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Maintaining and building highways is partially funded by fuel taxes. To offset a reduction in revenue the states and the feds will likely impose a tax or fee on EVs.
Maintaining and building highways is partially funded by fuel taxes. To offset a reduction in revenue the states and the feds will likely impose a tax or fee on EVs.
Never underestimate the money extraction prowess of California politicians.
I say this as a victim 😀.
As previously stated they can’t think of other ways to generate revenue, so they keep doing what those before them have done.
Originally Posted by rmorin49
Maintaining and building highways is partially funded by fuel taxes. To offset a reduction in revenue the states and the feds will likely impose a tax or fee on EVs.
Well I guess we in the USA shouldn’t complain too much.
I’ll have to get up to Sears Point to see what they’re charging for racing gas these days….
Yea we pay ~£169/L for premium unleaded which is bad enough but our friend in the Netherlands says the price there is £2.11/L for regular unleaded there........wow. However I see that oil prices have comedown with some countries increasing production (e.g. UAE).
Sold 06 CLS500. SL550 09. SL550 2013. Own C6 Corvette heavily customized garage queen 2005.
I have noticed that for the first say three to 4 years I easily got 26-28 miles to the gallon on the highway by not going over 70 miles an hour and around 21-23 in town. Felt this was very reasonable. Now, 9 years later can hardly get 24 miles to the gallon on the highway and well under 20 in town. Is this because of crud and whatever having built up on the bottom of the tank? Mention this as also when new easily filled up with 18 to I think one time near over 19/20 gallons, maybe more, just cant remember, but now 17.5 to 18 is really pushing it. I also think changing tires can make up to a 2 gallon difference for mthg. Yes, we should be approaching $5.00 a gallon on premium very soon as nearly there. Plus to the UK posters, you are so far more advanced than us by going electric. Our problem is getting charging stations, not to mention home stations fitted.
Well I guess we in the USA shouldn’t complain too much.
I’ll have to get up to Sears Point to see what they’re charging for racing gas these days….
Originally Posted by branmin
I have noticed that for the first say three to 4 years I easily got 26-28 miles to the gallon on the highway by not going over 70 miles an hour and around 21-23 in town. Felt this was very reasonable. Now, 9 years later can hardly get 24 miles to the gallon on the highway and well under 20 in town. Is this because of crud and whatever having built up on the bottom of the tank? Mention this as also when new easily filled up with 18 to I think one time near over 19/20 gallons, maybe more, just cant remember, but now 17.5 to 18 is really pushing it. I also think changing tires can make up to a 2 gallon difference for mthg. Yes, we should be approaching $5.00 a gallon on premium very soon as nearly there. Plus to the UK posters, you are so far more advanced than us by going electric. Our problem is getting charging stations, not to mention home stations fitted.
EVs......Much bigger country and massive distances over there.
Your problem is more likely to be dirty injectors than crud in the tank. Might be worth trying a couple of fill ups with a premium fuel with cleaning agents. Apparently there are injector cleaning additives - never needed to use any but others may be able to comment on these.
There are many conspiracy theories about fuel companies additives being rubbish and that cheap fuel is a good as expensive fuel. I always use ‘premium’ fuel - IMO if the oil companies were crooking us, they’d have been exposed years ago.
My wife has a B-Class diesel and when she first got it (only used for short low speed trips to the shops etc) the DPF regen cycle would kick in frequently. I suggested she switch to a premium diesel and now dpf regen is a rare occourence.
'17 SL450, '17 Volt, '17 Malibu Hybrid, '96 Corvette GS coupe
Costco gasoline is all "Top Tier" grade gasoline, which is at least an indicator that it's good quality stuff. There may be better out there somewhere, but I don't own a testing lab so I just go with Costco where available, or Shell, BP, etc. when out on the road. The problem, over time, is not with dirty injectors...it's with crud building up on our intake valves because we have DI engines in our cars. It's not M-B's fault, either. Any DI engine will have problems with intake valve crud build-up. It's unavoidable. Port injectors wash intake valves on every cycle. Take that feature away and...well, we're all living with the consequences. At the risk of committing sacrilege, I don't think having a lot of aggressive cleaning agents in our gasoline does us any good with our DI engines. The intake valves never see any of that gasoline, and so can never be cleaned by it. Our only real hope in this regard is to keep very high quality oil in our engines, and going full circle back to past practices, changing that oil as often as we can stand to...notwithstanding M-B's now rather long recommended change intervals. Hopefully, this will forestall the inevitable head removal for valve cleaning as long as possible. GM has shortened their recommended oil change intervals to 7500 miles, presumably because oil with fewer miles on it doesn't tend to develope as many air-born contaminants in the crankcase...which are drawn by the crankcase ventilation system into the intake tract, ending up on the valve heads.
Regarding fuel octane ratings, for our purposes there are three different rating methods for any given gasoline: 1) RON (Research Octane Number), the highest number, and the one used in Europe and Idk where else. 2) MOR (Motor Octane Number), the lowest number, which I believe is used mainly in lab testing of fuels. And 3) the octane number that we see in the US, which is an average of the other two numbers. So, the US 93 octane fuel is probably equivalent to about 98 or 99 octane in Europe.
Regarding EVs, I love my SL and there's not much about it that I would change, even if I could, but my daily drivers are an EV and a hybrid. The hybrid, which I use for road trips, will eventually get replaced by another EV. Once you've driven an EV for even a short length of time, you'll probably be hooked, and wonder how you ever put up with all the ICE b******t in the first place. The reduced hassle alone makes the change worthwhile. As to charging...after six years of EV ownership, I've never yet had to charge anywhere but at home. Installing home charging equipment (EVSE) was a snap, not a hassle...especially when you realize that whenever you leave home, the car will have a full charge. This kind of kills range anxiety before it can even take hold of you. I don't think a lot of people realize this. Now, I use the EV for every-day type stuff: errands, etc. But that's the vast majority of most people's driving. The increase in my electric bill only comes to around 1/6 of what I used to spend on gas. Never mind the lack of oil changes, brake jobs, etc.
Regarding "tax, tax, tax". There is a very simple and sure way for anyone feeling excessively put-upon by taxes to alleviate their misery: they could move to a desert island. Of course, they would then no longer have the benefit of electricity, water, sewers, roads, police/fire/military protection, schools, etc., but at least they would be free of having to pay all those nasty taxes. Running a civilized society costs money. Taxes are necessary to do pay for civilization. Having said all that, we are free to disagree with the way our representatives in government are spending our tax money, but that's another argument that probably belongs in another forum. JMO...
Last edited by Dr. Manhattan; 03-11-2022 at 12:33 PM.
On the highway, I drive my wife mad by refusing to stop for anything other than a Shell unless we’re down to the vapors in the gas tank!
In October of this year I’ll have worked for Shell for 30 years. It’s been (and continuing to be) a good ride.
I prefer Shell as well and buy it when traveling BUT we don't have a single Shell station within 20 miles. Used to have several but Sunoco and BP came in and took over all their stations. Why, I don't know but it's a bummer.
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
Ha! How much difference a few days make. The OP talked about $3/gal gas only 9 days ago. We are now pushing $5 and soon will be on the way to $6. That's what happens when you give up energy independence and remove competition from the market place.
Ha! How much difference a few days make. The OP talked about $3/gal gas only 9 days ago. We are now pushing $5 and soon will be on the way to $6. That's what happens when you give up energy independence and remove competition from the market place.
If you take the time to understand the macroeconomic forces that determine the price of oil and gas and hence retail gasoline, you will realize that the President - ANY President - has very little influence on the price at the pump. I am not defending Uncle Joe per se, but just pointing out that the current social media hysteria on pinning the blame for the recent price increases does not stand up to even basic fact checking.
Since this is bordering on a political discussion, and since I do NOT want to imply that I am speaking on behalf of my employer, I will say no more. I will urge all who have an interest, though, to dig into the facts for themselves.
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
JettaRed: please educate yourself on the market forces that result in petroleum price fluctuations before making daft comments like this one (and introducing equally daft political comments in to this forum). Thank you.
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Originally Posted by emilner
Today filling up the Nav. Let's go Brandon!!!
Please educate yourself on the market forces that result in petroleum price fluctuations before making daft comments like this one (and introducing equally daft political comments in to this forum). Thank you.
If you take the time to understand the macroeconomic forces that determine the price of oil and gas and hence retail gasoline, you will realize that the President - ANY President - has very little influence on the price at the pump. I am not defending Uncle Joe per se, but just pointing out that the current social media hysteria on pinning the blame for the recent price increases does not stand up to even basic fact checking.
Since this is bordering on a political discussion, and since I do NOT want to imply that I am speaking on behalf of my employer, I will say no more. I will urge all who have an interest, though, to dig into the facts for themselves.
I work in the financial sector. And while the President has little control over short term pricing on energy, it isn't that simple. The value of any good or service is determined by the markets and is driven by perception. If the perception is that your good will increase in value the price can rise and vice versa. When Biden was elected gas prices immediately reversed their continuous decline and headed higher, within a few days of the election. By the time he took office they were up substantially and have increased ever since. Why? Because he made it clear time and time again he wanted to shut down our fossil fuel energy sector and move towards green energy. The markets perception was the US was going to reverse its current course of drill baby drill which floods the market to shut it down. His actions followed his promises- day one shutting Keystone, eliminating federal land and offshore exploration. You can see chart ofter chart this is reflected in pricing. Green energy stocks went up exponentially as a result. No, the President can't "control" the price of stocks or energy prices but the "perception" of what is coming from his powers can. He owns this right up until the invasion, and it was deliberate.
Please educate yourself on the market forces that result in petroleum price fluctuations before making daft comments like this one (and introducing equally daft political comments in to this forum). Thank you.
Please see my response above before claiming I need an education...
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Originally Posted by emilner
Please see my response above before claiming I need an education...
I think you have a patently biased and monocular viewpoint: the global increase in the cost is not singularly due to Biden. Consider supply chain issues; consider COVID-19 and the sudden demand when it abated; consider, too, Saudi and UAE's petulant refusal to increase production; now consider Putin's entry into the equation. Nope, I believe you are wrong to ascribe this singularly to Biden's election. And, regardless, your somewhat uniquely American viewpoint is in contrast to the rest of the western world that pays substantially more for fuel: I suggest that when we can afford cars such as these, we most certainly can afford to pay more in fuel if it contributes, long term, to the overall good of the environment and society on the whole. And do so without the constant griping that makes Americans look like self-centered pariahs to the rest of the civilized world.
Just a thought. In addition, you should refrain from puerile comments like "Let's go Brandon!!!" if you would be taken seriously. SMH
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
Originally Posted by Bitbytr
I think you have a patently biased and monocular viewpoint: the global increase in the cost is not singularly due to Biden. Consider supply chain issues; consider COVID-19 and the sudden demand when it abated; consider, too, Saudi and UAE's petulant refusal to increase production; now consider Putin's entry into the equation. Nope, I believe you are wrong to ascribe this singularly to Biden's election. And, regardless, your somewhat uniquely American viewpoint is in contrast to the rest of the western world that pays substantially more for fuel: I suggest that when we can afford cars such as these, we most certainly can afford to pay more in fuel if it contributes, long term, to the overall good of the environment and society on the whole. And do so without the constant griping that makes Americans look like self-centered pariahs to the rest of the civilized world.
Just a thought. In addition, you should refrain from puerile comments like "Let's go Brandon!!!" if you would be taken seriously. SMH
It's clear no one has the monopoly on being biased here. I'm not being political, but I was NOT paying $5+/gal two years ago, food and other necessities were much cheaper, crime was less, and we weren't about to get dragged into another war. And while an American president does not have direct control over the price of oil, the character and actions of the President certainly determines how the rest of the world perceives him, and therefore, responds accordingly. So, go shake your head all you want and let us know if you hear anything rattling. "Let's go Bitbytr!"
'13 SL550 Mars Red, Designo White interior, B and O sound
Originally Posted by JettaRed
It's clear no one has the monopoly on being biased here. I'm not being political, but I was NOT paying $5+/gal two years ago, food and other necessities were much cheaper, crime was less, and we weren't about to get dragged into another war. And while an American president does not have direct control over the price of oil, the character and actions of the President certainly determines how the rest of the world perceives him, and therefore, responds accordingly. So, go shake your head all you want and let us know if you hear anything rattling. "Let's go Bitbytr!"
Obviously, no one has a monopoly on myopic bombast either: you didn't even bother to address the other contributing factors I mentioned. But that's OK. I have youngsters in my family and am used to their lack of sophistication and youthful simplemindedness.
I'd say we're done here, wouldn't you agree? Have a nice day, won't you?
03-09-2022, 06:50 PM
Ouch!
