Want to settle the which gas is better question

[Brian03cav]

Originally Posted by ATaylorRacing

Any gas with a 10% mix I stay away from except in emergencies....they cost the same around here but it kills my cars power and FE...even my 3 cyl Metro gets worse FE with it.

which stations don't? I assume you're referring to the ethanol percentage? unless i'm thinking of the wrong thing here.

[ATaylorRacing]

Originally Posted by Brian03cav

which stations don't? I assume you're referring to the ethanol percentage? unless i'm thinking of the wrong thing here.

In Indiana most do not have the 10% blend of ethanol. I know that sometimes when I travel you can't find a station that is not a blend.

[HondaHound]

I just drove 2 miles here in LA. I passed several stations. The price disparity between the brands was really big. Valero was 3.89, Mobil was 3.99, Chevron was 3.79, and another Mobil was 4.09! That's 30 cents difference with 4 stations that are in the same area. All of the stations were on major roads. That's bizarre. There must be some difference with what they're doing with the gas otherwise why would the prices be so off? Do "discount" brands generally have lower quality gas?

HHINLA

[i_am_socket]

The Shells around me have the highest prices AND the worst fuel from what I can tell. Lukoil was the best I've used, from one station on a backroad near my old job but I stopped using them after several dozen cars died from water in the gas purchased at a Lukoil nearby (not the same one). BP was about the same as Shell. Chevron was next best followed by Speedway. Mobile was never anything but expensive so I've avoided filling up with them for years.

Now I fill up at a station near my house which I don't know the name of and isn't listed on google maps. It's the cheapest I've seen around and is decent. I'm due for a fill-up by Friday so I'll try to remember to keep the receipt ('cuz I won't remember otherwise)

[Ford Man]

I used to use BP all of the time in my daily driver an '88 Escort, then I stopped at Texaco and filled up once because it was about 10-15c cheaper and the price stayed lower so I started using Texaco on pretty regular basis and watched my FE go up several MPG over about 3 tanks. I then went back to BP and the FE dropped back down. On my '97 Escort it doesn't seem to make any noticeable differerence. I think that about the only difference in brands is their additive packages and ethanol content. I have been thinking about running about 5 tanks of each different brand in my area and seeing which one gives me the best average FE over the 5 tanks. With winter coming on though I probably wouldn't get as accurate of results as I would if I did it in the summer so that test may have to be put on hold until next summer.

[BlackDeuceCoupe]

From what I've read, the quality of gas you get mostly matters on WHERE you live. All companies don't ship all their gasoline products everywhere, all the time. They just buy gas from other companies, in certain areas, and rebadge it, if you will.

In the Phoenix, Arizona area, I have tried several different brands of gas. I KNOW that all regular and midrange gas, diesel, and jet fuel, et cetera, comes in from Los Angeles, California, in a single pipeline from the west, and all super-unleaded comes from a much smaller single pipeline from El Paso, Texas, from the east. I know this because of local newspaper articles I read when the super-unleaded pipeline burst near Tucson, Arizona, and was down for several weeks, causing gas prices to spike in Arizona.

CNN.com - Ruptured line creates gas crunch in Phoenix - Aug. 18, 2003

Having said that, in my area, I have found Chevron/Texaco (regular) and Shell (regular) to be of equal quality and FE. However, the hands-down winner for quality and FE, in this area is QT/QuikTrip (regular)! I'm shocked by this actually - I hate QT gas stations (and their smiley-faced, have-a-nice-day employees) with a passion!

Every super-unleaded gas I've tried in the Phoenix area sucks big time... probably all the same crap, same additives, yada, yada, yada. I don't know this for sure, since I gave up on super-unleaded and switched to regular some months ago - even though that's what my ride calls for. Screw super-unleaded!

So, it's really impossible to say for sure - because this ALL changes, depending on where you live, but for the most part there's Chevron/Texaco (same gas), Shell, and QT. All the rest are wannabes... at least in my neck of the woods...

If you just gotta run 'cheap' gas... 'cause you got some personal hangup... Valero is the only way to fly. Valero is the King of Cheap!

SOURCE

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio, Texas, with 21,836 employees and annual revenue of more than US$90 billion. The company owns and operates 17 refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.3 million barrels per day, making it the largest refiner in North America.[1] Valero is also one of the nation's largest retail operators with more than 5,000 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under various brand names, including Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Ultramar, Shamrock and Beacon.

They have more gas stations, more refineries, and sell more gas in the USA than anybody else (a great place to buy beer too) - a little known fact - but their gas isn't anywhere near the same quality and FE as the three I mentioned above!

[Will]

Originally Posted by BlackDeuceCoupe

From what I've read, the quality of gas you get mostly matters on WHERE you live. All companies don't ship all their gasoline products everywhere, all the time. They just buy gas from other companies, in certain areas, and rebadge it, if you will.

Strange to say, but I totally agree with BDC. Seriously, my wife was in the petro. transportation industry and has told me that this very thing happens all over. Most fuel is the exact same in a given region no matter what pump you get it out of.

She also said, however, that some companies have additional additives put in the fuel before the trucks leave.

[bgd73]

This question was self answered, but only assume there is a handful that could agree with me.

A gallon of oil for your car is not as good as 4 individual quarts, additives , weights, physics do things over time and settling...

after seeing a bad underground gas tank dug up from a small town....

The busy gas station is like getting individual quarts of oil, they are simply better. That simple means busy gas stations are better, brand doesn't matter much. I know of a driver that hauls fuel, it is daily. Daily for a reason...