It seems everyone is feeling a crunch right now, be it the cost of housing, groceries, healthcare, or computer components. For many people, the price of gasoline is a hugely visible change, even if it might be a smaller fraction of their expenses. But what do today’s gas prices look like compared to the gas prices of the past, when adjusted for inflation?
Matt wrote a Morning Dump that included a story about how the national average gas price for the United States hit $4.00 per gallon on March 30. One reader said that gas prices were even higher between 2010 and 2015 when you account for inflation. So, another reader looked up the data and adjusted for inflation. *Jason*:
Need to go back a bit before 2010 if we are looking for inflation adjusted gas prices over $4 a gallon (2nd column is nominal price / second is adjusted to 2026)
2005 $2.30 $ 3.92
2006 $ 2.59 $ 4.26
2007 $ 2.80 $ 4.50
2008 $ 3.27 $ 5.05
2009 $ 2.35 $ 3.62
2010 $ 2.79 $ 4.21
2011 $ 3.53 $ 5.21
2012 $ 3.64 $ 5.22
2013 $ 3.53 $ 4.97
2014 $ 3.37 $ 4.69
2015 $ 2.45 $ 3.41
2016 $ 2.14 $ 2.95Why did Bush let gas prices get to $5 a gallon? How did Obama drop them down to $2.95 a gallon by his last year in office? Maybe presidents don’t actually control gas prices. (Outside of starting a war).
Depending on the source you use, the national average for a given year might be slightly different, but close to what *Jason* posted. Of course, monthly averages are higher or lower. In July 2008, for example, the national average peaked at $5.10 per gallon, which equates to $7.58 in 2026. Ouch!
Now, a palate cleanser! Palmetto Ranger:
I want to go ahead and apologize to everyone because there always seems to be an auto industry crisis when I buy a new car. I got a great deal on an EV a month ago and gas prices immediately started going through the roof. This was my first time in the market since December 2019, right before COVID decimated the auto industry. I will try to give everyone a heads up the next time I am car shopping so you can all prepare for whatever crisis is about to hit.
Jason wrote about a car with a human skin-like interior. DialMforMiata:
Suddenly, that Dartz whale penis interior doesn’t seem so bad anymore.
Timbales:
…and that was the last time an automaker decided to collaborate with David Cronenberg
Arch Duke Maxyenko:
The nipple placement is insane.
DialMforMiata:
The nipple is also helpful in determining how cold it is inside the car.
Brian wrote about how the Jeep Gladiator has a manual transmission again. Let Rob D bring you back down to Earth:
I have a Gladiator with a stick. You are not missing anything. I get the the gearing was set up for efficiency, not speed or acceleration. The engine revs are too low at 65mph and the aerodynamic resistance increases at a higher rate than the engine builds power until you are at 80-85mph.
The ratios are terrible for anything short of flat ground and no wind. Even the hills on the Mass Turnpike require down shifts to 5th. At highway speeds, 6th-4th are each about 500rpm’s apart, and then 3rd is a huge 1500rpm jump. Add a 2500lb(dry) camper and you are in 4th gear most of the time. If you do get the manual, regear right to get 6th down to 5th.
When I bought it I thought the Gladiator would be like my CJ8 Scrambler compared to a CJ7. The comparison is wrong. The Gladiator is not a Wrangler with a bed, it is a small pick up that looks like a Wrangler.
The 8 speed is a great combo with the 6cyl.
But I do love being able to run to the lumber yard with the top down…
Have a great evening, everyone!
Topshot image graphic: David Tracy
I’m f’n 57 years old and I’ve seen this many times now. My first real car was a 83 Civic, and I just bought a ’25 Civic Hybrid, so I’ve always considered MPG carefully when buying a car, and have usually bought well “below my means” if that makes sense, to not take on much debt, and also as a hedge against volatile fuel prices. 1) Americans never learn, politicians especially. They consider cheap gas and parking next to the front entrance of anywhere as some kind of birthright. Not to mention no education or testing at all to obtain a drivers license, 2) I know this site tries to avoid overt partisanship, but in all my life I can’t think of a Republican administration that made my life better. Nearly EVERY big life or career move has coincided with layoffs, recessions, or shitty job markets when a R was at the helm in one or more branches of federal government. 3) if it meant getting him back in the White House, I’d *GLADLY* do a Monica on Bill Clinton. Every. Single. Day. If necessary. Just the way he liked it. /rant over, GenX signing out.
The stats back up your observation. Despite the brand they try to project, they are always terrible when it comes to the economy.
Sorry, I thought we were talking about Subaru for a second there.
I think I love you.
I’m here for you Mr. President.
Based on having rented one, what Brian said about the Gladiator with the manual is also true about the automatic. The thing couldn’t hold top gear on the highway to save it’s life, and the constant downshifting was *annoying*. Needs an engine with more low-end grunt. I would want the turbo with a stick, best of both worlds, IMHO, but we can’t have nice things in the US. In days past, the diesel, but modern diesels are a big nope for me at this point.
Working part-time at Best Buy while in college – circa 2011 – and gas at then-prices of $3.98 a gallon here in Kentucky? Twas painful. I drove a Mazda3 hatch at the time and even it was $50 to fill up.
I was commuting to school with a 350ci V8. My goal was to keep RPMs below 2200.
The commenter who falsely claimed that gas prices were higher 2010-2015 and demanded inflation-corrected data on any response mysteriously disappeared after Jason’s reply. *POOF*. Evaporated into the night. Of course, the commenter’s point was to defend the current admin’s indefensible actions by slagging one ten years out of office. Because that is all these people have left at this point.
Or the point is that ultimately gas prices don’t actually matter very much. They go up, they go down based on world events. Some caused by idiocy in the White House, some caused by other governmental idiocy, some caused by natural disasters.
This is truth, but it definitely was not the commenter’s point. The irony in redapple’s comment on 2010-2015 prices is that for years it’s been Republican strategy to hang unrelated economic factors around a Democratic president’s neck, but now when presidential action directly and irrefutably drives up oil prices, it’s suddenly “hey, don’t blame us, oil prices have been high before and you never blamed those guys”.
Fair – starting a war IS one of the few levers that a President does have to pull to directly raise gas prices.
The current rise of fuel prices here in the US is just the usual gouging, no more, no less. We are awash in oil and natural gas, it is now Spring so demand for both for heating purposes is decreasing, while increased electric demand for A/C has not yet risen significantly.
Once again the oil companies will all report greatly increased profit margins and net income on their quarterly reports, but insist it all to be a result of other cost containment initiatives that just happened to coincide with the substantial increase in their retail prices.
There used to be a thing called a “windfall profits tax”, but that was Communism or something.
Reminder that we don’t use our own oil, we export it and import cheaper stuff from elsewhere that works with our refineries. This is why we are affected by global oil prices the same as anyone else.
I don’t doubt that prices will go up more than justified because no red-blooded American oil company is going to pass up a golden opportunity to juice their profits, but we’re not as insulated from what goes on in the rest of the world as some people seem to think.
I am aware of the exports and imports as well, but a question to everyone: do any of you have first hand knowledge of gas stations or heat delivery services running out of gas, oil, gas, or propane at this time? Any rationing?
Our country’s problems are due to moronic energy policy decisions, on both political extremes, that are based on emotion and farting unicorns, instead of reality and rational analysis. The cleanest hydrocarbon to burn in natural gas, a good deal of which is flared off into the atmosphere rather than being used to produce electricity, instead of dirtier oil and coal. Extra electricity that could be used to charge BEV’s in urban and suburban areas. Why? Pipelines and new gas power plants blocked by the left and greens in the hope that more windmills and solar farms will be built. They are being built but will not meet required energy needs, particularly in extreme cold or heat. On the the other side, we have our current president stopping or impeding wind farms already under construction and blocking new ones…why, what the hell? And what ever happened to conservation? All vehicles getting larger,more powerful, faster, including BEV’s. 3, 4, almost 5 ton vehicles becoming commonplace for family use. And Federal regulations that have effectively banned smaller, lighter, economical and affordable vehicles by demanding theses achieve pie in the sky MPG’s that cannot be met while still being affordable and reliable. Houses that have swollen to grotesque sizes that eat power for heat and cooling. Madness. Oh, ohhh, ohhhhhh!!!!!
Sorry about the rant.
Wind and solar do work in extreme heat and cold. They have plenty of wind and solar in northern Illinois, northern Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. None of them are experiencing issues with extreme cold. Everyone points to the Texas grid failure during their extreme cold snap a few years ago- they did not plan nor prepare for the weather that they were impacted by. As with most failures, it was a matter of human stupidity and stubbornness, not incapable equipment.
COTD double-dip! Sweet!
Thank you
Unless Bob Ross is setting up new paints, it’s a palate cleanser. Friends don’t let friends drink turpentine between courses.
Gosh darn it I knew I shouldn’t have taken autocorrect’s substitution!
Autocorrect is also sneaky… it works so fast that it’s hard to catch when it interferes.
pilates cleaner
I’m glad I bought an overstressed 2.0 and not a thirsty v8. Both were on the table. Kicking myself a little for not buying electric. It’s times like this that I am grateful my commute is under 3miles.
HAPPY MARCH 32ND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hate paying for gasoline. I’m glad I use so little of it. I haven’t purchased any liquid fuel for any vehicle I’ve owned since 2015. That’s 11 years ago.
Consider the expense. For reference, this simple calculation uses Jason’s provided data along with the average annual miles driven per American:
https://www.consumershield.com/articles/average-miles-driven-per-year
If I would have driven as many miles as the average American(I didn’t, I made an effort to drive far less than that ever since I drove), and got 30 mpg average using gasoline(which is close to the reality, read further), from 2005 to 2016, I’d have spent nominally $16,532.17 and adjusted for inflation $24,765.40 on gasoline.
All of the ICE cars in my life when they were a major part of it and sole source of long distance transport got very close to 30 mpg in the following conditions that happened to coincide with my default driving style in them while using them:
-Suzuki Sidekick (hypermiled peaking at 35-55 mph depending on road)
-Ford Contour (driven gently to the speed limit, 55-70 mph)
-Ford Mustang (driven gently to the speed limit, 55-70 mph)
-Mercedes 300 SDL(diesel, and > 80% of its miles spent at a steady 70 mph cruising on the highway, city mileage was lower).
That is why I chose 30 mpg. I haven’t purchased any gasoline for 11 years now. Money all saved.
If you have a dream car that you think is unobtanium, consider the cost of using gasoline for 5 decades of driving to and from your place of toil if you drive as much as the average American does.
It has been possible for 50+ years to make affordable 80 mpg gasoline or diesel cars that do the exact same thing for me as any of the aforementioned did: get me from one place to another. But the industry won’t offer us that. Among the best the industry has allowed is the 1st gen Honda Insight, which is well short of that.
At 53 mpg, which the OG Honda Insight 5sp gets according to the EPA, the expenses drop to $9,357.83 nominal and $14,018.15 inflation adjusted. Vs 30 mpg, that is a savings of $7,174.17 nominally and $10,747.25 inflation adjusted. For that, you could have purchased a good used example.
AND hypermiling it on the highway, you can get 80 mpg out of an Insight, but cutting 30% off the drag would allow ~80 mpg @ 70 mph. Which is how I drove my Mercedes, usually, to get 30-32 mpg.
So an 80 mpg car yields over that same time $6199.56 nominal fuel cost and $9,287.03 inflation adjusted fuel cost. Versus 30 mpg, in savings that’s $10,332.61 nominally and $15,478.37 inflation adjusted.
No reason to consider 80 mpg the end all-be-all in stinginess. Remember microcars? A one-seater with the approximate CdA and dimensions of a velomobile and perhaps 500 lbs laden weight, could theoretically get 1,000+ mpg with a 49cc gasoline engine acting as a generator in a series hybrid-electric drive system at 70 mph on the highway..
Vs. 30 mpg over 11 years? Getting 1,000 mpg, that’s an expense of $495.97 nominal, $742.96 inflation-adjusted, STILL SIGNIFICANT, and a savings $16,036.20 nominally and $24,022.44 inflation adjusted.
Consider that I built a micro EV that gets 0.008 kWh/mile at 30-35 mph cruise speeds, which is the equivalent of ~4,200 mpg as it was, and which has potential to cut drag to 1/3 or less of what it got. With my personal vehicles, electricity is even cheaper per mile than gasoline.. Except make that in heavier/acceptably safe ICEV hybrid microcar form to get ~1,000 mpg on gasoline with an engine. A CdA value of 0.08 m^2 or less in a 500 lb vehicle with low rolling resistance tires would do it on the highway, and wouldn’t need more than a 4-5 kWh battery to get 200+ miles all-EV range on the highway. Think 2003 VW 1-Litre prototype, except for one person instead of two, so it’s smaller, lighter, and with less drag, also using a more efficient hybrid drive system.
If you want cash-strapped Gen Z buyers and future Gen Alpha buyers to have any hope of owning a car, cheap needs to make a VICIOUS comeback when it comes to cars, especially operating costs, fuel of which is a significant portion. And do it to the reliability/robustness standards of a Mercedes 240D or Toyota Prius Gen II.
The savings over the decades could get you a bucket list car. I’ve personally cut $2,250/year out of my living expenses via cutting gasoline alone. We all know there are other expenses, some greatly more expensive than fuel. Consider what 6,000+ lb rolling codpieces marketed as “utility” vehicles do for insurance costs for everyone, vs. say, a motorcycle.
But everyone want suvs, jeeps and brodozers which struggle to get real world 25 (Wagner as cba to look it up).
“If you want cash-strapped Gen Z buyers and future Gen Alpha buyers to have any hope of owning a car, cheap needs to make a VICIOUS comeback when it comes to cars, especially operating costs, fuel of which is a significant portion”
I also think this is contributing to the popularity of electric bicycles.
While electric cars are cheap to operate, an electric bicycle is even cheaper. Plus if you live in the city, you can usually park an electric bicycle for free… unlike an electric car.
This is why there’s such a big push among politicians to regulate/ban ebikes and require insurance for them every time some SUV operator kills a rider while staring at their phone, WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A VOTE BEING PUT TO THE PUBLIC. All sorts of chains of industries are being cut out of working peoples’ hard earned money by people choosing ebikes as alternatives to cars.
If the argument is really about safety, why not ban SUVs/trucks and/or restrict their power/speed? They kill thousands of more people each year than ebikes do, per mile travelled.
To get from A to B, most people have to use car infrastructure and mix with cars, and speed differentials are deadly. By restricting the speed/power of ebikes, you assure that they can’t safely merge with automobile traffic that moves at automobile speeds. By requiring insurance for something that poses comparatively no threat vs a car/truck/SUV, you’re adding regulatory burden, paperwork, and another financial parasite further defeating the purpose of using the ebike in place of a car.
The thing is, you can’t squeeze blood from a broke stone. This is just going to result in massive amounts of deliberate law breaking, and justifiably so, because there won’t be an alternative for cash strapped people already working 2-3 jobs just to live paycheck to paycheck while splitting an apartment with roommates and barely being able to afford to eat after the student loans are garnished from their check. A car is simply not in the budget, no matter how much politicians try to bully a demographic into purchasing one in effort to make number go up for the same industries that wrote the laws and bribed the politicians to pass them at that demographic’s expense.
This might be the only news website to talk about whale penises and manual transmissions in the same day.
Thankfully they didn’t combine the two. That’s an image I don’t want to see.
Actually I believe the two were discussed in the same article and in relation to each other.
Well…sweet prices you still have there.
In Germany 1 Liter diesel is currently at around 2,24 Euro (depending on region). This is very close to 10 USD a gallon.
Thanks Trump.
In fairness, European gas prices are always much higher than in the US for a variety of reasons. And Americans drive longer distances, because the country is so big. A 30-mile commute (one way) isn’t uncommon at all. In Yurp, less so, at least not by car.
Commuting is normal here, too. I drove 200km a day until last year. So 100km each direction, which is 60 miles. At these kind of gas prices.
And I am by far not the only one. Due to extremely high rental costs, many people live on the countryside, while many jobs are close to the cities. Here in the Rhein-Main-Metropolian Area, it is very common to have a daily commute like I had the past years.
Just for work and getting groceries, I drove 1000km each week. Under old gas prices (1,5 € per liter Diesel) I had monthly costs of roughly around 400 Euros just for Diesel. Currently, this has gone up 200€ to calculated 600 Euros, as Gas price went up 75cents per Liter.
It’s simply crazy. And no, many of us don’t have that high income. If I had to pay for rent and so on, there wouldn’t be much left – if at all!
I’ve known many German colleagues with very very long commutes (with one who’d drive from Berlin to Munich for work once a week – because he loved Berlin and hated Munich)
And, despite the dream, autobahns have so many speed limits and most of the time you come across a section a) don’t bother driving faster (for efficiency) b) traffic limits you much lower or c) construction.
Autobahn is totally overrated. For the 100km each direction, normally I drove for around 1 hour. But especially on fridays, it often took me 2 hours or more for the same drive.
So yes, I totally agree with you. Yes, Germany is a small country compared to the US of A. But this doesn’t mean, that our daily commute is automatically short. Yes there are lucky people but I guess the statistics would look quite similar to the US, as the main issues and the reasons for commuting are the same anywhere.
But how can you hate Munich? For me it is one of the best – if not the best – cities in Germany. As much as I hate cities in general, I always enjoyed being in Munich. Especially compared to ghetto city Frankfurt.
I definitely see the appeal of Berlin. I found it friendly every time I visited, it felt as though it were a much smaller city.
Wow, really! That’s terrible 🙁
Here in upsidedownyland we have a big country also! Diesel was about $US4.75 gal before all this nonsense – now it’s over $US8…
We’re at $1.97 CAD/l here in Montreal, or $5.30 US/gallon.
About the same here in Toronto 5 days ago.
The upside down 8 in the top shot is making me twitchy.
But you’re okay with all the upside-down sixes? 😉
Bwahahaa
Attaboy *Jason* for bringing the data!
Just don’t tell my boss.