What are the gas prices in your area!?! - Page 2

Filled up this morning and most places in southern New Hampshire I saw the price for regular being at $2.99/gallon!

$2.90 in Lebanon,MO for 89

quote:

ORIGINAL: flowmasta

well no....i just dont like to run cheap gas through a fairly new engine....and now im in plus mode to save on money.....ill switch back to super to clean it out once or twice a month...

Haha... That's funny. With the detergents in gasoline, 'cheap gas' has no effect on the cleanliness of an engine. The fact that you are running a higher octane in an engine that is designed to run on the regular stuff actually means that you are not completely burning all of the fuel in the combustion process because the flame front moves much slower the higher the octane (which also combats knock). The fact that your engine is new doesn't mean jack. Actually, it means that you shouldn't have any deposits that may cause predetonation (knock) which would in-turn cause your PCM to retard timing and an associated power loss. That would be the only case where higher octane may actually pay off.

But whatever... Do what you want. It's your money.

Oh yeah, saw the price today on the way in to work. The Mobil station I pass everyday had a $0.07 hike overnight to $3.179/gallon for 87 octane. I don't buy from them at all because their 93 octane is always priced at $0.27 higher than 87 octane. Everyone else in town has the same 87 octane price and only +$0.20 for the high octane stuff that my Bonneville requires.

$2.43 9/10 a gallon w/ bonus card. ($.60 off a gallon.)

quote:

ORIGINAL: 4lowlife

$2.43 9/10 a gallon w/ bonus card. ($.60 off a gallon.)

Where was that at? That's one heck of a bonus!!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: swartlkk

quote:

ORIGINAL: flowmasta

well no....i just dont like to run cheap gas through a fairly new engine....and now im in plus mode to save on money.....ill switch back to super to clean it out once or twice a month...

Haha... That's funny. With the detergents in gasoline, 'cheap gas' has no effect on the cleanliness of an engine. The fact that you are running a higher octane in an engine that is designed to run on the regular stuff actually means that you are not completely burning all of the fuel in the combustion process because the flame front moves much slower the higher the octane (which also combats knock). The fact that your engine is new doesn't mean jack. Actually, it means that you shouldn't have any deposits that may cause predetonation (knock) which would in-turn cause your PCM to retard timing and an associated power loss. That would be the only case where higher octane may actually pay off.

But whatever... Do what you want. It's your money.

Oh yeah, saw the price today on the way in to work. The Mobil station I pass everyday had a $0.07 hike overnight to $3.179/gallon for 87 octane. I don't buy from them at all because their 93 octane is always priced at $0.27 higher than 87 octane. Everyone else in town has the same 87 octane price and only +$0.20 for the high octane stuff that my Bonneville requires.

So what you are saying is that I am wasting money buying premium gas? I haven't read the manual to say what should go in the car but since I'm getting up there in mileage I figured I should keep premium in the tank. I also figure the difference in cash that I would be saving is only a couple bucks per tank...

quote:

ORIGINAL: swartlkk

quote:

ORIGINAL: flowmasta

well no....i just dont like to run cheap gas through a fairly new engine....and now im in plus mode to save on money.....ill switch back to super to clean it out once or twice a month...

Haha... That's funny. With the detergents in gasoline, 'cheap gas' has no effect on the cleanliness of an engine. The fact that you are running a higher octane in an engine that is designed to run on the regular stuff actually means that you are not completely burning all of the fuel in the combustion process because the flame front moves much slower the higher the octane (which also combats knock). The fact that your engine is new doesn't mean jack. Actually, it means that you shouldn't have any deposits that may cause predetonation (knock) which would in-turn cause your PCM to retard timing and an associated power loss. That would be the only case where higher octane may actually pay off.

But whatever... Do what you want. It's your money.

Oh yeah, saw the price today on the way in to work. The Mobil station I pass everyday had a $0.07 hike overnight to $3.179/gallon for 87 octane. I don't buy from them at all because their 93 octane is always priced at $0.27 higher than 87 octane. Everyone else in town has the same 87 octane price and only +$0.20 for the high octane stuff that my Bonneville requires.

All I have to say is WOW

If you drive quite a bit, a couple bucks per tank adds up. Even if it's only $2 per week, that's $100 per year for what? Not really peace of mind since 89+ octane isn't required.

You really have to do a comparison of atleast 3-4 tanks of each octane level to know what your motor likes best. Each motor is different, but until you've run the numbers, you won't know if you are dumping money down the drain.

When I ran my comparison in the Bravada, it was when I was driving from Darien Center, NY into Rochester, NY and back every day (90 miles a day round trip). The same thing every day during the week. 89 octane was $0.10 more expensive and had an increase of something like 0.2mpg (I'd have to look it up again). But so if I was getting 16mpg on 87, it was 16.2mpg on 89. Drive 160 miles, that's 10 gallons of fuel at around $3 for 87, and 9.88gallons at $3.10 for 89. So $30 for the fillup on 87 and $30.62 for 89. No benefit to 89. Now with 93 octane at $0.20 more, I got something around a 0.5mpg increase. Again with the 160 miles, $30 for 87 octane, and 9.70 gallons at $3.20 for 93 == $31.03 over that 160 miles. This is all roughly what I remember from my comparison over a year ago with hypothetical fuel costs (cost differences being the same however). And the fuel was purchased from the same station every time.

But then again, I keep a record of EVERY fill up to each one of my vehicles in a little date book, one in each vehicle. Things I write down are the driving/weather conditions over the tank, miles at fillup (odometer), miles since last fillup (trip meter), fuel used (according to the trip computer), average fuel mileage (again according to the trip computer), fuel cost, and fuel used to fill up the tank. I never put in the extra dollar and once the nozzle cuts off, I let it drip off, then take it out of the fuel filler neck.

I have records going back to the day I brought both my Bonneville (over 3 years now) and my Bravada (almost 18 months) home from the dealership I purchased them from. And as with any new-to-me car, I run the octane test to see what it likes best. You can start to see when things may be going wrong by looking back in the history on the vehicle and analyzing the data a bit. I could tell when my plugs were starting to foul up in my Bonneville by the last time I changed them and the result (running copper plugs although they work better with the s/c, you have to replace them pretty much once a year).

Anyway, long story... But anyway. Take it for whatever you want.

$2.93 here in the great west Michigan area.....


and on another note....hey Kyle....I am not sure on the differnt octane ratings...but aren't specific vehicles supposed to use specific gas? or like you said is it just a performance thing....I guess I do'nt know anything about eh gas quality....(I'm cheap....I put in what ever is cheap)

You should start out using what is recommended for an octane rating. It won't hurt much to try a few tanks of them all, keeping track of your mileage, driving conditions, and weather conditions to ensure an equal comparison.

For instance, my Bonneville requires premium due to the chance of knock. If the PCM senses knock via the knock sensors, it will retard timing in an effort to reduce the knock. By retarding the timing, you'll loose power and the engine will not run as efficiently. By running 87 octane in the bonnie, I lost 2.3 mpg in normal driving conditions. 89 yeilded a decrease of 1.2mpg.

With my old '94 Intrepid. The recommended fuel was 89 octane. The difference between 89 and 87 was 1.5mpg. 89 to 91/93 was actually financially in favor of 91/93. That was until I first found seafoam. After the first seafoam treatment, 89 & 91 were equal so I still ran 91. Another seafoam treatment about 5,000 miles later and 89 was best again.

And about the fuel you use (octane aside). You really have to find the fuel that your vehicle likes the best. I have also done comparisons of fuel stations. When I lived out in western NY, I actually filled up at one station for my truck and another for my Bonneville simply due to how the vehicle ran on the respective grades. Typically, you'll want to buy your gas from a station that gets a lot of gas customers. This typically will keep the gas fresh in the tanks and keep the amount of condensation and other contaminants down. But then again, every fuel supply chain has different addative package that may work alittle different for your vehicle.

thanks! I have never put that much thought into gas.....hmmmm...something to think about in my next truck.....

WOW, that is a lot of data entry! I'm impressed!

Really it's fairly easy. Worst part is sitting down and putting it all into an Excel spreadsheet at the end of the year. I'm still catching up on the Bravada... I'm about 6 months behind! LOL.

I filled up yesterday for 2.88 a gallon, with my rewards card. It gives me a .03 off each gallon.

Ouch! $4.37 a gallon

quote:

quote:

ORIGINAL: 4lowlife

$2.43 9/10 a gallon w/ bonus card. ($.60 off a gallon.)

Where was that at? That's one heck of a bonus!!!

_____________________________

At any Tops Markets gas station. We had enough bonus points to redeem 30 gal max I believe.

bonus card, ptshhh, just a consumer marketing tracker.

Ah I see. So it was bonus points built up from buying groceries, etc.

Yeah, I know that it's all a market tracking scheme, but a discount is a discount.

East Peoria, IL 2.99 today
Bloominton, IL 2.87 today

Seen it as high as 3.04 today as well. One of the towns between Bloomington and East Peoria.

Here in OC California As of 8-16-06 at 12.30 PM i paid 3.05 for regular

Filled up today as expected prices were as follows:

Reg: $3.39
Med: $3.49
Super: $3.59

Cost me $52 for 15 Gals to fill up. Gotta love the Bay Area...

gas here in beavercreek ohio is starting to go back down we are at 6.50 now

quote:

ORIGINAL: 98BlackBlazer

gas here in beavercreek ohio is starting to go back down we are at 6.50 now

Was that a typo? Or is it really 6.50?!

Cumberland Maryland.. 8/17/06

2.92 for 87 Octane at BP/Amoco
3.23 for 93

Mobil
2.89 87
3.13 for 93....

I prefer BP for my Cougar though,, and Mobil is a little more out of my way anyhow.

As of today rego gas is 2.74 in grand rapids MI

Today was a pleasure since I found gas for $2.81 in New Jersey so I filled it up!