RI, I've gone through this exercise many times over the last six month, you can search for longer and more complete explanations.RI_TDI said:
..aren't these the ones that count?TornadoRed said:
...but if they're fixed, they didn't go up last summer either. I get it that a fixed overhead will represent a different fraction of pump price as it rises and falls, but fixed overheads have changed dramatically in the last year, right? I don't recall D2 ever being 160% of RUG, seasonal variations notwithstanding. That is the basis for my question.TornadoRed said:
I appreciate your recommendation. There are two ways to find out what you want to know: 1) ask someone who knows, or 2) go and find out for yourself. I have a Biopharma plant to finish and can't afford the time to study up so I chose #1. I can also appreciate that you may similarly not have the time to tell the whole story, again. I was just asking for a reality check from a trusted source on what I thought was an anomaly. Are you saying its not anomalous?TornadoRed said:
It is what it is.RI_TDI said:
No, it's probably because we are in a recession and there are less trucks on the road...Thunderstruck said:
. . 
Not around here. I have only driven diesel cars for the last 17 years, but for the first 10 of those, diesel was almost always cheaper than RUG by about 5-10%.
That sure wasn't the case this year.
I think they have leveled off, at least, and I said so two days ago in this thread:lovemybug said:
This has been the case for a while now... ummm... I mean your first point about import/export... not that FL2AK is full of hooeyTarbe said:FWIW, one of the refiners I buy kerosene from said that the US is exporting diesel to Europe and Europe is dumping Rug here. That was his explanation for the price differential.
Could have some merit....
Oh wait...that would argue for that supply/demand thing that FL2AK-tdi says is a bunch of hooey...so that can't be it.
.The BIG PICTURE, huh? 3+ years of diesel ownership and the spread has increased each year making the diesel less efficient in cost per mile. Only time I saw diesel at parity was right after Katrina. The BIG PICTURE is that hybrids are going to dominate in the US over the next 5 years and diesel will die a fairly fast death except for a few hobbiests. Doesn't take much math to figure out that lower RUL fuel cost and equivalent cost per mile with similar up front costs between hybrid and gasser means no diesel. As I stated, the majority doesn't care about diesel in the US and that won't change. Sad, but true. That's the BIG PICTURE. People were flaming me 6months ago when I - correctly - predicted $1+ deltas this winter between diesel and RUL. I would like to be wrong, believe me. My diesel is essentially parked since it costs more to operate and is a PITA in the winter vs. my gasser. Before the lower cost to run it made up for the stuff I had to put up with like potential fuel gelling, limited initial heat, crappy pumps and limited pumps due to the MK5 nozzle issue. Not now, it's just a reminder that I made the way wrong choice.rotarykid said:All this crying over the difference today of the price of RUG & D2 is just silly to the extreme . In all the years I've been driving Diesels there has not ever been a fall without a price spike in difference . If the spike is killing you , yeah right just buy a few containers to purchase a quantity of D2 when it is always at it's lowest during late summer to get you through the fall HHO related price spike .
And COME ON PEOPLE , using this RUG price fall this year makes even less sense as an excuse to unload your diesel .
WE all know that RUG use has dropped to decades lows from the economic down turn not other forces . And the $4 a gal price shock last summer to all the idiots in their gas guzzling SUVs & Pickup trucks is why there has been such a extreme reduction in driving which has lead directly to a RUG price plummet . This extremely bad economy related RUG price drop is temporary at best , it would be kind of dumb to use it as a barometer on what fuel one should use in the future . D2 hasn't seen such a reduction in use as it isn't as tied to dumb Americans driving around in diesel guzzling vehicles ,
The economy will get going again causing the price to go up ON BOTH and the difference % will get closer again at some point . It just a reflex reaction not a rational one to be all up in arms over the temporary difference . The BIG Picture is where one should look , not the little one that many seem to be focused on .
Many of us have always been at a price disadvantage with D2 only rarely if ever cheaper than RUG . There IS NOT A SINGLE gasser , hybrids included that can do what a diesel can do . I can go coast to coast @ 75-85 mph and still see ~50 mpgs and that is from one of the very limited light duty diesels ever sold here . I consistently see mid to high 50s in my ~2 ton Passat TDI on city loops . If we had one of those 3 cyl TDI powered Polos here this would be a mute argument shutting up all the whiners , we can only dream though at this point .
I came to the diesel LIGHT some 30 years ago and have saved tens of hundreds of dollars and of barrels of oil over the years . For me at least in the areas I've lived in D2 has always between MID & PUG . I don't even look at the RUG price , I don't own a gasser don't want one . But I have paid as low as $2.35 for D2 in the last month . A price that is 1/2 what it was on a few weeks ago .
This short term extreme price difference in no way discourages me from getting behind the wheel of my fuel sipping diesel . And it shouldn't you , Remember BIG PICTURE not the little picture ...........
Haave a great weekend all .........
trapperkeeper said:
. 
(around 60$ a tank) (around 90$ a tank!)
This much is true.
I hate to nitpick, but I think we should use the term "efficient gas engines" rather than "hybrids" since the majority of hybrid vehicle models get MPG numbers BELOW 30:
YepMcBrew said:
good point.........just because a few do. Reminds me of everything have "Ti" in it, down to makeup.....like that somehow makes it better.
Something tells me we're gonna be seeing $0.999 gasoline before year-end - - a day I'd thought we'd never see again. Some areas are already below $1.299OPEC said:
