Around here I pay between $4.79 and $4.89.....minus my rewards discounts....so like $4.69 Still a lot.

However, over in Britain they are paying about $9 a gallon for diesel right now. Yikes.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

70s-80s vintage mopeds here go between $4-700 and newer ones or used 50cc scooters approach $1000 now..
and, there are not that many available

you may be sitting on a goldmine! who woulda thunk it?

i use the same gas /2 stroke oil mix for the mopeds as i use for the lawnmowers + trimmer so it works nicely..

now if someone came up with a diesel moped....

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

UK average $9.29/(US) gallon in May so far.
Norway average $9.87 ...

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuel/

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Tomas, Sweden
1966 Mercedes Benz 230S with OM617.912, automatic. Disk brakes from W108
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD grey, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD blue 7-seater, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual

All of mine except one are late 70's. Didn't pay more than $150 for any of them except for the scooter. I've been a motorcycle racer/rider for years and just kinda fell into peds about 10 years ago.

Recently I saw where Kawaski [I think] produced a diesel motorcycle.

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Cheers,
Bill

I try to read all the articles I can to get a true picture of Oil Prices and whats happening. For instance you can see the magazine "The Economist " on line.
Diesel Oil and heavier Home Heating oil are the result of two different processes. There is a Glut of Home heating Oil right now, apparently there was a miscalculation by Refineries.

Nevertheless dont look for Diesel, or gas,l prices to drop soon.It will but it takes sevral years.

In some ways consumers of the world deserve what is happening.

Thats because after the last Energy Crisis, demand for oil dropped. Everyone went out and bought little Civics and Rabbits and thats when the import auto industry came to the US.

After sevareal years there was an oil Glut and thats when we started demanding our V8's, big trucks and SUV's. We forgot everything we learned!!

Now there is a shortage of oil and we created it. We have to make it go away. of course that doesnt change anything for us today or tomorrow and I still have to jack up my car and troubelshoot tonight.

Carrameow:

Good macro reasoning, but it does not explain the sudden and aggresive run-up of prices. The reactionary high costs are being driven by the commodities traders. Sooner or later, it will bite them too when it normalizes again. Someone's going to be holding $200/barrel oil that they may not be able to get $100 for.

The "look at the oil companies profits" is a political smokescreen. Keep in mind, profit margins are based on cash flow. If the profits were to remain constant a 3% profit margin on a $25 barrel of oil is a 0.56% margin on a $135 barrel of oil. In reality, the oil companies have cut profit margins, while the risks of their business has increased (a tanker laden with $25 oil is lower risk than the same tanker tanker laden with $135 oil).

Incidently, how may of you are in business hoping to get low, single digit profit margins?

-Scott
not affiliated with any oil company

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https://goo.gl/photos/J8ZUVvAYiYqLxbD18

1989 560SL 111Kmi
2007 E550 4Matic 157 Kmi
2000 F250SD 7.3l, 1996 Explorer Ltd 5.0l
1965 VW Beetle Deluxe 115 Kmi
=========================
Previous MB:
1983 240D Euro Manual 144 Kmi
1983 300SD 495 Kmi
1986 190D 2.5 100 Kmi
1986 300SDL 202 Kmi
1991 300D 2.5 Turbo 91 Kmi
1998 E320S4 (4-matic wagon) 140 Kmi

Unfortunately even if ANWAR were 100% online now it would only add about 5% to our domestic supply. 30 years ago at the first oil crisis we imported about 30% of our crude needs. Now we import twice that percentage. The problem, especially in the US, is not so much supply but rather demand. We not only drive big SUVs but we now all own multiple cars and drive them more. Speculators play a part in the price spike but the fact of the matter is that if this were all speculation we'd see a big spike in oil inventory too (speculators don't use it, just hold it hoping to sell it for more later) and that is just not happening. Demand worldwide is up and other countries are exporting less. Russia, Brazil and Mexico, all recently big net exporters of oil, are now either close to neutral or actually importing oil to meet their domestic demand. Prices need to go up and stay up to create what economists call demand destruction. It's beginning to happen but until it becomes more widespread don't expect to see prices get a lot lower.

Oil company profits are a result of getting more money for the crude they already have in the ground - that exploration cost is spent, so it's pure additional profit. They don't set the world price, demand does and we're still buying it - even at these prices - so I can't blame them for wanting to get paid the fair market value. the good news is that we now can afford to get oil in more expensive places (they already know where most of it is). Oil that wasn't economical to extract at less than $80 a barrel very definitely is above $100. That too will help supply but it will take time. Long term though supply still won't solve the problem, it will only hold us until the next demand driven crisis. This has to be a demand side fix if it's going to be truly fixed.

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold

Irg,

But had we started drilling ANWAR and off shore, started studying ways to extract shale oil and prohibit selling domestic oil outside of the USA 10 years ago, we wouldn't be in the predicament we are now in.

P E H

Good points.

I'm well old enough to remember the gas crunch in '72 and then again in '79 or so. We should've done something THEN but instead just weathered the storm.

And it seems we're not doing a thing now except paying the price. Senseless.

When the truckers stop hauling maybe the feds will pay attention but it may be too little too late.

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Cheers,
Bill

There is NO shortage of oil. Although oil companies want You to think so and make profits on that belief. They need good excuse, like oil shortage to make the profits they make.

There is no shortage in the USA because usage is down due to increased cost... World Wide Demand is up and supply is flat or declining...
So World Wide there "is" a shortage of Oil......

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Joe

1998 E300D turbo 240K + Miles
2000 Dodge Dakota 122K + Miles
1992 Mazda Miata Autocross Machine 143K + Miles
http://www.renegademiata.net

Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains. - Winston Churchill

holycrap batman, really old and long thread!

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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

As long as they would add one additional commandment for you to keep thy religion to thyself.
George Carlin (Wonder where he is now..)

1981 240d (engine donor 1983 240d) recently rebuilt engine hurray! - No more.. fought a tree and the tree won.

pearl black 1983 240d 4speed (Converted!@$$%) atleast the tranny was rebuilt.

Actually that's not correct. We've had the ability to tap oil shale for years - the technology is pretty simple and there are lots of places you can do it without the environmentalists being a big issue - it just costs a lot to extract it so it never made sense until recently. In a world of $40 oil, more oil that costs $80 to produce does us no good. The same holds true for offshore, deep well drilling - it's expensive oil. At $120 both now start to make sense.

Over the last 10 years there have been multiple mega oil finds (Russia, Saudia Arabia and Nigeria come to mind) that have dwarfed ANWAR so the incremental supply only delays the inevitable demand crisis, it doesn't prevent it. Sourcing more oil domestically may make us feel good but oil is a global market so the price is still the price (unless you want to repeat the Nixon era price controls which were a total disaster). The actual, global consumption of oil will continue to increase as long as there are rapidly developing economies like China, India, Brazil and Mexico that are adding to global demand faster than we can add to supply. There are really only two ways to limit demand and prevent further oil price rises, government mandated conservation or free market pricing that allows prices to increase until a drop in demand and increase in supply gets you back to equilibrium. We're obviously on the latter path (fortunately - I think). With all due respect the amount of incremental oil the US could bring to the global supply is minimal, even in the best of circumstances and while it would help, it won't make much of a difference in global prices.

The oil companies aren't to blame for this, global demand is. If you want to pursue your witch hunt then look no further than all of us here in the US. We're all to blame because we didn't learn our lesson in the 70s and allowed our consumption to grow. Even more, our huge trade deficits over the last 10 years have kickstarted a number of emerging market economies that are now competing with us for oil (bought anything made in China lately?) The good news is that demand destruction has begun. How do i know? Because I just paid $5.60 for a gallon of diesel and am about to start using B100 at $5.00 a gallon instead. Care to join me?

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold

Well, as gas approaches the price of diesel in many places, I hopefully won't have to hear all those boneheads comment on the price of fuel when they learn I drive a diesel. I'm always having to expain that, for me at least, the point of driving a diesel isn't the 10-20% more that diesel costs, but the 30-50% better fuel mileage they can get over a comparable gas car, especially in local driving. The last 3 gasser Benzes I've owned (W114/115, Fintail 220S) typically got only 14-17 mpg in mixed city/highway use, while my Euro 300TD averages 24-26, and my stickshift 240D is getting close to 30 under similar conditions.
It does help that I don't have a daily car commute anymore, so I've been getting 3 weeks or more out of a half-tank of diesel.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Lets compare a 280E, the nearest thing to a 300D.

Over a distance of 400 miles-
At 25mpg a 300D will consume 16 gallons. At $4.75 per gallon that is $76
At 18mpg a 280E will consume 22 gallons. At $3.75 per gallon that is $82.50, $6.50 more.

If you were to travel that 400 miles every two weeks thats $169/year saved with the 300D. Even costing $1/gallon more than g@soline the Diesel is much cheaper to drive!

That $169 will more than cover the cost of a complete synthetic oil change which should last the entire year or give you an extra 889miles worth of fuel.