Thats the ticket

 

So why would the Big 2.8 ship Chevron gas from Kentucky if Chevron has no oil refinery there?

Chevron refineries:
El Segundo Refinery (Chevron), El Segundo, California, 260,000 bbl/d (41,000 m³/d)
Richmond Refinery (Chevron), Richmond, California, 242,901 bbl/d (38,618.2 m³/d)
Hawaii Refinery (Chevron), Kapolei, Hawaii 54,000 bbl/d (8,600 m³/d)
Pascagoula Refinery (Chevron), Pascagoula, Mississippi 325,000 bbl/d (51,700 m³/d)
Perth Amboy Refinery (Chevron), Perth Amboy, New Jersey 80,000 bbl/d (13,000 m³/d)
Salt Lake City Refinery (Chevron), Salt Lake City, Utah 45,000 bbl/d (7,200 m³/d)

Kentucky refineries:
Catlettsburg Refinery (Marathon Petroleum Company), Catlettsburg, Kentucky 222,000 bbl/d (35,300 m³/d)
HDG International Group Refinery, Perry, Kentucky 195,500 bbl/d (31,080 m³/d)
Somerset Refinery, Somerset, Kentucky 5,500 bbl/d (870 m³/d)

Brand and actual refined gasoline are not always the same, as it is a fungiable product. The only thing that is the 'brand' is the detergent additives used by the brand which is added at the tanker level since it is the only point in the refinery process that there is a known volume.

Example BP refineries:
Prudhoe Bay Refinery (BP), Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 12,500 bbl/d (1,990 m³/d)
Carson Refinery (BP), Carson, California, 260,000 bbl/d (41,000 m³/d)
Whiting Refinery (BP), Whiting, Indiana 410,000 bbl/d (65,000 m³/d)
Toledo Refinery (BP), Toledo, Ohio 160,000 bbl/d (25,000 m³/d)
Texas City Refinery (BP), Texas City, Texas 437,000 bbl/d (69,500 m³/d)
Cherry Point Refinery (BP), Blaine, Washington 225,000 bbl/d (35,800 m³/d)

These are the only BP refineries in USA. So if you are buying BP gas in Florida, North Carolina, and on and on it is coming from somewhere/someone else.

Also BP is closing ALL of it's gas stations in USA because it is unprofitable.

The brand of gasoline means nothing.

 

The "Big 3" (which we now call the "Detroit 3") don't use Chevron street gas for certification testing. It's possible that Chevron makes and sells a cert-blend fuel, but that's not what we use. Ours (and I know first had Chrysler's) comes from Haltermann. We also get some from Gauge, but they re-sell a lot of Haltermann, especially the cert EEE.
If only I could run EEE in my MINI all the time. It actually only costs us about $6.50/gal when we get 4,000/gal at a time. It's the California no sulfur PhaseII cert fuel that's $9/gal (or maybe $14 now?).

 

Well there's a lot of interesting posts here, but I don't think it's too difficult to get better mileage. I'm averaging 32-32.5 consistently for everyday driving, and I can get 38 or better on the highway. What do I do? Well I'm using 93 Octane but from Sheetz and Shell only. It's .25 a gallon more than regular which equates to $2.50 on a 10 Gallon fill up. That's no big deal. The key is using Cruise control as much as possible. Its so easy to just press down on the gas a little more to get that acceleration feeling, but it also eats gas. The biggest issue for me is letting people pass me on the left! Aaauuugghhh! I know I can blow right past them and holding back is sooo tough. Cruise control helps a lot. If you don't have cruise, or an auto trans, keep your RPM between 2000-3000. You'll see an improvement right away. The biggest issue is keeping the mini down to 65 (on 55 MPH highways) and not going over 72 on the Interstate. I just hate it, but I'm getting over 400 miles on a tankfull.

 

Just for clarification the trips in question were all highway and cruise set to 67 MPH. Two trips to Chicago and one trip to St. Louise. In the past I have not been able to make a round trip to either without fueling, now I have gas left when I get home. Since it is highway miles, shifting would play a very small part and I almost always used cruise in the past on similar trips. Most of the fill ups have been at the same Shell station, but that isn't even 100%. Very odd.

 

I stand corrected. Actually, beaten into the ground like a tent peg, but corrected nonetheless. Teach me to believe Chevron's ads. I'll still keep using it, though. I likes the additives, I do, precious. Yessss.

 

[quote=SumWon;2336013]I have been a hard core BP customer since I purchased my MINI in April 2003. British car = British gas. Makes sense right?

No. car is German now, not british

 

And German gas is a little harder to come by. Unless you drink German beer, in which case, well.... never mind...
(sorry, second glass of wine, stupid joke gene kicks in)

 

 

*snickers*

 

I use Shell exclusively. I average 30 mpg with my JCW. If I get on it a lot, it drops to about 28 mpg. 33 on the highway at a steady 70 is no problem!

 

Ditto for me

 

350-400 miles on a tankfull
I wish i could keep my foot off the damn throttle! I get more like 325
Oh well, Im still happy. I came out of muscle cars and hot rod p/up trucks that all averaged 10-15 mpg, so I'm still very happy getting what i am.

 

Correct, this is the problem. Try a gas that doesn't have any ethanol, then try a 10 percent. Ethanol or E85 is about 33% less efficient than gas.

 

Where are you guys getting all these incredibly reduced mileage figures? Straight ethanol, E100, has 66% of the energy content compared to that of an identical amount of straight petrol (no ethanol blend). In testing, this has resulted in a little more than 70% of the mileage compared to regular fuel. This is on flex-fuel vehicles.

The amount of energy content in a given blend is pretty easy to calculate:

E15 = 15% ethanol = .15(.66) + .85(1) = .949 or ~95% of the energy content as compared to straight petrol. To explain, 15% of your fuel from ethanol multiplied by it's 66% (relative) energy content + 85% of your fuel from regular petrol multiplied by it's 100% (relative index) energy content.

My own logging of empirical evidence has held up to these calculations as well (at least, so close as to put it within margin of error...definitely no 20% reduction in mileage).

I'd check my tire pressures, air filter and whatnot before I'd start going insane over fuel blends.

- Matt

 

OK, so I was 3% off. Your estimates are close to mine for E85. Your estimate on E15, while mathematically correct, varies quite a bit depending on the car. I'll try and do some detailed testing since I take long trips all the time and report my results on the same exact route and speed using E10 and straight petrol 93 octane.

 

Actually, one of the requirements for "Top Tier" gasoline status is that *all* grades of their gasoline must contain *at least* 8% ethanol and no more than 10% ethanol, at *all* of their retail locations.

So whether or not all of the Shell stations have the stickers on the pumps yet, I'd bet that they're all using ethanol-blended gas, or else they wouldn't meet the "Top Tier" requirements.

Same goes for all of the other "Top Tier" retailers (from the website www.toptiergas.com):

QuikTrip
Chevron
Texaco
MFA Oil Co.
Conoco
Phillips 66
76
Entec Stations
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Kwik Trip / Kwik Star
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Co.
Turkey Hill Minit Markets
Mileage Stations
Chevron Canada
Shell Canada
Petro-Canada
Sunoco Canada

 

I have been using mostly Shell for years, (5% discount with Shell credit card). Recently my mileage has dropped, I believe because they are now using ethanol.

Going to see if I can find a brand that doesn't use ethanol. If they are going to reduce my mileage they should charge less than the stations with no ethanol...but they don't.

 

 

This is so strange I am new and have only put 2 full tanks on my mini. Silver 02 MC (non S ). The first tanks i got 348 of aprox. 12 gallons and the second was 367 from 11.8. THe second tank I installed a k&n panel filter. But for non s i am still getting at best 31 mpg. THis weekend i am putting in new spark plugs we will see what that does.
I also think ther might be an exhaust leak somewhere, I hear puttering and have almost no power for the first 1800 rpms. Am just crazy and this is normal?

 

31 MPG from a first-gen Cooper doesn't seem *too* bad, especially if there's a lot of city driving in the mix. I think the EPA ratings for the 2002 were 27 city / 37 highway.

How many miles are on your Cooper?

 

You guys are killing me. I get 270 out of a full tank...on a good day!
It's designed to be driven hard--really. Try it, you'll like it. It's a way of life (Frank Zappa quote.)

 

35k on my mini, I got antsy and installed my new plugs. Started quicker idles smoother and accelerates smoother. We will see how mpg does. And btw I used ngk iridium with the single electrode 7.99/plug (can;t rember the part num though.)

 

Chevron exclusively. I noticed a drop in my previous car when I swtiched back and forth between grocery brand and chevron. I always got better milage and it seemed like there was less hesitation. I had that car for 4 years and had the injectors cleaned twice. The first time they were nasty as all get out, the second time was uneeded after I made the exclusive switch... it ended up being a problem with timing.

 

Well she is still holding. I am regularly getting more than 350 miles per tank on the highway, even pushing 400 mark if I keep my cruise speed under control. I do think I got a bad tank full last week while in NC, she was struggling to get up the grades that she was previously chewing up. I have run several tanks full since then and she is back to her previous performance.

It is amazing how sensitive the MCS is to fuel quality, but I guess it makes sense. If you want a car that can run on crap, buy a GEO. If you want a performance car, buy performance gas. It is just too bad that BP seems to fall into the first category. Shell all the way for me!