My wife and I recently switched to Sams Club gas to save a few bucks. To our surprise we also got better gas milage.

My RDX used to average 16.3mpg (mixed city & freeway).
After switching to Sams Club gas my RDX is now averaging 17.1mpg - using 2-month computer trip mpg.

My wife used to fill up once every 10 days with her 4Runner,
after switching to Sams Club gas she is refilling once every 12 days.

I am curious to see if anyone else also use Sams Club gas and notice the improvement.

 

yeah, sure .... and I've got better millage after washing my car

 

i know costco does but, sam's club sells gas?

 

yeah sams club sells gas. right now sams is about .10 cheaper than chevron. ive used sams club for my last two fill ups and have noticed no difference in MPG over chevron which i used exclusively.

its all in the mind. you wanna save money so subconsciously you lay off the gas just a small bit.


luther

 

There are numerous factors such as driving habits, A/C usage vs. weather, condition of the car (oil changes, and other maintenance issues) that could be affecting your mileage reading. I doubt that the formulation of the gas would cause a significant deviation from your average MPG.

 

Sometimes I notice worse gas millage with shady gas stations, but I also notice degraded performance. I stay away from those gas stations.

 

Can't believe cnn.money.com out this as a "myth". Bunch of morons. I tried couple of times running regular gas in my 2001 Acura CLS (which also requires 91+), not only I had decreased performance, I've also noticed consistent reduced gas millage.

#3. Use Premium Fuel

With prices already over $4.00 a gallon, premium gasoline is a hard sell these days. But a lot of drivers think because their owners' manual recommends premium, they'll get better fuel economy if they stick with it. Really, they're paying more money for nothing.

Even cars for which premium is recommended won't suffer with regular fuel. Modern engine technology comes to the rescue again. When sensors detect regular instead of premium fuel, the system automatically adjusts spark plug timing. The result is a slight reduction in peak horsepower - really, you'll never notice - but no reduction in fuel economy.

 

Using the on board computer or calculating it manualy.
Pumps vary on the acracy of what gets pumped. Temp impacts this also.
They do not have to be completely acurate to pass inspection.


Maybe that accounts for the difference you see?

 

There could be something to this. About this time of year many stations (by their own doing or by state law) stop selling gasoline with 10% ethanol. In some states it is mandatory to sell gasoline with 10% ethanol from Oct. 1 to April 1 or so.

If you happened to change stations about this time your change in mileage may have this factor at play. It may swamp other factors that would be more obvious (like changing stations).

 

Unless I misunderstood, he used the onboard computer for both figures. IMO this is not reliable since I've seen wildly varying "Honda Optimism Correction" factors.

Joe

 

I am betting it is the change in weather/seasons more than anything else.

 

The results of your study do not appear to carry any level of statistical significance.

 

Haha, they modified the story now:

"-Editors note: This story was revised from an earlier version to clarify that the advice to use regular gas instead of premium may not apply to all cars. "

 

yeah, the only time its a myth when your manual says regular, and you are putting premium. However, I was putting premium in old camry simply because it was old and I could hear a lot of engine knocking with regular gas... I should have just done a tune up, but I was too cheap ... the car had 190K+ miles.... and 15yrs old.
I do admit gas prices are a problem, but difference between regular and premium was always 20 cents, even now, so paying $60 or $63 for a tank of gas makes little difference to me

 

Exactly...the price delta for premium now is what, 5% as opposed to the 15% it used to be? Might as well do it.

 

I don't know if it's because of the rising cost of gas or not, but I've noticed some places have a $.12-.15 difference between the grades of gas. I absolutely refuse to fill up at any of these places.

 

There were some places that tried it by me (Shell still does), and I just do not go there. There are plenty of options with a $0.10 difference.

 

Stations in the shade or 'shady' stations?

 

Wow that's still pretty terrible...i'm getting 24 mpg mixed city/highway...if you wanna conserve gas you gotta lay off the throttle and stay outta boost, and keep it under 65mph on the highway.