U.S. Gas Prices Visualized
April 2010
US Gas Prices

DISCUSS


Reader Comments (11)

Posted by: Jo Dean at 05/30/2010 09:35:11 AM

Wow why does Texas get such good deals?? Lou

Posted by: zcarinsurance.com at 05/30/2010 10:26:14 AM

Notice how lots of states with oil in the ground have higher prices then states that do not have it.Why would it be cheaper in a state is has to be shipped to

Posted by: nanoloupe at 05/30/2010 12:20:28 PM

State map of cost per gallon needs accompanying maps of cost after distribution costs and map of cost after state and local taxes.

Posted by: Joe Talerico at 05/31/2010 01:59:02 AM

Whoever did the homework for the MPG ratings should be more responsible for interpreting the data. There should be no reason to skew the data in favor of the Toyota Prius. For mid-size sedans the Ford Fusion should be the winner with 41 city MPG. I don't know how or when the Prius became a mid-size sedan. I remember it being nearly the same size as a civic hybrid. Also, only showing the ratings for city MPG driving cycles makes the diesel vehicles look worse than the hybrids. If it were combined then the MPG differential between Diesel, Hybrid, and Gas vehicles would be less substantial. I'd like to see the data for the combined MPG from the fueleconomy.gov website. Clearly this visualization was intended to help the Toyota Prius by only looking at city MPG. I would think that the EPA city MPG test with an average speed of 22 mph would not fit into most of the driving habits of Americans. The city test only represents what your MPG would be in bumper-to-bumper traffic. These new EPA MPG adjustments for older cars are far from the actual MPG. My 1989 VW Jetta Diesel gets exactly the same today as what the window sticker said in 1989. 37 city and 44 highway. That's with the original engine and the A/C running. It has clocked over 250,000 miles and is still running like new. I wonder how long the hybrids will last? The highest MPG I obtained was 51 driving from the foothills of SC to South Florida on one tank. And the lowest was 30 when I was driving through Deal's Gap, NC in the mountains.

Posted by: Tardigrade at 05/31/2010 06:41:29 AM

Despite this seemingly high price, we pay double this in Europe (roughly $6 per gallon), so stop complaining, and buy more efficient cars instead. That will be good for the environment, and oil will last a bit longer. Oil will end, that's for sure, so the world needs to become independent of oil soon anyway.

Posted by: Paul Arveson at 06/13/2010 09:34:24 AM

Joe: I can't let you get away with that rant against the Prius. It is classified as a mid-sized sedan because it is roughly the size and weight of a Camry, not a Civic. The Prius gets far and away better fuel economy than any non-hybrid, in city or highway driving, because of its many advanced ways of recovering energy that is wasted in ordinary cars. Diesel is beside the point. The age of your car is beside the point. The physics of energy efficiency is the point, and the Prius beats everything on the road except the early version of the Honda Insight. It also beats the Civic hybrid, Camry hybrid and Lexus hybrid. Total efficiency of the new plug-in hybrids is questionable because their energy comes from someplace else.

Posted by: Matt MN at 07/01/2010 04:24:04 AM

Where is this data from? Gas in Minnesota hasn't been at that price range for months. It's currently right on the line between blue and yellow.

Posted by: horkner at 07/01/2010 05:06:24 AM

I wish I was European so I could spend all my free time trolling and criticizing Americans on blog sites. No wonder gas is twice as expensive - you guys don't do any actual work!

Posted by: Dean at 07/01/2010 05:53:32 AM

Paul: You haven't actually made an argument against anything Joe said. You might as well have said nothing at all.

Posted by: Sean at 07/01/2010 07:02:53 AM

Whether they're better or not, I am curious as to why no American cars were included in this. You could slot the Ford Focus in right ahead of Jetta, for instance at 35 HW MPG.

Posted by: Logan at 07/01/2010 09:40:26 AM

Paul,Why is "Diesel is beside the point."? The VW Golf has been rated the greenest car in america for at least the past to years. Joe has a very valid point about using city mileage only, which skews things for hybrids. Hybrids are great when driving around town at slow speeds, starting and stopping all of the time, but you are always carrying around the weight of the batteries etc even when you aren't using them. This is why the only car left in the automotive XPrize mainstream category is a standard combustion engine, the only one entered i believe. Not that i am knocking the prius, it is a very well designed car, but regenerative recharging is not the holy grail that many people think it is. I have read reports that most people would get better gas mileage with a nonhybrid prius, because it is so well designed and most people do more highway driving then city. I also don't understand why you discount the full electric? They are simpler then hybrids, and can be charged during the night, when the power is basically going to waste as it is....