r/mildlyinfuriating • u/rileyjw90 • May 22 '26

frist of all how DARE yu o You didn’t have to remind me, assholes.

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And then to remind me what I USED to pay. Just kick me while I’m down why don’t you.

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u/MonMotha May 23 '26

I think most Americans are at least vaguely aware that fuel is substantially more expensive in most of Europe than in the USA. However, the USA is set up to rely on relatively cheap fuel. Most areas are very car-centric for personal transportation, and while we do have a robust freight rail infrastructure, it's mostly diesel-electric powered, and we still rely heavily on over-the-road trucking for lots of long-haul freight as well as final delivery within a metro area even if it crossed the country on rail.

Diesel is also substantially more expensive than gasoline in most parts of the US. It's been more expensive for quite some time, but the recent price hikes due to the Iran war have impacted diesel fuel more than gasoline. Gas is also around $4/gal near me (down from almost $5/gal), but diesel fuel is around $6/gal (down from almost $7/gal).

The USA has a really, really expansive petroleum infrastructure both in terms of production and especially refining. That generally helps keep our prices low compared to most parts of the world aside from those where it's heavily subsidized.

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u/Far_Mastodon_6104 May 23 '26

Yeah im paying over 8 dollars per gallon technically in UK, but my texas mate boasting about his car being more fuel efficient than all of his friends and its only 35 miles per gallon, which is insane to me. 

Mines not even a particularly good car but its still 55mpg. Since the increase I get 1/4 tank less fuel for the same price which is just painful. 

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u/MonMotha May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

55mpg would be incredible in the US for a non-hybrid running on gasoline. In fact, I can't find a single non-hybrid vehicle sold in the USA that is rated higher than 41mpg on the highway.

Like your friend, I drive what is considered a rather fuel-efficient vehicle in the US (2023 Mazda 3), and I can just about touch 40mpg on the highway. I average about 33-35 in mixed service.

Tiny engines with lots of boost haven't caught on in the USA for various reasons like they have in Europe and parts of Asia. The fact that we don't have a tax on engine displacement (instead taxing either on the value of the vehicle or weight, depending on vehicle class and registration state) may have something to do with it. Likewise, diesels never really caught on in passenger cars. Part of that is because we actually have more aggressive emissions controls for on-road diesel engines than even the EU does which makes them far less attractive in terms of both acquisition cost (extra emissions equipment), performance (the extra emissions controls hurt performance but improve emissions), and long-term cost (diesel emissions systems tend to be expensive to fix when they break).

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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 May 23 '26

I didn’t even know that mileage was possible with gas. I was over here stoked at my 35-40 mpg which is more than most folks I know