Philpug
New member
- Joined
- May 13, 2008
- Messages
- 1,589
- Points
- 0
When regular was .87 a gallon, Premium was 1.07. .20 more...gas is now 3.87 and premium is 4.07. Still just .20 a gal more. why didn't premium go up proportionately?
-
Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!
You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!
Gas price question...
- Thread starter Philpug
- Start date
drjeff
Well-known member
Good question
GrilledSteezeSandwich
New member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2007
- Messages
- 17,569
- Points
- 0
Wow Jeff..you really were a huge postwhore last night..sheesh..O.K. onto your next post..lol
ComeBackMudPuddles
New member
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,756
- Points
- 0
because there's no actual price difference to produce the stuff? they're just gouging gullible consumers?
BeanoNYC
Active member
You mean proportionately, percentage wise? Perhaps because the price of oil "is what it is." The price to take that oil and make it premium will always be 20 cents more than to take that oil and make it 87 octane at the refinery. ...just a stab though, I'm sure there's another explanation out there.
GrilledSteezeSandwich
New member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2007
- Messages
- 17,569
- Points
- 0
Nobody knows..err-body is just guessing..somebody must know..Bueller Bueller..Ferris Bueller..
ComeBackMudPuddles
New member
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,756
- Points
- 0
maybe....but, wouldn't the differece grow by at least a couple of cents due to inflation?
i'm thinking the gas companies keep it at 20 cents 'cause that's what customers have been psychologically prepped to accept to pay for "premium" gas.
ComeBackMudPuddles
New member
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,756
- Points
- 0
well, whatever the reason for the difference, maybe we should just save our money:
REGULAR VERSUS PREMIUM GASOLINE
Regular Gasoline Has As Much Merit As Premium Gasoline
"Put a tiger in your tank," says a classic advertising tagline. In today's motoring world, what kind of fuel grade will have the power to place a beast in your gas tank?
The answer, according to experts who study fuel efficiency in detail, is both regular and premium gasoline. And it would be a waste of money to favor premium over regular, especially in these times when gasoline prices are high, according to the experts.
Virtually nothing is gained by filling up with a premium or more expensive grade of fuel than the vehicle manufacturer has recommended, the experts say. And many of the same experts explain that drivers may not lose much performance from their cars by using a lower grade of fuel than recommended by the car manufacturer.
There is little difference in energy content of regular versus premium gasoline. They both contain about 111,400 British Thermal Units of energy per gallon.
The price difference, however, between the fuel grades is anywhere from 20 cents to 40 cents, depending on where you live in the United States. The experts' consensus goes against the long-held belief by thousand of drivers who fill up with premium only, or on every third or fourth trip to the pump. The idea is to fill up with premium every so often to clean out the engines or rev up the performance of older engines.
But according to the experts, this practice is like tossing quarters in a wishing well, since most engines are designed to operate on relatively low-octane regular unleaded gasoline.
Octane is defined as a fuel's resistance to knocking. There is no benefit if the octane is higher than what the engine needs. Engine knock occurs when fuel in a combustion chamber ignites before it should. This disrupts the engine's operation. But electronic knock sensors are now common and have nearly eliminated engine disruption.
The American Petroleum Institute says if you find that your car runs fine on a lower grade, there is no sense switching to premium. The Institute recommends following manufacturer's recommendation, but even those manufacturers say that it is more of a suggestion than a command.
For more about this subject, see the excellent article "Fact or Fiction?: Premium Gasoline Delivers Premium Benefits to Your Car Exploding the myth that premium gasoline delivers better performance in the average automobile" by David Biello on Scientific American's website at: www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-premium-g
REGULAR VERSUS PREMIUM GASOLINE
Regular Gasoline Has As Much Merit As Premium Gasoline
"Put a tiger in your tank," says a classic advertising tagline. In today's motoring world, what kind of fuel grade will have the power to place a beast in your gas tank?
The answer, according to experts who study fuel efficiency in detail, is both regular and premium gasoline. And it would be a waste of money to favor premium over regular, especially in these times when gasoline prices are high, according to the experts.
Virtually nothing is gained by filling up with a premium or more expensive grade of fuel than the vehicle manufacturer has recommended, the experts say. And many of the same experts explain that drivers may not lose much performance from their cars by using a lower grade of fuel than recommended by the car manufacturer.
There is little difference in energy content of regular versus premium gasoline. They both contain about 111,400 British Thermal Units of energy per gallon.
The price difference, however, between the fuel grades is anywhere from 20 cents to 40 cents, depending on where you live in the United States. The experts' consensus goes against the long-held belief by thousand of drivers who fill up with premium only, or on every third or fourth trip to the pump. The idea is to fill up with premium every so often to clean out the engines or rev up the performance of older engines.
But according to the experts, this practice is like tossing quarters in a wishing well, since most engines are designed to operate on relatively low-octane regular unleaded gasoline.
Octane is defined as a fuel's resistance to knocking. There is no benefit if the octane is higher than what the engine needs. Engine knock occurs when fuel in a combustion chamber ignites before it should. This disrupts the engine's operation. But electronic knock sensors are now common and have nearly eliminated engine disruption.
The American Petroleum Institute says if you find that your car runs fine on a lower grade, there is no sense switching to premium. The Institute recommends following manufacturer's recommendation, but even those manufacturers say that it is more of a suggestion than a command.
For more about this subject, see the excellent article "Fact or Fiction?: Premium Gasoline Delivers Premium Benefits to Your Car Exploding the myth that premium gasoline delivers better performance in the average automobile" by David Biello on Scientific American's website at: www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-premium-g
ComeBackMudPuddles
New member
- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,756
- Points
- 0
This article addresses the original question of this thread.....
Why Doesn't Premium Gas Cost More?
It’s not that we’re arguing; with a gallon of regular gas cresting $4 here in Chicago and in New York, we’re glad premium still commands just the usual extra 20 cents — many of the cars we test recommend or require it, so we’ll take what we can get.
It’s been this way for years: In May 1995, the EPA pegged a gallon of regular gas at $1.18 nationally, midgrade at $1.27 and premium at $1.36. Today it’s $3.72, $3.83 and $3.94, respectively. If higher-octane fuels had commanded proportionate increases in the intervening years, by now we’d be forking over an extra 28 cents for midgrade and 57 cents for the good stuff.
We’re lucky we’re not. John Duff, a senior petroleum analyst at the Department of Energy, said a proportional increase would certainly make sense.
The components that raise a gasoline’s octane levels — called alkylates — are relatively expensive, and they’ve grown pricier with the cost of oil, so the price difference should have increased proportionately, Duff said.
It hasn’t because the market would balk at a 40- or 50-cent hike for premium fuel, said Fred Rozell, director of retail pricing at the Oil Price Information Service, an organization that provides analysis and pricing information to the oil industry. As it stands, premium fuel is already losing popularity, Rozell said.
Dan Gilligan, president of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, agrees.
“The refiners have learned that if premium fuel is priced x cents over unleaded or over mid-blend, people quit buying it, and when they quit buying it, they have to lower the price anyway,” he said.
Does that mean oil companies are taking a hit on the expensive stuff? Perhaps, DoE’s Duff said, but they can probably afford it: “I’m sure that it doesn’t make that much of a difference in the long run to them,” he said. “At 10-cent [premiums], I know that their profit margins are much better on higher-octane gasoline and traditionally always have been. So there’s probably leeway there in tinkering with the price to get it to sell. They always have made a lot of money off the higher-octane gasoline.”
“I think they were marking it up more than they had to when the spread was 10 cents, and now they can charge the same and it works out roughly even,” Duff said.
So what if the market begins to reject the 20-cent spread? By at least one account, that’s already happening: Rozell said about 90% of drivers now use regular fuel despite more of today’s models recommending or requiring higher octanes.
Could premium gas become not-so-premium in price? Duff thinks it’s certainly a possibility.
“We may end up seeing that,” he said. “People are going to look for ways to economize on gasoline. … We may actually see that 10-cents-a-gallon differential collapse.”
Why Doesn't Premium Gas Cost More?
It’s not that we’re arguing; with a gallon of regular gas cresting $4 here in Chicago and in New York, we’re glad premium still commands just the usual extra 20 cents — many of the cars we test recommend or require it, so we’ll take what we can get.
It’s been this way for years: In May 1995, the EPA pegged a gallon of regular gas at $1.18 nationally, midgrade at $1.27 and premium at $1.36. Today it’s $3.72, $3.83 and $3.94, respectively. If higher-octane fuels had commanded proportionate increases in the intervening years, by now we’d be forking over an extra 28 cents for midgrade and 57 cents for the good stuff.
We’re lucky we’re not. John Duff, a senior petroleum analyst at the Department of Energy, said a proportional increase would certainly make sense.
The components that raise a gasoline’s octane levels — called alkylates — are relatively expensive, and they’ve grown pricier with the cost of oil, so the price difference should have increased proportionately, Duff said.
It hasn’t because the market would balk at a 40- or 50-cent hike for premium fuel, said Fred Rozell, director of retail pricing at the Oil Price Information Service, an organization that provides analysis and pricing information to the oil industry. As it stands, premium fuel is already losing popularity, Rozell said.
Dan Gilligan, president of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, agrees.
“The refiners have learned that if premium fuel is priced x cents over unleaded or over mid-blend, people quit buying it, and when they quit buying it, they have to lower the price anyway,” he said.
Does that mean oil companies are taking a hit on the expensive stuff? Perhaps, DoE’s Duff said, but they can probably afford it: “I’m sure that it doesn’t make that much of a difference in the long run to them,” he said. “At 10-cent [premiums], I know that their profit margins are much better on higher-octane gasoline and traditionally always have been. So there’s probably leeway there in tinkering with the price to get it to sell. They always have made a lot of money off the higher-octane gasoline.”
“I think they were marking it up more than they had to when the spread was 10 cents, and now they can charge the same and it works out roughly even,” Duff said.
So what if the market begins to reject the 20-cent spread? By at least one account, that’s already happening: Rozell said about 90% of drivers now use regular fuel despite more of today’s models recommending or requiring higher octanes.
Could premium gas become not-so-premium in price? Duff thinks it’s certainly a possibility.
“We may end up seeing that,” he said. “People are going to look for ways to economize on gasoline. … We may actually see that 10-cents-a-gallon differential collapse.”
drjeff
Well-known member
Okay I did get desperate in a few threads in my whore quest to have the most recent post on every thread of the 1st page of Misc Discussions last night
GrilledSteezeSandwich
New member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2007
- Messages
- 17,569
- Points
- 0
Okay I did get desperate in a few threads in my whore quest to have the most recent post on every thread of the 1st page of Misc Discussions last night
Fo shizzle and it looks like you're doing it again..lol
Hawkshot99
Active member
Okay I did get desperate in a few threads in my whore quest to have the most recent post on every thread of the 1st page of Misc Discussions last night
And you people thought I had issues in the count to a million thread..........
Similar threads
