Although gas prices have been steadily declining over the past few days, and seem reasonable compared with $4.00-plus pump prices, it looks like travelers will see a record high for Thanksgiving weekend this year.
AAA has estimated that around 44 million people will travel for Thanksgiving this year, 90% of whom will do so by car. All of those extra drivers on the road will surely amount to some added stress on your trip, but there is one area that you’ll actually find some alleviation: Gas prices.
Relative to the past few weeks and months, gas prices are actually down right now, with the national average at $3.43 per gallon of regular unleaded gas.
“As we approach Thanksgiving, the national average has taken quite a drop, dropping close to 30 cents in the last month,” Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with GasBuddy, told ABC News. “Certainly that has been a nice decrease, but the national average still will likely set an all-time Thanksgiving Day high.”
The $3.43 average is, indeed, a record high for Thanksgiving. The average price for a gallon of gas this time last year was $3.34.
But with all of the added stress and frustration that can come with holiday travel, most drivers will take the small drop in gas prices as a point of relief. After all, with food preparation, traffic jams and crazy relatives, who really wants to get hosed at the pump, too?
Drivers in California will feel especially happy about the current state of the cost of gas, as prices have dropped a whopping $0.77 per gallon over the past four weeks alone, according to GasBuddy.com. The decline comes after the state experienced some remarkable price hikes, where some areas saw prices of more than $6.00 per gallon due to low gasoline supplies, low fuel production, a year of numerous refinery outages and exports of fuel to overseas customers.
All in all, though, we shouldn’t get our hopes up too high for any further decreases in fuel prices. DeHaan said that despite the recent drops, he doesn’t expect the trend to continue much longer.
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Pickup truck owners have always been at odds with each other– comparing payload capacities, towing abilities and engine torque with each other like weight-lifters comparing bench press amounts.
But recently pickup-one-upmanship has taken a turn in a completely different direction: Fuel economy.
With every new generation of fullsize pickup introduced, its fuel economy becomes a major marketing point and truckmakers often tout it more than a truck’s ability to pull tree stumps out.
It’s a welcome change, as we look forward to a fullsize pickup that one day reaches 30 mpg down the road.
Here’s a current look at where fullsize pickups rank with their fuel economy.
MSRP: $22,595 – $42,440
Invoice: $21,691 – $39,469
Fuel Economy: 15 mpg City, 20 mpg Highway
The long-in-the-bedSilverado currently looks and acts like its from a different time – in fact, it is. The Silverado is due for an overhaul next year and we expect its mileage to improve drastically when it arrives.
But until then, its mileage lags behind all of the major competition– even though General Motors is the only truckmaker to offer a fullsize pickup hybrid (which manages to get 20 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway.)
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MSRP: $25,355 – $48,070
Invoice: $23,580 – $44,460
Fuel Economy: 16 mpg City, 20 mpg Highway
When the newTundra arrived, many predicted the end of American pickup domination. However, the Japanese invasion of pickups never happened. Now the Tundra ranks third in mileage of its big pickups and fourth in sales.
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MSRP: $23,670 – $52,455
Invoice: $21,953 – $47,605
Fuel Economy: 17 mpg City, 23 mpg Highway
The top sellingFord F-150 raised the fuel economy standard a few years ago when it introduced the 3.5-liter V6 with twin turbochargers as its most powerful fullsize pickup and as its most fuel efficient model. The Blue Oval brand also reintroduced a second V6 offering – a model with Ford’s 3.7-liter V6.
At the time, it was a calculated risk, as many experts thought truck buyers would not want a V6 model when so many more powerful and dependable V8 offerings were around. But once again, the critics were wrong and Ford was right.
Since then, more than half of all fullsize pickups sold by Ford are V6 models.
And Ford isn’t stopping there. It is already beginning to test new weight reduction methods such as making more of future trucks with aluminum in order to improve mileage.
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MSRP: $22,590 – $47,420
Invoice: $21,202 – $43,487
Fuel Economy: 18 mpg City, 25 mpg Highway
Ram 1500 engineers showed what a truck can do when they focused so heavily on fuel economy. Mating Chrysler Group’s 3.6-lter V6 with a new 8-speed transmission, creating numerous ways to make the new Ram lighter and more aerodynamic, helped create the first fullsize pickup that achieved 25 mpg on the highway.
More importantly, the new Ram sets a higher standard for everyone to meet.
Pickup owners have shown, that they may not want to lose capability with their next pickup, but they expect better performance– and that now includes high mileage.
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