pererau

I have read a lot of comments of people praising Shell Premium gas. Is there any evidence beyond anecdotal tales of improved MPG to support this? I have always used Chevron because it is everywhere and because somewhere along the way I got the impression that it was good quality. Similarly, I have heard that Arco is crap. I don't know enough about cars to know if I'm being fed a bunch of bull or not, and so this is where you come in. Help me understand where I should get my gas or if there is even a real difference between the brands.

If not, I have a Safeway just around the corner from my house and I get discounts on their gas because my wife does so much shopping there. I also have a Costco membership, and they are always the cheapest around, so I would love to fill up there if I could do so with peace of mind.

SpiderX1016

I use Chevron.

I haven't been to Shell in a long time but that is the gas station of choice if I can't find a Chevron nearby.

smarty666

Chevron is another top tier gasoline brand like Shell so you should have no problems using that and should then be getting your best mpg with it. If you are using Chevron, I don't see any reason you need to switch to Shell.

I only recommend Shell because I have seen the change in mpg on 3 separate vehicles of mine and its the only top tier gas brand in my area. I don't have a Chevron or any of the other bands listed below! The closest is Turkey Hill in PA but I'm not driving there for that. Shell has worked great for me. I think your find as long as you use any top tier gas brand for fill-ups. Here is a great link with a list and talks a little bit about top-tier gas!

http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

What I love about Exxon/Mobil, the company I used to fill up my TL and other vehicles with premium before Shell, is they say they are top tier gas like Shell, Chevron and everyone else, but they refuse to submit their gasoline grades for testing like all the top tier gas companies have! They are obviously hiding something and that their gasoline is of inferior quality and my experience goes to suggest that since I'm getting better mpg's across the board all year long with Shell Premium on all my vehicles, then I ever did with Exxon Premium!

ml3456

Stay with the major brands and you will be good. I have been involved with some gasoline testing and the majors have much better additives and the amount in them is better. They all have a additive package that they try to keep private that is why they don't submit to testing. BP/Amoco/Arco (all the same company using a very good modified Amoco additive) had slightly more additive than Shell, but both very high. Exxon/Mobil was next with Chevron. I was not a big fan of the Citgo and Marathon/Speedway results. The premium grades besides being built with higher octane usually have more additive also from the major energy companies. I stay away from the Walmart, Safeway, Sam's, grocery store places because they usually buy the cheapest stuff they can get and not quite sure what the additive is. The best was Amoco's clear Ultimate. It was great for a clean engine..

pererau

Thanks for the information. Does anybody know what brand Costco uses?

alexSU

iTrader: (3)

I use Shell or Exxon, luckily both are within a mile of my house.

I've heard that Costco uses ARCO gasoline...don't really know what that is.

01tl4tl

its not going to be Tier 1, whatever they can buy in bulk for the cheapest
please read that link posted above for brands that are
the differance is MORE cleaning agents in the gas to help with the crud left behind from inefficient combustion on E10 gas--
I heard it was twice as much as t2- which is the govt minimum allowed cleaner
but we can all agree its MORE than tier2 brands- hows that?-more cleaner is better!! to a point
The TL is a picky eater~
You can run safeway or other t2 gas- in my opinion- IF you run seafoam or redline SI-1 or techron with it,,maybe every 3000 or 5000 miles, to get things clean

Carbon crusted intake valves dont flow right, crud covered pistons dont give a good flash place for the fuel air mix to ignite- loaded up cat doesnt help either

Im sure you can search online for pics of engines run on different gas and different oils-taken apart and examined... by major companies to showcase their product

alexSU

iTrader: (3)

There you have it ^

phee

iTrader: (5)

that link posted above is owned by quicktrip or racetrac

calgary2800

I've been using Sams gas for months now. I dont buy into this top tier thing at all. I'm driving an Accord not a 70k car. I notice its performs the same as when I use to use Shell, 76, Chevron.

jim165

...long as QT and Racetrac continues to sell gas, my Accord will continue to run. If I put anything remotely good in it, it runs like crap. Over 200K miles and it's damn near able to run on water now...

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Ill admit it, I run Costco gas since its near work and on average 15 cents cheaper a gallon. I have run Shell, BP, Exxon, Chevron, and I get the same gas mileage where ever I go.

Maybe I need to do a bit more of a controlled experiment instead of one fill-up here and there. Ill try running Shell (theyre around the block from me) for a week or two and see what the results are compared to Costco gas.

Does anyone know what gas Wawa gets? Theyre the only place Ive seen with 92, not 93 octane. In the winter they have the better gas for me, but once they switch back to the summer blend my mileage and performance drops significantly. Ive stayed away from them entirely for the past few months.

speedemon90

I've heard that costco gas is different all the time. They basically buy "left over" gasoline from other companies, so one day you might be filling up shell, and the other day you might be filling up arco.

This is what I've heard, no clue if its true or not. But my first choice to fill up is Shell, then Chevron, then mobil

fsttyms1

i try to stay away from gas stations that have "10% Ethanol" added.

CL6

Unless you buy your gas from the back of a van you'll be fine wherever.

CocheseUGA

Most places buy from the same people. So this advertising crap you see all over the place is just that - crap. Here, (and as of the last time I checked it this was true, but it may have changed)..at least three brands in the Atlanta area bought their gas from the same wholesaler.

I only buy QT, but they're guilty of it. Never had any issues, though.


And we went a whole nine hours before Seafoam was mentioned. New fucking record.

black label

Is that actually possible? In my area the only way you can buy gas without 10% ethanol is to buy 100 octane race fuel and that's only available in a few places and costs about 8 bucks a gallon.

leedogg

Chevron is my first preference, then Shell. It's good to alternate them every so often though so they clean up after one another.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Most places here are 10% as well. Last weekend when I was at the TotD there was a Chevron just down the road with 0% ethanol. The car ran great on it. I once ran 15% in my Prelude and ever since that point that car never ran right.

alexSU

iTrader: (3)

fsttyms1

Around here yes, its getting harder to find regular without it but most of the premium is without. I cant stand the shit. I get much worse mileage with it

phee

iTrader: (5)

every gas station has that crap down here

CocheseUGA

Yup. Unfortunately. And the summer-blend gas should be arriving soon.

FOL.

phee

iTrader: (5)

u mean its still not here?

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

And it was registered by GM who has a partnership with them. I wouldn't take anything on that website seriously.

OP, if you do a search, this topic has been discussed many, many, many, many times. I'm not going to close this topic since it has gone on for so long, but do a search and you'll see a bunch of info.

Basically, all of the gas comes from the same rigs and refineries. Then each of the companies add their own blends to the fuel. Whether or not it really does anything is up for debate. There is no hard evidence for one brand over another.

I've been using Gate (owned by Gate Petrol) which is a regional company and have never had any problems with any of our cars, motorcycles, or lawn equipment. In fact, we typically get the best gas mileage with Gate when compared to any other brand.

So just remember, opinions are like assholes... everyone has one and a few stink. Use what you like and you'll be fine

pererau

I work in the ER, and if there is one thing I've learned, it is that many people have more than one and more than a few stink.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

^

CocheseUGA

EPA guidelines are June 1. Some start sooner. I usually equate it with a 6-8 cent bump in prices for no good reason.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

I don't really care about the brands.

I use whatever gas station that is close to my work or home. It's usually either Chevron, Shell, or Mobil.

When I had my 3G TL, I usually put Costco gas which was way cheaper than the one across the street.

brizey

Unless you have tuned your car to within and inch of its life, it ain't gonna make much difference. And how many of us here are going to be driving our cars for 150,000+ miles? Gas brand < hill of beans.

Dr. Colorado

My engineer uncle used to work at the Chevron plant here and he said all the gasoline comes from the same refinery regardless of the brand. For the P-car I use Chevron or Shell and I will be the first to admit that there is no sound evidence to support this rational. For my Element, I'll fill up with whatever is cheapest.

leedogg

I've heard of some pretty strong support for Chevron's techron, where folks have added the stuff to an open, running engine and have observed the fuel injectors go from a hard spray to a fine mist.

Also, the big guys their gas first, the cheapo stations buy up whats left over. Translation: older gas w/ minimal detergent.

ml3456

The Chevron Techron is excellent. It was so good that Amoco used it as a base for its patented additive before the BP merger. Amoco also had the clear ultimate that was really good but with today's economic environment the pipeline infrastructure has changed and its to difficult now to pipeline and keep clear.

The additives are added at the terminal, not the refinery. So the gas a major sells a base stock to Cosco does not include the major's additives but a cheaper, and not as good, alternative. Also some jobbers add a octane booster to make raise the octane. The majors blend to that octane so no additives are necessary.

You won't see a drastic change between tanks trying to compare because the car takes a while for the computer to compensate for the blend. Using cheaper gas has a long time effect that will be seen on valve deposits (reduced efficiency eventually) and injector plugging. If you ever have to get your injectors cleaned it is more than the cost of purchasing better gas over the life of the car. There is minimal regulation on how much additive you need, but the majors have reputation issues and use more than the jobbers.

TS_eXpeed

It could be mental....but I swear I've always gotten a little better mileage on a full tank of Shell vs. anywhere else. I always go to Shell unless I can't find one.

smarty666

Thanks for the information! This all sounds about right based on what I've read up until now about the top tier gas! I fill up with Shell regularly but will fill up with BP if in a pinch and need gas with no Shell around!

I guess BP bought out Amoco because there used to be Amoco stations all over the place here in NJ about 10 years ago, but now they are all BP stations!

Rockstar21

iTrader: (1)

this..

and i use ONE gas station.. its a shell, by my house that doesnt have the added ethanol.. and i use 93 at that station religously.

Dr. Colorado

Thanks for the info man. I'll keep the 911 happy with teh techron.

fsttyms1

360,000 miles and counting

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

My wife's 1994 Camry had ~230k miles on it before it finally died and we donated it a couple years ago...

brizey

Ok, so that's 2 out of 70,000+