So I recently escaped CA and moved to Tucson AZ and before you complain about more people from CA moving to AZ I'm not originally from CA. I was there for work and finally got the chance to leave. LOL Anyway, something I noticed once here is I am getting better fuel economy. Now I'm using the term loosely because as we all know Broncos aren't meant for "economy" but I was getting a consistent 16 to 17 MPG in CA and it didn't seem to matter the kind of driving. Now that I'm in AZ I am getting 20/21 also with no matter of driving style. Has anyone else experienced this? I am guessing that CA has a lot more additives in the fuel that maybe make it not burn as well? The bottom line is I'll take it. Not only is the fuel cheaper but I get more per mile. Score!
California imposes it's own emissions-related standards well beyond those that the rest of the country has.
Among these are different requirements for how gasoline is blended.
It would not surprise me in the least if California-compliant gasoline yields fewer mils per gallon than the gasoline sold in the rest of the country.
This is also one of several reasons why gasoline is more expensive in California than in the rest of the country, and why we are also more vulnerable to shortages and other supply issues. If there's a shortage of available gasoline in any other state, gasoline can simply be brought in from another state to cover it. Not here. Only gasoline blended for California can be sold in California.
And, of course, there's also the ongoing fraud of jacking up the taxes on gasoline every year, ostensibly to fix the roads, then embezzling and misappropriating it so that the roads do not get fixed, providing the excuse to jack up the taxes again because we still need it to fix the roads.
We always hear our politicians crying about how
“Big Oil” is gouging us at the pump, and calling for more taxes on the oil companies. (And who do you think will
really bear the burden of those additional taxes, if they get imposed?)
The oil companies make about 5¢ to 10¢ in profits on each gallon of gasoline.
Here in California we pay $1.81 in direct taxes on each gallon of gasoline. And that does not count the extra costs imposed by all the excessive and absurd regulatory burdens.
It is not the oil companies that are screwing us over when we buy gasoline.
May the Ford be with you, always.
On Order: Badlands 4-door 2.7, Lux Package, Velocity Blue, non-Sasquatch
