stations for all of us to re-fuel at, too. Once that's decided on (you should be thinking partisan politics now, with all that that entails!!) they had better come up with a great re-charging system and a fairly-priced replacement battery for those vehicles.
Oh, and draft up the owner's manuals so that non-engineer-types can understand what they must do 100% of the time to run them efficiently, too, please. If you don't have a headache by now keep researching alternative-fuel-sourced vehicles. At the same time do something about soaring medical insurance and social security and job security for America's manufacturing workers.
I know, just take two of those and lay down for a nice nap. It will get even better down the road, man.
Hey, could you please turn up that Drive-By Trucker tune while you're at it?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Screwy
$2.10 in Carpenterville, IL.
So, if your competitor gets his gas for $2.00 per gallon and sells it for $2.05, but you paid $2.10 for yours, you can still sell for $2.05. However, in this case, the first guy started selling for less than what he paid, prompting others to follow, and then the law came a'running.
87 - $2.079
89 - $2.179
93 - $2.259
94 - $2.299
diesel - $2.159
kcram - Pickups Host
PF Flyer
Host
News & Views, Wagons, & Hybrid Vehicles
The Mazda Mania Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule
87 $1.999
89 $2.099
93 $2.199
Now Citgo and Exxon in the same area have matched Sheetz.
That be in Marietta Georgia...several stations last night. 87 Octane
($2.00 posted in "rural" West Georgia.
Of course, VA had the dubious distinction of having the lowest cigarette taxes, at least until last year -- all of 2.5 cents a pack!
Georgia has a paradox distinction....
That being there are no oil wells in Georgia and it has lower prices than most oil rich states.
Cigs are still pretty cheap here and tobacco used to be one of the biggest crops. Our governor just signed a public ban on smoking indoors. Now, all the butts that vendors had to clean up in their establishments will end up being strewed all over the sidewalks, streets, and parks. Yech.
Thanks for blurting-out Georgia's low fuel taxes....calling attention to that shall certainly get state government to raise to national averages... :mad:
Meanwhile, in town, regular is still $2.149 at best, compared to Sheetz' $1.999.
So how did conservative Georgia pass an indoor smoking ban? Seems pretty incredible to me. I don't think Virginia is ready for that yet, but there are more and more establishments that are smoke free.