Stories when filling up at "gasoline station"

Tom Servo said:

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

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Plus one!!

lol +2 one the screen name!


My story is not about filling up, but I had to go downtown today for work (not normal for me) and wanted to use the HOV lane to avoid traffic. So I went down to the local park and ride station and picked up two people. We mostly BS'ed our time talking about nothing, but the lady who sat in the front finally did bring up fuel costs... so I calmly mentioned my good mileage and noted the utter quiet afterward. lol

On the way home I picked up only one person and the guy commented on how nice the car was. He seemed to want to talk about cars, so we chatted about the power and such I told him my dyno numbers and great mileage. He kept saying how most of today’s cars just keep going up in power rather than anything else "MPG", and kept saying how nice the car was....lol I appreciated that.

Old Navy said:

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

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It will be more than it was on May 5th, but less than it is today.

Smart Car? Not so much.

Topping off tonight and there's a new Smart Car on the opposite side of the island at the gas pump. The guy decides to make small talk, about his car, and starts w/ the price of diesel, and how much it must cost, and how his new car gets close to 40 MPG. So, I drop the "getting 48 MPG" bomb, and throw in "seats 5 adults comfortably". "That's BullSh**!" he says. My wife, who is sitting in the car w/ the window down sweetly says "no BS, that's what it gets, It could probably even do 50 .... if my husband didn't have a lead foot!"

dieselgrandad said:

Topping off tonight and there's a new Smart Car on the opposite side of the island at the gas pump. The guy decides to make small talk, about his car, and starts w/ the price of diesel, and how much it must cost, and how his new car gets close to 40 MPG. So, I drop the "getting 48 MPG" bomb, and throw in "seats 5 adults comfortably". "That's BullSh**!" he says. My wife, who is sitting in the car w/ the window down sweetly says "no BS, that's what it gets, It could probably even do 50 .... if my husband didn't have a lead foot!"

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Priceless! Thanks DGD.

dieselgrandad said:

Topping off tonight and there's a new Smart Car on the opposite side of the island at the gas pump. The guy decides to make small talk, about his car, and starts w/ the price of diesel, and how much it must cost, and how his new car gets close to 40 MPG. So, I drop the "getting 48 MPG" bomb, and throw in "seats 5 adults comfortably". "That's BullSh**!" he says. My wife, who is sitting in the car w/ the window down sweetly says "no BS, that's what it gets, It could probably even do 50 .... if my husband didn't have a lead foot!"

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I think we have a winner: "Best Story When Filling Up at Gasoline Station" for the month of May. And a nominee for Best Story of 2008.

dieselgrandad said:

Topping off tonight and there's a new Smart Car on the opposite side of the island at the gas pump. The guy decides to make small talk, about his car, and starts w/ the price of diesel, and how much it must cost, and how his new car gets close to 40 MPG. So, I drop the "getting 48 MPG" bomb, and throw in "seats 5 adults comfortably". "That's BullSh**!" he says. My wife, who is sitting in the car w/ the window down sweetly says "no BS, that's what it gets, It could probably even do 50 .... if my husband didn't have a lead foot!"

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I would imagine his head would have exploded if you were driving a Polo and told him what it gets.

Thanks guys, I'm flattered .

The real kicker? This is the same pump where I ran into the guy on the GoldWing last week. The island has a diesel pump w/ BP Premier and D2 and a separate gas pump. So there is always "intermingling".

I would imagine his head would have exploded if you were driving a Polo and told him what it gets.

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Or how about the little 3-cyl one, the Lupo(?). Don't they get something like 60-70 MPG? If only we could get them here.

Do you think the Smart owner was suffering from "smug", like some Prius owners?

The Smart car story was great.

Been seeing more of those around ATL. I am okay with them in the city, but I get a sick feeling when I see them on our highways... I hope those people never get in an accident. Yea I know it is great construction, blah blah blah, but you just can't argue with the laws of physics, we still have many SUVs and Semi's going 80 MPH.

Neighbor was asking me about my car, actually about how I always keep it clean, and asked about mileage, I told him I have been getting about 42 lately. He was impressed.

Tom Servo said:

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

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That member is the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" of TDIclub

Do you think the Smart owner was suffering from "smug", like some Prius owners?

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I'd say it was a distinct possibility, based on the way he started the conversation.

My "token liberal" neighbor (I'm the "token conservvative") bought a Civic Hybrid, and claims his milage is the same as mine, and that his carbon foot print is smaller. I just reply "yeah, but your A$$ print is bigger so it all equals out."

dieselgrandad said:

I'd say it was a distinct possibility, based on the way he started the conversation.

My "token liberal" neighbor (I'm the "token conservvative") bought a Civic Hybrid, and claims his milage is the same as mine, and that his carbon foot print is smaller. I just reply "yeah, but your A$$ print is bigger so it all equals out."

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ROFL!!!!!

Then just go ahead and let him know the catastrophic environmental damage done in order to make the nickel-hydride batteries in his fancy new hybrid!

dieselgrandad said:

My "token liberal" neighbor (I'm the "token conservvative") bought a Civic Hybrid, and claims his milage is the same as mine, and that his carbon foot print is smaller. I just reply "yeah, but your A$$ print is bigger so it all equals out."

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Uh, no his carbon footprint ISN'T smaller: if mileage is equal, diesel has smaller carbon footprint because one must burn off more petroleum (energy to run the refinery) to make a gallon of gas than to make a gallon of diesel.

Regardless of that, the amount of nickel in his batteries constitutes an environmental disaster in sub-arctic Canada where it is mined as well as in China where the batteries are assembled, not to mention the energy it takes to transport all that mass from Canada to China, then to Japan, and finally to the US.

Simple fact of the matter, a Jetta TDI vs a Prius, the TOTAL environmental impact is heavily in favor of the Jetta. The Prius would win ONLY if you drove only around town AND ignored all the manufacturing stuff.

Matt-98AHU said:

ROFL!!!!!

Then just go ahead and let him know the catastrophic environmental damage done in order to make the nickel-hydride batteries in his fancy new hybrid!

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If you tell them that and they are real "greenies" you might see someone actually have a seizure or a stammering attack.

We have known several people who bought the hybrid cars and found they didn't work well in a small country town with little stop and go traffic where the average commute to work time for people living in town is only 5 to 10 minutes. Most have gotten rid of the hybrids, but we still see a hybrid on ocassion that some idiot has bought.

On top of all that...hybrids are boooooooooooooooooring. I have a smile on my face everytime I drive my TDI and I can't say that about any other car I have owned. Prior to my first diesel (my now totaled early 06 TDI) I had owned 8 other cars. I liked the liberty CRD too, but I had to let it go when I started doing a lot of travel for work because the mileage just wasn't good enough. If for no other reason (and there are many) to own a TDI, the fun to drive factor for me is enough alone. The harmonic clatter of compression ignition puts me in a whole other state of mind.

no-blue-screen said:

The harmonic clatter of compression ignition puts me in a whole other state of mind.

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I know that state! Every time I get in my car lately (summer time, open windows!)

I had someone in the car who said their number one reason for not liking diesels was the sound of the engine! I told them it was an aquired taste... and you just have to drive one. But not mine

I would have to agree. My Beetle is the most fun to drive car I've ever owned. This is the eighth car that I've owned so far, and I think it's going to be the one that I keep the longest. Not only does it get better mileage and has more butt feel oomph than any of the previous cars, but I've come to think of the diesel clatter as almost a nirvana state of mind. Now that it's warmed up, I've got the windows rolled down when I'm going through slow areas just so I can hear the turbo spool up.

dieselgrandad said:

I'd say it was a distinct possibility, based on the way he started the conversation.

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If you ever run into another Smart driver that comes off with the "smug", ask him how he got a golf cart registered for the street.
There's a Mercedes dealer a couple of buildings from where I work that has several Smarts lined up in the back. One of our guys thought they were fancy golf carts. A couple other guys thought that they were shuttles for driving the Mercedes customers out through their lot. They didn't know that those things were for the street until I showed them the Smart website.

ask him how he got a golf cart registered for the street

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LOL There's not a lot of apparent difference is there?

Off on a tangent: I can see how they make sense in an urban enviroment, i.e. living in a large city, and they would make a good "toad" (towed) for an RV owner. There's a guy in Florida making a trailer for these things, goes behind the RV, and the Smart sits on the trailer sideways! You just drive the car on and off.

We have known several people who bought the hybrid cars and found they didn't work well in a small country town with little stop and go traffic where the average commute to work time for people living in town is only 5 to 10 minutes

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I tried to tell my neighbor this. Hybrids are an urban car. We live in a city of 50,000, nothing is more than 5 minutes away. Now he bought a roof rack, for his recumbent and fishing kayak. And guess where his milage went. I suggested a trailer but he says it will void the warranty. If he would have listened to me, he would have bought a TDI Jetta, but you know liberals, they think they know everything (unlike us conservatives who actually do ).

dieselgrandad said:

LOL There's not a lot of apparent difference is there?

Off on a tangent: I can see how they make sense in an urban enviroment, i.e. living in a large city, and they would make a good "toad" (towed) for an RV owner. There's a guy in Florida making a trailer for these things, goes behind the RV, and the Smart sits on the trailer sideways! You just drive the car on and off.

I tried to tell my neighbor this. Hybrids are an urban car. We live in a city of 50,000, nothing is more than 5 minutes away. Now he bought a roof rack, for his recumbent and fishing kayak. And guess where his milage went. I suggested a trailer but he says it will void the warranty. If he would have listened to me, he would have bought a TDI Jetta, but you know liberals, they think they know everything (unlike us conservatives who actually do ).

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Man you live in the big city, I'm in a County with only 43,000 and the town is only about 20.000 or a little less.

Here lately the Libertarians have been almost looking like a better choice then the other two parties.

Someone asked me at the pump how much fuel mileage I lost since ULSD and B5 was incorporated at our station. I went from 48.5 MPG to 38.5 in similar highway conditions. That's a shame. He told me that's why he drives a Civic gasser @ 35 MPG highway.

bockegg said:

Someone asked me at the pump how much fuel mileage I lost since ULSD and B5 was incorporated at our station. I went from 48.5 MPG to 38.5 in similar highway conditions. That's a shame. He told me that's why he drives a Civic gasser @ 35 MPG highway.

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That's too much MPG loss to to be attributed to such a small decrease in BTUs. We're talking 1 or 2% difference in BTUs with ULSD B5 vs. LSD B0.

Bob_Fout said:

That's too much MPG loss to to be attributed to such a small decrease in BTUs. We're talking 1 or 2% difference in BTUs with ULSD B5 vs. LSD B0.

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Thanks for the response. I thought that was too. I can't figure it out. Similar route and similar driving. I had a leaking fuel filter gasket that was corrected by the dealership under warranty, I wonder if there still is a problem?

bockegg said:

Thanks for the response. I thought that was too. I can't figure it out. Similar route and similar driving. I had a leaking fuel filter gasket that was corrected by the dealership under warranty, I wonder if there still is a problem?

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I'd check timing, tire pressure, dragging brakes, IQ, fuel filter.

If not using any additives, try some for 5 tanks and see if makes any difference.

bockegg said:

Someone asked me at the pump how much fuel mileage I lost since ULSD and B5 was incorporated at our station. I went from 48.5 MPG to 38.5 in similar highway conditions. That's a shame. He told me that's why he drives a Civic gasser @ 35 MPG highway.

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I'd like to suggest that your 20% drop is excessive and indicative of a problem other than ULSD and 5% biodiesel.

I am running 50% biodiesel (in ULSD) in my TDI, have been for a couple years now, and I see maybe a drop from 49 to 47, a 4% drop at most.

In my CDI my drop was about 1 MPG and I would be hard pressed to say it was that much, in the 91 300D the mileage stayed the same as for as I can tell. So I would say you have a problem other then ULSD in your car.

__. I was filling up at the "Mr Fuel" at exit 104 near Kings Dominion on I-95 north of Richmond VA this weekend. The auto-diesel pumps share a gasser island. There was a line of gassers for one side so I got behind a big f-off truck (you know, like a 24-foot box bed with a hydraulic lift on the back - dunno why he wasn't at a truck pump in the back) and waited for him to fill up. At least, he was blocking the pump so no gassers were nosing in. He finished up, went inside to pay, came back out and got in the truck , started up and pulled out so I pulled up to the diesel pump at the end. Before I could get my card read, a woman in a gasser pickup pulls us and screams "Which pump are you using?". Since I was entirely away from the gasser pump, I just pointed at it and said "diesel" so she pulled in an put $10 worth of gas in her pick up and left.

__. Then I noticed a navy Jetta wagon with Texas plates parked out waiting for me so I finished up, waved him on (he had scoped out the pump layout), and as I was firing up my wagon, a typical diesel-pickup @sshole comes screaming in off the road and dives for the pump. So, I just pulled up as if I was just getting away from the pump but in a way to block the pickup as the blue jetta slid into the diesel pump. Of course, Mr. Gotta-Big-Pickup-because-I-Gotta-Tiny-D*ck screams at the other Jetta guy "you're blocking the diesel pump". The Jetta guy just looks at him and says "no, I'm buying diesel and I was sitting here waiting". Mr. Pickup screams so more but the other side opens up so he tears over there and puts his $10 worth of diesel in his truck.

__. I parked over out of the way and went inside to hit the head and Texas Jetta driver's missus walked up to the door at the same time I did. I directed her to the ladies' (they're pretty well hidden there) but first we had a nice conversation about TDI's (they'd gotten 54 MPG on their first leg out of Texas -- I'd just done a little better than 55 on that tank; plus she asked me about additives). As I was going out, her hubb was coming in and we had another short conversation on how great TDI's are (when they're not broken) and what jerks little-d*ck pickup drivers are.

__. It's nasty out there at fuel pumps these days.

mrGutWrench said:

It's nasty out there at fuel pumps these days.

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Is there an alternate universe out there? I've filled up in IL/IN/WI/TN/KY/NC/SC/FL and have had zero issues.

Musta been because you were in VA

Given what they're paying, I'm sure there are a lot of p/u owners in foul moods. More foul after they pay the bill.