Best performing gas?

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AZjeff

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My 11 mile drive to work is fairly flat with 2 rises and early in the morning I have no traffic to deal with so it can be a good indicator of how my 02 xterra is running. On 2 regional convenience store gasoline products and 76 it will consistently kick down at the same spot (within 50 feet) on both rises. On a Chevron fill up it will pull the first rise without kicking down and get noticeably further up the 2nd rise before kicking down. Cruise set at the same speed, no wind, same load (me), same tire pressure etc. It's obviously making a bit more power in the low 2k rpm range. I haven't tracked the mileage specifically to the brand of gas but will start. Anyone else notice a repeatable change in performance in gas brand?
 
I noticed something similar while using Shell gas. The car wouldn't kick down a gear while using Shell on a nearby hill. Both Shell and Chevron are on:

www.toptiergas.com

Looks like 76 is also on there. BP was recently added to the list but the car doesn't seem as peppy while running that brand gas.
 
I noticed a power difference in gas.

Shell works best for me, Esso seems inferior.

I am stuck using Esso because there are no good Shell stations near where I live.

I live off the island of Montreal, so I pay most times ~10 cents less per litre than if I were to use a Shell station near where I work.

So I stick with Esso, but there is definately a difference in fuel performance that I can tell.
 
I wonder if it has to do with Ethanol content.

I notice the biggest difference when I go out of the way to find non-ethanol "real" gas. I see tremendous power and mpg gains. Since the makers don't disclose how much ethanol is in the blend we get at the pump: - "May contain up to xx% ethanol" -, perhaps some blend in more or less.
 
Originally Posted By: Oro_O
I see tremendous power and mpg gains. Since the makers don't disclose how much ethanol is in the blend we get at the pump: - "May contain up to xx% ethanol" -, perhaps some blend in more or less.


Tremendous? I've never noticed a difference whatsoever.
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: Oro_O
I see tremendous power and mpg gains. Since the makers don't disclose how much ethanol is in the blend we get at the pump: - "May contain up to xx% ethanol" -, perhaps some blend in more or less.


Tremendous? I've never noticed a difference whatsoever.


That's what she said...
wink.gif
 
In my Mazda, I tend to get slightly better mileage on Shell premium than BP premium (maybe 1 mpg difference). Easier to notice on the highway. The difference is offset by the higher cost of Shell gas, though.

All other things equal, this should not happen... perhaps there is less Ethanol in Shell gas? perhaps my engine just prefers the Shell mix more than the BP mix?
 
On my older Porsche (93 968), had no computer, it was very persnickety about what fuel it ran well on (premium). Ran best on Chevron, then Shell/Texaco. It was pretty obvious when I got a bad tank of gas.
 
My Focus seems to "like" Valero and Exxon/Mobil gas more than anything else. It runs good on other Top Tier fuels, but not as good as Valero and Exxon/Mobil.

When I use something non-Top Tier such as Hess, the engine will definitely stumble occasionally when idling. It is noticeable.

My Elantra's performance is about the same as the aforementioned performance that the Focus has.

My truck is not choicy at all and will chug on down the road on anything.

I wonder if the fact my truck is a V8 has something to do with it.
 
Which ever one has the newest/cleanest tanks. 99% of the rest is placebo affect.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimzz
Which ever one has the newest/cleanest tanks. 99% of the rest is placebo affect.


? So my xterra thinks the Chevron gas is better so it pulls the hill without downshifting? I filled up at Chevron yesterday and it pulled the rise today at it's heaviest condition. It won't pull the rise with other brands at 1/4 tank. I have a repeatable result that seems to indicate something is different.
 
The new Shell V-Power Nitro+ is amazing
smile.gif
been using chevron 94 for the past few months and made a switch to Shell like 2months ago.. The old VPower was already amazing .. the new Vpower Nitro+ is a bit better imo.. i get better gas mileage too...
 
Save some hard to find specialty fuels, most gasoline is a commodity product. Certainly the effectiveness of detergent additives make a difference in the long run, but there's nothing that should affect mileage or performance over one or two full tanks. In the same area, they're probably getting that fuel from the same depots and the same storage tanks, where the actual fuel could be coming from any number of different refineries, and possibly mixed. An individual refinery in turn may have differences in their fuel depending on the crude source.

About the only thing would be if it's improperly labeled (which can be considered fraud) or if the tanks are contaminated with water.

There's a term in the industry for this: a "branded commodity".

Quote:
http://blogs.platts.com/2010/08/23/unbranded_vs_br/

“All gasoline that comes out of refineries that has met governmental standards is then shipped via a pipeline where it is then put into a wholesale terminal of about 3 million gallons,” said John Eichberger, vice president of government relations at NACS.

From there the gasoline gets mixed with product from other refiners and then shipped through another pipeline to a storage facility.

At that point, said John Eichberger, vice president of government relations at NACS, there is no way to tell which gasoline was produced by which refiner.

“I don’t think retailers in the US can say with certainty where their fuel comes from,” said Lenard.

At Valero, spokesman Bill Day said that much is true.

“It is true in that gasoline is a fungible commodity,” said Day whose company owns and operates almost 1,000 branded stations in the US. “But there are certain detergent packages, added at the end, that make it brand specific. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that the gasoline that is for sale at a branded station was made by that refinery.”


Also - this was from 5 years ago before Valero decided that they'd participate in the Top Tier program:

Quote:
Valero’s Day said their gas stations do not offer a patented “value-added” detergent package to their gasoline.

“We have distribution agreements and add proper packages at the rack but we don’t have specifically branded additives,” said Day. “All of those packages add to price and Valero competes on price, not marketing.”


So Valero was one of the large refiners, but at the time they didn't have a chemical company make a specific additive for them, nor buy off the shelf additives that would be the only ones they used. They just used what generic additive was offered to them at the terminal, which is what a typical independent gas station would ask for.
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
I noticed a power difference in gas.

Shell works best for me, Esso seems inferior.

I am stuck using Esso because there are no good Shell stations near where I live.

I live off the island of Montreal, so I pay most times ~10 cents less per litre than if I were to use a Shell station near where I work.

So I stick with Esso, but there is definately a difference in fuel performance that I can tell.


All of your local fuel is from the same refinery. The additives put in may be different.
 
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: Falken
I noticed a power difference in gas.

Shell works best for me, Esso seems inferior.

I am stuck using Esso because there are no good Shell stations near where I live.

I live off the island of Montreal, so I pay most times ~10 cents less per litre than if I were to use a Shell station near where I work.

So I stick with Esso, but there is definately a difference in fuel performance that I can tell.


All of your local fuel is from the same refinery. The additives put in may be different.

Not necessarily the "same refinery". If you read the article I linked, someone in the industry talked about fuel depots receiving commodity fuel from several refineries where it gets mixed. There really isn't that much incentive for a refinery to produce fuel that's "better" than it needs to be. It costs money or they lose money by doing that, and to the refinery, it's a just a commodity product where the refinery that made the fuel can't necessarily be determined. Certainly in California, Cal EPA can subject any and all fuels to labs tests - at the refinery, fuel terminal, or gas station. There's an incentive certainly to meet the standard, but what incentive is there to make it "better" when you're name may or may not be attached to it at the point of sale?

There might be ethanol-free gasoline or racing fuel, but even that's a commodity where one can't necessarily pinpoint who made/blended it.

I live closest to the Chevron Richmond refinery. Several times they've had to shut down or reduce their output. There's a fuel terminal nearby. I'm guessing that as a result it probably makes the most sense that it gets most of its fuel from the closest refinery, most of the time. However, that area is criss-crossed with pipelines to send/receive fuel to other fuel depots and to receive fuel from other refineries. When that refinery is shut down, the nearby fuel terminal doesn't just run out of fuel.
 
I just wanted to add that there is a variation in "energy content" of all fuels, but it's not anything that a refinery is going to care enough to ensure that it's always the highest. I doubt they get tested for it, and as I hinted, it's something that often depends on the individual crude source.

One may very well find that one tank results in a better fuel economy even accounting for differences in driving style. However, there's already a normal variation in fuel with up to 10% difference in energy content. So it might be possible, but then again almost all fuel is distributed as a commodity. Shell stations 50 miles away may be selling a measurably different fuel, but that gas station across the street may be loading what's essentially the same fuel except for the proprietary additives.
 
So are you guys saying the slight difference I see in performance using the Chevron gas is an anomaly that will disappear with a different load of fuel to the station? It seems like I've noticed this difference in power enough times in direct relation to filling up with Chevron for there to be something to it.
 
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