What luck I got my new speedpass in the mail on September 1. The offer for the 5 cent discount at Exxon Mobil required activation by August 31. Darn it.

Any word on any new speedpass promotions? That would help save a bit at least.

Generally I find the cheapest gas in NJ at WaWa, WA at Arco, MT at Albertsons, and in general at Flying J. Anyone else know some cheap places to get gas in your state? Any rebates/promotions?

I think you might still be okay with the speedpass & the promotion. I ordered mine on the 28th (not received yet) and asked the rep about the timing with the 'activation' requirement -- she said she though I'd be fine, because they were still being told to offer the promotion. Call and ask, I'm going to when I get the new speedpass 'key'

Do you have a link such a study? How much drag do the mirrors actually produce? I am sure it varies car to car. Do you think by lowering the car will achieve lower aero drag?

A few weeks ago I just went out and bought myself a $850 daily driver that gets me 38+ mpg on the highway compare to only 25 in my other vehicle. Newer tires, recent tune-up and no oil leaks. In addition, I can use just regular unleaded instead of the $.20 more per gallon for the super unleaded requried by my other vehicle. I do about 3000 miles a month, so figure in 6 months time this daily driver will be paid for by the savings from fuel purchases and maintenance costs.

Good news! thanks. Let me know what they say when you activate it. I will try to send them a message online and see what they say t00. Now the trouble is finding an Exxon/Mobil that is no more than 5 cents more expensive than the others. It depends on the state though... and since I am driving NYC-SEA, I'll have plenty of opportunity to compare.

In texas, you only need one mirror (it doesn't matter which one) as long as you can see 200 feet.

I used to be a safety inspector in N. Dallas area.

I have looked over all the gas cards and found the only one that does not have limits to what station you purchase your gas or limits to how much you charge on your credit card are the gas credit cards from chase with 6% back the first 3 months! .

Interesting Thread (I am new to this section of the forum so please be kind!!)

In relation to this reply, Gas prices where I live in Wales, UK are currently the equivalent of $7 a gallon!

I recently switched to Diesel from Unleaded Petrol (Gas). Interestingly, for some reason our Gas is a higher octane in the UK with a RON of 95 for regular and 98 for Super!

Anyhow, my point is, I am always amazed why no car manufacturers in the US offer turbo diesel cars - is it simply because Gas is so cheap?

I recently bought a diesel BMW 3 series Coupe. It will do 0-60 in 8 seconds, hit 137mph for those inclined yet has a range of 500 miles as it does on average 50-55mpg. At 70mph.

How much is Diesel in the US? $3 a gallon or less?

I think the tank on the 3 series is 14 gallons, so surely $42 for 500 miles is attractive?

Can you actually get the superb BMW diesel engines on a new BMW ordered in the US? They have them in Germany so I don't see the problem as obviously the German ones are left hand drive?

Actually that is not quite correct - if you look at my Credit Card comparison table

http://www.andrewcram.com/frequentflyerCC.html

at the cashback card section you will see that the Perfect Card has a monthly cashback limit on Gas purchases of $15. The Chase Cash Plus card may be a better bet because it doesn't appear to have the same sort of limit and has a higher non-promotional cashback on Gas on an ongoing basis.

Also - you should be aware that the site you Reference - rewardscards.com - only displays information about cards that it receives a commission from applications through. Given the small amount of banks that provide this commission it is highly likely that the recommendations are not impartial and the cards may not really be the best available. (My comparison table lists all cards I know of or have had suggested with no regard to whether or not there is a commission program so I believe it is more impartial - still it doesn't cover every card on the market so I can't claim it is perfect either).

Edit - I just realized that the site you reference is your own, it is usually polite to mention that you are plugging your own site.

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Very nice list andrewcx!

As for speedpass, they are still honoring the 5 cent per gallon discount as previously mentioned in this thread even though I activated it one day past the deadline. I just got an email today from them. You may still want to give it a go, as they still have the promo on their website. Even though the deadline has already passed, you may still be able to get the discount as long as you request and activate your speedpass soon.

www.speedpass.com

Yes, cars in Europe are generally made the "smarter" way - a smaller, higher-compression engine. This way, the engine can get the same performance as a larger engine, but with smaller displacement (and hence lower gas consumption). However, those engines do require higher octane for proper performance and to avoid knocking. Thus, the gasoline needs to be refined more (and hence is more expensive), but the car consumes less gas... and in general, the savings in consumption outweighs the expense of added refinement (and generally reduces emissions, as well).

The short answer is, "yes." Over the last few years, diesel has actually been cheaper than gasoline at most stations, but traditionally regular-grade gas was cheaper. Until Hurricane Katrina hit, diesel was around $2.50 a gallon (nationwide average); it is now higher, of course.

Volkswagen does offer the New Beetle in a turbodiesel. I believe a few other European manufacturers also have such an option, although it's definitely not very common, you're right. Besides the historical price of diesel (less of an issue nowadays), the other reasons there aren't more diesel cars here are because consumers didn't really want them. Diesel engines have to be properly maintained to avoid noxious emissions, which are much worse than those from an "equally" untuned gasoline engine. Until recently, even properly-tuned diesel engines emitted more than gasoline engines, and they also tended to be rather noisy - a trait most consumers don't want. So diesel engines were "more work" and not as enjoyable for most consumers.

The American auto industry was (and is) unwilling to put forth the money and effort to design quieter, less-polluting diesel engines for consumer vehicles. On the other hand, European manufacturers have done that, and the diesel engines in Volkswagens, BMWs, etc. are much quieter and cleaner than previous editions... probably on par with gasoline engines, plus they do provide added fuel efficiency. However, European manufacturers rank #3 or #4 here, behind Japanese and American (and I think possibly behind Korean as well). Until the Asian and American manufacturers put out cars with good diesel engines, they will remain a very small minority here in the US. In the meantime, the hybrids from Toyota and Honda are a good alternative... much quieter, much lower emissions, and similar fuel efficiency as a properly-tuned modern diesel.

I scanned through the recent coupon pack that came in the mail and there is a coupon for 6 cents off per gallon (any type, any time). I will put it in the glove compartment and check their prices next time I am in that area. Hopefully their prices are competitive.

So, you can save another dollar (17 gallons at 6 cents savings) if you can find such a coupon.

cepheid - Superb! Thanks for that - probably one of the most informative and interesting postings I have read on FT for ages! ^

I suspect this isn't the reason. All of the major American manufacturers have access to high-quality diesel engines in their portfolio. Ford can pick from any of the products made by Ford Europe; GM can raid the Opel/Vauxhall line; and DaimlerChrysler has any number of Mercedes-derived engines it could leverage.

I suspect that it's down to customer choice, negative perception of diesel, and limited availability of diesel fuel in the US.

Octane is measured differently in the US vs. Europe:

See: http://www.answers.com/topic/petrol

The most important characteristic of gasoline is its Research Octane Number (RON) or octane rating, which is a measure of how resistant gasoline is to premature detonation (knocking). It is measured relative to a mixture of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (an octane) and n-heptane. So an 87-octane gasoline has the same knock resistance as a mixture of 87% isooctane and 13% n-heptane.

There is another type of Octane, called "Motor Octane Number" (MON), which is a better measure of how the fuel behaves when under load. Its definition is also based on the mixture of isooctane and n-heptane that has the same performance. Depending on the composition of the fuel, the MON of a modern gasoline will be about 10 points lower than the RON. Normally fuel specifications require both a minimum RON and a minimum MON.

In most countries (including all of Europe and Australia) the 'headline' octane that would be shown on the pump is the RON: but in the United States and some other countries the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, sometimes called the "roaD Octane Number" or DON, or (R+M)/2. Because of the 10 point difference noted above this means that the octane in the United States will be about 5 points lower than the same fuel elsewhere: 87 octane fuel, the "normal" gasoline in the US and Canada, would be 92 in Europe.