Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Why?

Outside of a TV commercial I've yet to ever see a lick of evidence behind this notion.... other than the "anecdotal" stuff of "Well this one car I had ran great on brand X and not on brand Y" which might be useful if you couldn't then find 10 other guys saying exactly the opposite.

If there were any real-world evidence of this you'd see that in the commercials instead of "We ran this engine on our brand of gasoline in a laboratory for eleventy-pepsi miles and then got a priest to eat sushi off the bare cylinder walls!"

All gas sold in the US (and I'm sure Canada) has to meet the same standards for additives and cleaners... and all the gas itself comes from the same sources with just the "brand" additive packet mixed in at the last minute.

Can't even try and suggest it'll help the valve buildup issue on the 250 since fuel never touches the intake valves on the car.

Sango

iTrader: (10)

^
Just to add on to Kurt. Canada does have stricter standards and is regulated so the quality of gas is better overall compared to US.

paradise8

Good points Kurtz. I was BS'ing about R+M.

Additives are BS. Like Shell "gas with Nitrogen" You wouldn't want Nitrogen in your fuel. Burning nitrogen would cause nitrous oxides to form, which is a pollutant.

"Why is your gas so cheap? "
" -I don't know, they probably **** in it"

^Conversation with the Gas station clerk up the street.

Sango

iTrader: (10)

I'm confused of why I was quoted. Sounds like you mean Kurtz! Unless you mean that part about why is it so cheap lol!

reyoasian

iTrader: (2)

I don't know about you guys but here I get less than 400km a tank from Esso 91, but constantly over 500 on Shell 91 and Petro 94. That says something.
And I do know the fact that all their gas come from the "same tunnel" in the region.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

it's not that I don't believe you... but I don't believe you.


There's nothing they could possibly put in their gasoline to improve your mileage by over 25% which is the gain you're claiming above.

And if there was they'd be running commercials every 30 seconds informing you they have it.

Unless it's Esso from one specific station that unknowingly has a bunch of water leaking into their tanks or something.

FWIW though 500km is...about 310 miles?

Which is quite a bit less than I get out of a tank at any gas station... and you're claiming that's your high range...so something's funny to begin with.

reyoasian

iTrader: (2)

lol i drive hard and mostly local

not sure about US standards but canada is different, and esso seems to JUST meet their standards

i'm not the first to say their gas is bad, whenever i complain to someone about their gas, 8/10 times they would agree and say they had the same experience

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

I'm not saying every fuel is identical, but none will make a 25% difference, or anywhere close, in mileage.

And as I said for every story about how bad esso is there's another how good it is (and replace that brand with any other).

Just doing a 5 second google I found a thread where you had several canadians debating gas one insisting Shell was the best, and then this guy:


So that got me curious if I could find anyone who tried to actually test difference.... which led me to this:

http://christopherteh.com/blog/2011/04/fc/

Some interesting data there... the too long/didn't read version is on average all 4 brands (including Esso and Shell) gave roughly identical mileage in the long run (albeit in another country)... also interesting was that some fuels did better than others for some types of driving (ie one did best in city driving but worst in highway driving, another was the reverse, with the other 2 in the middle of both).... but again, even the largest differences between say Esso and Shell were a whole lot less than 25% (or even 10% generally) and in overall driving all was about the same.



Seriously, if there was a brand that consistently delivered significantly better mileage on average you'd hear about it constantly in scientifically backed up tests.... there isn't though, because 99% of what goes into your tank is the same from one brand to the next for a given octane rating.

Toymota

The most important difference to me between different brands, is the price. Specifically, how much more they charge for 93 premium over 87 regular. The price for regular is fairly consistent in an area and the premium differential is actually fairly consistent within the brands. Most brands in Florida charge $0.30/gal more. One brand, I want to say Mobil but I don't remember now, charged $0.47/gal more. I have found two Hess stations that only charge $0.20/gal more so I try to go there. That's a $4/tank savings or about 7% over the Mobil station.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Most places I've seen charge 10 cents a gallon more for 87->89 and another 10 cents more for 89->91/92/93/94 (whatever premium is for them).

When I do see the uncommon place charging more of an up-charge for higher grades I just go elsewhere.

reyoasian

iTrader: (2)

lol i don't need any data or not trying to prove anything just giving my opinion from my experience
you can believe it if you want or you don't have to believe it if you don't want to
since i had my car 3 years ago i always monitor my gas mileage pretty tight, comparing different brand, from different location, with different driving environment, and also different driving style
i don't keep track of these record cuz like i said im not trying to prove anything, just do it for my own cause and now sharing my experience
but there HAS been significant difference, at least enough to notice without using any data

i used to only use sunoco 94 until they merged with petro...then i changed to shell 91 regularly because i realized the extra $ for the 94 didn't make much a differece...maybe 10-30km but that is negligible since 2 tanks can never be used in the exact same way
but whenever i used esso, my mileage drop dramatically...which i think is not negligible

just my 2cent

paradise8

The placebo effect is strong in this thread.

adrr

Only thing i can think of is if they removed the ethanol additive. Ethanol has less energy by weight than gas. Ethanol in our gas is only 10%, so your looking at 5% at most in gas mileage.