How bout those gas prices?

You're welcome. I'll send you the bill on behalf of the Canadian people.

I'd agree with the sentiment that the media is prepping the field for gas hikes. I'm not sure I think it's a conspiracy or anything, but people generally seem willing to accept over time that which is incomprehensible in the moment. Call it a public service to stave off panic?

Anyhow, it's $3.44 a gallon here in Minneapolis for the crummy 87 octane ethanol blend. The 91 octane nonoxygenated I stockpile is around $3.79 a gallon. I'm very fortunate in that I live exactly 0.9 miles from work, live close to most of what I regularly need, and am a boring person socially. I burn maybe 5 gallons a week in my Jeep. Currently, I'm in the process of rotating my gas stock from November 2011 and noticed that I paid $3.82 a gallon for 91 octane nonoxygenated back then. For me, things are fine as far as filling up the tank.

The part that bites me are the related price increases due to gas spikes. Last November, I paid $19 for shipping on an online order of 2000rds of ammunition weighing 39 lbs shipped to my home. The current price is $26 for the same order. Little things like that are what add up for me. Shipping on 6x 10lb cans of Mountain House freeze dried food use to be free. It's now $9.95. Granted, those items always go up in an election year. Still, I'd expect as we print more money, it will further dilute purchasing power. I just hope we don't wind up like Argentina at the turn of the millennium.

Ghost Rider said:

Wow I remember my firs car and filling up for just 88 cents a gallon and that was not that long ago.

How much is gas in your area and how are you coping?

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I pumped it in high school, before self-serve, for 28 cents a gallon.

Coping: gas gauge nearing 1/4, stop at gas station, fill up, pay the cashier, get back on the road.

Least I ever paid was $0.18 per gallon. Of course you could buy a brand new car for under $2000 and go out to lunch with a dollar in your pocket and have plenty of change for a tip.

Right now here in my city the lowest prices I am seeing are 3.89 for Regular and $4.19 for Diesel.

Highest so far spotted here is $4.21.

chscag said:

And.. thank goodness for Canada being our largest supplier of oil. I would hate to think how much the cost would be per gallon if they weren't. That's another good reason why we need to build the pipeline from Canada to the Gulf!

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The majority of "oil" that we get from Canada is in the form of heavy and extra heavy crude oil. This oil is cheap to retrieve, but costs an arm and a leg(as of current costs) to refine to the point of using it to fill our cars. For that reason, it is not a cost effective way to fuel our cars. If it were, we would be paying a lot more for gas. Gas that we use to fuel our cars largely comes from much lighter crude oil and other conventional oils. A lot of the heavy and extra heavy crude oil we buy from Canada, comes to us, get's refined to whatever grade needed, and gets sold to the next bidder.

One of the big problems here is that Diesel cars have been sold on the fact that they offer much better fuel economy, which is true. However, Diesel only used to be 1 or 2 pence a litre dearer than unleaded petrol. With the massive price gap now, it is not more economical to run diesel unless you do over 16,000 miles a year, which very few private users do to be honest.
It is ridiculous that it is now over £6 a gallon. I'm glad I don't pay my firms fuel bill for my van, I drive about 45,000-50,000 miles a year.

Currently in my little patch of Canada, it's about $4.75 a gallon (in Canadian dollars, which at the moment is roughly on par with the US so the price would be about the same). It's been over $5/gal here plenty of times (we sell by the litre up here so I'm multiplying the litre price by 3.7854 to get the US gallon price), so the good news is that the world doesn't end if gas hits $5/gallon.

But I think it's obvious that gas/oil is a dead-end street long-term, so we really should be investing more in working around the problem -- working around issues is exactly what Westerners are good at!

For me, my next car will be a hybrid. I'm currently driving a gas-guzzling van (it was given to us to help us move up here) that gets appalling kilometreage (sorry, mileage), but luckily we rarely need to drive it much.

Where I live it's very compact to where I used to live in Florida, but if I want to travel from one major city to another in Canada, THAT generally takes a LOT more mileage than it would in the US.

chas_m said:

For me, my next car will be a hybrid. I'm currently driving a gas-guzzling van (it was given to us to help us move up here) that gets appalling kilometreage (sorry, mileage), but luckily we rarely need to drive it much.

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Which car are you thinking about?

For my last car purchase I was really looking forward to VW's Diesel Station Wagon until I did a calculation based on projected mileage and current gas/diesel prices.

The result was it appeared that I was going to be paying a $5000 premium (cost of VW over the Toyota Matrix I finally ended up buying) for the added inconvenience of being limited to stations that stock diesel with no actual savings.

Indeed. Diseasels cost more to buy (new) in the UK.

The Government tries to offset this by offering the incentive of lower road tax for diesels - A small diesel will cost you £35 a year to tax, whereas the gas guzzlers cost upwards of £400+!

Razormac said:

Least I ever paid was $0.18 per gallon. Of course you could buy a brand new car for under $2000 and go out to lunch with a dollar in your pocket and have plenty of change for a tip.

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When was this? I want to live in this era. ^-^" I remember seeing gas prices at like 99 cents when I was growing up. Now gas prices in SoCal is like 4.23 for regular. >_<" I just got a new job too and there is a lot of commuting. I wonder if I can get them to pay for my gas? >_>"

CrimsonRequiem said:

When was this? I want to live in this era. ^-^" I remember seeing gas prices at like 99 cents when I was growing up. Now gas prices in SoCal is like 4.23 for regular. >_<" I just got a new job too and there is a lot of commuting. I wonder if I can get them to pay for my gas? >_>"

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I will have to try and nail it down, but probably around 1970 + or - a year or so. It was right about the time I started college.

You are correct in assuming that most european cars are more economical than their US counterparts. My 1.9 diesel Vectra does a combined 47mpg which isn't bad going (I think).
As has lready been stated, fuel tax in the UK accounts for over 70% of the cost!!!
I average about 13,000 miles a year.
As for public transport it's very expensive here especially if you travel at peak times. A return trip to London by train (60 miles from me) will cost nearly £50!

OneSmallStep said:

As has lready been stated, fuel tax in the UK accounts for over 70% of the cost!!!

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I thought the gas taxes were bad here (it averages out to about 32% depending on the province)!

OneSmallStep said:

As has lready been stated, fuel tax in the UK accounts for over 70% of the cost!!!
I average about 13,000 miles a year.

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It's amazing to me that the European nations at large allow this sort of thing to happen.

There would be (politician's) blood in the streets if something like this ever came to pass in the U.S.

cwa107 said:

It's amazing to me that the European nations at large allow this sort of thing to happen.

There would be (politician's) blood in the streets if something like this ever came to pass in the U.S.

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We have tried that
It is utterly ridiculous, but if they did reduce it, they would just increase income tax to compensate, or find some other way. Sadly, it is British nature to moan our heads of about it, but also to accept it at the same time.

I remember a few years ago, people got their knickers in a twist because petrol was set to rise above 80p a litre. The fuel tanker drivers blockaded the exits to the depots to stop the fuel leaving the depot, in order to force the Government to stop the increase.

The result was there was a national fuel shortage, people were queuing at petrol stations for miles, and since then, it's illegal for fuel tanker drivers to conduct such protests. And the price of fuel continues to rise. Really puts the "Great" in Great Britain.

Most of these electric cars are a waste of money as well. Even with their rebates it takes years to make up the gas price difference.

Chuckoir said:

I remember a few years ago, people got their knickers in a twist because petrol was set to rise above 80p a litre. The fuel tanker drivers blockaded the exits to the depots to stop the fuel leaving the depot, in order to force the Government to stop the increase.

The result was there was a national fuel shortage, people were queuing at petrol stations for miles, and since then, it's illegal for fuel tanker drivers to conduct such protests. And the price of fuel continues to rise. Really puts the "Great" in Great Britain.

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I remember that happening when it went to £1 a GALLON. Imagine, £1 a gallon. Those were the days.