this fourth of july was lodged on a wednesday this year, but that hasn't stopped travelers from taking extended holidays on either side of the holiday. many of them will be road-tripping in crossover suvs that have almost made station wagons extinct, but if you're interested in the latter, some brands are still holding out. jaguar, for example, offers the xf sportbrake, a five-seat luxury performance wagon derived from the xf sedan. the wagon comes with all-wheel drive, a 380-horsepower, supercharged 3.0-liter v-6 used engine and an eight-speed automatic transmission.
interested? check your bank balance.
the xf sportbrake's starting price is north of $70,000, and the supercharged used engine burns premium gas. the epa gives it fuel-economy estimates of 18/25/21 mpg city/highway/combined. here is what it would cost to fill the 19.5-gallon tank based on the aaa daily fuel gauge report early thursday:
- using the national average of $3.41 for premium gas, filling it from empty would cost $66.50.
- in los angeles, where premium was $3.92, filling up would be nearly $76.50. in chicago, where the average price was $4.18, it would climb to $81.51.
- the cost would drop to less than $61.50 in birmingham, ala., where premium was $3.15.
gas prices rose in many states the past week as millions of motorists filled their tanks for extended trips during the independence day holiday, ending a string of four weeks in which pump prices fell. aaa said regular was 64 cents higher than a year ago at $2.87 on average, premium was 63 cents higher and diesel at $3.17 was 73 cents higher.
hawaii remained the most expensive state for gas. regular averaged $3.74 in hawaii, and california was next at $3.66. regular averaged more than $3 in 13 states thursday, one more than a week ago. alabama and south carolina were tied for the lowest statewide average for regular at $2.53. mississippi, $2.55, and louisiana, $2.58, were the only other states under $2.60. a year ago, regular averaged less than $2 in four states, and hawaii was the only state over $3.
part of the blame for higher pump prices is because seven states raised their gasoline taxes by 3 cents or less on july 1. oil prices, though, also continued to rise; u.s. oil was trading at close to $74 a barrel early thursday, more than a dollar higher than a week ago.
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