How much do you guys pay for petrol?

kwijibo · Post by **kwijibo** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:59 pm

Filled up the 4wd before going to play golf with Rumble the other day, his local course is a 175km round trip for me unfortunately. At $1.449 per litre, i worked out it cost me about $31.50 to drive there and back

my car only gets 13l / 100km tho

ysu · Post by **ysu** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:13 am

now you got me thinking....driving up to the gold coast for my holidays will cost a lot just in juice, dammit...

avaran · Post by **avaran** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:15 am

I started drivingjust a bit under 9 years ago, and I was paying between 50 and 60 cents per litre. That was in South East Brisbane. So I guess now, I'm paying sometimes tripple that amount!

Thanks for reminding me Ezy!

bengatta · Post by **bengatta** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:19 am

ysu wrote:now you got me thinking....driving up to the gold coast for my holidays will cost a lot just in juice, dammit...

Don't get fooled/tempted with the "it's cheaper to fly" thingy... the direct flights at $49 yes... but unless you intend to go to one place and stay there, you now have no car to get around, and dependant on public transport/shuttle buses/cabs/hire cars... these can run into a shitload... especially the GC with the Airport about 40 minutes cab ride from Surfers itself...

if you have paid for a 5***** resort they have proper courtesy buses so the ride is not too bad, but some of the normal ones don't have there own bus, so... the $200 you saved per room, is quickly eaten up by a cab fare...

then there is the airport parking, so depending how long you are away it can cost a heap...

So unless you have somebody else paying it all, it is not usually a whole heap cheaper... You do get there less tired is about the only thing I say might make it better...

having said all that, I love the GC and it is usuually worth the trip there every so often... I have never had a shit time on the GC, so it is money well spent...

I for the life of me though do not understand Schoolies week... all those rules and cops everywhere... not even remotely sure how that could be fun... even for a Schoolie....

Peptis · Post by **Peptis** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:41 am

bengatta wrote:Don't get fooled/tempted with the "it's cheaper to fly" thingy... the direct flights at $49 yes... but unless you intend to go to one place and stay there, you now have no car to get around, and dependant on public transport/shuttle buses/cabs/hire cars... these can run into a shitload... especially the GC with the Airport about 40 minutes cab ride from Surfers itself...

It also depends on how much your time is worth to you. Besides, if you're just talking monetary factors, then taking an extra day off from work to drive somewhere can end up costing a lot more than cabs, etc...

bengatta wrote:I for the life of me though do not understand Schoolies week... all those rules and cops everywhere... not even remotely sure how that could be fun... even for a Schoolie....

There are also drunk girls everywhere

bengatta · Post by **bengatta** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:10 am

Peptis wrote:
bengatta wrote:Don't get fooled/tempted with the "it's cheaper to fly" thingy... the direct flights at $49 yes... but unless you intend to go to one place and stay there, you now have no car to get around, and dependant on public transport/shuttle buses/cabs/hire cars... these can run into a shitload... especially the GC with the Airport about 40 minutes cab ride from Surfers itself...
It also depends on how much your time is worth to you. Besides, if you're just talking monetary factors, then taking an extra day off from work to drive somewhere can end up costing a lot more than cabs, etc...

bengatta wrote:I for the life of me though do not understand Schoolies week... all those rules and cops everywhere... not even remotely sure how that could be fun... even for a Schoolie....
There are also drunk girls everywhere

Correct about the time, but it is dependant on where you are coming from and your own access to the airport...

I got a last minute call to work with a team at Indy a few years ago... they needed a spot of help... I said get me there and I will come up...

accident on the F3 between Newcastle and Sydney did not help, but those who travel it, know this happens a lot... the only flights I could get were out of Sydney in the GC, also checked no chance for NCL to BNE so, off to Syd I set... accident on freeway so 2.5 hours my door to airport... 30 min to check in/board/luggage loaded/leave terminal. about 1.15 hours to landing... about 45 minutes to get a cab... it was Indy thursday... another 45 minutes to the circuit, then because I was staying inside the circuit, and had others in the cab (We had decided that sharing cabs was appropriate as it was going to take 2 hour to clear the airport line if everybody went on there own and most were going to the same spot anyway) we all had to be inspected for the appropriate passes... another 15 minutes before finally gettting around to the room...

That is perilessly close to 6 hours for a 1 hour flight... I can drive it in 8... for the hassell it sort of did not seem worth it all... and lets not forget that I was not being carried by a cheap carrier, so they actually were polite enough after a phone call to explain the traffic situation to wait for me to get there, they held the plane for about 15 minutes... had it been a budget $49 flight I would have been left at Sydney...

I have the misfortune with my job to travel heaps by air, and I am yet to find it convenient... it is less stressful in a certain way, sitting in the lounge in BNE for 5 hours waiting for a connection is always cool, I tend to get through a few books which I could not do driving...

if you live 5 minutes from and airport and your destination is 5 minutes from an airport, then air travel is fine... other than that, Australia is the same physical size as the USA with only 12 major"ish" airports... and only SYD and BNE as major distribution points...

I was in bendigo the other day and looked in the tourist brochure in the Hotel room... It quoted nearest Airport... Tullamarine

If you were in Bendigo and wanted to go to Cairns... yep take the plane... If you wanted to do Canberra or Sydney, or even Adelaide... then you might as well drive...

and as for the drunk girls everywhere... and males in their 20's to early 30's outnumbering each drunk girl by 700 to 1...

I have found the GC to be more "open"and "accomodating" at non event times of the year...

ysu · Post by **ysu** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:28 am

bengatta wrote:
ysu wrote:now you got me thinking....driving up to the gold coast for my holidays will cost a lot just in juice, dammit...
Don't get fooled/tempted with the "it's cheaper to fly" thingy... the direct flights at $49 yes... but unless you intend to go to one place and stay there, you now have no car to get around, and dependant on public transport/shuttle buses/cabs/hire cars... these can run into a shitload... especially the GC with the Airport about 40 minutes cab ride from Surfers itself...

Hell no I did not want to fly there, it's just that it's getting pretty expensive. For 3 of us it'd not be much cheaper by plane anyway - maybe even more expensive, considering the getting to/from the airport as well. I'm in hornsby

850Kms *2 = 1700kms to and fro, car eats the fuel at the rate of about 9L/100km
that's around 150L * 1.4 (unlucky fillups) = $210
...and two days' driving added to the holidays :/

I would not mind the driving if it was on good freeways with 130 top speed (or more - no limit ftw!) But most of it is on slow narrow country road, even the freeways are set to the 110km/h walking pace . (the main road...ffs they should build it)

I like my reading too...

Rots · Post by **Rots** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:42 am

I usually pay anything between 1.35 & 1.45 depending on time of year/week etc. But where my parents live (Grafton), the fuel is always at least 10c cheaper. In fact I noticed on my travels between Sydney & Brisbane, Grafton more often than not has the cheapest fuel... I'd rather pay higher fuel prices than live at Grafton though

Edit: Not all that long ago I was involved in an insurance claim at a petrol station. From memory, it cost the company approximately $1.03 a litre. That same fuel was then sold for around $1.40 to the general public. My car has a 42.5 litre fuel tank and at the time of filling my car, that petrol station would only earn $15.73 from me which would then need to cover general business costs (wages, rent, maintenance of equipment etc).

Interestingly enough, having dealt with many insurance claims for clothing stores, I've noted many retail clothing stores to have marks of up to 600% on their goods... that's mostly the higher market shops such as a bridal shop, most others seem to be around 100% - 200% markup.

Exar Kun · Post by **Exar Kun** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:07 pm

Yep, I'd never blame petrol station operators for high prices. They really don't make that much. For most places, at least half their profit, if not more, is generated by the insanely priced items in their shop (now that I CAN blame on the petrol station operators

).

It cost me $200 to drive down to Melbourne and back on the weekend - that included a trip into the city from the eastern suburbs. It really does factor into holiday planning in a big way now.

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:20 pm

from SA to bathurst in a v8 was 130 bucks there but a bit more on the way back due to a heavier foot after seeing the racing

avging about 10l/100ks on the way, wasnt as bad as i expected it to be

Jiminee · Post by **Jiminee** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:27 pm

I dont think the station operators can be absolved of all blame.
The combination of brands we have here - Woolworths, Shell (Coles), Mobil and BP mean that the lack of an independent drives our prices up by 10 cents more than equivalent places. Also the positioning of them means the Woolworths and Coles do much, much higher volumes than the other 2, reducing the competition even further.
Can there be any doubt that they work together (the technical term is collusion right?) to not start a price war? Like I said that certainly happens here as the prices stay the same for weeks on end. I dont think the stationary prices and the higher than average cost are a mere coincidence either.

Exar Kun · Post by **Exar Kun** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:34 pm

Have to say it was a bit of a shock to see Melbourne a full 10c a litre cheaper than Canberra. Even Albury cops cheaper prices than here so you can't really just use the transport costs argument.

Sarsippius · Post by **Sarsippius** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:00 pm

Darwin actually doesn't seem so bad compared to most of you, think it's about $1.40 today.

In regards to plane vs the car, when you live up here it's plane travel no contest. Say I wanted to visit the old girl in Alice it'd cost me almost as much in fuel, I'd put 3,000kms wear and tear on the car for the round trip and take a whole days traveling each way provided you were up for driving 12-14hrs straight. Even having a couple people along for the trip I would still more than likely fly.

iMAXIBON · Post by **iMAXIBON** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:00 am

about 1:30 to 1:40 here, last time i looked. which was a while ago. rusty is hiding from the summer sun and is only taken out for special occasions IE whenever i'm bored.

i used to spend almost exactly $30 a week on fuel, and a full tank is about $60. with a 1600 i've never worried about the mileage, but now that i think about it, its not awfully good... especially if you want all 70 reality-shattering horsepowers at public nuisanse noise levels... WHICH YOU OF COURSE DO.

when i close the garage door i can smell the fuel vapor from the exhaust, carb, and bleeding out of the dash vents. i remember when all cars smelt like that, now they mostly smell like charcoal and hot carpet.

but i'd much rather have a small, slow, dented fume box than what everyone else my age has - a sad nissan with a goofy intercooler that runs constantly out-of-tune. or a commodore.