Premium Gas

Looks like a higher flash-point temperature is all you get from Premium, which means the combustion is delayed. That has to translate to lower mileage, which is exactly what they found in the tests in video.

 

In my mind, the Scientific American article addresses our U.S.A. gasoline scenario, and it's very true, at the current situation, Americans should not in general buy Premium on some perception that is better. Furthermore nobody that I know of is mis-leading consumers to think Premium is better here. EPA, oil companies, Consumers Reports every authority in America says to buy the Octane your car requires, that's it. Basically, we can look at it this way: in the USA, the EPA/Congress have taken control of the gasoline specifications and there is no longer any practical freedom for corporate marketers to fiddle with ethanol content or additives or anything except Octane. We do have TopTierGas.com members as higher detergency "grade" brands assuming that's a meaningful organization.

The Scientific American article avoids the topic of energy content variations. and E0, so it is lacking in that regard.

Other countries such as Canada may have zero% ethanol Premium...clearly in Europe the Premium of some brands seems to be more loaded with detergents. So its much harder in these cases to say no benenfit...maybe we can say not worth the extra cost. Yes in countries outside of USA it seems there is still the (no longer heard here) marketing claims that Premium may be better. There was a time when some Premiums were better here too. If I lived in Canada, I'd be very tempted to try the E0 Premium if I was trying to maximize MPG to set the world record miles per tankful in a Prius. Normally however, I'd likely use regular.

 

^ In the CBC Marketplace expose on gas octane, undercover footage at gas stations shows almost without exception the gas station attendants guide customers to the higher octane pumps, saying it's better, for performance, engine health, and so on.

(I think Greg has posted a link?)

The elephant in the room is the array of pumps: is it really necessary to have so many higher octane pumps, for the occasional car actually spec'd to use high octane?

 

Canada right? US except NJ,OR have self serve, nobody ask the attendants anything except price of a coffee.

Here's how many people report using Premium here (6%):
What vehicle fuel type do you purchase most often? GasBuddy.com
I know, it doesn't add to 100%

 

Coquitlam the area where I live, and one other, Delta, are the two hold outs in greater Vancouver, maybe in the entire province where you can't pump your own gas. Lived here about 25 years, think I've filled up here once: always tank up in another area. My sentiment is not uncommon, no one cares for this BS, but some politician does I guess.

 

Even if your car is designed for Premium, Regular will work just fine, according to a car expert in the video. He says that the computers will now prevent pre-ignition, and compensate for lower octane fuel.

His own car calls for Premium, but he burns only Regular; lower price, better mileage, and just as good for the engine as Premium.

 

What's the reason for not filling your own petrol?

Years ago here, we used to have attended pumps, but that was more of a customer service thing and it's dies out.

We have a new filling station here in Dublin that is now completely un-manned and open 24 hours, so the complete opposite!

 

I'm surprised they still let us pump our own gas, it's such a toxic substance.

 

It certainly not the stations or consumers wanting it. It's mandated by politicians, with various explanations:

1. Employment, in particular for teens.

2. Protect women, keep their dresses clean.

Umm, I think that's it, actually.

 

Gas jockeys are few and far between here. You see them one day, and a few days later, someone else is doing the job. It can't be easy to hire steady help on minimum wage.

 

In defense of New Jersey, the attendants are usually very fast filling your car.
I sometimes have trouble getting my credit card out of my pocket fast enough to hand it over to them.
Also NJ's the cheapest reformulated gasoline in the whole U.S., so having the attendant does not seem to jack up price.
I agree there could be some safety benefits of having the attendant,
So NJ may have something there.

 

Well, the one bad incident I've seen at a gas station was at one of Coquitlam's full serve stations. We were walking on the opposite side of 4 lane street, thankfully.

The attendant had apparently locked the nozzle on, I guess doing several cars at once. Problem was: the auto shut-off had not worked, gas was just agushing. This went on for maybe 30 seconds as we watched, then the attendant came out of the station, did a very animated double-take, and started racing for it. No explosions, but I'd assume the bulk of the gas ended up in nearby streams.

 

Unlikely it ended up in a stream; it probably evaporated first.

Anyone operating a fuel nozzle should never abandon it while it's running. They should be held responsible for any spills.

However I regularly curse the gas stations who remove the trigger-lock, because in cold weather, I'd rather be doing anything else, other than standing outside and holding onto cold metal. I am quite able to watch it from inside my warm vehicle, thank-you. I don't think we need more nanny-state rules to protect us from our own thoughtlessness.

 

NJ also has a significantly lower fuel tax than any of its neighbors, giving its retailers some price advantage.

 

Right (we lived in NJ 25 yrs) but where I live now in Va we recently lowered our gaso tax (stupid I know) but pretty much same as NJ now and I still pay a lot more than NJ for RFG. Has to do maybe with supply factors and gasoline marketers have proprietary formulas they use to decide how much profit margin they can charge in certain areas. I theorize our neighbor MD who is increasing their gaso tax is pulling our prices up.

In any case, the bad news is NJ is giving serious consideration to a major gaso tax increase.

 

Is that because they keep traffic off of some bridges or perhaps higher bridge tolls to cover the shortfall?

Bob Wilson

 

Taxation is a political topic and generally leads to rancor in these threads. I'd recommend moving it to the general discussion area.

 

...the orig discussion of taxes in this thread was only to make the point that NJ gasoline prices are among lowest in US despite NJ being one of the two states (OR, NJ) with attendants at the gas stations (no self-serve gaso like most of USA).

 

Does Super unleaded cause a reduction in emissions? Reason I ask is that Mrs Cabbie had the emissions test on her IQ last month and they were much lower than last years, especially the hydrocarbons. She started using Super 98 about 6 months ago.

Last year hydrocarbons were 57ppm (limit 200) and this year they were 1ppm (limit 200). Fluke or cleaner fuel?

 

I don't know anything about your Super brands, but if they are higher octane, chances are that they don't burn any cleaner. The video I posted on here fairly thoroughly debunked the premium-fuel myths.