as you get better gas mileage with the better gas....

Matt

 

h

 

Stick with premium name brand & stay away from Mom & Pop no-name stations. Most of the chaper stuff is not even good for a lawn mower. In the long run premium is worth the extra change.

 

If regular gas is important, I suggest you consider a Fit.

 

Has anyone had any experience, either good or bad, with Sheetz or Exxon premium gas in their MCS? Top Tier stations are a good bit out of my way for both work and home. My '94 BMW 325IS usually got Amoco or Texaco premium, but behaved nicely whenever I gave it Exxon premium. So, I think I'll be ok with the Exxon, but not positive. I never tried Sheetz premium in it, so I'm not sure at all about it.
Thanks for any feedback.
-BTrimble

 

I've never heard of Sheetz, it's not a brand they sell in California or anywhere else i've traveled to or lived. The concern with running something other than top tier isn't that the octane will be off, it's that the detergents and additives in the gas are subpar, or even non-existent.

You see Shell's commercials about their "V-Power" gas, and how it cleans gunk off of your engine? Well any top tier station will have those same additives, or something comparable. Will running subpar gas in your engine cause harm to it? I can't tell you one way or the other.

Typically running a bottle of quality fuel injector cleaner like Seafoam through your engine every 2-3 tanks will do the same thing. You may also want to run some seafoam through the vacuum lines to clean off valves and pistons too .

 

Yep...Octane should not be off, and much of the basic fuel comes from the same source so indeed it is the differences in the additives that I'm worried about. I should have been clearer in my post. Sorry! I'm just so excited because I just found out from MINI that my car is in the paint shop and scheduled to be finished in production today!


Thanks, that's a great idea. I will probably end up doing just that from time to time.

-Btrimble

 

Interesting thread...I read a few pages. I know better than to put less than 91 octane...And I usually go with Chevron/Shell/Union 76.

However, there is a Victory Racing gas station nearby...they offer 93/105 octane...93 is at $4.45/gallon, and 105 is probably close to $6. What are the benefits, or gains to be expected by higher octane? I've only owned naturally aspirated cars, never force fed type engines.

TIA

 

the 93 should give you a bit of benefit, but for a real kick do a tank (or half tank with 91) of the 105 and really kick the snot out of the car. There's a local gas station that does 100 octane and I notice

Smoother idle (why I have no idea)
Much better peak power (at high RPM)
about 10% better gas mileage.

But don't take my word for it, gas up and go and see for yourself! FWIW, I always gas up with good stuff when I do track days...

Matt

 

Yup, I always fill up with race gas at track days .

Make sure the gas doesn't have any lead in it, 105 octane is pretty high octane for unleaded.

 

I'll throw my two cents in.

I have a Ducati Monster and putting super in it made it sound and run like crap. I use regular and there is no pinging and it runs A LOT better. Higher octane is definitely not always better.

On the flip side. I JUST got my Mini and after about an hour drive home and a little bit of putting around town I put in my first tank of premium. There was a very noticeable change in how the car drove. I can likely assume the dealer just tossed some 87 in the tank and the noticeable improvement came from the correct gas being put in.

Just put the good stuff in there, I went from three half tank fill ups A WEEK at $30 bucks a pop in a Jeep GC, to one $30 whole tank for a week. The 2.50 is not noticed, the other $57.50/ A WEEK more than covers it.

Typing that out really put things in perspective. My gas cost now is still only a fraction of WHAT I AM SAVING. Awesome.

 

a Mini and a Ducati are different....

For those that don't know, the Mini is tuned pretty near the edge of knock onset, and less than stellar gas results in some timing pull. You get less power and less gas mileage with less than good gas in it.

Matt

 

Not just "well said", but PERFECTLY said!

 

I'm already waiting for my tank to hit half full

 

What's the deal with Arco - is the gas really not as good, or do they have different octane grades or...?

 

I can only speak of my experience filling up in my Jeep Wrangler and Sheetz gas, but here is what I've noticed:
I get OK gas mileage out of Sheetz gas, but occasionally my 'check engine light' comes on for the throttle position sensor. In Ohio, they don't have to put on the pumps how much ethanol the gas contains, and I have a feeling this might be where my mileage differs. (Engines get worse mileage with ethanol in the fuel if they aren't designed to run it) I noticed that I tend to get 30-40 more mpg when I fill up at the BP by my house.
Although I don't always get the 30-40 more mpg from every BP, I don't get the error code for the throttle position sensor. (My Wrangler takes regular unleaded, so maybe I'm comparing apples to oranges)

 

I will assume that you mean miles per tankful and not miles per gallon.

Zip

 

Just like with BMW, premium gasoline is recommended because of the high-performance engines. They just run more efficiently.
I've filled the tank with BP premium more than any other brand in the past year, with Exxon a distant second.
A guy in the service dept. at my dealer likes Shell premium.

 

I just wanted to put my .02 cents in and thank everyone for this thread.

I'm pretty sure that whoever filled my car up at the dealership did not use premium gas in my car. The car just wasn't as responsive on the drive home as it was on the test drive. The engine was louder, and when I put my foot on the gas, the car seemed to hiccup, rather than accelerate smoothly. I'm a complete n00b when it comes to technical know-how on cars. After reading the forums here, I switched to premium to see what would happen as soon as I ran out that tank.

I didn't notice a lot of difference on the first day of switching, but on the second day there were a lot of little changes. The car sounds better, it's also more responsive when I put my foot on the gas, and while I am sure that Viola hates doing 25 through the neighborhood, there is no more choppiness at slow speeds. If the car acts this different, so much so that a novice like me notices a change in how the car runs, I think premium is worth it.

Thanks you guys! You've saved me and my new MINI a lot of pain and suffering.

 

If you are supposed to put premium in your gas tank why wouldn't the dealership put premium in your tank when you pick up the car ???

Does the same thing apply for the justacooper I ordered last week? I understand why the S would run better on the best grade of gas but is it worth it on the cooper?

 

They get brownie points from people when the buyer sees the needle on "Full" not from what type of gas they put in the car. Blame how it runs on "brake in"..... (the synic in me...)

Matt

 

Yes, it's worth it in a Cooper. There is definitely, at least on my car, a difference in how Obie runs on 91, 89, and 87. He feels pretty much the same on 91 to 93.

Zip

 

Most definitely worth it in a Cooper! I know that my car is still new and all, but the difference was so obvious to me that I will never run the car on regular again. The whole car behaves differently with premium gas. I'm also getting nearly 28.9 mpg on my mostly in town driving. I only got 26.7mpg on the tank that she came with from the dealership. If you don't believe it, run the car on one tank of regular, and follow it up with a tank of Shell V-Power. The gas will speak for itself.

In answer to jjp007's question, I understood from other customers that the dealership that I went to (whom I really have no complaints about other than the gas issue) recommends regular fuel, so it doesn't surprise me at all that they put regular in my tank. I've heard various reasons for why they recommend regular fuel such as the terrain and elevation, which don't really apply to the area where I live, since both are completely different. I don't particularly care why they did it. I just wish they'd asked me if I had a preference, but since the first tank was on their dime, beggars can't be choosers.

At least they footed the bill for my drive home, and I was able to fill the tank the next day with better gas.

 

I may have missed it, but has anyone calculated the difference in mpg, if any, between using mid-grade from a top-tier station vs. premium from just about anywhere decent (i.e. Costco, etc.)? I'd never use Regular but when I had my BMW, more than one salesman told me that mid-grade fuel would be fine. I typically run mid-grade from BP (which is Amoco) or Chevron, or premium from Costco, Citgo, Hess, and the like.

 

is the higher detergent levels. This won't show in one tank. This is a longer term effect.

But if you really want to know, log some tanks and let us all know!

Matt