Which major brand gasoline is the best and why?

historybuff98

Wondering if all Gasoline is the same(major brands) and should jus keep usin Exxon. Guess I'm jus a quality freak.

kinley

on three Lincolns and one Ford spanning over 300,000 miles cumlatively. It is the lowest in olifin and the best in detergents. What is the best brand of gas in Canada??

malachy72

I propose a gas price poll.
Here in NY, I can get regular unleaded for 1.42 in NJ I've seen it for 1.33

Anybody to chime in?

bretfraz

I think so.

kinley "Report Your Local Gas Prices Here" Mar 29, 2001 10:24am

malachy72

topic was just dead. I posted at the other board. I never knew brand of gas to be different. Just some stations to dump crap into their tanks.

2099

Here in the Midwest (Ohio) most gas comes through a pipeline to a terminal. Regular unleaded, mid-grade, Premium all come through the same pipe with spaces of air inbetween them. Not sure about diesel. It's all the same gas...tankers then come in and fill for delivery, and the various brand additives are added while the tanker is being filled. You can actually go to the BP terminal out in the country here and watch the different branded tankers pull in and out. This may be different in different parts of the country. It might also not be true if you have a specific brand refinery in your local area. (Marathon in Findlay, Ohio for example). I was told this years ago by a BP (then Standard Oil) field rep.

csandste

I think most company owned stores do a good job of controlling gas quality. Occasionally an individually owned station might cheat and put some crap in there.

QuikTrip dominates the St. Louis market and controls prices here. They do big jumps of ten cents periodically and then let the price drift lower a penny at a time. The others follow like baby ducks. QuikTrip's gasolines are guaranteed, but the big selling point seems to be bright stations with lots of cops hanging about for safety (did a ride along and most police depts. go in there for free soda and to do paper work)-- this plus wide variety of soda, crushed OR cubed ice, polite staff, etc. seems far more important in marketing than making claims of a gas's superiority. In fact other than some ads several years ago for Amoco premium (disengenuous IMHO) I can't remember a lot of gasoline advertising in the St. Louis area.

QuikTrip has no refineries that I'm aware of. In the St. Louis market all of the gasoline comes out of two refineries (one may be closing) in Illinois.

What happened to the idea of simplifying the various EPA requirements for different metro. areas? That would save money. Also, why do places like St. Louis require vapor recovery hoses for emissions while most parts of California do not? Making these regulations for different areas less complex would save $$$ IMHO.

toronado455

I heard that Mobil Super+ is the best because they use dedicated trucks to ship it that are never used to ship regular and special (mid-grade). Don't know if that is true or not. I have always used Mobil Super+ because it pays for itself in improved gas mileage and never having to get the injectors cleaned.

2099

The suction pipe in underground storage tanks is about 6-8 inches from the bottom. This allows for the "junk" to settle to the bottom and never get pumped into your car. Also the water that condensed on the inside of the tank stays on the bottom too. (water is "heavier" than gas). Try it in a glass jar sometime to see this. Gas stations periodically use a bottm sucking hand pump to get this "junk" out of the tank. You would be amazed at the dirt etc. thats on the bottom of these tanks. NEVER NEVER buy gas when the tanker is in the station dumping gas into the underground tanks. This is done by gravity feed through large (6-8") hoses and it stirs all that "junk" up and you may pump it into your car. Best to wait an hour or so after the tanker leaves for the "settling" to occur.

tboner1965

Don't most gas pumps have filters? I remember viewing oil-filter like devices on pumps before. I don't know if these have made their way inside the pump now...

Of course, those filters may go into bypass mode like oil filters as well, but I imagine a smart station owner would protect his pumps (that crud can't be good for the pump either)

So I really don't know how much merit to place in your concern.

TB

2099

You are of course right about the filters. They would catch any dirt, etc. IF they were not in bypass mode. Filters are provided to company owned stations , but private franchisees(sp?) have to pay for their own. I guess it depends on if the filters are changed when they should be. Also, I really don't know about this but I wonder if the filters could actually filter out any water given the speed at which the pumps now operate. Maybe I am being overly concerned, but I got some junky gas at a major brand station once while the tanker was there. Check engine light came on, took to dealer and was told to refill tank and add can of injection cleaner/fuel treatment and the light would go out. To the dealer's credit, it worked. Guess I'm just gun shy after one bad experience.

swschrad

now, maybe there are some inside the pump housing, and maybe there aren't. but I haven't seen an external filter housing for at least 5 years, and maybe 8, in the twin cities.

SPYDER98

What does it mean when I see an unmarked tanker truck filling a Mobil station?

This can't be a good thing..

malachy72

the tanker/trailer was rented and not company owned. Doesn't necessarily mean any hanky panky going on, doesn't mean it wasn't going on.

swschrad

by law, all commercial trucks in interstate commerce must have the owner's name in letters, I think 3 inches high, on the doors. the trailers are supposed to be identified as well, but they don't have to be painted with two-foot-high logos.

anything that doesn't indicate "damn tough trucking inc.", "transport inc.", or other independent trucking outfits that own fleets... and that doesn't have oil company logos on 'em, usually also leased or run by owner/operators under contract, is likely an owner/operator trying to make his payments on $150,000 of rolling stock by hauling fuel around the city.

these guys don't have access to a leaking seam of a pipeline under the drainage ditch, they are picking up the same gas (with different additives according to contract) at the same pipeline terminals everybody else uses. interesting to see the Sinclair, EZ Stop, Holiday, Mississippi Transport, etc. tankers all in line under the roof at Williams taking on the same fuel from the same tank, with a little additive poured in the top. there are a lot more different trucks now at the Tesoro (formerly Amoco) pipeline tank farm across the road than just the Amoco leased trucks that still park inside at night.

bolivar

I've written long, elaborate replies to this question before.

The shorter version: Gasoline companies do product 'exchanges' across the entire US. In other words, if ABC Oil does not have a close supply somewhere, it takes gas from XYZ Oil, and give back gas to XYZ somewhere else where it has the supply.

There is usually only one or two pipelines serving any area. Exceptions may be the coastal areas where refinerys are concentrated. So, all stations for all brands in most locations are probably brought gas from the same pipeline terminal. They do specify the additives they want to be put into the gas.

Most of the additives are also generic. All gas is supposed to meet certain 'cleaning' specs now. When fuel injected cars were first put on the road, there was no specs. Companys put more cleaner/detergent in premimum than regular. A lot of injectors fouled, and the government set specs, so now regular gas should have enough detergent to keep injectors clean. (The specs are based on tests developed by Mercedes or BMW, don't remember which.)

There are several other additives. Octane enhancers, vapor pressure modifier, anti-icing, etc. Most companies will use the same chemical to obtain these requirements. They call their additives by some neat marketing name, but the chemical is the same. Now, there might be some minor additives used, but in general they are all the same.

Bottom line, all gas should be about the same.

Now, the problems may be that a company will want to run on the cheap on some of the additives and this might cause some 'drivability' problems with their gas.

The biggest problems probably come from the terminal operations. Gasoline, aviation gas, diesel, heating oil, etc may ALL COME DOWN THE SAME PIPELINE! The products are separated by big rubber 'pigs', or SLUGS OF WATER! The terminal people know how to get their product out of the pipeline without mixing (too much) with the water or other product. There is always a mixture of junk at the terminal that is usually trucked and sold back to the nearest terminal for re-refining.

But, if their operations get sloppy, you might get some water or heating oil in your Exon super-premium.

As Forest says, '--it happens'. How much or how often depends.

That is really another 'bottom line' on gasoline, 'it depends'. On a lot of stuff.

P.S. My qualifications - I worked for a major oil company for 34 years. Not in refining, pipeline, or marketing, but after this many years you hear how this stuff works, in general.

Dang, this also turned out to be long.

I really wish people would quit bring up this question.

opera_house_wk

Over the years, every once in a while, I've tried to use the Economy grade which resulted in bad knocking. No matter how gingerly I drove and with a variety of vehicles, there was always knocking. I do have some antique boat engines that will run great on 80. So this gas was definitely different from other regular grades. These blended pumps are dissappearing, probably as a result of a consolidation of the distribution channels. Maybe this 86 is the source of the perverbial "I got some bad gas" stories when a tanker got some 86 in order to empty the tank at the terminal.

zr2rando

This was a couple years ago, but I check every time now. I pumped a tank of gas at a Shell station and when I was done looked at the door that the gas nozzle pushes out of the way. it had enough dirt on it for me to wipe with my finger and get a pile of it on my fingertip. Tried to think how it got there because the nozzle is all the way through it while pumping...then I thought about how when I finish pumping I pull out nozzle and after shutting off pump let it drain before hanging it up. Now I have gotten into the habit of pumping a couple gallons and then letting it drip a little and checking for dirt, never found any dirt after that time though, never went back to that station either. I use Amoco gas alot, frequently they have the clear top on the pump that shows the gas flow

bottgers

I had read a comparison one time, although quite some time ago, finding that Amoco/Standard had the best gas, with Sunoco and Mobil placing a close second and third. Too bad these brands aren't available everywhere. I used to run Sunoco when I lived in Deleware, but I haven't seen a Sunoco station west of the Mississippi River. Loved that gas! All 3 of these seem to be limited in terms of availability. Too bad.

kinley