Fuel Qualitiies - Chevron - Arco - Sunoco - Shell

[macreative]

What do you personally believe (with or without scientific backup)?
Is there any real difference between
Shell
Chevron
Arco
Sunoco
....and others?

I buy gas from VONS - because it's only $1.98 here in California (Right now, that's cheap in L.A.) and it's actually 3 cents cheaper with your Vons Savings card. 87 grade. Is this gas an okay choice? I believe that there is no reason it shouldn't be...

Is there any real difference in gasoline qulaities?
I have heard that some companies (i.e. Arco) are prone to leaving more deposits in the engine, but I don't really believe that....

[Speedracer]

From what I heard before,,, (Form past yr show at NBC Dateline i think)
There is no different, because all gasoline manufacture uses same pipeline... But each manufacture will added own brand additive right before pumping to the delivery truck.
Unless oil company has own delicated pipe line schduel to deliver the their product to delicated distribution location.
Oh some cheap gas station added water too
I uses to use Sunoco, then Mobile. Exxon/Mobile is bit expensive than Sunoco in NJ

[Tempus]

I vote for Chevron, because so far they are the only Major to support the Top Tier gas program.

Auto Manufacturers asked Gas Companies to increase the level of detergents in gasoline, because newer engines need more detergent, and the gas sompanies blew them off.

So, they set up their own Gas Standards and will award Top Tier branding to any Gas that meets them.

http://www.toptiergas.com/

http://www.chevrontexaco.com/news/press/20.../2004-06-17.asp

http://www.sfrcorp.com/notice.asp?NoticeID=4

[macreative]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tempus\";p=\"40953)</div>

I vote for Cheveron, because so far they are the only Major to support the Top Tier gas program.

Auto Manufacturers asked Gas Companies to increase the level of detergents in gasoline, because newer engines need more detergent, and the gas sompanies blew them off.  

So, they set up their own Gas Standards and will award Top Tier branding to any Gas that meets them.

http://www.toptiergas.com/

http://www.chevrontexaco.com/news/press/20.../2004-06-17.asp
[/b]

Good Input! I wonder, do they add the Detergent to all grades of Chevron Gas or only the higher octanes?? Chevron sounds like a good replacement.

[jamarimutt]

It has been shown time and again that there's no significant difference between gasolines, aside from the few misterious additives added at the very end of the process by some brands. The process of producing gasoline is highly uniformm so all brands are essentially the same.

This is particularly evident in Puerto Rico, where we have all the major brands but only one refinery. I use the chapest generic 87 octane fuel I can find--that's currently $1.66.

[Tempus]

I put another link in there explaining more.

The whole point of Top Tier is that all grades of fuel are required to have the top level of detergents.

The Oil Companies don't like it because that means they can't market Premium as being better for your engine because of detergency. They make much more profit on Premium

[flyingprius]

I wonder, do they add the Detergent to all grades of Chevron Gas or only the higher octanes?

Unlike the Shell Vpower which is only added to the premium (91 octane) gas, Chevron uses their Techron detergent in all grades of gasoline. However, Chevron puts more Techron in the premium gas---- I'm am not sure how much more though.
I use only Chevron and Shell; I know everyone says that gas comes from the same pipe, but Shell and Chevron have better additives; my engine is cleaner and I get better gas mileage with those fuels.

[daniel]

I think (no science here, just my personal opinion) that the Prius engine is the last engine in the world to require special gas or special anything else.

Since I don't especially care about the few cents difference, I go to the most convenient gas station. That's usually either the one closest to my house or the one at a particular major intersection a little farther away. I couldn't even tell you wich is cheaper, or how they compare to other stations in town. If there's a 5-cent difference, that's about 40 cents on a fill.

[DaveinOlyWA]

in this area, there is no difference in the composition of unleaded regular across all brands.

premium level gas is unleaded regular with an additive package added at the distribution center for each different brand of gasoline. considering the markup for premium, it is one of the worst buys value-wise in the world.

realize that in the past 10 years the sheer variety of gas has been reduced by 70%. in fact there are several brands that have merged and are now shipped to the gas stations in the same truck. they have retained brand names in some cases for name familiarity.

also realize that 10 of the 20 largest oil companies merged into 3 supercompanies further combining brands that were once slightly different at the premium level.

[Tempus]

Just a question.

If there is no difference between gasolines, why did the Auto Manufacturers feel the need to set up a program to get Gas Makers to meet a set of minimum acceptable standards for modern engines?