How much are you paying for petrol? More than $1/litre?

[RooFlyer]

Just seen on CBS (US) news. Petrol prices in many parts of USA are plummeting.

Cheapest they could find - US$2.55/gal which I think is US$0.68/litre. Many places about US$3/gallon, US$0.80/litre. Overall, cheapest petrol in USA since 2010.

I'll be able to report the price in Chicago next week.

Canada predicted to go below C$1.00/litre.

Cited reason: price cutting / price war in Middle East.

Put that in your Holden and, er, smoke it.

Edit: Also on the news: Its Hallow'een tonight, and Americans expected to spend US$7 Billion on it (that's what they said), including US$350 million dolling up their pets (costumes, colouring etc)

 

[JessicaTam]

The prices I saw last week were about $3.50/gal. And the local food mart has run out of all their Halloween 'candy'.

 

[TomVexille]

Chicago is historically one of the more expensive places for "gas"

 

[Moopere]

Whats the excise here is Australia now? About 50-60c a litre? If so, and I think its close to this (soon to rise again?) then that price sounds about right. 91 unleaded is about $1.35 or even less here in PER at the moment, so take say 50c for the excise and that leaves about 85c a litre. Other things come into play of course, I had an idea that 'standard' US petrol was slightly higher octane than ours, which should make it more expensive, but then decent competition would reduce margins so its probably about right give or take a bit.

Given our laughably high taxation across the board, not just fuel, its probably better to make comparisons to European or UK pricing for general car ownership and running costs.

 

[blackcat20]

The prices I saw last week were about $3.50/gal. And the local food mart has run out of all their Halloween 'candy'.

I saw over $4 today...

 

[TomVexille]

Actually I think octane levels in the US are commonly 87, 89 and 93 as opposed to 91, 95, and 98

 

[AdMEL]

Whats the excise here is Australia now? About 50-60c a litre? If so, and I think its close to this (soon to rise again?) then that price sounds about right. 91 unleaded is about $1.35 or even less here in PER at the moment, so take say 50c for the excise and that leaves about 85c a litre. Other things come into play of course, I had an idea that 'standard' US petrol was slightly higher octane than ours, which should make it more expensive, but then decent competition would reduce margins so its probably about right give or take a bit.

Given our laughably high taxation across the board, not just fuel, its probably better to make comparisons to European or UK pricing for general car ownership and running costs.

Actually I think octane levels in the US are commonly 87, 89 and 93 as opposed to 91, 95, and 98

Actually, Australia and the US use different octane ratings. US 87 is approx. equal to Aus 91. US also has 85.

Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[serfty]

The excise tax on fuels in Australia is currently as follows: (You can add 10% GST to these)

$0.38143 per litre on unleaded petrol fuel (standard, E10 and premium).

$0.38143/0.40143 per litre on diesel fuel (low sulphur/standard)m

$0.10 per litre on LPG.

http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?Docid=PAC/BL030002/1&PiT=99991231235958

 

[RB]

The current biggest rort in Aust is the margin between regular & premium unleaded-Shell currently have a 17c gap locally & no one seems interested in taking up the issue

 

[serfty]

The current biggest rort in Aust is the margin between regular & premium unleaded-Shell currently have a 17c gap locally & no one seems interested in taking up the issue

I guess those buying 'premium' generally do so for reason of performance etc.; the sort of thing where price is no object.

Bit like Diamonds really ...

 

[Moopere]

Mmm. OT, sorry, but although I always use 98RON myself, I do very often wonder if I'm knowingly allowing myself to be swayed by a placebo effect.

There is so much contradictory chatter on the net about this, even on the various car club web sites you get a difference in 'expert' opinion.

My perception is that I get slightly better mileage and a little bit better performance - but sometimes I really wonder. The most scientific sounding written stuff on the net I've been able to find would seem to strongly indicate that higher octane levels are only truly useful if your engine pings (pre-detonates the fuel) - providing one uses the manufacturers recommended RON level of fuel which presumably has been recommended as a result of exhaustive testing and ECU profiling (etc) then there really shouldn't be any testable difference in mileage or power output. Higher octane fuel doesn't (apparently) contain more calorific content than lower octane fuel if we exclude LNG and Ethanol mixes for the sake of argument here.

There seems to be some talk about sulphur levels on 91RON being far far higher than 95 and 98 but its not clear to me what this means in the real world? Cleaner burn? Even if so, what does _that_ mean? Detergents are apparently added to all fuels, certainly to 95 and 98RON and although its not clear if its practised here in Australia I have read that 95 fuel is delivered at the pump as a result of mixing the correct ratios of 91 and 98 together before delivery to the car (so... only two storage tanks at most petrol stations .... anyone know if this is true here?)

With a 17c/litre gap between 91 and 98, I'm really wondering now if I'm allowed myself to be duped for many years. My cars recommendation is 95.

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

I'm paying the equivalent of US$1.70 a litre for 98 in Auckland, NZ. The US seems so cheap!

 

[JohnK]

I saw 91 unleaded ~$1.30 on weekend in Sydney.

A friend used to swear by premium unleaded. Pay ~20% more for arguably 10%-15% improvement in performance. It's a lot less than 20% difference now but unless you intend on keeping a car for a long time the money is wasted. Especially on a second hand car.

P.S. I notice in Thailand they have E20. Price of petrol there appears to be the same as what it was ~11 years ago when I first visited the country.

 

[drross]

amazing how the price of diesel hasn't really changed in Oz in the last 12 months or more

 

[Warks]

Fuel around LA last week was $3.50 per gallon. I vaguely recall seeing it around $3 in Orlando?

I used to put in the expensive 98 as my company was paying for it and I thought I got better mileage but I don't know. I was basically protesting against some idiotic cost cutting at the time - when I discovered the fuel card would allow me to use 98 I made sure I did every time. This was 10 years ago when I still worked for da man. Those idiots are still in charge, saving pennies and wasting pounds.


There was about a 20-25c gap between diesel and 91 a few years ago but that seems to have closed.