Sorry - yes they have to meet a spec but it is still just a marketing ploy. Plenty of other gas brands meet the same spec but they aren't interested in spending money to be added to top tier group. Same thing as oil companies still saying you NEED to change oil - synthetic or not - every 3000 miles. All marketing

 

Hardly anything to worry about though. Does this concern you are you just point out how a gas hose works? Honestly I see no need to fret unless you only get $4 worth of gas every time or maybe just like to worry. Where I am at we have 93 everywhere, so a few ounces (gallon maybeeee) of 87 is not going to kill me and cause detonation.

 

Show me the data that supports your supposition?

 

I've always heard that Shell has the best gas. Used it in my sportbike almost every time I filled up...seemed to do the job. And that bike is revving way higher than most any car ever could dream of, so the type of gas/oil/fluids in general is very important. We have a couple high performance cars and we use mid-range fuel and always have...never had an engine problem. Unless you're racing your car...it really won't have that big of an effect

 

We're west of the Mississippi so we don't get the good stuff. You can only get 92-93 from Texas on back east. CA gets **** gas...

 

Yea, I believe Shell here in Ohio is 93

 

Out of curiosity what is the recommended grade a gas for the MCS?

 

We have the 2009 MCS and premium is recommended for our cars. We don't use the mid grade of regular at all. The car seems to run better and we try to follow the recommendations. Since the car is turbocharged I think it's important to keep detonation chances at a minimum. Detonation is not good for the engines at all.

Regards,

Pat

 

The owners manual says to use premium only...therefore it will only get premium. Don't really care if its "marketing".....I paid $30k for a car, I'm going to care for it the way the manufacturer suggests!

 

We're the same way. We bought two cars and have a small boatload of money invested in these cars. (Depreciating asset I know, but boy are they fun.) We really like em. And we too follow the recommendations of the MFG. This forum is full of threads where the recommendations are not followed and problems seem to follow those cars. It's the same reason we fill up at 3 fuel lights. I think it's better to not let the fuel run low. We're also able to get 35,000 miles out of the run flats. I rotate like clockwork every 5k and check the tire pressure once per week. I can't recall what Mini recommends but I rotate regardless. It makes sense to do so. If the tires were two different sizes I couldn't do that. I think at one time there was some controversy on NAM about tire rotation but some things you just have to use common sense on. Tire rotation is one of those things. I pretty much follow the computer for oil changes as well.

Anyway, I'm itching to get my hands on the Coupe that is on order. It too will get the recommendations (for the most part.) of the MFG.

Pat

 

When we bought a new '98 Dodge Caravan the stealership offered a talk with the head mechanic. He said engines he tore down that ran Chevron with Techron were much cleaner inside than cars that ran the local pumps. So there is something to the additives aka Top Tier. Go price a bottle of Techron, it ain't cheap.

True all gas comes from the same distribution point, but what additives are added makes the difference.

As for tire rotation - see the link in my sig for a handy tool to get those wheels back on fast and easy.

 

Actually that tire rotation gadget is not a bad idea. For the older guys out there that may not be such a bad idea especially if you rotate your own tires. I used to rotate my own but since I went to non run flat tires the Tire shop that sold them to me does free tire rotations. It's still my responsibility to get the car in at the proper rotation points. I keep the data in an iPhone APP that tracks fuel economy and maintenance and it reminds me when to do certain maintenance.

(Don't forget to backup your IPhone. LOL)

 

One question though. If the same delivery truck stops at Getty and then Shell and then Sunoco is the gas different. Remember that if the gas station is branded, they are only required to buy a certain amount of fuel from that brand, the rest can be from anyplace. So do you really know what gas you are putting in your MINI?

 

How do you know this and can you cite the source? Do you have a copy of a contract with a gas distributor that we can look at?

I don't buy it. I have never seen a branded fuel tanker stop at Joe's to deliver his fuel. EVER. Least not in this part of the country.

 

I can probably find a copy on line. But can you tell me why I see a Sunoco truck one day delivering gas and two days later is joes truck that just stopped at shell and exxon and711 and jim's station.?? This happens on the east coast where I live, I do not know about where you are.

 

I see generic gas trucks filling name brand gas stations around here all the time. I can't remember the last time I saw a gasoline tank truck with a name brand painted on it.

I know that the local station, that I buy gas from, adds the additive package to their tanks just before the tank truck fills them up. They calculate how much additive they must add for the amount of fuel being delivered and pour it in. They have a separate above ground tank that is full of their additive package.

The sign on the pump says that their gas has twice the amount of detergent than is recommended by the EPA. They aren't a top tier station, but it appears that they meet top tier specifications.

Like I said, "top tier" is just marketing hype.

Dave

 

MMMM I LOVE crumpets with clotted cream and jelly. My tranny will be jealous.

 

Thank you Dave!!!!! It is also known that to keep the brand name the station operator is required to purchase x amount of gallons of branded gas. This allows them to accept Gas company credit cards and keep the name on the station.

 

I think the moral of the story here is....do whatever you can to keep your own piece of mind. If you feel better not paying "top tier" prices, then don't. If it helps you sleep at night knowing you put the most expensive "best" gas possible in your Mini, then do that. Quite frankly, unless you personally work and monitor the tankers/gas stations/refineries...you honestly have no idea what you are putting in your little bundle of joy. Marketing ploy? Definitely part of it...Some fact to the "top tier" hype? Very probable. I'm not going to argue one way or another, I'm not in the gas making business.

 

I honestly don't believe this is true at all... I had a toyota and I accidentally put premium in it once (some station that was listed backwards, so 91 on the left I think) and it ran pretty crappy for that week.

 

I always check to see which gas price shows on the pump when I pull up. Habit after riding the MC or Vespa which only takes 2-3 gallons at a time. Sucks when you pay for premium and get roughly 1 gallon of crap fuel.

 

Meh...I am currently of the opinion that the whole "top tier" thing is pretty much hype. I think any major name gas should be just fine.

Put it this way, my Mini owner's manual says on one line that Mini recommends using top tier gas. Then a couple of lines down it says that Mini recommends using BP brand, which isn't on the top tier list. So, even Mini doesn't know wtf they recommend.

What I will say is that I've been tracking my mpg and I usually use BP out of convenience but I tried Mobil once and my mpg dropped by almost 3 mpg. Right now I'm running on Shell for the first time since I started tracking my mpg and will be due for a fillup in about 2 days. I'm curious to see what kind of mpg I will get.

 

Came across this the other day regarding premium gas. Quite interesting



Stands to reason that if you have car such as the MINI it should benefit from better performance as well. I only use the 94 octane (ETHANOL-free) Chevron stuff but I have no way of measuring if I'm getting any power boost from it. Perhaps if any of you have access to a dyno you could post some results for the rest of us.

 

only no spaces in the tag

 

I agree that either argument is going to be very tough to prove. Some arguments more so than others. I'm just not the conspiracy theory type and maybe are way too trusting, but I do know that I have had no fuel, power, detonation or other "unexplained or weird" problems with my Mini. I can afford to put what I perceive to be an excellent quality gasoline in my car and will continue to do so. Perception after all is reality!!

This is like the endless oil type, weight, frequency of change debate that goes on forever. There's never an end to it. LOL

Regards,

Pat