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[Gary Forsmo]

You didn't report on the end result of the VW dealer & radiator issue.

Glad the hear you're back home.

Fuel prices?  Because they can.

When we were motorhoming with our 38', 275hp, 6-speed Allison transmission,
diesel-powered Holiday Rambler Endeavor for 17+ years, we found, as you
did, gas v. diesel prices varied; station-by-station, state-by-state, truck
stops v. local stations.

Since we traveled many routes from WI to TX (Interstates v. state/county
roads) through IL, IN, IA, KS, NE, MO, OK, KY, TN, AL, AR, LA, MS diesel
prices varied widely.  But diesel was *never* as low as gas.  That makes
absolutely no sense to me.

On Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 12:40 PM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> We are back home, after finishing the rest of the trip uneventfully. I
> just
> finished figuring our fuel mileage in our VW TDi Sportwagon, which I tend
> to
> think of as a modern Squareback, but bigger and diesel powered. Our Diesel
> averaged 47 mi/gal for the part of the trip that we drove it.
>
> I don't have complete records of the Honda Pilot consumption, but I
> thought
> it was in the neighborhood of 25 mi/gal. This is about the same as my 50
> year old Squarebacks get. I'll post a better number if I can find the
> receipts
> for some of the Honda Pilot fillups.
>
> One difference between the Honda Pilot and our Diesel VW was that the
> Diesel almost never needed to downshift to climb hills, while the Honda
> almost always did. The Honda appeared to have a 5-speed AT, which often
> shifted down to 4th or even 3rd on hills. Shifting to 3rd at 70 mi/hr puts
> its
> engine into uncomfortably high RPMs.
>
> The lesson here is that Diesel engines deliver very high torque. I now
> have
> renewed respect for that white Fasty with the Diesel conversion. What's
> that
> guys name?
>
> One odd thing that the Pilot did that surprised me was that on several
> occasions it would shake the steering wheel and display a large "BRAKE" on
> the instrument panel. It did not apply the brakes, because I had not
> turned
> this feature on. There was nothing in the owners manual about this
> possibility. This only happened on right hand curves on 2-lane roads, when
> it spotted a car directly ahead in the oncoming lane that was closing on
> us,
> but was not on a collision course. This makes me wonder how this could be
> prevented. It's got to be a difficult AI problem.
>
> While driving from Wisconsin to Arizona and back, we had lots of
> opportunities to watch gas/diesel prices. What I'm used to seeing here is
> a
> price difference of about 75 cents to maybe $1 per gallon. On our trip, we
> were surprised to see differences of over $2 per gallon, especially at the
> big
> truck travel centers, especially Loves, which seems really odd, since
> trucks
> are their main business.
>
> Does anyone know if long haul truckers have special arrangements with
> those chains, like Loves, that get them special prices?
>
> We saw gas as low as $3.29 and as high as $4.19. Diesel usually sold for
> $4.19 to $4.89, but we saw it as high as $5.29. Oddly, I just filled up
> (Diesel)
> here in Madison for $3.89, the lowest price we saw anywhere, but other
> places here are selling it as high as $4.19. It makes no sense for Diesel
> prices to be lower here than in Texas. (Gas prices were low in Texas, but
> Diesel prices were very high. Figure that out!)
>
> Using Gasbuddy.com, I see HUGE prices on our west coast. I'd like to hear
> what other people out there are actually paying. And is there an
> explanation
> for why gas prices are especially high in California?
>
> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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