How do you beat the high petrol prices?

[Valve Bounce]

I subscribe to Fuelwatch at "feedback@fuelwatch.com.au" <feedback@fuelwatch.com.au>

This is good for Brisbane, and I don't know whether there is such an organisation where you live. They post the cheaper fuel outlets each day and also give the fuel prices. The rule of thumb here is to buy petrol on Tuesdays or Wednesdays as these are the cheaper days. With the price fluctuation around 10 %, it is worwhile keeping any eye out for cheaper fuel. I went south to Byron bay from Brisbane and found a cheap petrol outlet at Tugun on the Gold Coast. So for those travelling south, if you don't know yet, that is probably the cheapest place to fill up.

[Ray Bell]

In that area, there are two IFS outlets... one at South Nerang, you can see it on the left as you head south on the highway, the other is at the Tallebudgera Valley exit from the highway, about three km north of Currumbin.

They're reasonable, and if you have one of their discount cards they are even better.

There's also the Woolworths Plus Petrol outlets at various points, and with the dockets you get when you buy groceries you might get up to a 6c discount. Stockpiling these dockets helps a lot...

One point about the best days in Brisbane, it depends on what part of Brisbane. Burpengary, Strathpine etc are best on Tuesday, while Deception Bay and east don't see their prices rise till Wednesdays, generally. South of the river it varies, but there is a wider scope for better buying on more days there.

With Brisbane prices ranging from about 82c a litre to 92c a litre, how much do you think I appreciate going back there from where I commonly see $1.04 on the signboards?

[elephino]

It's interesting, in Sydney it used to be that weekends were cheaper, then weekdays but now it doesn't really make much of a difference as it is all over the place. There is one service station I drive past every day and it rarely seems to have the same price 2 days in a row (104.9c today, 103.9c yesterday). Now last I heard, service stations weren't allowed to change fuel prices unless they received a new shipment. Either this has changed or they are selling a lot more petrol than I thought they did.

Near where I live there are a couple which are generall a few cents cheaper so I go to them. Apart from that, I'm not about to drive out of my way to save a few cents on petrol as you can end up using more than you save.

[Crash Test]

The last time I saw petrol in the 79 cent bracket, it was at the petrol station nearest to Queensland Raceway a few weeks ago. The cheapest Petrol stations in this area on the northside seem to be the ones going under the Liberty banner. Dearest- probably the Shell down the road.

A wee bit off topic. How many people here purposely put an extra 2 cents in their tank when filling up. Go on, fess up!

[djb]

Hello all you Aussie's!

Saw the topic and couldn't resist- I ride my bicycle to work whenever I can, about 20 klicks/day. With 2 little kids, it's about all the exercise I get! (plus, I used to do alot of bike touring before the kiddles, so I do enjoy it.)

Here in Montreal, gas has hit a new high, .87 or .88 cents/litre Can.-sorry, have no idea in your currency. We own two cars, so during the summer, going by bicycle makes a difference on how much I spend for commuting. The time difference isn't even that much, with bad rush hour traffic, it's only 10 or 15 min slower by bike!

[mtpanorama]

Here in Bathurst it is hard to beat hte high fuel prices, beause with only 10 service stations the prices are always wiithin 1-3 cents of each other. woolworths is a bit cheaper with your docket, but in nsw they only give you 2 cents off. Also i have heard a few bad reports about the fuel from there off a couple of local mechanics. At the moment we are paying $1.04.9/ litre for unleaded, which means about $70 to fill the falcon. I got super for my motorbike last night and it was $1.08.9.
If we are going to sydney we try and and go with the minum amount of fuel and fill up in the mountains , as it is usually about 10 cents cheaper

[Ray Bell]

I've been using Woolworths fuel almost exclusively ever since they started. I usually have little trouble getting 6c per litre dockets, either in Brisbane or Melbourne, and I seem to be there at the right time to get them. They aren't on all the time, you see, just as a promotion every so often. But they do last a month, in some cases two months.

Many have said to me that they've heard the fuel is inferior, but I do know this: The best I've ever done on a tankful in all my experience with 504 wagons was with their fuel, and by a margin of about 50kms!

I spoke one day to one of their people who told me that indeed the fuel was made in Indonesia, but that they had a finer filter in their bowsers to ensure it was clean. He also said the filters frequently needed replacing...

By the way, I have found over the years that most people don't really have a clue about their fuel consumption. They don't top up consistently, or log mileages, or know how to do the calculations. It sickens me to have people say, "I get 450km on a tankful," for I just know they don't run their tank to empty, which is the only way to tell.

Well, I do, frequently, and I know that gauges in all makes of cars cannot be trusted. Because I carry fuel all the time, it's no problem, and I know where I am with it.

Next, I hear people say that to run the tank low gets 'junk' in the fuel system. What a load of rubbish!

The fuel pickup is always in the bottom of the tank. It has to be. Unless everything floats, it will always be picking up any junk in the tank...

And then there's the issue of how innacurate the odometer is. These days it's harder to know than in the past, when there were milepegs everywhere you went. But we do have those 5km 'speedo test' sections about...

But don't ever quote them in a court if you're disputing a speeding ticket and you've checked your speedo against them! Inadmissable!

Issues, oh there are issues! Do you know that the only speedometer test accepted in a court in Queensland is a dynamometer test carried out by the RACQ?

As if dyno rollers are like the flat roadway, for a start!

[djb]

Ray, both my best friend and my wife think that I'm a nutter because I nearly always calculate my fuel mileage, especially on long trips, and like to keep track of it and try for "best records" when on the long ones.

I know, I know, sounds like a silly preoccupation, but it gives you something to do when on a trip....

[Ray Bell]

Yes, lots of things can keep your mind active on a trip... maybe we should have a thread about that?

I do a lot of solo journeys at the moment, 1200km each way about once a month. Having something to think about helps..

Not only that, if you're on top of the fuel consumption, you have a good idea of how the car's running, if there's an impending problem, or further information if there's something showing up with other symptoms.

Tell your wife she's lovely and you really need her, but she just had to put up with your wierd activity... my wife reckons that my father and I are the only people in the world that talk about where to get cheap fuel... if I hadn't written that I would have been able to show her this thread....

As for your friend, djb, maybe he'll have to put up with it.

[Valve Bounce]

Originally posted by djb
Hello all you Aussie's!

Saw the topic and couldn't resist- I ride my bicycle to work whenever I can, about 20 klicks/day. With 2 little kids, it's about all the exercise I get! (plus, I used to do alot of bike touring before the kiddles, so I do enjoy it.)

You ride a bike each day with two little kids?? Where do you put them? I have seen this in Malaysia and Sri Lanka, but I wasn't sure anyone rode around in Canada with two kids on a bike. I suppose if they had helmets, there is nothing to really stop you. How about a pic with you and the kids on the bike?

[Diabando]

I find, that in Melbourne, if you fill on a Tusday or Wednesday, the prices are always at their lowest point for the week.

We use a falcon, duel fuel, for the day to day driving, and mostly (of course) use gas. We tend to keep an eye on the mileage per tank, not because we are stingy, but because the guage doesnt work! We know that 250kms is about a tank, so inadvertantly, we figure out which fuel is better.

[djb]

Ray, if there's one thing that Canadians can't hold up against Aussie's is the sheer distances between places. Brits etc always boogle at the distances we drive to visit family etc, but you folks have got it over us easily.
Yes, I do tell her she's lovely, and yes, both put up with it. (in fact, her father even has a little book in his car where he writes it all down...)

Keeping your mind active on a trip, GREAT IDEA. Go ahead and start it, and I'll I throw in a few ideas.

Valve B. Sorry to disappoint, but it was only my poor sentence structure that gave the impression that I go to work with the kids in tow. We actually do own a tow-behind kiddie trailer that the two can, and do fit in, but that is only on quiet streets in the evening or on a bicycle path.
What I meant was that with little kids, I'm not as active as I used to be, so the ride to work, which includes some reasonable hill climbing, is a welcome physical routine. 40 is still 2 1/2 years away, but it is still looming....

[Valve Bounce]

Originally posted by djb


Valve B. Sorry to disappoint, but it was only my poor sentence structure that gave the impression that I go to work with the kids in tow. We actually do own a tow-behind kiddie trailer that the two can, and do fit in, but that is only on quiet streets in the evening or on a bicycle path.

OK, we still would like to see the pic of you on your bike towing the kids!! We had a great program on TV this morning about Whistler - I'd love to go there. I was booked to ski there on the second week of a ski holiday, but I was nearly killed on the second day of my holiday at Lake Louise. Some guy ski-ed into me on the queue, and split my kidney in three places. So I have seen one of the loveliest spots in Canada, but missed out on the other. Calgary didn't look that great from the hospital bed.

[KC]

djb, we do the same thing here in the US. I have driven to Oklahoma City (96 miles one way) for dinner before. Its not a big deal. But we have less traffic typically than Britain and much lower fuel prices, so its not such strain on the sanity or pocketbook. I know people who drive over 75 miles one way to work everyday from rural towns to the city. Our public transportation is virtually non-existent outside the city and not much better within. But we also don't have to spend a small fortune just to park a car while downtown either as do the Brits.

We would have loved to drive all over the English countryside last spring but our host thought we were mad to consider it. Sure the traffic is heavy, but after driving through (well sitting in an unmoving car) in Los Angeles for an afternoon, if its moving its all good. The price of fuel though is another matter. I don't know how anyone gets around in England when your monthly fuel bill starts to look like a mortgage payment.

[djb]

VB, lord, what a way to spend a vacation, and all the way from down under! I have only seen Lake Louise once, in the summer when my wife and I drove across Canada for our honeymoon. Both of us are skiers, mostly cross-country now, but we both have downhilled alot as well. I have never skied out West, but my wife know Whistler from when she lived in Vancouver for a while many years ago. I would like to go out there to ski one day, just because the scale of the mountains are so much bigger than anything around here.
Again, very sorry for your accident. Being hit by another skier is always one of my wive's biggest fears. Hope that your recovery has gone well, and sorry that you had to have an intimate encounter with the Canadian medical system.

KC, a few years ago we visited a cousin of my wife who was living in London, and I couldn't get over how expensive EVERYTHING was. Whether it be gas, a stove or a fridge.
Montreal is a pretty good city for public transport, having the metro is a big plus when it is -25c. As for living so far out to have to drive 120 klicks into work, all I can say is, glad it's not me...