vadim

What gasoline brand do you use/prefer?

galaxygrrl

Does it matter what brand I use in my car? What would the differences be. I just go to the super cheap gas station.

trench

Just depends on what you want. The only difference in the major brands is the detergents (to clean injectors, etc.) they add to the gas. Also a number of stations are actually owned by the same parent refining company so there is absolutely no difference in the gas (Phillips 66, 76, CircleK and Valeco are all refined by Phillips/Tosco). Beware of some super-cheap gas though, it can be a mixture of 90% gas + 10% ethanol, here in the Bay Area, Beacon (last time I checked) does this. The ethanol can damage certain engine components (dissolve seals, etc.), you have to check the owners manual of the particular car.

Cheers, BT

galaxygrrl

thanks!

tommy

I avoid the rinky dink ones because of what trench mentioned.

Plus, I can't get myself to go to Exxon or Mobil because of the Valdez cleanup fiasco. It's my little selective soapbox, and I'm sticking to it.

Lynn

The issue of ethanol dissolving seals was resolved several years ago. It shouldn't be a problem in new cars. Here in Saint Louis, all gasoline contains 10% ethanol. In addition, there is only one refinery near here. It is my understanding that almost all gasoline sold here is produced by that refinery. Of the major brands, only Shell, Amoco, Mobil and Phillips 66 are in this market.

WebGuyNJ

Atlantic coast brand:

Hess

Boo2

I like Shell (Porsche Recommended) even though Mobil is okay (2nd choice). You can notice a big difference between cheaper brands especially in newer high performance engines. When I first moved to Chicago, I tried Amoco in my Dinan Modified 540i 6-speed. I later switch to Shell and noticed a difference in acceleration/throttle response. Ever since then, I never minded paying the additional 5-10 cents per gallon for Shell. I didn't think Amoco was that bad. Maybe i'm just imagining things!

galaxygrrl

The energy bill passed by the US Senate mandates ethanol in all gas, I forget by when though. Think it was in the version signed by the President.

20FHK02

i tried gas from Chevron, 76, and Arco on my C230
i feel 76 gas gives more acceleration, but could just be my own imagination

Buellwinkle

While it's somewhat true that gasoline is gasoline, what you buy at the pump is not the same between oil companies. Pure gasoline (no additives) is sold/traded between refiners as unbranded gasoline usually in increments called tenders (25,000 barrels). The gasoline sold at gas stations is "branded" by the oil company with their own additives. The mininum additives are mandated by the government. Also, gasolines are formulated differently to achieve their (r+m)/2 octane numbers. Some variations work better in some cars than others.

Some like Chevron, Texaco and Mobil go the extra distance and add additional additives. I usually test fuel by how much it detonates/pings on my motorcycles since they lack the sophiticated electronics to manage the ignition and avoid pinging. I can tell you that Shell and Arco ping the most, Chevron pings the least followed by Texaco and Mobile. While on our cars, pinging is held to a mininum by the ECU, you will not get the most peformance and fuel economy from gas that makes the ECU compensate for it. That is why I try to use Chevron exclusively in all my cars. My daughter is forced to use Mobile because of the key ring fob that takes the place of a oil company credit card. This is because she leaves credit cards/license in her car with the top down and somehow they dissapear, the key she takes with her.

Also, my neighbor runs a fleet and switched to Arco and after a few months noticed the trucks ran poorly. Since he has switched back to 76 all is well.

Buellinkle,
Formerly with 76/Tosco

JKDBENZ

I try not to mix gas from different company, its just a thing i do. mobil for me just cause its close to my house, although i might consider 76.

Richard

Here in UK, we get some *nice* stuff called "Shell Optimax"

In UK terms, we used to be able to buy 95 octane and 97 octane, apparently 91 octane is avaialble on mainland Europe. Shell Optimax has recently arrived, and thats 99 Octane . that does wonderful things when you run on it for a while.

I think euro octane is measured in RON, whereas US octane is different

R

KJ-TypeR

Maybe you missed the news that said that the additives in Shell's gasoline were creating a layer of sludge over the fuel meter in the gas tank. Thus causing the fuel guage to read the level of gas improperly. You might have further missed that fact that a few people have noticed pinging and detonation on their cars/bikes after using Shell Gasoline.

Shell has admitted to this problem and has agreed to fix the thousands of cars affected by their faulty additive.

KJ-TypeR

I find that I get the best fuel economy with Mobil Gasoline.

Lynn

I have found two articles about a Shell additive causing fuel sensor and injector problems in cars operated on Shell Bronze (regular?) gasoline in Canada. Neither article mentioned detonation. I found no info using Google about this problem in the US. Please post your sources.

trench

Did you ever hear if this was this only for Canada or the US as well? I never heard anything about bad Shell gas here in the States. Oddly enough, I saw in a Canadian news report that the problem was more severe for DaimlerChrysler vehicles.

I recall reading somewhere that it is not a bad idea to run different brands through the tank. Something about how the different additives from one brand are good for cleaning out the residue of another brand (and vice versa).

Cheers, BT

Lynn

While doing the Google search, I found an article in a Corvette enthusiast publication written by a chemist employed in the gasoline industry. He holds various advanced degrees and 26 patents. At the conclusion of the article he recommends switching brands of gasoline at 5000 mile intervals. He says the additives in one brand will clean out deposits left by the additives of other brands. While not endorsing any particular brand, he did mention most of the brands in this poll as suitable, including Shell. He drives an older high compression, carburated Corvette.

viper

You really have no way of knowing what you are getting when you buy gasoline. While the fuel companies would have you believe there is tank to tank uniformity in the product in actual fact this is not so. Same for the additives that they put in or are mandated to put in. Thats why some tank fulls make your vehicle run poorly and some surprise you.

speedfrk

Check out the test done by EVO magazine (British car mag) on Shell optimax. They tried it on several cars, and it does indeed make a big difference. (You can get the mag at Borders). I don't know if the US version of Shell has anything like that or not, but Chevron's Techron is recommended by most all the major auto manufacturers including Mercedes. I generally use Chevron, but not exclusively.

FrankW

question: don't the Arco now use the gasoline from BP (a british company)?

i remember that i read some article about BP took over the operation of Arco or something...not sure...Can anyone confirm that? Anyone tried Arco gas lately?

Vince

i use chevron. techron is the best. did you know that the manufactuers (or at least the big three US) use chevron gas when they do the track data, ie 0-60...

have you ever put a bottle of techron in your car. the car feels better. all chevron gas has techron in it. do i need to say anything more...

Vince

my source for that info... Patrick Norton, from The Screensavers. It's a show on Techtv. He's also a car nut.

KJ-TypeR

My source is the opinion of two fellow board members who posted the information in a thread below.

Click here to see the thread...

session

i use exxon and/or mobil, since they're the same product. never experienced any pinging or any performance issues whatsoever. for whoever posted from the UK, the US uses the (M+R)/2 method for octane measurement.