Having the income to drive a luxury vehicle apparently doesn’t make gas prices any less painful. For one Porsche Cayenne owner, a first fill-up at Costco turned into a lesson in the difference a few cents on the gallon can really make.
Creator Rebecca Martinez (@rebeccamartinezz_) appears skeptical as she goes to Costco to fill up her Porsche for the first time. The premium grade fuel needs of the Cayenne means that increases in oil prices have made every trip to the gas station more and more unpleasant.
“I'm officially a Costco member, so I need 93 (octane) and it's $4.29 (per gallon). I don't know, you guys, this seems way more expensive,” she said in the clip that's been viewed more than 291,000 times.
Martinez’s doubts remained once the fuel started flowing. The crowded Costco gas station had already tested her patience, and watching the fuel total climb close to $100 wasn’t making her feel encouraged about her new membership for the bulk retail giant.
“This is a madhouse,” she said. “Everyone has said go to Costco, go to Costco, go to Costco. I'm at Costco, I'm trying it, but I don't know, I'm skeptical right now, I'm not gonna lie.”
At 10 gallons, the total was approaching $45. At 20 gallons, Martinez was up to about $90. The pump finally clicked off after 21 gallons and $90.81, which Martinez realized was one of the cheapest fill-ups she had gotten since buying the Cayenne.
“I stand mistaken,” she said.
Gas Prices Cause Range Anxiety?
Porsche lists the standard 2026 Cayenne Coupe with a 23.7-gallon fuel tank, meaning she was nearly on empty. The standard Cayenne Coupe is rated at 17 mpg for city driving and 23 mpg on the highway. Porsche recommends premium unleaded fuel.
Those numbers also help explain another detail that caught viewers’ attention: Martinez said the fill-up gave her about 460 miles of estimated range.
One commenter compared that with a hybrid capable of going about 550 miles on a 10-gallon tank, while another said a Subaru Impreza could travel more than 400 miles on roughly 12 gallons. The Impreza is a hatchback with a gas-powered engine.
But a Cayenne Coupe is playing a much different game. The standard version weighs nearly 4,700 pounds, according to Porsche, and its large tank partly compensates for fuel economy that is nowhere near what drivers of smaller cars and hybrids are accustomed to seeing.
The bigger debate among some commenters, though, landed squarely on the Porsche badge sitting on Martinez’s hood. To them, worrying about fuel costs for a luxury SUV seemed insincere and performative.
“BTW, if you can afford a Porsche, the cost of gasoline should not be a big deal,” one viewer wrote.
That prompted pushback from viewers who noted that Martinez never said she couldn’t afford the gas. One argued that having money doesn’t mean someone wants to waste it, while Martinez responded to another critic by emphasizing, “Literally never complained ONCE.”
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Fuel Budgets Don’t Budge
Martinez later said in the comments that her Cayenne cost about $125,000, while pushing back against someone who suggested Porsches aren’t as expensive as people assume.
Paying six-figures for a vehicle doesn’t automatically mean someone is frivolous with their money, of course. No matter what's in your bank account, a vehicle taking more than 20 gallons of premium at a time does mean small differences in per-gallon pricing add up faster.
Costco’s basic Gold Star membership currently costs $65 per year, and discount fuel is one of the member-only perks. Costco says its regular and premium gasoline meet TOP TIER performance standards, pushing back on the idea some commenters posted that cheaper warehouse club fuel is actually lower quality.
Convenience was also an issue of some concern, with one commenter saying they wouldn’t drive 20 minutes out of their way to go to Costco, while others said their nearest location was more than an hour away.
For Martinez, however, the membership is clearly worth it. By the time the Cayenne was full, her experiment had produced a pretty unambiguous verdict.
“You guys are 100% right,” she said. “Thank you for pushing me to get a Costco membership because that's essentially what I did. I got a Costco membership to pretty much try out the gas.”
Motor1 reached out to Martinez via email and direct message. We’ll update this if she responds.
