gas prices

[princess]

They said we've gone up here another 7 cents over the past couple of weeks. Last year it was up to over 3 dollars per gallon here! Now we're on both sides of the 2 dollar mark. Which is totally unfair. We live in a county that not only has a few oil wells, of course, there's more just a few miles south. But we also live with the refineries right here. Yet we pay more than SF or LA. It can't cost them more to truck it here than to Reno when we live 15 miles from where they make the stuff!!

What are you paying where you live??

[benjamming]

You won't like this, but...

It is $1.44/gal at cut rate gas stations (Cowboy's) & $1.63/gal at name brand places (BP) as of today.

[feferic]

1.56 for in Nebraska.

[BenjiBoy650]

Just filled up at Costco for $1.669/gal regular unleaded.

[princess]

See, even the SF area is cheaper than here! Non Costco is around 1.80. We use main brand only. The prince has done too many fuel clean outs to use off brand. But it does take years to build up the crud & not all of them seem to have the problem. He just hates doing them & doesn't want to deal with it at home!

So he puts Union 76 in the Pilot, usually medium grade for commuting. Then High grade for trips or towing. The Accord gets premium all the time from Valero (Beacon-Richfield) at home & Shell on most trips. (They show up on the Nav!!)

But no matter which grade we buy, they're still making it 15 miles down the road. If we go 40 miles in any direction it's cheaper than here! Just isn't right!:mad:

I am glad for the rest of you because most of the world puts more gas in than we do. His commute is only 20 miles & I don't have one. For the longest time my car's gas was from the last trip to Disneyland & it would last until the fill up for the next. I drive most days, just not very far!:D

[BenjiBoy650]

Actually I like to use Costco because they have brand new tanks, so I'm pretty sure that there isn't any contaminants or anything like that in the gas. And probably they get their gas from some other big name company.

[Bean]

I hear ya P!

We are probably right behind you as far as prices go.
I filled up this morning at Mobil for $1.85 (regular - 87 octane).
Some of the Shell's are at $2.10 right now.

I don't really think about it much to be honest.
You want to drive, you need gas, you buy it.
I would love for prices to go down, but as Bruce Hornsby put it "That's just the way it is, baby"

(OK I added the "baby" part to the quote) :p

[princess]

It's not so much the price, as the idea of paying so much more than people that don't have the refineries next door! The people over there put up with the occational fire & "lock in place".....meaning they can't go outside & have to shut their windows due to the nasty things floating around in the air. Then have to pay so much more than so many others!

We just buy it. We don't look for bargains. His gets filled up next door to work & mine here. If they made them run on ocean water, we'd probably still pay more here! You know, us "rich" Californians! Never mind that house start at nearly 400K!

All in all I really do love this place. We can play in the sand at the ocean & the snow in the mountains in the same day! Driving just 45 minutes you can go from 105 degrees to 65. (I prefer the 105) We can fish in the ocean or delta or a river or a lake with 5 minutes to an hour drive. I love the choices!:D

[BenjiBoy650]

Houses at 400K holy smokes! The 35 year old, 2100 sqft 4 bedroom 3 bath down the street just sold at $655K! Where can I buy this 400K house, heck we could sell this one and still pay cash for the next one.

[princess]

Exactly! I said START! The farther away from the bay, the less they cost. Way out here you can still find them for under 400K. One in our floor plan down the street is for sale for 350K & these are 40 years old & the 4 bedroom model is about 1800 sf. You can spend more. They said our median price is now at 460K. Of course, the 1.5 million dollars ones are all over here too. And folks from other places, these prices are for track homes! Not the estates, those go for much more! Our poverty level is at about 60K per year. On that income, you can't hardly find a dump to rent!

You can add appx 100K for each 10 miles you get closer to the bay or closer to San Jose area.

[BenjiBoy650]

It gets expensive around Sacramento as well. I would have loved to move up there or also to the Danville/San Ramon/Dublin/Pleasanton area, but there's that issue of commute...

[Bean]

Thread drift.....

Isn't this about gas prices? :p

[princess]

So true.

:blush:

[BenjiBoy650]

Originally posted by Bean
Thread drift.....

Isn't this about gas prices? :p

On other forums we call this thread hijacking :)

[princess]

I like "thread drifting" better. It sounds calmer & unintentional.....& it is!:D

It sounds like FL & CA are the highest prices. We were told on the news last night that ours will be going down a penny or two! Yipee!:rolleyes:

[Red04EX]

OUCH! You guys are getting the shaft. I don't feel so bad paying $1.45 a gallon here.

On a side note, I just finished building a 4 bed/2 bath 2000 sq/ft house on 5 acres of land and the whole thing including the land cost me less than $200k.

[princess]

That's great! Congratulations on your new home! Wow, 5 acres. Do you grow anything on it?

Last year when AZ had a broken pipe they beat us in gas prices.....some stations were charging people over 4$ per gallon! Just 'cuz they could. We've been up to 3$. Of course, in the Summer when filing the Pilot & the boat! We didn't do much skiing that year!

:)

[Inspector1]

We are ranging from 1.35 to 1.75 for 87oct. Depends on day of week and temp... Weekends price goes up and the same when temp drops... Supply and Demand I guess..haha:mad: Blahblahblah

I1:D

[princess]

So you suffer twice? Once just to get out in the cold & then again in the pocket! Something's wrong with that picture!:)

[Inspector1]

Yes they are so kind , went to 1.85 today.....
We are supposed to get another storm tomorrow evening so I guess their edging it back up for the weekend...
20-25 cent change in price in less than one week is pretty normal here....
It's a pain considering I gas up at least 3-4 times a week.....
The real bad one is the Sunoco that I fuel at is about 1.5 miles from my house and their price will be 1.49 a gal and the station that is another 1.5 miles will be 1.65 a gal... Same owner for both Stations... Except the one thats farther and higher has more commercial traffic(fleet accounts)...:mad: :mad: it's criminal, but what can you do????

I1:confused:

[Red04EX]

Originally posted by princess
That's great! Congratulations on your new home! Wow, 5 acres. Do you grow anything on it?


Thanks. If you can survive building a house with your S.O., you can survive anything. My wife can't stand the sight of Lowes or Home Depot now. There was a month during the building process we went to Home Depot 15-20 days out of the month. I know my way around the store better than some of the employees.

As for the growing anything.. does dirt count? Not a farmer and have no plans to be either.

[princess]

I definately know what you mean! Last year we decided to make our 4th bedroom part of the master suite, added a fireplace & a sliding door that opens out to the gazebo in the backyard. It was quite a project. Now we're on a first name basis at Home Depot & Lowes!

One thing that costs even more than gas is lumber! The only thing we didn't do ourselves was the new carpet. We did all the tile, jacuzzi bath, added tons of closet space..... I love the results, but it was something I'm thankful we don't do often!!

Gas prices have slipped a tad here. I have seen any at the 2$ mark for several days now! Just in time for another trip to Disneyland! This time we're going to take the Accord.....no matter what the weather is. (We opted for the Pilot last time, fear of snow on the "grapevine" & didn't want to deal with chains.)

[BenjiBoy650]

I just came back from a UCLA visit and the weather over Grapevine was beautiful! Snow there? Seriously? Well I guess you could say that about the Mojave too and I've seen snow there hehe

[princess]

That's what we're hoping for! Nice sunny, warm weather! We've been in the snow on the grapevine too. In March! Is supposed to cool down up here over the weekend. It's been so pretty this week. I have Spring fever early!:)

[BenjiBoy650]

Just paid $2.199 at Chevron for 91 (not the Accord, the Benz). :bawling:

[princess]

Now the oil companies have decided to cut back production, so here we go again... more price hikes!!! Hang on to your wallet, it's going to be an interesting vacation season!!;)

[BenjiBoy650]

VACATION! I just got back to school! Hehe hopefully they'll come down before spring break.

[princess]

They usually start crawling up in March, so it may just be a bit early this year. Did you enjoy going down to UCLA??

[BenjiBoy650]

Yeah UCLA was good. Just didn't like the traffic, especially coming home. I think it took us around 1.5 hours to go 12 miles, something like that. But otherwise it was good, I loved UCLA :)

[princess]

Are you planning to attend there? Or just checking options? You'd mentioned CalPoly & SF before....

[BenjiBoy650]

I'm going to visit CalPoly in March, and I've seen Stanford. Previously my top two were Stanford and UC Berkeley, but after visiting UCLA I've changed my mind :) I absolutely love the place and I would willingly go there if I got in. I'll reserve judgment on CalPoly until I look at it more up close (stopped for lunch there once), but I don't like the idea of living in a small town.

[princess]

And a very small town it is!!!

Our youngest fell in love with the campus at Pepperdine. Very pretty!

LA traffic seems to have different rules than here. Signaling is much more optional! Stop & go is more like stop & stop! It has taken us over an hour to go 3 miles on I5. Nasty stuff! The commute here is starting at about 2 pm now also. I just avoid our freeway if at all possible! Side streets are my friend. Lived here forever & know the hiding places for the speed traps!

[princess]

Well, it's happening.....up we go....... the small town of Gorda, CA down by Monterey has gas for 3.39!! So far we're hanging in there at about 2.50....but I'm sure there'll be increases nearly daily now the OPEC has announced a 4% reduction in production. What a fun Summer this looks like it will be. It probably won't stop us from traveling, it will mean less buying stuff when we get there though.....:(

[Dave]

prices around here are averaging $1.95/gal for premium.

[according2me]

Prices are rising and I've read that Honda is thinking of bringing the Fit/Jazz to N. America. Pretty good timing again if this turns out to be true.

[princess]

Lucky you!

I understand part of the OPEC & the oil economy....but not all. As I understand it, we sell our oil to other countries, then buy from yet other countries. So if OPEC cuts their production 4%, then how about if we keep the same amount instead of selling it? Couldn't we keep the prices equalized then?

I must be missing something. I know we can't keep our own oil because it would screw up the whole economy, but couldn't we just keep some?

They have us all by the tender parts, don't they??:scratch:

I am very glad to own vehicles that have fairly good gas mileage. One of our kids has a BIG Suburban! Luckily she can walk her boys to school, so driving CAN be kept down. Well, once her spained ankle heals.......

[Accord9404]

How many of ya think the problem of high gas prices is a price we have to pay for "not drilling in our own back yard" so to speak.

[princess]

Well, they DO drill in our "backyard" & we get the health problems & such from the refinaries....yet we pay more than anywhere else in the country!!

We should at least be discounted for the fact they only have to truck it in 10 miles! We're higher than LA!!:bawling:

[according2me]

Glad to hear you do have producing wells on the left coast. I thought the East and West coasts were off-limits for years, leaving the bulk of the job to the Gulf coast states. We're now going deeper into the Gulf.

One of the reasons for Cali's prices is your special environmental brew. Once all areas have to comply, the prices will then be equivalent for the refining, but the local taxes will still cause differences.

[Accord9404]

Well, they DO drill in our "backyard" & we get the health problems & such from the refinaries....yet we pay more than anywhere else in the country!!

Princess.....if that was the case then everybody in Louisiana would or should be dead....lol or at least 3 heads.....now that's an idea!! When one dies from too much beer........lop it off!!

[according2me]

Ahem, well we do have Cancer alley in the rural areas between Baton Rouge and New Orleans where most of our refinery and chemical plants are located.

The drilling actually is very good for our fishing industry. It's like having artificial reefs.

[princess]

Oh yeah, there here alright! You can see them in our county, about 3-8 miles from us, where there used to be farms. Now there's houses nestled amongst the pumps. All up & down highways 99 & 5. Most of the platforms out far enough out that you can't see many from the coast. They didn't stop drilling, they just got a little better at disguising them. (Less fighting with the "tree-huggers") Some people with a sense of humor paint them like dinosaurs. As a kid whenever we drove down south I'd count the pumping verses the stopped ones....just for something to do.

Shell, Chevron & Exxon all have refineries in Concord & Martinez, just west of us..along the delta. We've known many of their employees over the years. We also have papermills, dupont & a steelmill (where my dad spent 34 years) right here. They've come a long ways in the pollution. Way less than before, but they drive the enviromentalists crazy anyway!!

:rolleyes:

[princess]

If you look at the areas around the pumps the vegitation is all dead. So it can't be too good for us!

There are worse things.

I still think the communities living close to the places where the oil comes from should get a discount.

They used to always be testing our soil, several feet down. For whatever reason they stopped.

Honestly, I'm not paranoid about the bad parts....I would just like a benefit or two!:D

[BenjiBoy650]

If ya ask me, all of the United States should just go on strike vs. OPEC. If ya hit em where it hurts (in the pocketbook), they will comply. They're trying it with us, but I'm pretty sure we can do it right back to them too. If we can't then well that's sad lol

[according2me]

Benji, unfortunately to really put a dent in our usage would probably take a major investment in mass transportation systems.

Currently they have us over a barrel (no pun intended) and they can adversely affect our rebuilding economy by their decisions. It's long overdue for our government to pass an energy policy plan and to develope Alaska IMHO.

[princess]

Sounds good, BB, but oil is one of the big deals in the world's economy. That's why we sell our's & buy their's.

I do wish the states that pay a bunch more than the rest could do something. They say we pay more because we use more, then when people cut back on their driving they raise it again & say it's because we aren't buying as much as they expected.

They raise it when they clean it up saying it costs more to produce it cleaner. Then they'll take out some of the things that clean it & raise it saying it's more costly to make it without that stuff....

Chevron made a 150% profit when they were saying this. I doubt if any of the blue collar people got a raise. But SOMEONE got a bonus!

[Accord9404]

Maine has one of the highest cancer rates per population rates and we don't even have any refinery's here at all. They voted down a LNG plant recently because for fear of doing harm to the enviorment. If we have high fuel bills it's because of the "Chicken Little Syndrome"..........the sky is falling!!

[Accordin2B]

paying 1.74 for chevron regular

[princess]

Now were at just under 2.70! They may actually be right about us hitting 3 dollars this Summer!

We have a road trip planned for this weekend. I'm hoping to use the Accord.....it's a bit stingier.....but now they say we might get snow in the mts. & that's the direction we're headed! I don't want to deal with chains, so we might end up taking the Pilot. If it's just windy & wet, we'll take the Accord.....it handles that stuff easily. It probably handles snow too, I just don't like chains!

Next month will be our next trip....you guessed it.....Disneyland! That trip is also planned for the Accord. Being in May, there shouldn't be any snow on the "grapevine"!:)

[BenjiBoy650]

I've seen snow in the middle of the Mojave on the way to Vegas. Everywhere from I-5 to I-15 was a mess, spinouts because people were basing their speed on the 70MPH limit and not on the fact that it was snowing heavily :)

[princess]

In mid May???

[BenjiBoy650]

Originally posted by princess
In mid May???

I forgot when it was, but I don't think it was mid-May haha. Wacky weather recently, when I got home the sun was out in full force but it was showering....?

[princess]

"April showers bring May flowers...":)

[princess]

They went up again here! Another 10 cents in the past week!!:eek:

[according2me]

Same here, 10 cents. Major brands range from $1.81-$1.85 for 87 octane:bawling:

Sams is at $1.71:)

[Inspector1]

5/10 up .20 to 1.99 for 87 in Cincy..... ouch!!

I1:)

[Inspector1]

6/22 -- 1.63 for reg

I1:)

[princess]

Ours has gone down too! Now it's 2.25-2.45!! I'd sure like it to go back below 2$ by our mid August roadtrip!:(

[Dave]

from a peak of $2.20 for regular, we are down to $1.99 for regular. premium is down from $2.35 to around $2.15.
still running me over $20 to fill her, even with the cheap stuff.

[BenjiBoy650]

$20 a fillup dang you're good lol. My average fillup in the past year has been $26.33

[fearlessfreap24]

dang princess, that is a crazy price!!! it was 1.84 on sunday here

[princess]

And that's DOWN about 40 cents!:)

I'm glad to hear FL's lower since we'll be driving around when we go there next month!:D

[anysia]

i just filled up last weekend for $1.78 per gallon!! Ahhh the wonders of living in a dead city!!! :)

[princess]

Here we go again!! It's gone up 25 cents this week! Back up to 2.55 for reg. Unfortunately we buy prem. 2.80!

[stiller fan]

about 1.95 to 2.09 for 87 in pit and philly!!! :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:

[princess]

We were that low a while back.... then they started slowly going up & settled at about 2.45 for prem. Now they're jumping by the hour!:eek:

[benjamming]

Originally posted by princess
Unfortunately we buy prem. 2.80!

Why do you buy premium for the Accord? I don't have a clue what the Pilot calls for.

[brickman]

I'm paying $2.09 in western NY.:(

[princess]

The Pilot requires it for towing...

The Accord is for "hard" driving.... the the car compensates nicely for different octanes. You actually get a bit better gas mileage with higher octane. Example: the MDX says to use the higher stuff & with the same engine as the Pilot has a slightly higher MPG.

Plus the Accord has more gas that sits in it & the higher stuff will go bad a bit slower.... unless we're on a trip it only gets about one tank per month! We do occationally put med. grade in it for the different cleansing agents.

[BenjiBoy650]

I think Honda is making engines that want premium but can run on regular at a price. I've also heard the I4's get better mileage on premium. The Odyssey 210HP motor only produced 205 on regular. The 240HP 3.5L motor is regular in the Ody and Pilot, but premium for towing mode in the Pilot, and premium all the time in the MDX. They're all the same engine - I smell something fishy.

[benjamming]

Different cleaning agents? Is this a CA thing?
Gas going bad slower in the time frame we are talking about? Are you sure?

Now if Honda is specifying two different grades of gas in the same engine, then that is something different that needs investigating.

Premium gas in an engine that doesn't require it can lead to more deposits.

[princess]

All grades of gas have different cleaning agents. The rule of thumb has always been using the opposite grade as usual to take advantage of this about every 5th tank.

The higher octane has a little more stabilizing agents in it. Lower octane burns hotter (a bit more energy on combustion), but is less stable. According to the old racers...

I don't know what kind of deposits they'd leave....?????

Using wood as an example: if you burn pine it burns hot, but leaves more soot.... oak burns slower, but leaves less behind.

Yes, the Pilot does fine on reg.... but when towing you're less likely to ping under load. The variable timing can only do so much. The MDX is targeted toward a owner with a different mindset, that using prem. all the time is no big deal.

In his SMOG classes they recommend that if a car is too high on NOX to put a higher octane in it & it will be more likely to pass. NOX is created at high temps, so lowering the temp of combustion causes a cleaner burn. It's been shown numerous times on emission anyalizers!

Besides..... Tink is MY car & as spoiled as I am!!


:D

[according2me]

$1.90 for 87 octane in this area.


If it's designed for 87, use 87. If, however, the manufacturer states performance is increased with higher octane, use when needed (towing).

[anysia]

it ranges between $1.95 and $2.05 around here for 87 octane. i don't even look at the higher octane.... i have to fill up about once a week, sometimes more compliments of my commute! :mad:

[BenjiBoy650]

I just saw a station with $3.09 regular full serve.

[fearlessfreap24]

here is an update, see my sig

[Coil99]

Originally posted by BenjiBoy650
I just saw a station with $3.09 regular full serve.

:eek:

[jbuffethed]

I thought military bases were supposed to be cheap or alot cheaper than the city. Minot AFB is @ 1.97 for 87 and downtown is like 1.99. what kind of deal is that:confused:

[stiller fan]

Originally posted by jbuffethed
I thought military bases were supposed to be cheap or alot cheaper than the city. Minot AFB is @ 1.97 for 87 and downtown is like 1.99. what kind of deal is that:confused:

when i was in norfolk, gas was abot the same, or about 4-5 cents cheaper....

[anysia]

i got 89 octane this morning for 1.99 per gallon.... i "splurged" because i had $.10 off per gallon at giant eagle. hehe!

[04blkpearlcoupe]

im from socal and i just got regular unleaded this morning for $2.39 :sorry:

a month ago i was in hawaii and back then they're regular unleaded was $2.60! :eek:

[princess]

He filled up the Pilot today.....45 dollars!! It was 2.65 for reg.

[04EXNavi]

I'll stop whining...regular this morning was $1.96, but it's been hitting close to $2.10 on price spike day around here.

And maybe someone can explain this, but why does the price of gas now fluctuate 15-20 cents every week? It's been doing this for a year around here. It used to be that a 10 cent jump would have made the national news. Now it's no big thing. I suppose it's the volatility of the market or sunspots or something.

[princess]

Sunspots!:lmao:

[stiller fan]

remember when everybody thought that 1.30/gallon for gas was expensive???? we've come a long way!!!! :censored: :censored:

[princess]

I remember whining at .65 ! When my prince was sent to Korea on a TDY.... I was paying that! That was the self serve price, but I got full service because a kid he worked with was told to make sure I didn't have to put in my own gas.

[fearlessfreap24]

Originally posted by princess
It was 2.65 for reg.

that make me not look forward to driving to San Diego in December

[princess]

It's cheaper in the south....never understood why since they claim CA pays more because of supply & demand.... Maybe be 30 cents less than up here!:confused:

[according2me]

In the past, I would have said that was because we have most of the refineries, but Georgia seems to have consistantly low prices and I don't believe they have as many refineries as we do. I guess their state tax is cheaper on fuel.

Chevron 87 was $1.89-$1.91 yesterday.

[anysia]

i just put $25 in mine and it didn't even fill up the dang tank!! i wasn;t on e either. stupid $2.09 per gallon!!!!! argh!!!!!

i remember when if it took more than $15 to fill up my tank i was mad! (of course that was a smaller tank....)

[BenjiBoy650]

Originally posted by anysia
i just put $25 in mine and it didn't even fill up the dang tank!! i wasn;t on e either. stupid $2.09 per gallon!!!!! argh!!!!!

i remember when if it took more than $15 to fill up my tank i was mad! (of course that was a smaller tank....)

I put 3/4 of a tank into the ML and it cost me nearly $50 lol

[anysia]

i bet that has a teeny bit larger tank!!! ;)

[BenjiBoy650]

Not that much bigger but yeah you're right.