I am not sure if this one is in my head, or there is a difference. My MCS has around 1200 miles on it. When I first got the car, I loved the power and acceleration. After I filled the tank for the first time (with Mobil 93 octane in New York State) I felt that the power was not the same. This had not changed since everytime I gas the car in NY state, with either Mobil or Amoco/BP 93 octane. Always 93 octane.

This past weekend, I went to New Jersey, where I filled up at an Exxon station with their 93 octane gas. After a while, the power and acceleration seemed better, more like when I first got the car!! Is this posible? Could there be a difference between gas in New York and New Jersey, ie: ethanol content? Or is it a brand quality issue? Or is it all just in my head? The car did land in NJ when it got off the boat, maybe they gassed it up there.

I live and work in NY, and getting to Jersey is not as easy... Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Nando

 

Gas quality does vary significantly from gast station to gas station and location to location. Read the first few pages of the owner's manual where MINI warns about varying quality of fuels and how these can affect the performance of your vehicle.

I stopped using Mobil/Exxon gasolines last month. Now I am using Citgo 93 octane and MY MCS simply runs so much better and Citgo is around a dime cheaper per gallon than Mobil 93.

 

I experienced the same thing in reverse when I took ownership of my MCS over the weekend. We put on 400 miles on the car in the past two days, so yesterday, we pull into Sunoco for its first fill-up. Fill the tank up with 93 octane and immediately, I notice a huge power surge. The car was running fine before, but now it has a LOT more acceleration. I don't know what caused that. Perhaps the dealer used not so great gas?

 

I'd say it's a good bet that any gas your car gets before you pick it up is 87 octane. Supposedly this will hurt the cars performance but I don't believe that's always true.

Different locations do use different gas formulations which could account for the performance differences you are feeling.:smile:

 

NY also has some strange fuel laws they do weard things to the gas. So you might be experiencing liberal NY gas vs. Industrial NJ gas.



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