Are we users of premium fuel being taken advantage of?
Not that many years ago the price differential was ten cents per per gallson per grade. Then it eased up to 20 cents per grade and now I notice in my area it's pretty consistently 30 cents per grade at most stations.
Does anyone know if there is a legit reason for this or is it just charging what the market will bear?
This started long before the downward trend caused by the virus, but the differences are proportionally greater now obviously.

 

I’ve been wondering the same thing for years but chose to ignore it as I can’t control it.

Just filled up an hour ago from near empty for $58 dollars which is very welcomed.

Posted at .68 cents a litre (about $1.15 a couple of months ago) for regular and I paid .89 cents for super (91 octane).

Percentage wise that’s a huge spread for what used to be about half that difference many years ago.

So yes we are being taken advantage of unless someone can explain how they justify it.

 

If you're worried about a $6 difference when you fuel up, you should probably not be driving a premium octane car. Thats $24 more a month compared to regular if you fill up once a month. Either cancel a subscription or dine out one less day of the week. Maybe even make your own coffee versus buying brewed every morning.

 

Oil is already negatively priced in parts of the US and Canada. Meaning, producers have to pay to take it away.

Globally, production has to slow by about 50M barrels/day in 2-4 weeks, because global storage will be full for this first time in history. We used to consume 100M/day, globally.

At that point it is very hard to make the argument that above ground oil has value, a price greater than zero, when it is worth more to a producer to leave it in the ground. IMO the market knows this, because it couldn't be more obvious, and global prices are quickly working their way to near $0, if not lower.

The reason pump prices don't move as much is because politicans use lower oil prices as a money grab and raise gas taxes to exploit the crises. But soon, even the limitless appetite of govts will fall to the late realization that we are going to have to dump 50M barrels/day into the ocean unless capitalism is attempted for this first time. Sadly, that won't happen, and producers will have no choice but to increase production.

 

Did I say I was worried about the difference? Did I say I couldn't afford the difference? Did I say I dine out even one day a week? Did I mention any publications that I subscribe to? Did I intimate that I did not brew my own coffee every morning?
I think most sentient beings would infer that I was simply curious as to what the causitive factors are in the ever widening gap in price between grades.
I wonder if you comprehend the difference between cost and value, but I don't wonder if you are an arrogant ***. Bite me..

 

I don’t think we are worried about the $6 as I stated I can’t do anything about it and for the most part I never look at gas prices I just fill it and go.

I think the point is a matter of principal

 

Wow. Just wow.

 

I'm sure they're jacking the price up.They screwed truckers over diesel way back when but since I can afford it I don't think about it.

 

The right price is whatever the market will bear. Our consumption and the willingness to pay that differential is the cause for that premium price.

 

I think it's a regional thing to some degree. In California it's still 10 cents difference between grades at most places.

But in New York...

 

Plus taxes of about 70 cents/gallon in the US .

 

My local Costco here in Texas has reg top tier gas $1.37 & Premium top tier gas $1.77/ gal
Reg gas is 87 octane, mid-grade is 91, & premium is 93 octane.
Lots of friends & family members work in the Petroleum industry around here, & they thank all the consumers being scammed about their marketing plans to make people think they get better performance & better gas mileage from Premium vs reg gas.
Of course, they highly recommend high end performance cars with high performance V8 engines to use high octane premium gas.
But for the rest of everyone else, including everyone in the family (including our petroleum engineers) uses regular gas, & don't need high octane premium gas unless engines starts pinging.
So only my Vettes & R V8 F-type uses premium, the rest of families' cars uses regular.

 

This thread got me thinking just now (yup, i know, a dangerous thing!) that I might switch from using premium fuel (98 octane) to mid grade (95 octane) and save quite a few shekels, especially as 95 is the minimum octane level specified for the V6 and V8 and it's debatable if using 98 instead of 95 really makes any perceptible difference at all performance wise, economy wise or fuel system health wise. Standard unleaded fuel here is 91 octane so I can't / won't use that and I have always found that 98 here is between 20c and 30c a litre more than 91. That works out at around $1.00 a gallon more expensive on average so I wouldn't complain about a price differential of a measly 30c or 40c a gallon!
Anyway I just looked up the average fuel prices here in li'l ol' Adelaide and right now it's $1.07 per litre for 91, $1.21 per litre for 95 and $1.29 per litre for 98.
Based on that whopping difference of 8c a litre between 95 and 98 I reckon I'll just stick with 98 for now!

PS - NavyBlue - I'm fairly sure the figures you quote are AKI (Anti Knock Index) and not RON (Research Octane Number).

 

Indeed. Posted numbers in the U.S. are AKI ([RON+MON]/2). On the East Coast, we generally have 87, 89 and 93 AKI available. Minimum specified for the F-Type is 91, so we gotta go for the expensive stuff. The interesting observation is that often I have seen mid grade and premium priced the same.

 

$1.69 for regular and $1.99 for premium at Costco in Frederick yesterday.

 

Here's what Cars.com has to say about the disparity in prices between regular and premium gas...

https://www.cars.com/articles/why-is...1420683350396/

 

https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/...198?LNX=B2CRV7

 

Which raises the question, how do our F-Types run on "standard" gas (87 AKI or 91 RON)?
Has anyone tried it, and if so with what results?
I suspect someone sometime has accidentally filled up with 87/91, maybe more commonly than we think, so there should be some intel out there.
Of course the most important question is will it do any damage, especially long term?
I have a suspicion that if you drive gently (tootling along only and nothing anywhere near WOT) it won't cause any problems, but of course what self-respecting F-Type owner would want to drive like that!

 

I went cheap once many years ago & bought 87 octane reg gas for my C5 Corvette. The V8 engine instantly started pinging/knocking/detonating from the lower octane.
Never used anything less than 93 octane premium gas ever again for any of my V8's ever since...

 

I add Boostane instead of pump 93 from ethanol. Its $10-$15 cheaper per tank and sounds like a racing engine instead of the old ethanol machine gun sound under throttle. Pops and crackles more and doesn't destroy cats.

87 oct (5% ethanol) x 18 gallons @ $1.50 = $24
Boostane Professional x 6 oz for 94 octane @ $6
= $30/tank

vs.

93 oct (15% ethanol) x 18 gallons @ $2.50
= $45/tank