I pay about £0.95 a litre for diesel, which works out over £4 or $10 ( ) a gallon. It's extortionate and even though I get better than 50 miles to the gallon it certainly adds up, even though I run a fairly compact diesel hatchback. On my recent trip to the US I was stunned when the bill for the week for fuel came in less than about $30, even with a hopelessly gas-guzzling Ford Mustang. The US has it good !
Of course we have been here before - the prices in the early 1980s were just as bad, relative to income. It's just that gas has been very cheap in general over the period 1985-2005, a situation which (in the longer term) was only a temporary one.