does gas brand affect the performance of cars? i mean like... some places are cheaper while places such as Mobil and Shell usually cost a lot more. Are they actually better since they cost more? btw... does anyone have an comments on the new V-Power at Shell?

 

My understanding from an oil industry veteran is that all refineries share the same pipeline system (except ARCO, which has its own pipelines). The different grades (regular, plus, premium) are separated and they obviously can only take out as much as they put in. When the tankers fill up at the depot, that's when they add their brand-specific detergents and additives. So other than the brand-specific additive package the gasoline itself is the same no matter what station you go to. Consequently I buy the cheapest gas I can find. My cars all run great.

I know a guy who used to be a petroleum engineer at ARCO who said not to use their gas because it contains a higher percentage of long-chain polymers. Apparently these tend to gum up your engine more quickly. I have no first-hand knowledge of this, only what I heard so take it for what it's worth.

 

Mobil and Arco are the cheapest priced gasolines I've seen, while Chevron seems to be the highest priced. Whenever I use Chevron, I feel my cars run smoother but it might be all psychological.

 

I have always driven directly to the gas station with the lowest prices. I don't believe it makes any difference what brand you buy and hype being what it is I know you can't tell anything by the advertiseing.


My seven cars all run fine.

 

where i live i have found a chevron and 76 across the street from each other that have the exact same very reasonable prices, and a shell that is about a mile down that is usually the same or .01-.03 cents higher.
i currently use shell v-power, and have used it since i had my car(3000 miles). although when i had my jetta, i tried shell,76,and chevron and kept excel spreadsheets on mileage and such and i found that shell and 76 gave me the best mpg and were very close to each other, while chevron dropped my miles per gallon down about 3 mpg. i have read that chevron is good fuel, but is smoothered in techron that it cleans your engine really well but sacrifices mpg in the process.

as for the v-power, i have read a lot of posts on vwvortex that people have stated they notice a difference in both power and mpg.
good luck

 

i tried V-Power and noticed that the rmp is a little bit lower when i accelerate, which is a plus for mileage per gallon. the engine also feels a little bit smoother when i step on the gas pedal. about it being better in performance... i think so... psychologically of course btw i have a 2004 CVT and love it!!

 

I've always bought the cheapest fuel available from high volume retailers (for freshness). Usually Costco or ARCO.

Never any problem.

 

I'm not a chem E or petrol E, but I do know that octane rating relates to the temperature of spontaneous combustion and that difference between the name brand pumps boils down to filtering and detergent additives. Local legend is that Harley Davidson motorcycles are the most finicky about gasoline. In Hawaii, most Harley owners prefer Shell. It is also where the Mini dealership fills it's cars up, but that is also the closest station to them.

Both Shell and Chevron are quality products due to their additives ability to prevent fouling of the plugs and valves. Tekron is available as an additive for other brands.

A more rigoruous response is encouraged!

Aloha

 

I read an old '02 thread on Mini2 discussing consistency in gas. Based on that I went to Mobil stations. Then I read good stuff from local owners on Chevron, so now I go there. If you folks like V-Power, I'll switch again. This is an interesting topic...I look forward to everyone's thoughts on this. I personally don't really go to the cheapo places, but that's only because of random horror stories and urban legends of which only part are probably true. It's the small part that may be true that has spooked me!

 

As far as cheap-o, I found one brand to avoid. West Coast 7-eleven's carry Citco or something that is the farm co-op stuff that is made from corn oil or something. The pump sticker says gasohol additives from natures products.

I topped off once with "premium" and leaned the car out so bad it was pinging. I sucked it all out and stored it in 5 gal cans for the lawnmower.

 

I have had no real differences between any of the brands I have tried to include Chevron, Shell, Citgo-7-11, Costco and a few other "I gotta buy gas now" brands. I've bought 403 gallons of gas so far and have averaged 24.95 MPG.



Costco is my gas of choice where I can save 10-15 cents per gallon over name brand stations. Last fill up the price was 2.189 for 91 octane. The extreme spread in MPG between brands has been around 1.5-2 MPG.



My mileage depends more on how heavy my foot is.