Anybody Else Notice the Gap Between Regular and Premium Widening?

Tom_Spangler wrote:

Knurled wrote: Increased fuel economy isn't about saving money, it's about reducing oil consumption.

If that's the goal, then CAFE is the wrong way to go about it. Rather than force the carmakers to meet some arbitrary fuel economy number based on easily-gamed tests that nobody can reproduce in the real world, the government should scrap CAFE and tax the hell out of gasoline. Then you'll see people buying more fuel efficient cars. And, I'd wager that those cars would get better real-world fuel economy than the CAFE-tuned ones we have now. But proposing a tax increase is instant political death, so it'll never happen.

Its hard to take it all seriously when government EPA czars have made diesel engines more expensive than they need to be by chasing the last little fractions of emissions. Modern turbo diesels are torque monsters and get good milage provided the EPA penalties are not forced on us. Its also hard to take the EPA seriously with whole ethanol additive forced on us reducing fuel milage, the deck is stacked so its made of corn instead of sugar cane, and other alternative additives are outlawed because of slow walking their acceptance through the lobbiest controled vetting process.

Its 70-90 cents more a gallon here, plus 10 cents a gallon extra if you want to use a credit card. That varies by station though.

Rumors abound about 'super premuim' (95+ octane) coming to market. Auto makers are pushing for it so then can squeeze more milage and power from tiny engines.

There are 2 different stations here that have ethanol free. One that has ethanol free premium 93 octane, it's about 60 cents more that ethanol premium they have. Use it in my 70 Opel GT. The other one has ethanol free regular 87 octane for the same price as their 93 octane premium w/ethanol.

At other stations, ranges between 30-50 cents difference between regular and premium and most premium is 91 octane.

I remember when it was five cents differential between grades.

I love Gas Buddy for helping me to avoid the predatorial gas stations.

In reply to DWNSHFT:

I remember when 93 octane was $0.89 a gallon.

Every time I watch die hard...

Surprised no one uses octane boost in a can. I wonder if that means it doesn't work?

etifosi wrote: Surprised no one uses octane boost in a can. I wonder if that means it doesn't work?

You'd need a heck of a lot of it to get 87 octane up to 93. By the time you do that, buying 93 is cheaper.

rslifkin wrote:

etifosi wrote: Surprised no one uses octane boost in a can. I wonder if that means it doesn't work?

You'd need a heck of a lot of it to get 87 octane up to 93. By the time you do that, buying 93 is cheaper.

I had a 2000 Tacoma with the TRD Eaton blower. At that time Toyota hadn't realized (or admitted) that the stock fuel injection and tune wasn't sufficient.

The only 93 that it would run properly (no pinging and full power) was Shell. No other brand, and octane boost did nothing either.

Since I just bought a car that needs premium, this just became relevant to interests.

The Quick Check station I bought gas at yesterday: 2.17 vs. 2.79 - 62 cent difference.

The Sinclair I passed this morning: 2.27 vs. 2.77 - 50 cents.

I can't wait until I get the TDI back on the road and have to start paying attention to diesel prices again, adding to the cacophony of numbers in my head...

About $0.70 diff here in Philly.

One nice thing about tracking a miata, hitting the gas station right outside NJMP on your way home and having the attendant ask "Full up premium?"

"Nope. Regular."

I just paid 21 cents per litre more for Shell 91 this morning. That's about 63 cents US/gal. The difference used to be about a nickle 4 years ago, but since the oil price drop the big integrated companies decided to get their profits back by agreeing to fleece premium buyers.

A premium gas engine is now uneconomical. There is no way the improved economy will make up for the fuel price differential. It comes down to performance which is getting hard to justify. My next car will be diesel or regular.

Aspen wrote: A premium gas engine is now uneconomical. There is no way the improved economy will make up for the fuel price differential. It comes down to performance which is getting hard to justify. My next car will be diesel or regular.

That depends a lot on the car, but for certain, if it's uneconomical to run 93, it's EXTREMELY uneconomical to run Diesel, since that usually is more expensive than 93 and modern cars that can run on 87 will get way better miles/dollar.

You know, depending on how you read this thread title, you get the impression that it could be about the cost of "high-fashion" widebody kits...and it still makes sense

Knurled wrote:

Aspen wrote: A premium gas engine is now uneconomical. There is no way the improved economy will make up for the fuel price differential. It comes down to performance which is getting hard to justify. My next car will be diesel or regular.

That depends a lot on the car, but for certain, if it's uneconomical to run 93, it's EXTREMELY uneconomical to run Diesel, since that usually is more expensive than 93 and modern cars that can run on 87 will get way better miles/dollar.

Truth for US, but in Canada diesel is usually less than regular 87 and sometimes 5%-10% less.

Ya it's getting ridiculous. The gap was so wide I just started using regular in my Mustang again.

wonder why they can't just let the market decide what it wants?

As someone with severe allergies and family with asthma that's why.

Beijing:

No thanks, I enjoy being alive. This is the "market deciding want it wants" like it was back in and before the 70s and why that entire concept was rejected by every country aside communist slave states like China on this issue.

3 of 4 vehicles I own "require" premium. 2 of those 3 run modern ignition systems with knock sensing. So when the premium for Premium (haha) gets too large I can just get the lower octane. Nothing will be damaged and I'm sure I won't notice the slight drop in HP due to timing retardation.

Having a big gap between regular and premium is fine, but I REALLY wish that more stations around here would put up the price for more than regular and diesel fuel. I hate pulling into a station and being surprised at what they charge for premium. I've pretty much just kept my Costco membership to fuel up the cars.