Hi all,

I am going to the US in September and am trying to estimate my costs - I know how much it will cost to rent a car, but can someone tell me how much does it usually cost to fill up the gas tank? I would estimate that I would have a small car - something in the economy range. Here in Ireland I have a VW Golf and it costs roughly IR£35 to fill it up!

Thanks,

Laura

What region of the country will you be in? Right now, gas prices vary from region to region with California and the Midwest being the highest and parts of the Southwest being lower.

I'll be in California and New Mexico!

Thanks!

Laura

Although Americans are complaining very loudly about the cost of gas, you'll love it. I live on the east coast, but I'm hearing prices in the $2.00 to $2.25 a gallon out west. So it's roughly $25 to fill up the tank on a compact car.

Hi again,

You guys don't know how lucky you are to have such cheap gas compared to here in Europe!

Laura

Laura, the population in Europe is so much denser than here in the USA, that you have greater access to public transportation.

Laura-obviously X has never been to Ireland, and has never tried to take the train anywhere in Ireland.

Anyway, I used to live in Ireland (the north), so I understand. $60 to fill up our stupid Mondeo! I will not complain about US gas prices until we hit $4 a gallon.

You'll have a great time, and even though the dollar is strong against the punt, most things will still be a lot cheaper (gas, food, alcohol).

To answer Laura's question, I live in the Midwest and saw gas today all over my town at $1.39 per gallon. Can't help you convert that, but I'll bet you can.

Laura; here in San Diego, gas is around $1.90-$2.30 a gallon, depending on which grade you need. Your rental car will do fine with the lowest, and therefore least expensive, grade. Other parts of California might be slightly less.

Ann and others: keep in mind that European gas prices are so high because of taxes. In the US they're high to make gas companies richer!

Are we (the United States) the only country not using the metric system? Why? I seem to remember, was it Jimmy Carter, we were supposed to switch to metric. Whatever happened to that?
(Maybe if we had switched, I'd know how fast I really was driving when I travel to Europe. Or, maybe, it'd be better NOT to know.)

Barbara--Taxes make up more than 50% of the price at the pump for gas in the US. And the same oil companies operate in Europe (where their profit margins tend to be higher for gasoline than in the US. I used to work on a daily publication for the oil industry).

JT--the UK doesn't use the metric system for everything. For example, road signs are in miles, not kilometers.

Ann: Sorry, when gas was much cheaper, taxes may have been over 50% of the cost of a gallon; now they are not. In CA, the total tax per gallon is about 37cents. Some states have higher taxes, some lower and the federal tax is about 18cents per gallon.

When I was in the UK, every sign was posted in Kms. as is most of the world. Very few people, outside of the USA, even understand miles, gallons, etc. anymore. I wonder where you saw signs posted in miles or if you were mistaken?

Regular grade gasoline today in the Bay area was $1.95 per gallon. As you probably know, a gallon is 4 liters. The average small compact car probably gets 25 miles or so to the gallon, less if you're stuck in freeway traffic and more if you're not an aggressive driver. Rent the smallest car that will fill your needs and use the cheapest grade gas. You'll find you'll spend less than you do in Ireland. BTW, the gas stations right off the freeway are generally the most expensive. Sometimes it pays to drive farther if you are exiting the freeway anyway. In September, the gas prices might be a bit less since the "tourist season" will be over. That generally happens in California.

Traveller,
Signs in the UK are in miles. I think you were mistaken...

They just converted to metric in the grocery stores this past year...

And they measure a persons height in feet and inches.

Hi again,

Thanks for all the info. Just to let you know - here in Ireland - offically everything is metric, but we still have miles on all our cars and our speed limit on the motorway is 70mph. So, although we buy a litre of fuel, I can tell you how many litres I usually buy to go 360 miles!!! Any of the really old signs around the country are in miles but the newer ones are all in kilometres.

We weigh everything using the old system but all the prices are given now per kilo!

From Jan 1, when we start officially using the Euro, I am sure we will be giving the price per kilo, ordering per pound, paying in Euro and converting to the old currency!! How's that for complicated!

Laura

I have a '91 VW Golf here in WA State, USA. It is about US $16 to fill it up completely.

Metric System..
In Australia, we gradually changed money, miles , pounds and everything else over the last 30 years, and it's worked out ok.
But Baby's birthweights are still always in Lbs and oz - I think for the Grannies. Strange though!