Pimpama Petrol Falls Under 198 as the Gold Coast Corridor Resets Every Grade at Once
The number that caught my eye this afternoon is 197.4. As of 13th Aug 2026 2:05pm AEST, that is the standard unleaded average across six servos in Pimpama, sitting on the M1 between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and it is the only suburb average in the country under 200 cents a litre today. Yesterday those same six sites averaged 209.9. Unleaded petrol prices there have given back 12.5 cents in 24 hours.
Every grade moved by almost the same amount
The size of the fall matters less to me than how evenly it landed across the board:
- Unleaded: 209.9 down to 197.4, a fall of 12.5 cents
- E10: 207.9 down to 195.3, a fall of 12.6 cents
- Premium 95: 226.9 down to 213.5, a fall of 13.4 cents
- Premium 98: 235.9 down to 222.5, a fall of 13.4 cents
Every grade at Pimpama moved within 0.9 of a cent of the others. When one servo decides to undercut its neighbours, you usually see a headline grade or two shift while the premiums sit still. Four grades resetting by almost the same margin on the same morning looks like a scheduled cycle reset rolling through the whole precinct.
At 195.3, E10 prices at Pimpama are the cheapest suburb average of any grade anywhere in Australia today. On a 60 litre tank that is roughly $7.60 better than filling the same car yesterday, and about $1.30 under standard unleaded on the same driveway.
The reset also travelled. Around 25 kilometres down the highway at Nerang, five servos took premium 98 down 12.5 cents to 223.4, which matches the Pimpama move almost to the decimal. Two suburbs that far apart repricing the same grade by the same margin on the same day points to a corridor wide reset rather than local competition.
Queensland diesel is heading the other way
Diesel does not follow the petrol cycle, and today makes the point neatly. Queensland diesel averaged 247.7 across 1,028 reporting stations, up 4.7 cents or 1.93 per cent on yesterday. That lifts QLD above NSW at 246.9 and Victoria at 246.3.
Anyone running a diesel ute or van through the south east still has options well under that state figure:
- Coopers Plains: averaging 235.1, with the cheapest site at 228.3
- Parkwood: averaging 235.6 across three servos
- Beaudesert: averaging 235.9, cheapest at 233.9
- Drayton: three servos priced identically at 236.5
Statistically speaking, a driver filling at that cheapest Coopers Plains site pays 19.4 cents under the state average for diesel prices. Across an 80 litre ute tank that is close to $15.50 a fill, without leaving the metro area to find it.
Sydney moves the other way
While the Gold Coast corridor was resetting downwards, Revesby in Sydney's south west did the reverse. Premium 98 there lifted 12.4 cents to 222.3 across seven servos, a near mirror image of the Pimpama fall. NSW diesel rose 8.0 cents to 246.9 as well, the largest state level diesel increase in the country today.
Two markets that usually track each other reasonably closely spent today pulling apart. That is worth keeping in mind whenever a national average gets quoted, because the variation that decides what you actually pay this afternoon happens at suburb level.
What the numbers mean for your next fill
- If you are anywhere near Pimpama or Nerang, this is the cheap end of the cycle. Falls of 12 cents in a day rarely hold for long.
- E10 at 195.3 is the value grade of the week, provided your vehicle is rated for it. Check the fuel flap before you commit.
- Diesel drivers can ignore the petrol cycle entirely and chase the suburb gap instead, which today is worth close to 20 cents a litre.
- If you are unsure where your local market sits in its cycle, the best time to fill up guide sets out the usual rhythm for each capital.
The numbers are clear: motorists in the northern Gold Coast have the cheapest unleaded in the country this afternoon, and it arrived across every grade at once rather than at one discount servo. Resets that broad tend to be the floor rather than the start of a slide, so a tank bought today is worth more than a tank bought on Saturday.
