Ironman50

Usually use either Shell or Marathon. Seems to get better gas mileage with Marathon. Driving back from Milwaukee I filled up with BP. Noticed substanitial improvement in gas mileage. Was getting 30 - 31 MPG. Anybody has similar experience? Any thoughts on gas brands? I own a 2008 GS 350 RWD with 40K miles. Thanks.

patricksr5

I alternate between Shell and Safeway gas and I cannot say I see a difference in mileage between the 2. I feel that Shell is a better gas (that whole nitrogen enrichment thing) but I cannot prove it via the mileage I get and many people will say gas is gas.

sydtoosic

IMO,, BP is the only way to go. used to use Mobil and Ammoco in previous cars,,, since i started buying Lexus (this is my 4th) i've only used BP.

jamodeo

iTrader: (1)

I will second that, I only use BP Ultimate. I have never heard a bad thing, and most people I have ever asked say to go with BP.

-Joe

Boron

Isn't BP one or the only one of the resellers still doing pure petrol - i.e none of the bio-ethanol nonsense blended?
Then again, I tend to try to stick with Texaco (Chevron) as it has Techron additive to reduce deposits.

That all assumes the fuel in the storage tanks is fine to begin with, and not the dregs from the bottom of a nearly empty/low level one feeding the pump you've chosen/that was free.

Bushwack

Maybe I'm dense but gas is gas. I've used Shell, Unocal, Mobil/Exxon, Texaco, Chevron, etc. They all have their 'special cocktail' placed into the mix to make your car's engine as clean as can be. With over 510,000 miles of accumulative driving, I have never seen a difference in performance or mpg using any major brand gasoline with either a Toyota, Buick, Chevy, BMW, Cadillac or Lexus. I may have received a tank of bad gas two or three times (often caused by high ground water seeping into underground storage tanks). But unless you believe hype in advertising, gas is gas.

tbilisi79

I think all the gas comes from same refineries anyway. I do not notice the difference.
It's 15-16 mpg city and 23-27 highway.

hughh

It does! When was the last time you saw a gas truck with a company's logo?

Gas companies spend a lot of money advertising their products, such as Shell. Only difference between them all is the detergent package. EPA mandates that all automobile gas must use detergents in order to keep fuel injectors clean. This is part of the emission control.

Years ago Shell used to advertise on their pumps that their high octane had superior cleaning properties over their other two octanes. EPA challenged Shell to produce scientific proof or else stop the false advertisement. Have anyone noticed? No more false advertising! I noticed Costco has started to advertise on their pumps their detergents are 4 times stronger than most others.
Pretty soon I expect on of these companies to team-up with Mr Clean, lol.

saefongc90

I have tested with my GS350 Shell, Chevron, 76, and Valero I seem to get the most MPG with the Valero gas lowest with the 76 Chevron and shell seems to be the same but like everyone else says gas is gas. It really just falls down to your preference I would say. Only gas stations I avoid are Quickstop and AMPM because seems like they use cheap watered down gas.

hughh

If they had water in gas, that would cause $$$ damage to cars' fuel pumps and other parts. It happens here and there with the ethanol mandate. Ethanol separates from gas and when that happens, all kinds of drivability problems and damage to cars. We had a major brand gas station here a couple of years ago. The price of gas went sky high, so they added more (cheaper) ethanol than they should've and that caused a major problem to the owner of the gas station. Our local TV stations had a field day! But to say that those two brands you mentioned use watered down gas...I highly doubt it!

hughh

Patrick,
All gas, irregardless of brand, uses nitrogen. It's just that Shell has the best advertisements...

Those that claim that they get better milage from a specific brand have yet to make s scientific study in order to prove it. Too many variable can change the milage...ambient temperature, type of road, traffic encountered, etc.

EPA manufacturers milage test is not done on roads. In addition, they don't use a specific brand. Instead, for the tests they use a specific octane. Usually, the higher the octane the better the milage, even if it's by a very small amount. The automakers then will have to specify the octane they used when they claim the milage and hp that goes on the sticker. This is dog eat dog and most manufacturers will use the highest octane, no matter that the car will run just fine with the lowest octane. Since the age of fuel injection, I can't remember when was the last time I have used anything other than the lowest octane and I have never had any problems.

On3racing

iTrader: (7)

Need MythBusters to test this out.

sprtdsgnGS

I know Lexus requires high octane. Hughh, you don't think the low octane its bad for the car?

hughh

Nope! I have used regular on my '98 without any problem. Modern day cars have knock sensors built into their electronic ignition systems. This allows them to use low octane without any problems.
Prior to my Lexus was a BMW 330i...no problems. BTW - My local BMW dealer was using low octane in all new cars.

The penalty is usually a small amount of degradation in power/mpg. For everyday driving, it will generally be unnoticed. If you are planning to take the car to the track, then by all means, use the highest octane you can find and have a ball.

XxGoKoUxX

Gas is different from station to station, not brand to brand. Each station from my experience.... has different quality gases. Try to branch out and go for the better gas in your area. I use to use sams club gas (because it was 5-10c cheaper). Calculate that out to 16 gallons (average for every user i say?). That's a $1.60 for a better quality gas that I get elsewhere.... I tell my family, "Why skimp out on gas, when it's only a $1.50 difference between the quality".