Oddly enough this came up in my YouTube feed this morning. One perspective of corn based ethanol!

My oldest brother had one, it was mine over the summers when he was deployed. That thing sipped on just the fumes of gasoline!
We could drive it all weekend for like $2!

I had not calculated efficiency lately, I usually average 26.5 - 27, today's average 25.
Not cool! That's about 7.5% decrease.
That is 93 octane and all other variables relatively constant.
In fact I've had to slow down on the back roads that I can often have spurts of 90 - 100.
Traffic has been building over the weeks and we rarely get to the posted 60 now.
It's a conspiracy I tell ya.

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Well i failed to state it is a 4cyl turbo. If I didn't insist on reaching the speed limit as fast as possible I can squeeze out 35+ mpg. And that is even with the performance tuning.
I do also use cruise control at every opportunity.
I think that helps some.

2012 VW 2.0

Oh man, look what I found.
Not sure how my 93 octane performance tune is gonna like it but if I'm paying more than $4 per gallon, I'm going to try this stuff. Too bad I didn't need a full tank today.

https://www.pure-gas.org/extensions/maps.jsp?statecode=TX

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I can actually change between tunes for 89, 93, race fuel and a couple others.
I typically just run the 93 program since I run 93 octane and certainly notice a difference between them. On 89 it will run like a fairly pissed off cat, whereas on 93 it runs like a mama cat chasing critters away from her youngens. I'm still operating on the 93 tune with the ethanol free fuel for now. The 89 will usually roast the tires but 93 will almost always roast them, even on dry concrete. I've yet to fit tires wide enough to counter my foot. What's further I also try and use all season Z rated tires for longevity, despite only getting about 20K miles out of them. If I run summer tires I only get about 8K miles out of them. This year I hope to outfit it with 235 8.5" wide over the 225 8" I have at present. As far as my engine, I've been running a long experiment with fuels based on problems with direct injection where the intake valves need to be de-carbed periodically. For the first 90K miles, I just ran 89 and dumped in an octane booster but ran the 93 tune. It was de-carbed at 89K miles and ever since I've been running only 93 and added octane booster periodically. Now with the ethanol free gas, I'm not sure what to expect. I suspect performance will be mostly unchanged but since it is only 90, I'm just slightly concerned about more carbon build up. I'm at 179K miles now and keep rolling the dice of when it will need to be de-carbed again.
I'm going to run this e free gas for a tank or maybe two just for kicks before I make any life altering decisions about it.
On a side note of 89 / 93, my wife has the same engine in her vehicle and had it de-carbed around 85K and is about about 181K now, seems to still be running good. Again though, only running 93, we don't skimp anymore. I've yet to calculate the cost delta of 89 vs 93 vs the $834 for the carb clean. Just waiting for the next cleaning to run the numbers. For edification purposes, if you did not read above, it is a 2.0 VW turbo gas engine.
Long answer to your short question, if I did in fact address your question.

Jetta, APR tune and intake, audi intercooler.
It's a great little go cart.
Perplexed by these numbers today.
Only been about 250 miles though. I did run triple digit speeds some this week. Forgot to say all my driving is city, no highway Miles.

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He's talking about the e free, premixed stuff.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/TRUFUEL-50-1-110-oz-Pre-Blended-2-Cycle-Fuel/1001840698

Oh so I eeked out over 27 MPH on my recent tank, however it was 93 octane and an added octane booster bottle.
The Ethanol free just didn't feel like it was running as good as I wanted.
Also no driving past the century mark, traffic has been to heavy.
The last two measures were only at 24MPG thus happy again to push past 27.
My experiment of E free has come to a close aside from running it in the mower.
I will continue to calculate fuel consumption to watch for engine issues but likely won't update here unless of calamity.

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Got to make up for 2020 and 2021!

They sure do.

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Are you talking about Diesel fuel itself used for combustion or the oil used to lubricate the moving parts of the engine?

Diesel fuel itself is a byproduct of the crude oil refining process, so if we are refining crude, we are making diesel. It used to just be waste until some guy, last name Diesel designed an engine to run on this byproduct.
And we are continuing to refining crude, so I'm not sure where there is a shortage of the lubrication fluids, other than still ramping up production from the pandemic era shut downs? Unfortunately drilling rigs nor refineries can just instantly turn on their productions.

I don't think it has happened that quick, else why would crude be still greater than $100 per bbl? Our company supplies various items for upstream and downstream production, we are selling crap we have not sold in YEARS. We had a record month the last two months, I mean record from the past 10 years.
I'm further confused by the consumption of the diesel fuel, I continue to read about trucker shortages etc, how did the amount of diesel trucks operating globally double or triple to pre-pandemic levels which would generate such a shortage if the petroleum industry has ramped to pre-pandemic levels?
Is it not simple supply and demand, the global economies have drastically (finally) ramped by up from the pandemic and thus demand for all products from the refining process for crude is still through the roof. Since diesel is a byproduct of the refinement process, and that process has still to ramp to pre-pandemic levels, there is simply less diesel to go around, which is why in my area it is well over $5 / gallon.
I'm not an economist, nor a petroleum engineer, but from where I sit, I've not seen capacity numbers on crude refinement being what it was, I just speak from my experience of selling oil field MRO product.

I forgot about this tool, does not look like we have come back to where we were pre-pandemic just yet.
But then again, this is the internet where anyone can find anything to defend their point of view.

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WOW

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/29/energy/exxonmobil-chevron-earnings/index.html

Costco in The Woodlands TX, $3.95 premium.

Had some great chili last night, my tank has been full of gas all day!

Today's Murphy prices just north of Houston.

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We have it pretty good here, no state income tax either.

No, because the CEOs would possibly not get their 7 figure bonuses! They got bills to pay you know.

$3.01 this weekend for 93 octane, the cheapskate in me is happy (88 miles per day round trip for work) but the oil and gas parts salesman in me is not so excited.

I think it's called a desire for profit!
Not sure it's related to the recent increase, but just read this:

http://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/business/nightcap-chevron-stock-buyback/index.html

With OPEC announcing they will be cutting production again, get ready for it continuing to rise.

"new" gas cans suck. I think my spills more onto the mower deck and grass than in the damn tank. But hey, it's EPA friendly
As far as recent fuel efficiency, I'm enjoying my improved mileage; at the end of 2022 I traded up the old 2012 Jetta to a 2020 Audi A3 (almost identical engine and tranny). Mileage average by my calculations, not the computer, show I'm now getting a minimum of 29 MPG and I only use the idle engine cut off feature about 10% of my stops. Now the Jetta was tuned WAY differently thus much more aggressive and fun to drive. I've also changed my route I take home from work which cuts 10 miles off the journey but adds 20 minutes (obviously doesn't change efficiency but helps stretch a tank of gas to a whole week). As such, in the Audi now, I very rarely see triple digits on the speedo, unlike in the Jetta where I had the opportunity to get there 2 to 3 days a week. While the Jetta was paid off, I was spending over $5K a year in repairs... so was it really paid off? All things considered, I'm still pleased I made the upgrade.

Not in my area at least. The only less traffic is on Friday. In fact, I feel my area is at pre-pandemic traffic volumes. For at the time I get to work, 0700, during the pandemic and now, only on Friday's, I can scoot along the highway right up to the exit I need to take for work without any congestion. Now it backs up again as people still don't know how to merge two miles down for some toll road exits. Because of this, most weekdays, I have to exit TWO exits back and just ride the feeder to avoid the stop and go crap, thus I get stuck in side street stop and go crap - I view it less collision risky though. It's maddening. Also, as I mentioned in another topic, I recently added some "company" to the new grocery getter, so at least I have better tunes for the stop and go fun. As far as fuel, I just paid $3.66 yesterday for my 93 octane. However at only 9 gallons to fill up (tank wasn't completely dry) it wasn't too bad. Couple that with my improved MPG, I'm cool with it. But only because as I've stated before, my earnings are directionally proportionate to the cost of our crude.

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It was pushing 200K miles with a high performance tune. EVERYTHING was beginning to need replacement or replacement again. The largest expense was the timing chain (doesn't show on this screen capture, paperwork wasn't filed on the storage drive until 2023.) Fortunately it "only" ran me $1400 for parts, the dealer paid for all the labor, they had just serviced an oil leak a week prior ($1200). My threat of a lawsuit, since they had just been in the same area, seemed to incentivize them to work with me. Otherwise they quoted me $4500+ for that job.
Screen shot of all the work done on it in 2022. In contrast our 2015 Tiguan, 205000 miles, STOCK tuning has hardly needed a thing.
We very poor at "wealth management" and can budget much easier for a $400 / month car payment vs. $xxxx.xx in repairs every few months.
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I find the current gen 2.0T pretty simplified. Takes less than 5 minutes to change the serpentine belt. The oil filter it right up top so with a suction pump, I don't have to crawl under the car for oil changes. I swapped heater cores in my Jetta in less than an hour.
All in all, I enjoy our German engineered VWs.
The mini cooper on the other hand, was clearly designed for thin Europeans.
That or sado masochistics!

Sounds like the wheel ABS sensors, about $100 each. They went bad in my Jetta, took about 15 minutes per wheel to replace. VW / Audi uses the ABS sensors in lieu of in tire mounted TPMS sensors. They have the computer calculate RPMs (since the ABS sensor is there already) and it can tell the driver if a tire has more or less pressure than the others based on individual RPMs. It really caused havoc at Discount Tire when that system came out.
What freaked me out was when the sensors were going bad, sometimes my driver door would close when I was out of the vehicle and it would lock the doors. I still don't understand THAT German logic! It was the old style ignition that required a key so when it did that... ooops, no getting back in w.o. a spare key! Luckily it only did that at home so was an easy remedy, otherwise I'd been more than a little upset.

I wonder what the lines were like to save 4 - 8 bucks?

New grocery getter and I achieved over 32mpg this tank!

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Must be a higher end model? My 2020 A3 still uses the ABS sensors.

Interesting!

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/21/business/california-no-longer-most-expensive-gas/index.html

Spoiler alert, it's now Washington State.

Oof, 3.95 per gallon today for 93. Up over 0.30 per from just a couple days ago. Can't find the article now but they are blaming our recent heat.

Sad when this feels like a bargain.
I'm going to need to go by Costco more often.

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Doesn't relate to efficiency but...

Oregon drivers are now allowed to pump their own fuel after the state lifted a ban dating back to 1951

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/06/us/oregon-drivers-pump-own-fuel-law

Being an RS, I bet it does. At 94, you should have only been about 2 grand on the tach?
My lowly A3 sits about 2500 at the century mark with only 7 forward gears.

My local QT Wednesday fill up, 93 please...

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How dare you.

I hate when this seems "reasonable".
Today was 93 for the win.

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It is indeed a QT, this one seems to have prices very close to the Costco down road a piece.

What a difference 2 weeks make.
Almost feel like I'm robbing the joint, nah.
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Thank god for lifo.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/05/business/gas-prices-fall-by-halloween/index.html

Hmm, another production cut by the Saudis coming soon?

Today's QT Conroe TX gouging, at least less gouging today than last week.

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I'll be visiting my usual QT again tomorrow, I'll be curious to see its rates.

I don't know wtf is going on near you but, I like the way this is trending.
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I need to loose some lead in my foot, only managed 24.9 mpg this last tank though.
Traffic permitted a few short triple digit speed runs recently, but none like back when I had the tastefully modded GLi. I could sustain the century mark for 1 - 2 minutes.
Those were the days.

Interesting what 7 miles closer to the refineries and a membership will get.
It's the qt that's 7 miles further...
I may be stopping at Costco more often.
I had thought they stayed pretty close but today I visited both on amission to investigate cost at each.
I was taken aback thinking qt tried to keep pretty close to the membership club prices, boy was I mistaken. Of course several hours had passed between and and with lifo, it's not a scientific experiment but still worth noting.

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Two surprises this week, almost sub $3 per gallon of 93 and over 33MPG, lost a little lead from my foot this week thanks to shitty traffic.

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Yessss, and eaked out almost 30mpg.

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Man, I feel so spoiled.

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https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/business/us-production-oil-reserves-crude/index.html

From what I've read, "they" don't really get excited until about $90 / bbl.

I paid 3.42 for my 93 octane today, wtf says I.

I was just about to post a bitch about my $3.91 per gallon of 93 at my local Murphy, glad I ain't in Vegas.
I will state however, my bonuses have also been considerably higher.
It's not quote like having total consciousness on my death bed as foretold by the Dalai Lama, but meh, I'll take it.