I know there have probably been threads like this before, but something I was told today makes me have to ask again: In the U.S. (and Georgia in particular), are there any brands of gasoline I should avoid, and are there any that are particularly preferable? My car is a 328GTS. I have always preferred Amoco gas, and in my other cars (Hondas), whenever I was in a part of the country that didn't offer Amoco, the cars would ping on any available brand of gas with the same octane rating, which never happened with the Amoco. A Honda service advisor in Seattle (one place which didn't offer Amoco), who had lived in New Jersey, was of the opinion that Amoco had the best gas, which explained why my cars ran fine on Amoco and not the other brands. Today, a lady friend whose husband used to work for FNA in the '70s said that in her opinion, Amoco was the worst major brand of gas to put in a Ferrari, though she wouldn't tell me why. She recommended Chevron, Shell or Texaco. Any comments?
Something to consider is gas is blended for the region it is distributed, elevation, climate etc........ Gas sold in Alaska versus gas from southern Kalifornia are entirely different blends. I also saw a thread on refineries botching the blend and causing havoc through out the south a month or so ago. I have always had good luck with Union 76. I used to buy their leaded supreme back in the 80's. Now I run the unleaded supreme in the 308 and the 240. The 240 has a modified engine with triple dueces and it does well on their blend. My second choice is Chevron and third is Shell based on consistancy and performance.
While I have heard others complain of one brand or another, my personal experience is that I have found no difference between brands. To be honest, I have never even experienced a bad tank of gas.....really! I just make sure to buy gas of the correct octane rating, and from what appears to be a pretty busy/reputable vendor (have heard that busier places will not have bad/stale or watered down gas....or at least less likely...so the story goes. Anyway, I just buy on price....so usually Costco or Arco out in the pacific northwest. Never a problem in my previous Honda Accord, serveral Ford Tauruses, a Buick Century, current BMW 540 sport, Ferrari 308 and current 328... Maybe I have been lucky?.....
I've always used the cheapest gas I could find from a major retailer (to guarantee high turnover hence fresh gas). These days that tends to be Costco. Never had a problem. Admittedly, I live in an area with a mild climate where brand-specific additives might be less important than in harsher climes. And I actually drive my Ferrari regularly -- garage queens might have their own weird requirements because it might take months to run through a tank of gas...
A couple things I know ... but rarely do. Never use gas from a recently refilled station. Reason is, the refilling will mix the residual water/humidity and you will get some of it in your tank. No need to say it's bad. Crappy fuel companies (like Canadian Tire in Canada) have crappy fuels. A buddy of mine filled his YZF (4 stroke dirtbike, very high performance engine -single 420cc 50hp+) and the bike detonated like crazy during the whole ride.
I've never noticed any difference in brands, and I've been buying gas for a long long time. From 60's muscle cars, to Ferraris, Lambos, Rolls Royces, MB, and a lot of in betweens.......the brand never made a difference.
Here in CA Shell have a new 91 octane called "V Power." It seems to work well, although I'm sure a lot of marketing hype. A guy that works for one of the oil companies told me that manufacturers frequently trade among themselves when necessary so that you may be getting some other brand at the station you go to. I was told once to avoid Chevron with Techroline........ Who knows.
I actually watched an oil company employee testify before a WA state committee on price gouging. He explained how almost all the gas companies get gas from the same source and then they add whatever proprietary cleaning agents or additives. The interesting part was watching him explain how a station on one corner could be charging say .40 more a gallon than the one on the other corner. The price the stations pay is set when the gas is delivered. On a bad day one truck could deliver gas to several stations at widely varying rates according to market conditions. It was one time I found our legislative process to be very interesting!!
I heard about this as well....and the State Attorney General for WA State claims this is all "okay"! A Texaco station owner in Redmond, WA complained that he paid .20 cents per gallon more than a Texaco station a quarter mile away, but that the "market conditions" dictated (by Texaco/Shell) he had to pay a higher wholesale price...talk about "price fixing". Wholesale prices should only vary based on VOLUME of purchase, anything else sounds like a violation of the "Sherman anti-trust act" to me....
I guess I'll weigh in here. I'm in the software business, and one of my hot-shot programmers previously worked for Gilbarco (the largest manufactuer of gas pumps in the world). He was involved in writing the software the swipes the credit card, beams the information back to Exxon (or whomevers) credit clearing house in Houston, sends authorization, then activates the pump from outerspace. Anyway, he claims that the folks who engineered the pumps were constantly testing the equipment against tons of different gasoline brands. If you think gas could cause a problem in your car, imagine a pump which dispenses a thousand gallons a day! Anyway, he is adamant about only buying gasoline from a major oil company that owns its own refineries. According to him, Mobil was the cleanest, most consistent gasoline they tested. Exxon, BP, Shell, etc. were all good too. When they got into gasolines purchased at Joe's Meat Market, JC Penny, etc, the blends were much dirtier and highly inconsistent. I'm not saying I agree with this (or even believe it), but it's what the guy says he experienced while at Gilbarco. -Daniel
Back in the early 80's I owned and operated a Phillips 66, and had a Mobil station on the corner across the street from me. The same tanker truck filled my tanks as well as the Mobil. The driver would shinny up on top of the tank and put in 1 gallon of ? to change the blend from Phillips to Mobil. Used to have to pump the tanks 2 days after the fuel delivery. My worst load contained about 100 gallons of water (Minnesota in the winter was not a good place for this), yet Phillips would never reimburse for the water. What ever the extra additive was that Mobil got over Phillips, the driver didnt know, but it went into the tanker truck in a big glob. The driver added this as soon as he shut off the valve from filling my tanks, in hopes that the ? would dissolve on the way across the intersection. Same stuff if it is not refined close to you. Buy cheap! Dave
Well, I'm from Texas, but I ain't in the awl bidness. But, here's what I have been told: 1. There only one way to make gasoline. Perhaps somebody who knows more about this can do a better job of explaining this, but... basically you take crude oil and "crack" those little bitty molecules until you get gas. There ain't no other way to git there from here so everybody's gas is the pretty much the same. 2. In an attempt at branding, the majors add stuff their gas. Does this stuff do any good? Opinions vary, but there are some who think that the additives do help clean dem little ole injectors, but again opinions vary. 3. The myth about Chevron spoiling O2 sensors is just that, a myth. 4. What does count is freshness. Modern gas starts going downhill in about 30 days. Therefore it makes sense to buy at a high volume station. Moreover, the newer the station, the cleaner the filters and whatnot. This is just one more reason to drive your car at least once a month. 5. There ain't no subsitute for octane. Man, I wish we could buy Sunoco. That 94 proof is sure good stuff. Barring this, av gas is pretty cool at 100 proof. Dr "I betcha don't even know what a christmas tree is" Tax
And here in the East, not only do we get 94 octane Sunoco, but at select pumps we get 100 octane, right at the station. Pull up, fill 'er up, and away you go. I don't put nothin' but 94 into the Dino, with a trip about once a month or so to get 1/2 tank of 100. Sure does make the car run nice. But it's also pricey. THe 94 right now is $2.25+-, and the 100 is over $4.
As I understand the process: Don't know it this helps, but it does provide some information regarding the basic "gasoline" that you may buy regardless of brand. There are a number of refineries on the Gulf Coast and most put product into pipelines for transportation to distribution sites ... all use the same pipelines whether it is Shell, Conoco, Amaco or whatever. Most of the refineries have "wholesale" customers (customers other than their own brand) in various different distribution areas. If Chevron is producing 1000 gallons for the pipeline and Shell is producing 1000 gallons for the pipeline, (sort of like building credits) either may draw their 1000 gallons out at any point in the pipeline. (over simplified, but I hope that you get the point.) There is no possible way for Shell to get their original 1000 gallons of "their" product out of the pipeline, they will simply draw 1000 gallons of available product from the pipes. An example of how some of the additives are added and where can be read at: http://www.chevron.com/about/pascagoula/refiningprocess/pascprod.shtml and I believe that most additives are now added at the distribution point rather than being added during any of the refining process. You may be buying "Chevron" gasoline, but that gasoline may have been refined by BP or Shell ... the basic blend of gasoline should be the same from any refinery when made for a specific district or region. At least that is my understanding ... Best wishes
Fiat---essentially you are correct. ALL gas is sent in bulk thru the pipelines and they seperate the fuels set on a time clock and specific gravity sensors. Regular is regular is regular--same for super unleaded.... the different states and different companies have their own requirements for additives which are mixed in at the "tank-farms" ie--Doraville GA-- The only "specialty" gas that is seperated is the Amoco-"white Lightning" Super 93 which gets its own tank.
I always went out of my way, passing 3 other major dealers, to get Sunoco 94. Last week the pumps all show 93 as the highest octane available here in my part of NY (Westchester County). The 14 y/o kid at the pumps doesn't know why. Dod Sunoco stop offering the 94 in NY? I have used Shell, Mobil, Sunoco, BP and Exxon in my Dino and 360. Never had any problems with any of them. Does anyone use octane booster? If so, using 93 gas and booster, how high can you get the octane? Need 100 for the track, but the tracks rarely have their gas pumps open midweek and are not near an airport.
Why do you want higher octane? Assuming you're not experiencing detonation, higher octane is useless. The only purpose for higher octane is to moderate combustion to prevent detonation - it does NOT intrinsically improve performance.
I was told they work, but you have to add a lot to get any effective boost. Adding a little can might give you .1 octane. The active chemical, which I can't remember the name of, is also sold as an industrial cleaner. Buy a gallong jug for $15.00 instead of buying little cans for $5.
For high reving cars, the chance of detonation is higher and as a result you might as well run a better octane gas. I agree with Dave. I only use their 94 for my BMW 750iL and 328GTS. I use the same sunoco 93 for my Rover (I dont rev it as high as often, and its cheaper...considering how much it 'inhales' gas, I might as well save a few bucks ) Their gas is great, and I will use nothing else in my cars to the point of trying to hunt one down on the highway if I am running low. Luckly they are all over PA and NJ, and decently spread around MD. Sunoco is the best value for highest octane out there..simply put no one offers the same level of octane. Also, if I recall is is only US oil or at least oil from this hemi., and contains no ME oil. Side note: stay away for Sheetz gas. Far away. Their Prm. is a meer 92 compared to everyone else's 93. And yes I could feel the difference the one time I did it. Never will I make that mistake 2x. Also, if you run a newier E38 based BMW (E38, E46, E39, X5, new Range rover, and all newier cars), the On-board-comp will adjust timing relative to the octane used to max. performance....this is why I can "feel' the difference in octanes. It pulls much "slower" with a lower octance.
Please remember that AV gas is 100LL. The LL stands for Low Lead. OK for racing cars set up to run lead....not so good for engines designed to run no lead.
