Trying to keep track of the best gas prices — within my normal driving range — has become challenging, but I found a neat tool to help in that quest: GasBuddy. There’s not a lot of monitoring in Oak Ridge yet, but two of the four stations that usually have the lowest price are on there. When I go out next, I’ll add Eddie Hair Firestone and the BP across from First Methodist.
What Gas Stations Won’t Tell You (smartmoney.com) was an interesting read, too. I’d always wondered why two stations of the same brand within just a few miles of each other could have dramatically different pricing — the best example being the Weigel’s on the west end of the turnpike, and the Weigels on Hwy. 58 near the I-40 on-ramp: gas is nearly always 7-10 cents cheaper out by the interstate. Yet, the one in west Oak Ridge is said to be the highest-grossing Weigel’s in the Knoxville area.
Lastly, there is no hard-and-fast rule about grade of gasoline and miles per gallon. On my old Mazda (the one that Alpha fatally overheated last summer), I got enough improvement in gas mileage with premium to save money any time regular gas was above $1.65/gallon (been a few years since I ran that test, obviously). In the Mustang though, there’s no appreciable difference in mileage between grades, and the owner’s manual says to use regular. So, know your vehicle, and save by using what works best for it.
Coming to you from Fishers, Indiana. Probably will cost me $40 to get home in my ’95 B-2300 Mazda P’up. Hated to miss the Festival, but a special graduation led me to Hoosierville for the first time. Found three pretty good golf courses too–easier than Centennial.