Stories when filling up at "gasoline station"

I was over in North Portland again over the weekend, so I stopped by at that same station that has B5 to get a fillup ($4.89/gallon, BTW.)

So I'm pouring in an ounce or so of Standadyne Performance Formula (the attendant was polite and asked if I wanted to first I like this station...the attendants are usually from Africa and are always knowledgeable/cool about diesels); anyhow...a guy in a Mitsubishi convertible Spyder something-or-other asks:

"so what mileage do you get in your Tdi anyhow?"

I told him: "well if I behave myself on the freeway, about 53-54 mpg. In town if I behave myself I get about 42-44 mpg. If I'm not behaving myself it drops to 37-38 mpg, and on the freeway if I run with the fast pack at 80 mph I get 43-44 mpg."

Him: "wow. I have a diesel Excursion, but the days of driving that thing are over!"

Me: "yeah, wow...at least the diesel version probably got 30% better economy over the gas one, right?"

Him: "*mumbles* bah. At these prices I can't afford to drive it anymore."

So I'm thinking to myself that these fuel prices are finally convincing some people to step down to moderately sized vehicles. His sporty car probably only averages 23-24 mpg, and it looked brand new. He didn't mention selling the Excursion. He must have been commuting to work in the Excursion.

Which reminds me: now that fuel prices are high, road visibility has improved significantly as there are fewer large vehicles on the road...a much greater percentage of cars are sedans, which I can see over the top of.

I knew there was something I liked about high fuel prices : increased safety and visibility.

a much greater percentage of cars are sedans, which I can see over the top of.

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That's what the periscope is for.

nicklockard said:

(snip) now that fuel prices are high, road visibility has improved significantly as there are fewer large vehicles on the road...a much greater percentage of cars are sedans, which I can see over the top of.

I knew there was something I liked about high fuel prices : increased safety and visibility.

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__. I posted about 3 weeks about how things are grim where I am at gas stations. Nobody asks anymore and nobody talks at the pump. But I've noticed what you describe above -- big SUV's are scarcer and when they're on the road, they and (the bane of driving on roads in NC) pickup trucks have slowed down significantly. It is pleasant.

dieselgrandad said:

That's what the periscope is for.

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haha lmao

Not much of a story - filled up today with B20 in southern DE. It was a whopping $5.299
Ouch.

I filled up last week @ $1.53/L thats about $5.80/Gallon. Well I went into the Shell and like most of us TDIers I have a ritual I follow when filling up. I pop the trunk, the gas door. Measure out about 4oz of Power Service then dump it in the tank. Well after doing this the full serve kid comes out, Their full serve gas shares the island with the diesel pumps. He says fill it? Sure, cheap stuff this time. Regular Diesel, not their ultra kind. Well he fills it until the pump stops, he washes my window. Mentions about the cost bla bla...then he............starts............VENTING it for me. I was like ***!@#@ He knows!!

haha, needless to say I got 15 Gallons in this fill up

kromicacid said:

Not much of a story - filled up today with B20 in southern DE. It was a whopping $5.299
Ouch.

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


i am going to be super pissed when driving the Bronco is more economical than that jetta.

dieselgrandad said:

That's what the periscope is for.

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Sometimes I wish cars had them

I'd need one about 12 feet tall to see over some of the jacked up Excursions...

I'd need one about 12 feet tall to see over some of the jacked up Excursions

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Keep it under 13' 6" and you'll be fine most everywhere.

Or you could lower your car and look underneath.

ScorpionBoy said:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


i am going to be super pissed when driving the Bronco is more economical than that jetta.

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I doubt (hope) that you will ever see that mark. If you do you won't be driving to the store for groceries, because the trucks will not be delivering the food and we will all be in big trouble.

SorpionBoy: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

i am going to be super pissed when driving the Bronco is more economical than that jetta."

ScorpionBoy: I do not understand your logic... .
When is a gasser more ECONOMICAL than a DIESEL?
There is NO such thing, all you are looking at is YOU wallet, NOT the efficiency of the vehicle.

Put the same amount of fuel in both vehicles(1. Gas the other 2. Diesel), and drive till they run out, who got the farthest?

HU?
YEP, the Diesel EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bikeprof said:

When is a gasser more ECONOMICAL than a DIESEL?
There is NO such thing, all you are looking at is YOU wallet, NOT the efficiency of the vehicle.

Put the same amount of fuel in both vehicles(1. Gas the other 2. Diesel), and drive till they run out, who got the farthest?

HU?
YEP, the Diesel EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It is more economical to drive a gasser (vs. TDI) when gas prices are ~1/3-1/2 that of diesel. I dont care who goes farther on a tank, but who paid more to go the same distance.
It is more economical to drive a gasser car that gets the same mileage than your TDI, but they are rare.

Dont get me wrong, i will never sell my TDI, unless someone is willing to give me several thousand more than I paid for it, or diesel and Biodiesel costs are 10x gas prices and there is a car that can go 2x the miles per gallon that the TDI can.

kromicacid said:

It is more economical to drive a gasser (vs. TDI) when gas prices are ~1/3-1/2 that of diesel. I dont care who goes farther on a tank, but who paid more to go the same distance.

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Must be really cold in Hades. Where are you finding $1.60 or $2.50 gasoline?

Current gas prices are near $4/gal, and diesel is near $5/gal. That is 80% of diesel.

Bronco gets what, 25 MPG. TDI 45 MPG (and 20 MPG city (if that!), 35 MPG city for each). The TDI still gets nearly double the MPG. Diesel would have to be double gasoline in that situation to reach parity for cost/mile.

Bob_Fout said:

Must be really cold in Hades. Where are you finding $1.60 or $2.50 gasoline?

Current gas prices are near $4/gal, and diesel is near $5/gal. That is 80% of diesel.

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It is not cold in Hades - i am not finding $1.60 or 2.50 gas, I wish i was for my girlfriend and parents sake. (trying to convert, just stuborn people...) my statement was WHEN gas prices are 1/2 of diesel. I have never seen it happen, nor do i expect it to happen. But IF it were to happen, THEN it would be more economical.
I was just responding to

bikeprof said:

When is a gasser more ECONOMICAL than a DIESEL?
There is NO such thing, all you are looking at is YOU wallet, NOT the efficiency of the vehicle.Put the same amount of fuel in both vehicles(1. Gas the other 2. Diesel), and drive till they run out, who got the farthest?

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OK - back to the stories while filling up!

kromicacid said:

It is not cold in Hades - i am not finding $1.60 or 2.50 gas, I wish i was for my girlfriend and parents sake. (trying to convert, just stuborn people...) my statement was WHEN gas prices are 1/2 of diesel. I have never seen it happen, nor do i expect it to happen. But IF it were to happen, THEN it would be more economical.
I was just responding to
OK - back to the stories while filling up!

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Understood now.

Write on the blackboard 500 times, fuel door on the passenger side, fuel door on the passenger side ....

(O\=o=/O) said:

Write on the blackboard 500 times, fuel door on the passenger side, fuel door on the passenger side ....

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Even easier: Fuel gauge on the right, door on the right. Fuel gauge on the right, door on the right. Fuel gauge on the right, door on the right. Fuel gauge on the right, door on the right.

I watched a 1.8T turn onto the street in front of me today and their fan belt fell off. I stopped and picked it up and followed them around a corner waving it out them. We both stopped and I gave back his fan belt (aka ribbed v-belt, accessory belt, serpentine belt, whatever) and he said, "Not again"... and comlained about how these cars were expensive to fix and said he wished he had a TDI! I offered to help him put it back on but he said he had done it before and well he seemed to be in a hurry so we didn't talk long... I mentioned TDIclub and he said he only used VWvortex. I said I'd heard of Vortex but I stick to TDIClub. It was weird. I think he should get his serpentine belt tention adjusted

NarfBLAST said:

I watched a 1.8T turn onto the street in front of me today and their fan belt fell off. I stopped and picked it up and followed them around a corner waving it out them. We both stopped and I gave back his fan belt (aka ribbed v-belt, accessory belt, serpentine belt, whatever) and he said, "Not again"... and comlained about how these cars were expensive to fix and said he wished he had a TDI! I offered to help him put it back on but he said he had done it before and well he seemed to be in a hurry so we didn't talk long... I mentioned TDIclub and he said he only used VWvortex. I said I'd heard of Vortex but I stick to TDIClub. It was weird. I think he should get his serpentine belt tention adjusted

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Tension isn't adjustable. Probably has a bad tensioner instead.

speed185187 said:

Kept pulling off at exits one after another with signs for D2, to no avail, they were all closed. The only stations that were open just sold REG. I keep trying exits until 45 miles after my light chimes. Pull up to a BP station in the middle of no where and ask the lady's working there if there is any place that sells Diesel that's open. They point me east to exit 55 in Lexington VA. I'm sitting at exit 24. Another 32 miles. Oh Snap.

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Hey, I ran out of GAS near there on I-81 one night years ago! Right near Buchannon. Went to my cell phone and was not getting a signal! Luckily, a VASP patrol car pulls up behind me and helps me out, calls a tow truck, delivers me a couple gallons of gas for $50 and then I drive a few miles to some all nighter station with nobody working, only credit card purchases. Luckily you had a diesel engine that got good mileage AND some oil to get you by. Hope the engine is OK.

Bliddy Bladdy said:

Hope the engine is OK.

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Why would it not be? The diesel was designed to run on oil and diesel is oil by the way. Even the common rail diesel could most likely run fine with no damage on a small amount of veggie oil for a short period.

Old Navy said:

a small amount of veggie oil for a short period.

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That's the key. I'm currently debating on another forum with an owner of a SEAT Ibiza TDI, who is running 50% SVO. Even though he's been provided with a link to this information, he figures he's okay since nothing bad has happened yet.

I would need some official testing and analysis done before I would use SVO for fuel. I doubt if a pint of it mixed with D2 would hurt anything, but I would feel better about using B100 in CDI for sure. Even B100 I would not be too sure about using, at present I would not want to use anything more then B20 on a full time or regular basis in my MB CDI until long term testing had been done.

Been driving the TDI 2004 nb since Sep. of 05

I used to think people telling me about 800m/tank were full of bs.

The tank before last I filled up at Citgo at $4.39/gal !

After babying it for 10 days , I got scared after 75 miles running on the light and pulled over , with 783 miles , at the only station around and filled up at $4.59/gal

I could have made it to 800 , I think ?

The only reason I filled up was to check my mileage . I got 15.3 gallons in filling to the neck.

A gasser was poking fun at the high price of diesel. I told him to give me a sec , done my calc. and walla , 9 cents/mile

He just shut up , got back in his pick up and drove away!

hearts34 said:

A gasser was poking fun at the high price of diesel. I told him to give me a sec , done my calc. and walla , 9 cents/mile

He just shut up , got back in his pick up and drove away!

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He actually understood cents per mile? lol

hearts34 said:

at the only station around and filled up at $4.59/gal

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drove past a "gas station" today had diesel pegged at 1.409/L that would be 5.33/gal. Good thing I still have 80L of B20 in the shed and 20L in the car that I paid 1.249/L (4.73/gal) over a month ago... should be good for 2000km (1600mi).

NarfBLAST said:

drove past a "gas station" today had diesel pegged at 1.409/L that would be 5.33/gal. Good thing I still have 80L of B20 in the shed and 20L in the car that I paid 1.249/L (4.73/gal) over a month ago... should be good for 2000km (1600mi).

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It is crazy that we are bragging about how good 4.73 a gallon is!

I want to nominate " (O\=o=/O) " as the coolest username on TDIClub!

bockegg said:

It is crazy that we are bragging about how good 4.73 a gallon is!

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last fill was 5th of May @ $4.27 and I will probably fill up by next Friday. Wonder how bad it will be then???

Hang on to your Hat, Old Navy. It'll be pushing $5 hard by then. Maybe you should sock away a few hundred gallons now so you can watch your (slightly off-white) Black Gold appreciate.