I stopped at my favorite cheap gas station on the way home from work today. I wanted to fill my tank in case the prices go up overnight due to Rita. Apparently the station that was out of gas earlier was out of regular unleaded today. They were giving away super unleaded at regular prices. (I hope no one opted for “plus” — the mid-grade variety.) I believe I paid $2.879 a gallon.
Now I’m driving around with half a tank of regular and half a tank of super. I haven’t noticed a difference.
Updated February 6, 2012 and originally published September 22, 2005. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
Points: ♦126,549
Rank: Platinum
About the authorRank: Platinum
Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
{ 4 comments }
Lots of gas stations that sell 3 types of gas, regular, premium, and super, really only have 2 kinds of gas in their tanks. If you buy the premium grade, they just mix the regular and the super at the pump. So, that’s basically what you have done.
Do you mean $2.879/gallon? We haven’t seen $1.879/gallon in a long, long time around here.
Yes, of course. Some wishful thinking on my part, I suppose. I’ve fixed the post.
Most gas stations have two tanks of gas under the ground, one premium and one regular. The mid-grade is created at the pump by mixing the other two grades (so if one grade is out, there is no mid grade). Also, because you had a half tank of regular, you were essentially burning a mid grade gas…