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When Gas Becomes Cheaper, Americans Buy More Expensive Gas
- ams6110 11y agoThis describes nobody I know. For my part, I dollar-cost average my gas purchases. I buy a fixed dollar amount regardless of the price. That way I automatically buy more when it's cheaper and less when it's expensive. I do buy premium for my small engines (lawn mower, etc) because (at least in my area) it's less likely to have ethanol added which is bad for most small engines.
- lutorm 11y agoI wonder if this is purely a result of calling the high-octane gas "premium" or "super" or whatever. If it was just called "87" and "91", where one doesn't sound obviously better and more exclusive than the other, I wonder if the effect would be the same.
- gertef 11y agoI wonder if these folks are buying higher octane gas than their car needs when gas is cheap, or buying lower octane gas than their car needs when gas is pricey.
- eitally 11y agoI drive a car that only requires 87. When gas got down to $2.00/gal, I tried 93 for a couple tanks in a row, just to see what it did for mileage/power. The result: a 4Runner is a big, brick-shaped SUV and will drive like a big, brick-shaped SUV no matter what gas is in it. I switched back to 87.
- modoc 11y agoLower octane fuel actually has more energy per volume, so if your car's compression is low enough for 87, using 93 just gives you less power and worse efficiency.
- outside1234 11y agoAlso can slowly wreck your engine since it burns hotter. Use the octane your car was designed for!
- Retric 11y agoMany cars are designed to take more than one grade of gas, generally with some acceleration trade-offs. Another consideration is you can significantly impact mileage based on driving habits and expensive gas is a reminder not to be overly wasteful.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- revelation 11y agoYou can operate any car sold in the US with any octane fuel.
- acjohnson55 11y agoWow. I don't think it would ever cross my mind to by higher grade gas, perhaps at least until it was a literally negligible percentage of income. But even then... Who are these people?
- revelation 11y agoGermany somewhat recently added a required E10 fuel mix (10% ethanol), cheaper than normal super, and uptake has been slower than expected (certainly going by compatible cars). A lot of people, as it turns out, are not particularly bright. (Now, ethanol is less energy dense than gasoline; right now the gap is 2 cents between E10 and E5, so you might make the calculation if you actually get more energy per buck from E5. It's another story for fuel consumption, though.)
- GauntletWizard 11y agoE10 fuel is about 3% [1] less efficient than more pure gasoline, and much harder on car engines, even ones designed for it (unsourced, but so my gearhead friends have told me) So, no, maybe consumers are making the smart choice. [1] http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=27&t=10 http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=27&t=10
- revelation 11y agoI've mentioned the theoretical energy density, and notice that this is what the EIA uses to derive the 3% efficiency loss. This is a highly theoretical value; combustion engines are very complex beasts and theoretical energy density is a poor predictor of their efficiency, but what is known is that higher octane ratings are beneficial for fuel efficiency. Since ethanol has a high (>=100) octane rating, it might actually improve fuel consumption despite being less energy dense. Also, E15 and higher fuel blends have been in widespread use in the US for 10+ years now. I don't think car engines die quicker in the US.
- bri3d 11y ago
- Palomides 11y agoit seems like this could also be explained by people being more willing to drive luxury/sports cars when prices for gas are cheaper? running the incorrect octane is at a minimum bad for your mileage and can also be damaging to your engine...
- jackfoxy 11y agoNews flash: use the octane rating your automobile requires. (period) Higher octane is for high compression engines. It's a waste of money to use in in most cars.
- dghughes 11y agoYou can even use a lower octane than recommended since modern cars with computers can compensate.
- modoc 11y agoPlease don't. You force the car to retard the timing, get less power, and burn fuel less efficiently. If you really don't want to pay for higher octane fuel, buy a car that runs on lower octane fuel...
- mehrdada 11y ago"Modern" is a quite vague here. Direct injection (usually coupled with turbocharging) is a key rule of thumb. If your car has a direct injection, turbocharged engine AND it requires ("recommending" is cheap) high-octane, pay for it. Otherwise, it is probably an overkill.
- sliverstorm 11y agoYou can but that doesn't mean you should. Most cars go into a "limp mode"- they still run, but nowhere near as well as they should. Additionally the most common way to "detect" low octane fuel is with an engine knock sensor, so any engine that tries to optimize itself instead of using a "limp mode" will have to flirt with knock.
- jacquesm 11y agoYou're one flaky knock sensor away from a very expensive repair if your car has a knock sensor. Knocking, aka uncontrolled (usually premature) detonation can be detected but by then it has already happened and with aluminum pistons it doesn't take much to blow a hole in them depending on when in the cycle the fuel detonates. The higher the compression ratio of the engine the earlier in the cycle this would happen the bigger the chance of a very expensive repair (if not a write-off...). Don't use a lower octane than what your manufacturer recommends, that compensation is there as a safety precaution, not as a means to allow you to shift the standard octane your engine really needs. Note that running your engine on fuel with lower octane number than what your manufacturer recommends is also a way to void your warranty (and since the damage is quite specific and the evidence is right in your tank there is a very good chance that will kick in).
- encoderer 11y agoIn modern filling stations the pump is able to mix the fuel so tanks for each individual octane are not necessary. In older filling stations with a single tank, they solve this by selling "premium" to everybody, whether or not you select 87 or 92. Gasoline is usually a loss-leader for filling stations to bring people into the store, so I suppose it's a negligible impact on margins.
- jonah 11y agoI've been wondering how much "pay-at-the-pump" card machines affect sales of incidentals. If a fraction of customers are going inside and being exposed to the snacks, how's that work out?
- jacquesm 11y agoBadly. Gas stations make a considerable portion of their profits from the store. If a station does not make enough money on the store it is one bad season away from being converted to fully automated.
- jacquesm 11y ago'Blending' is used to get you something between two octane values, not as a way to only have a single tank, in order to blend you still need two tanks (and a pump suitable to do the mixing). Source: I'm a former gas station owner.
- encoderer 11y agoYeah, I didn't meant to imply modern stations have a single tank. I can see how you can read it that way though.
- matwood 11y agoFor my cars I don't care since they go through the gas so quickly. For lawnmowers and the boat, I only buy the more expensive ethanol free gas.
- cpursley 11y agoMy father runs a commercial landscaping business. The ethanol laced fuel wreaks havoc on his fleet of 2 cycle engines.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoHe hasn't switched to natural gas mowers yet? I've seen them everywhere lately.
- cpursley 11y agoHum, I might suggest that. Primarily I'm talking about things like leaf blowers, weed eaters, etc.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoI'd highly recommend they look at electric versions of those devices when possible.
- bigtunacan 11y agoSame here. I'm going to expand on this quickly. Ethanol combines easily with water, unlike gasoline; this is true of even your standard run of the mill 90/10 mix of gas/ethanol not just the E85. So you end up putting fuel into your engine that contains higher volumes of water that is released into the engine internals. This causes rust and gums up carburetors. This is especially hard on small engines; lawn mowers, weed trimmers, and motorcycles. It's not good for your cars either and this has zero relation to octane.
- gweinberg 11y agoThe author is a moron. Buying more gas when gas becomes cheaper is exactly what economic theory predicts.
- blinkingled 11y agoDoesn't the higher octane gas also have various additives that claim to make your engine run smoother etc.? I have tried that last time when regular gas was $1.98 and it did seem to make a difference on a long trip - engine felt smoother even when I had forgotten that I had fueled it with the higher octane one.
- saryant 11y agoThose are called addpacks, they are unrelated to the octane level. Chevron Techron, Shell V-Power, etc.
- dredmorbius 11y agoWhere in the supply chain are they added? Regionally, virtually all petrol (gasoline) for all fuel companies comes from the same refinery, with the same treatment.
- saryant 11y agoAt the station. This is what differentiates branded gas stations as most aren't even owned by the integrated majors anymore and they aren't required to buy gasoline from their respective brand parent.
- dredmorbius 11y agoThanks. Yeah, as I commented elsewhere, within regional markets, most fuel is sourced from the same refinery, and is effectively identical.
- blinkingled 11y agoThe one I used Shell V-Power Nitro+ - http://www.shell.ca/en/products-services/shell-for-drivers/fuels/shell-vpower/faq.html http://www.shell.ca/en/products-services/shell-for-drivers/f... - has highest octane rating per Shell. IIRC most bigger brands like BP and Shell are selling high octane fuel with additives - presumably to make it more appealing or whatever.
- alphonse23 11y agoarticles like these make me feel like a pawn in a JP Morgan Chase's (ie big banks) little game.
- unchocked 11y agoI have a psychological model for people buying premium gas when they don't need it, that fits in with the demand for it being quite price-elastic. Most people don't understand cars very well, but just about everyone understands that they are complicated and they need maintenance. So there's always an anxiety that the car is going to break. I think the way we deal with limited agency in an uncertain environment is to just "do what we can". So when there's an unexpected windfall at the pump (cheap gas), the maintenance-anxiety heuristic says "apply it to maintenance" and people buy premium gas. Because that's good for the car, right? And now they've "done something", so the anxiety is reduced. Of course, it doesn't actually have any mechanical benefits, but this isn't a mechanical issue.
- S_A_P 11y agoI buy the gas that my car recommends. In my people hauler(we've 7 in the family) I run 87 octane at the cheapest price feasible. In my commuter car(2.0 turbo) it wants e85 or 91 octane. Texas sells 89 or 93 octane so I buy 93, with an occasional 89. When I want to get 10% more horsepower for 2/3rds the fuel economy I buy E85. Price doesn't have any effect on what I purchase. I think it only would come into play if regular was 1.85 and premium was 4.00.
- yodon 11y agoEvery car I've ever owned, I've done the experiment and compared $/mile (dollars per mile, not per gallon) on premium and regular. Every one of my cars has had a noticeably lower cost per mile on premium compared to regular (I'd love to quote the number but it's been around 10 years since I ran the rest on my current car so all I recall is the outcome). I've encouraged several friends and family members to run the same experiment, and all reported the same result. Significantly newer cars with octane sensors might change this result, but I suspect it holds for most of the used cars on the market out there, so for at least some of us the more "expensive" gas is actually the cheaper gas.