Best gas?
 

I usually pump Chevron Plus for my car (mazda3s 4dr) but i guess Shell bought out all the Chevrons in the area and i dont know what other gases are good to use



sorry if its a stupid question... but oh well

The cheapest.....and before it's asked, please run the recommended octane for your car also...higher octane gas is a big waste unless your car was designed to run on it

yes i know that. im not looking for the cheapest gas, but the best quality gas for my car

I Like sunoco personally.

uumm..
unless Im mistaken.
isnt it near impossible to tell best gas for an area?
considering different companies are in different places?

lol. true...wasnt thinking about that...



i guess it wouldnt hurt to see other people's opinion though

nope. a little opinion never hurt no body.

Well, I've always thought that Sunoco was the crappiest. But it's what I buy 90% of the time because it's close to my house. And I know everyone who works there (including the mechanic who will hopefully pass inspection on my car this year even with the header...)
I honestly couldn't tell you if any gas is bad consistently in my area.

It really is hard to tell how good the gas is chemically-speaking. Some places will try to rip you off with watered-down gas or the like, especially the REALLY cheap places! Me personally, I prefer a newer station such as this brand new Shell that opened up near Clear Springs. Those newer station's (albeit with a quality name, i.e., shell, exxon, etc.) filters are brand new and not filled with clutter. So the gas pumps quicker and just like a clogged oil filter, it does not allow the passage of this clutter.

Here in tx, you'll notice a green circular seal which shows the last time the pump was inspected, month and year. I've noticed the stations with older "inspection stickers" the flow is slower so you can guess what that could indicate IMHO.

^^^damn, I never thought of that.

Yeah few of us do. My brother works at an oil change place like Jiffy Lube (but NOT like jiffy lube) and he told me that. Now i use that everywhere i go to get gas. You know, around here anyway...

watered down gas = an exxon around here.

I forgot what the place is I get gas at...
somethinga bout a kangaroo, haha

For some reason I find that SHELL gas, 87, makes my car run rougher, the idle is rougher enough that you can really notice, while McEwens gas or Petro-Canada is fine with the car. Would it have anything to do with the composition of the gassoline or the detergents they use??? For me Shell has the cheapest (by price) gas but with the odd idle when i tanked up there I stopped using it.

i thought oil and water don't mix? wouldn't that apply to gasoline too? the water doesn't separate from the oil?

i've started to keep track of my gas mileage. i'll fill up with a tank here and calculate my mpg, and fill up with a tank somewhere else and keep track of the results. i've found my car works better at certain gas stations and stuck with those ones. almost all gasolines have some kind of detergent in it (V-power for example), some more than others, but not all cars benefit from the extra cleaning agents. i've seen a few toyotas actually get better mileage on those fuels with extra detergents. ultimately driving habits are what will throw off my mpg results. one day i'll be driving faster than usual cuz i'm late or something, other days i'm the slowest granny on the road.

Shell is supposed to use some sort of gas/fuel injector/valve header cleaner mix in all of it's octane gases, and just more of it in their higher octane V-power stuff. I'm sure the mix is a pretty dilute one.. but it's better than nothing I suppose.

From their facts page

I typed "TOP TIER GASOLINE" in yahoo and it gives the companies like Shell and Chevron that use more detergents in their gas (Which i'm told is better for engine and valves) I switched from Hess and Racetrak to SHELL and found a very slight savings per gallon (maybe an extra mile or 2 per gallon, but that was also with shell 89 oc) I Drive an 06 Mazda3 5dr . Despite my research i havent found ANYTHING to suggest TOP TIER is better than anyother gas, sure it has more detergents, but are ALL the detergents used good, Some maybe more corrosive or worse for the CAT...so i'm still searching for the answer too!

I think you need some detergents to keep the injectors clean. I just use brands like Sunoco, Exxon, or Amoco. I stay away from Hess, Citgo, etc. And don't buy gas while the truck is filling the station's tanks, 'cause you'll get all kinds of crap in your tank.

What Have you Heard about Hess?
 

Out of curiosity, and b/c i live very near a Hess and a Racetrac...but usually go outta my way to fill up with shell which seems to give a mile or 2 more per gallon than Hess or RTrac...Do you hear a lot of bad stuff about Hess in particular? Hess seemed OK but when i started going to shell i did notice a slight better diff. and Where does Hess get their gas, anyone know? Cause I've always been curious, b/c a lot of people equate nice stations/ and big store with great gas , when really its all a warm and fuzzy farce...Thanx for any info

I've always thought Hess sucks. I don't know that, it's just my opinion. But it seems like I've always gotten poor mileage with it. And when I run a carbureted engine, like my 396 on Hess, the the throttle plates and venturi get coated with varnish faster than with Amoco. Amoco has always been my favorite, but they're affiliated with BP now, so I don't know. I'm leary of BP because they used to be Gulf, which was the gummiest crap I ever used.

meGrimlock, you're correct. As a chemist, I can assure you that gasoline and water don't mix. Gasoline can not be "watered down" and the ground water that we drink will not soak up large amounts of gasoline. In fact, the additive MTBE which improves emissions was taken back out of gasoline because it dissolves in both oil/solvent based fluids as well as water based fluids. It was polluting lakes, rivers, and ground water.

As for brands of gasoline, I ususally buy the cheapest which is an Arco owned by BP. It is also right on my way home. It never makes sense to go out of your way to save money or to get gas that you think gives you slightly better mileage. All gasoline comes from the same place. The smaller companies are simply buying gas from the main producers. So, the main differences, as stated earlier, are the additives. I can't say I've studied this, but they seem unnecessary and here's why.

Pure gasoline is a solvent and by the time it goes through the pump's filters and the fuel filter on your car, there should be no solid impurities. Once it ignites in your engine, it produces CO2 and water vapor while leaving behind some uncombusted gasoline because the reaction is not perfect. These exhaust materials all get sucked away as gases and the unburned gasoline should get ignited in the catalytic converter. So, it seems like a pretty clean system. However, the gas companies say that your engine will build up sludge, but they never say where that comes from. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, detergent additives could help get rid of sludge by helping the gasoline dissolve more material. It is basically like adding soap to water to wash your dishes. However, this also means you could be adding more sludge and foreign material to your engine because the detergent helps things pass through your filters. Also, what happens to the detergent once the gas is ignited in the engine? It may become concentrated or form some kind of byproduct that wouldn't be there if the gasoline was just pure.

Oh, and yes, there is NO reason to use a higher octane than recommended. Higher octance just means the gas won't ignite as easily under compression. For a base protege or 3, just use 87 octane. The MazdaSpeed engines probably have a higher compression requiring a higher octane so that the gas doesn't ignite before the spark plug fires.

^^^ everything you wanted to know about gasoline in 3 paragraphs or less.

I prefer getting my gas at the Mobil station near my old job. It's only pennies more expensive than "Jet Pep" which specializes in doo rags and menthol cigarettes and they have quick pass and fast pumps.

I buy diesel from truck stops like Petro and Flying J. It's always much cheaper but if I'm not on that side of town I go to my Wal-mart. FDastest pumps in town and only slightly more expensive than Flyin' J.

p.s. Put $7.50 in the scooter tonight....averaged out to 70.4mpg. Anyone else get better?

I always thought it was these.

http://www.toptiergas.com/

they are all by my house and so I usually get one of those listed on that site.

Some things to consider...
 

1) Use the octane recommended by the manufacturer. My Mazda 3 is quite happy using 87 octane, as was my Honda Accord. My Toyotas run better (have more power) and get better MPG using plus or premium. The use of a knock sensor advances ignition timing to make better use of higher octane fuels. If you use a higher octane than recommended, you're just wasting $.

2) Three of my co-workers have new Mazda3's like mine. They noticed that ethanol-free gasoline yields about 5% better MPG. I haven't tried this yet because I haven't found a conveniently located gas station that has ethanol-free gasoline. From what I have researched, ethanol-free gas is likely better because ethanol contains slightly less energy per unit volume than gasoline. I understand that ethanol is more absorbant of water and is more corrosive--not good. Frankly, I think that adding ethanol to our fuels was a dumb idea! Not only for the reasons above, but it has driven up the cost of corn and therefore our food prices.

3) I've been advised that much of our gasoline is sourced from the same large storage tanks before it gets to a gas station. Is there that much of a difference between brands? I don't know. But I have noticed that it seems that I sometimes get better MPG after filling up at certain gas stations.

My '3' 5-speed is has only 1k miles and MPG has ranged from 32 to 35 MPG. I think that it will increase somewhat. (But I'm spoiled by my VW' TDI's 50 MPG.) Still, my 3's MPG is really good, and the '3' is much more fun to drive than a Civic or Corolla! It reminds me of a VW. As I drive at least 500 miles per week and am kind of a fanatical engineer, I notice this kind of stuff.