I know that octain lowers the longer gas sits. So you don't want to buy gas from stations that don't get a lot of business. Also, the equipment used needs to meet standards. So you don't want to go to some place that has rusted out tanks and that sort of thing. I just like to go to the most reputable stations I can. So it's 76 and Chevron for my car. After all, a few pennies is worth piece of mind.

Example: Mom and pop stations sells 91 for $2.25 a gallon. 76 sells it's 91 for $2.50 a gallon. OH MY GOD! I would have saved $2.50 on a 10 gallon fill. I have more spare change stuck between the cushions in my couch than the amount of money I would have saved at the pump. I spend more at the coffee shop than I do at the pumps. I don't think twice about leaving a buck tip for the hot chick behind the counter after spending $3.50 on a tripple mocha. Why should I care so much about saving a buck or two at the pump? Oh, that's right, because the media wants me to. I love that stupid email that goes around telling people not to buy gas on a certain day (complete BS). How about an email telling people not to buy Starbucks on a certain day? To hell with gas, it's the coffee we should be pissed about!

 

werd, the price on coffee is way over priced. It's easy to spend more on coffee than gas.

 

for BUSINESS purposes, all gas is the same.

Mktg 130....it's Econ man, not Race Engine Performance.

for that matter, Starbucks coffee is the same as 7-11 coffee. what's different is brand recognition as well as taste distinction.

 

WRONG and right the gas is all the same but the additives are different 76 uses the best additives to the fuel to help it burn better and cleaner along with chevron and other good stations so when you say all gas is the same its only partially correct.
fill up at rotten robbie one week then 76 the next you will notice that they are not the same fuel.

 

My buddy owned a 76 station. He saw they guy fill his tnks, then proceed to pour about a gallon of "pro power" at the end. I thought it was pretty funny. Must be some heavily concentrated stuff.

 

My father in law, (one of them) tried to teel me my wife and I are idiots for putting 91 in our cars. His rationalle was; "I work at a refinery, I make gas, I know what I'm talking about, My 5.0 is high performance and runs great on 87, you're little four bangers don't need premium".
Quoted almost verbatim from Jerry the jackass.

 

sure, all gas may be the same... but refined with different chemicals depending on the gas company.

 

Hes a former ford employee

 

Bwahaha! High performance my ****!

 

You're paying for the additives. There's something like 50 different types of "91 octane" and that is part of the reason that fuel costs are so high. I lived in Corpus Christi for a number of years, where you could get good ol' 93, and home to the Citgo refinery. It was priced higher than 93 octane gas in San Antonio, 2 hours away. I would think "well, less transportation cost should mean lower gas prices", which is in a way true, but someone decided at some point that the Corpus area needed a special blend of gas additives to combat pollution (which was actually, really horrible in the area). I actually have a feeling the whole "multiple blend" scheme was concocted by the oil companies, because they can gouge the price all they want to in the name of "special blends".

 

any one have any links to some facts? Maybe tests?

 

True.

My company specializes in chemical analysis for environmental reasons and they've confirmed that the additives are different, but basically, the gas is the same.

Hell, it makes sense when you think about where the oil barrels come from. They don't ship them out labeled chevron/arco/BP/etc, but all together and the gasoline companies can add whatever additives they want to differentiate their products.

The professor is right in a broad general sense, but once the companies get their hands on the refining process, it becomes a different ball game entirely.

 

I can tell you for a fact that Arco gas sucks ***, there's no way in hell its the same quality as say 76 or Chevron. So no, all gas is NOT the same.

 

If all gas is the same, then why do I get ~350 miles/tank with 76 premium gas vs. ~275 miles/tank with Rotten Robbie premium. And I didn't drive any differently on those tanks than I normally do. I hate to admit that I EVER put Rotten Robbie gas in my car, but I was on a budget. ...never again.

 

I've filled up at various stations and have gotten different results from each of them. I should keep a log of the gas mileage I get from each station. On a regular basis, I've filled up at Arco (off Grimmer in Fremont), Valero (Washington Ave. in San Leandro by my house), and 76 (Fargo Ave. in San Leandro/Lorenzo). So this is an interesting topic and something I should keep in mind when I fill up my next tank to keep tabs. Bare in mind, I use 87 gas on my RS since the engine's bone stock. Now I have to figure out which station gave me 330-340 on a tank of gas and which one barely made it to 300.