MPG of gasoline brands

[MNgopher]

"Gas comes out of the same refinery to different end retailers [with a few proprietary additives]. Amoco BP has their own source.
There is no chemical difference to cause a MPG difference. Many other factors could cause results to vary."

Careful - in some markets gas comes from different refineries. I can show you testing results from this area that show how different the gasoline from three different major source refineries actually are. They technically all meet minimum specifications, just in different ways due to differences in source oil and refining processes and goals. They do end up with different energy contents as a result. That can result in differences in performance and mileage.

I will grant that other factors come into play, but the reality is there sometimes are differences and sometime not. It all depends on the distribution of gasoline in your area.

 

[pa04prius]

Results are in - last 2 tanks averaged 43.2 mpg. I will never - repeat NEVER - try the Marathon gas again! Don't know what the difference is but there is really something that messed up my little 4 cyl. ICE.

 

[Blake Sobiloff]

I've started keeping track of the mileage I get on different brands of fuel. With my motorcycle (KLR650) it's pretty easy to see any difference since I take the same route to work on it each day.

So far, I'm averaging about 48 MPG on Valero but 53 MPG on 76. It is remarkably consistent in back-to-back tankful testing.

My previous motorcycle didn't like Valero, either; it started harder, had poor throttle response, and got fewer miles to a tankful. It's a shame, too, since I'd like to support a local refinery if possible. But, I'm not willing to give up nearly 10% of my MPG to do so.

 

[nortones2]

We have remarkably similar debates here in the UK. A number of opinions that "all gas is the same", but with little factual to back up this or the counter claims for premium fuel. The sole factual source of information on supermarket petrol quality I have seen (not being an industry insider) is an article in Evo (issue 44) where 3 vehicles (Honda 2.0 type R, BMW, Jaguar) were examined internally before and after running on a diet of Shell Optimax which is 98RON with claimed specific cleaning additives. The Honda had been fuelled largely with "supermarket" 95 RON octane fuel, and showed quite heavy deposits on the valves, initially. After using Optimax for 1500 miles these deposits were largely removed. Ergo: the conclusion was the recipe for some petrols is better than others, and even though UK EN/** may be met by supermarket fuel, that does not mean that it is state of the art. Whether the average driver knows or cares is another matter, but I won't willing use a fuel that fouls up the innards!

 

[Racerjk]

I tried Valero premium after running Phillips 66 for quite some time. The Valero made both my vehicles feel like they had a tuneup! I had great results in the past with Phillips, but my performance and gas mileage have really gone to the dogs lately. My MPG seems to be better as well!

 

[Mitch Alsup]

Whether or not your car needs or wants a particular brand of gasoline to get performance/milage is HEAVILY dependent upon the vehicle the gasoline goes into.

On my 4 Toyotas, I simply feeed them the gas of the least expensive station when I am looking for a fillup. NONE of these cars give a hoot as to the brand, quality, or octane ratings of the gasoline. These cars just run and run and run {130K miles, 87 K miles, 118 K miles, 4K miles}.

On the other hand, my Ferrari F355B is very picky about the gas that goes in its tanks. For it, I use top tier gasolines and this particular vehicle perfers gasoline in this order:: Track-Obtained 106 Octane NoLead, Phillips, Chevron, Shell, Texaco. I have no particular Idea WHY this car prefers the gasolines in this order (excepting the race gas), but it does.

 

[Pbert25]

I've really been happy keeping Diamond Shamrock/Valero/Shamrock in my tank has done well. I use 87 for the most part, but for a while I've tried some 93 in the tank(not a lot) thanks to a promotion Valero has on 93 oct. Here in San Antonio, were not that far from Valero's Three Rivers and Corpus Christi East/West. The combination of the 2 Corpus Christi refineries make it the the 4th largest in the US(or is that the world).

 

[BUBBA0420]

Yep Pirus: That would be due to Ethanol

 

[Racerjk]

BP/Amoco seems to work well also!

It's not widely available in this area though. There is only ONE or two BP stations along I-30 in Arkansas. They are over one hundred miles apart, and there aren't any around them either. Now that can't really be Amoco/BP gas can it?

 

[SSQ]

all gas, no matter which company it's from, goes by the same pipeline. The companies deposit in one and, and can then withdraw it from another end. Companies often also use the same refineries. As a result, no matter which company you are with, the gas is the same up to this point.

Additives are then added, causing them to be different from one another. However, regardless of what they call it, a lot of companies uses the same substances for additives anyways, so it can't be all that different unless it's with small local gas companies.

In my opinion, the major difference would be the stations themselves. Ones that are old and lack maintaince might have unwanted stuff in their tanks. There might also be leaking tanks that allows water and junk to seep in. I personally think that as long as you pick a pump that looks well maintained, it should be fine.

A little off topic, non MPG related story:

My previous car, a 2002 vw jetta, got poisoned by an beat up Arco, causing the engine to knock real hard. The knock was to a point where the motion of the knock felt like an consistant impact when it's running. Diluted it with Cheveron enough to get rid of the knock and traded it in.

 

[bulwnkl]

Someone asked where grocery store fuel comes from. In this area, Fred Meyer (not really a grocery store) and Albertson's have Flying-J tanker trucks refilling their tanks very frequently. I'm sure they either spot-buy the cheapest or else have an arrangement with a distributor.

The thing is that in this area the Flying-J/Costco/Maverik/Fred Meyer/etc. fuel is SOOOO much cheaper than big-name national chain brands that I can use a maintenance level of Redline's injector cleaner with every single tankful so that I get the best cleanliness available and I STILL save money compared to a big-name brand even if I was using their 5%-rebate credit cards.

So here, the choice is obvious: Use the cheapest stuff there is (which is also the highest turnover, BTW, and therefore the freshest and least rusty/contaminated) and add Redline SI-1 or Chevron Techron if you're not comfortable with "good enough."

 

[MNgopher]

"all gas, no matter which company it's from, goes by the same pipeline."

Again, not necessarily true. This is entirely dependant on the fuel supply in your area. Defintiely NOT true in this area, with different pipelines, differnt refineries, and different terminals all coming into play.

 

[crw]

I'm no expert, but I've heard that they have a
"marker" (chemical marker?) that separates one
fuel from the other, coming through the same pipe.
Once they find the marker, they know that "this gas"
is done and another is starting....

Like I say, not an expert but I have a pipeline
endpoint a few miles from my house, and I've heard
that that is how they do it.

 

[Mitch Alsup]

"all gas, no matter which company it's from, goes by the same pipeline."

I might add that while the gasoline part goes through the pipelines, the ethanol part does not, but is blended just before the truck leaves the local dispatch station.

 

[SSQ]

well, yeah. Ethanol can be considered as additive package, which is often added after leaving refinary, think I mentioned that before.

"Again, not necessarily true. This is entirely dependant on the fuel supply in your area. Defintiely NOT true in this area, with different pipelines, differnt refineries, and different terminals all coming into play. "

Lets say the different pumps get their gas from different refinaries. those refinaries however, get their oil using a "branch" of pipeline coming from a source, often harbors or one single huge pipeline carrying oil from a production source. From the harbor, tankers of different oil companies dump them all into that branch of pipelines, which will carry them to the refinaries located in various locations. Oil from different pipelines still carries oil dumped by the same few companies. Sure, not completely true in some cases, but it happens so much that it's just easier to assume so.

When a company is to plan to build a new refinary, they often seek to build one close to an existing pipeline, which would save them lots of cash in the long run.

My point wasn't the pipeline thing in the first place. My opinion is that most people should be fine if they pick a pump that looks well maintained and carries gas from a known company. Even though Arco killed my previous car, I still use them when there's not really a choice (they open 24 hours over here, and they are the only ones), as long as it's from a bling looking place.

 

[yooper]

I consistently get 2 miles less per gallon on my 96 ford f350 powerstroke if I fillup at either holiday or citgo. I get the best mileage from the local Cenex which happens to be where all the truckers fillup. This is tracking mileage over 3 years.

I bought a scan guage a couple months ago and have been tracking mileage in my 02 Jetta 2.0 and was getting 31 mpg mixed driving from Cenex fuel. One tank of Holiday fuel and my mileage fell to 26.5. I think there gas is as bad as there diesel. I'm convinced that fuel quality varies.

 

[pa04prius]

I think that some of us notice a change more readily than others because of the difference a 10% (or any percentage) drop in mpg is a lot greater in a 45 mpg vehicle (4.5 mpg) versus an 18 mpg vehicle (1.8 mpg).

Maybe the Otto cycle engine in the Prius makes it a bit more susceptable to changes in grades of gasoline. I failed to mention that I use 1 oz. FP per gallon at each fill up, but that was true for both the Shell and Marathon.

When you put on 20,000+ miles per year like I do, a little diference can add up to a lot.

 

[MNgopher]

SSQ, Crude oil also varies in its properties, so even if refineries use the same pipeline to get crude, they often are utilizing different types of crude.

Even if the refineries operate off of the same pipeline to supply crude oil, the gasoline (or diesel for that matter) is not necessarily the same either. There are two refineries here that are only a few miles from each other and source crude from the same pipeline and production areas (mainly canadian crude). Testing of the gasoline will show significant differences in the actual content of the gasoline, even though they both still meet minimum specifications.

While it may be easier to assume that its all the same, it is definitely not true in many areas of the country!

 

[kanling]

Here's some interesting information about how one pipeline, Colonial Pipeline, works.

Whether you get "brand name" fuel or "generic" through the pipeline depends on whether the shipper considers their product "fungible" or not. LOL.