It must be nice to have money

[robkelk]

Today, gas in Vancouver is US$7.83 per US gallon.

Canadians are buying twice as many new trucks, vans, and SUVs as we are new small fuel-efficient cars.

It must be nice to have the money to buy a larger vehicle than needed and buy the extra fuel it needs to go the same distance as a car, especially at the higher price being charged for the fuel.

Go figure.

[Dartz]

Credit and marketting. Marketting and credit.

Idiots who can't possible fail becauise their sole fucking skill in life is being likable and being able to push off work onto people who know what they're doing, while being a nice person to have around.

Y'know, 90% of people

[hazard]

At 3.79 liters in a (US) gallon and 1 dollar costing 0.83 euros and a cost of about 1.6 euros per liter in the Netherlands that's... about 7 US dollars and 30 cents per gallon here. After taxes. I'm not sure it's actually legal to show prices before taxes (especially VAT) if you cater exclusively to consumers.

[robkelk]

In Canada, it is legal to show a price before taxes for some products, but not for gasoline.

I calculated that "US$7.83 per US gallon" number from the price reported in the article: CA$1.609 per litre. (To be fair, that's the price in Vancouver. The price in Ottawa is much closer to CA$1.355 per litre.)

[Labster]

The California Republican Party is helping to organize a repeal of the gas tax increase in California, which went up 12¢/gallon (which is ~3¢/L). They're very worried about how affordable gasoline will be for the state's working poor. I mean, come on, our gas is up to $3.50 a gallon! But considering the somewhat terrible state of mass transit in California, when combined with the housing crisis that means many people can only afford to live 100km+ from their jobs, the higher gas tax is a real problem for the poor.

[robkelk]

Oh, what I would do for a gas tax as low as 12¢/gallon ... or 12¢/litre, for that matter.

[Labster]

Nah, that's just the increase. Total tax rate, including federal tax, looks to be about 53.4¢/gallon.

[classicdrogn]

All I can say is is that the last not-self-employed job I had, I had to quit because being reduced from full time hours meant I wasn't making enough to pay for the gas to get there and back. That was in a vehicle with maybe second-tier fuel efficiency, not as good as the tiny econoboxes but better by far than a pickup or SUV.

[hazard]

Tax on benzine in the Netherlands comes down to 95 cents per liter or so. This includes the VAT that goes on top of the excise duty.

[Labster]

That sounds very... carcinogenic. Eh, a little C₆H₆ never hurt anyone right?

But if you don't want to pay that much, you have an excellent mass transit system. We... do not. In some places, it's not practical just due to the scale of the countryside. In others, well... the Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles was pretty great in 1910, until all the land had been developed, at which point it had served its purpose for Henry Huntington and was left to fade away.

[hazard]

Benzine is just the term we use for midweight car fuel, which the American dialect of English knows as gas. Most common component actually tends to be C8H18, with actual C6H6 distilled out of it because, well, benzene is carcinogenic.

And to be honest? We gripe a lot about our mass transit system. Probably unjustly, given that in general every town is tied into it, including the tiny ones. And there's traffic every hour on nearly every line starting from 6 or 7 AM until 8 or 9 PM. Of course, the Netherlands are considerably more densely inhabited than vast chunks of the US, but that's part of the reason we've god such an excellent public transport system. A place like Los Angeles would, in the Netherlands, have a highly developed and effective mass transit system for the twin purposes of increasing mobility of the poor and lowering car presence on the roads.

Given the place is fairly hilly I'm not sure bikes would be as popular though.

[robkelk]

Just for comparison, gasoline tax in Ontario is on the order of $0.40/l

[Rod.H]

Hmm, well down here we're 15-25c off the Canadian price for 91 octane, though I just put 20L of 98 in and probably ended up paying near the Canadian price. Yes, I put 98 in a car designed for 91, I do it after x many tanks of 91 or when it gets sulky.

[robkelk]

I've been quoting for 87 octane. 91 octane is 10-15¢/litre more expensive.

[Rod.H]

...87 that's standard unleaded? Ours is 91 with premium bouncing around 95-98. Then there's Ethanol which I don't touch due to not believing any of our vehicles can use it reliably.

[Labster]

92 RON is roughly the same as 87 AKI. But this varies with elevation; in high altitude, the standard gasoline in the US is 85 AKI (AKI == (R + M)/2) or 90 RON.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

[Black Aeronaut]

Yeesh. It SUCKS to live outside of Texas. Over here, the hike in gas prices has been noticeable, but we're still well under the $3/gallon mark - it's running about $2.48 per gallon here in San Antonio.

Visitors welcome. It seems like we're gonna have a relatively mild summer this year. (To my Canadian friends: bring your best sunblock, shade hats, and consider lightweight cotton long-sleeve shirts and relaxed-fit jeans. Sunglasses are a MUST for driving.)

[robkelk]

Of course there's two different ways to determine octane rating. Why was I so naive to assume it was a standard?

Ontario uses AKI.

[Dartz]

€1:40 per litre.

Technically 95 octane. Occasionally watered down with kerosene which kills modern engines. Got a contaminated fill and it made my car sick as a parrot but it ran with horrible mileage.

I'm, lucky to get between 11 and 20l/100km in my 1.3 Mazda.

That is, of course, not counting €650 in annual taxes (based on engine size or emissions) and insurance of 1200 (Some places quoted 2500 or more). And maintenance. At least oil is cheap.

[robkelk]

I'm, lucky to get between 11 and 20l/100km in my 1.3 Mazda.

So I'm not the only one. I get 10-12l/100km in my Mazda 3, in city driving. (I get closer to 8l/100km in freeway driving, but I do so little freeway driving.)

[Rajvik]

Darts, I know its a cultural thing, but I shit you not, if someone was to put K1 in a gas tank around here the law would be lucky if there was anything left to prosecute when they found him, assuming that they did find him. Modern American engines will literally break themselves if that were to happen. I won't even say what would happen if one was to do it to a diesel tank.

[Dartz]

10-11 is motorway. 20+ is city. It's heavy on the fuel. Nothing wrong with it - it's just how it runs. With no cat in it, you can smell the raw petrol out the exhaust. 


The kerosene thing is almost impossible to prove and nobody's been ever able to pin it down. It happens everywhere from the one isolated station down the country, to branded stations with traceable distribution. Some people even thought it was a process fault at Whitegate refinery or a distributor not properly loading or cleaning tanker trucks but nothing conclusive's been proven just that it became a big thing 3-4 years ago and sort of faded out since.

[ECSNorway]

Hmm, I filled up this weekend here in Rochester NY and paid $2.849/gallon, including tax.

Of that, 43.88 cents in NYS tax, and 18.4 cents is USG tax.

[Rod.H]

So, me doing 7.8-8L/100km with city driving's good? That's with a 1.8L engine going through a CVT which I drop into manual mode for engine braking & speed control, oh and hard launches from the lights.

[robkelk]

yeah, you can stop showing off now.