Gas Quality

[Herr Kutz]

So I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday about whether to buy the cheapest gas around or to fill up at more expensive places like Shell.

Does anyone here think buying "high quality" gas with additives from Shell, Exxon, Chevron, etc. really benefits a car at all?

I have done some searching, and there doesn't really seem to be much of a consensus from what I can tell. Are there any scientific studies that prove a certain company's gas is indeed better for your car?

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Is Hess cheap gas or good gas? I've never seen them before coming to FL.

 

[LTC8K6]

Hess should be a good quality fuel.

The basic fuel is all the same. It all comes from the same long distance piping and sources.
The basic fuel meets the minimum legal requirements for quality.
The major companies do add their own additive packages to the basic fuel when it gets to their tankers, so their fuels are different.

At least, that is my understanding.

 

[Ferzerp]

Why on earth can't people write proper polls.

This poll should say

What is the more important factor in your choice of locations to purchase fuel?

Lowest price
Best quality

You've totally ruined your results with the extremely loaded "A certain brand based on perceived quality"

You can't make a poll and skew the options and then try to use it as proof of anything. We already know you desire everyone to chose the first option. When we know what you want us to pick, you aren't polling our gas purchasing habits, but instead are polling a combination of our gas purchasing habits and whether or not we want to agree or disagree with you based on your wording. Furthermore, when you color one of the options so negatively, even if we didn't know what you wanted us to pick, you're biasing results against it.

 

[CraigRT]

I buy wherever is best price. Car has never noticed a difference so why should I stop?

Sometimes the best price just happens to be at well known name brand places, not always local stations.

 

[amdhunter]

Dunno why, but when I fill up with Exxon fuel, my car feels better. Don't know if it's a placebo or not. Sucks because they are usually much higher than other brands in my area.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

My GTI did not like chevron, always got crap mileage out of it. Always felt better with shell/Costco.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Holiday went top tier, that is where I go now

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I usually go cheapest. Chevron in my area is pretty cheap. So go for cheapest gas with a brand name.

 

[Vetterin]

I use mostly Phillips 66 which is one of the higher tier as well as cheaper priced gas in this area. I have never been that impressed using Shell and definitely can't see paying a premium for it.

 

[exar333]

You should have an option for 'purchase a specific octane'. Around Minneapolis, I pretty much have to buy gas at BP because that is the only place that reliably has 93 octane. I need that for my tune...

 

[manimal]

Why on earth can't people write proper polls.

This poll should say

What is the more important factor in your choice of locations to purchase fuel?

Lowest price
Best quality

You've totally ruined your results with the extremely loaded "A certain brand based on perceived quality"

You can't make a poll and skew the options and then try to use it as proof of anything. We already know you desire everyone to chose the first option. When we know what you want us to pick, you aren't polling our gas purchasing habits, but instead are polling a combination of our gas purchasing habits and whether or not we want to agree or disagree with you based on your wording. Furthermore, when you color one of the options so negatively, even if we didn't know what you wanted us to pick, you're biasing results against it.

No need to be snarky. We all understood what the question was.

 

[bruceb]

Since I have an Exxon master card (issued by Citibank) they give 15 cents off each gallon as a credit on your monthly statement. So it brings the cost down a bit. But in a pinch or if there are no Exxons around (like in PA, they are not found often) then I will use whatever I can. I have never had any issues with off brand gas in any car I have owned. Also, in a lot of stations, the very cheapest cost is the "cash only" price. Some charge more for credit card purchases.

 

[Ferzerp]

No need to be snarky. We all understood what the question was.

We all understood the question, and all our answers (not so) subtly influenced by the way the question was posed.

If he's interested in getting good data, that won't do it. If he's interested in proving his friend wrong, he would be better off wording his question in such a way that his friend can't just say, "with the way you've worded it, fewer people are going to answer the second option than they would with a neutral poll".

Look at it this way. What do you expect would be the outcome if the poll were worded in the following way.

"When purchasing fuel, if given the option between spending less and getting fuel that is potentially of low quality, or spending slightly more and getting fuel of a known quality you:

a) I want to save a few pennies, even if the gas station may have water or trash in the fuel, so I always buy the cheapest available

or

b) A vehicle is not cheap, I do not risk my cars by buying potentially bad fuel, even if it costs a few cents more a gallon"


In essence, this asks the same question, but what I've done is taken the poor polling methodology, biased it towards the other answer, and kicked it in to high gear.

The point is, if you want to know the answer to your question, be neutral. Don't word things like this poll (or like my ridiculous poll options that I've made in order to illustrate how bad polls can be).

It has nothing to do with snark. If it helps the guy with future polls great. If he is offended, it's likely that he was more concerned about getting people to agree with him and his poll really has no value anyway.

 

[LTC8K6]

I would like to point out that manufacturers are starting to work with top tier suppliers to tune their engines to that blend of fuel, so you may find not only an octane recommendation in your manual, but a supplier recommendation as well.

 

[Railgun]

Why on earth can't people write proper polls.

This poll should say

What is the more important factor in your choice of locations to purchase fuel?

Lowest price
Best quality

Hmmm...

Lowest price.

His option is

Cheapest place around

Looks the same to me.

Best quality

A certain brand based on perceived quality

Which I read to be any brand that may be of better quality than mom & pop's gas-o-rama.

What's the issue?

 

[CraigRT]

I am sure fuel cleanliness is largely standardized. I can't believe some people think just because its fractions of a dollar cheaper, that it must be terrible. I mean the price is within 2-3%, how shitty could this cheaper fuel be?

I've never had a problem running any brand of fuel in my Honda. I've only once had it where my car was pinging on cheap premium fuel from a no name station. But that was a premium using vehicle. I would say that fuel did not meet the octane requirements exactly.

 

[Ferzerp]

I am sure fuel cleanliness is largely standardized. I can't believe some people think just because its fractions of a dollar cheaper, that it must be terrible. I mean the price is within 2-3%, how shitty could this cheaper fuel be?

I've never had a problem running any brand of fuel in my Honda. I've only once had it where my car was pinging on cheap premium fuel from a no name station. But that was a premium using vehicle. I would say that fuel did not meet the octane requirements exactly.

The difference for me is that half the places around here have 91, half the places have 93. I stick with the 93 Octane locations as I have a 91 minimum, 93 preferred vehicle.

 

[Baked]

I do chevron or costco gas.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Fail poll. Not only is one option loaded as others have explained, but you left out the third option - convenience. I go wherever is closest to me when I need more gas. Sure, if there are two gas stations across the street from each other and one is cheaper, I'll go to the cheaper one, but I'm not driving across town to save a few cents.

One other factor is there's one gas station nearby that has the slowest pumps I've ever used. I refuse to go there now; last time I filled up my car it took about 5 minutes to pump 9 gallons.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I don't care. I fill up with whatever is available. Doesn't make a damned bit of difference in any of my cars or the bike that I've noticed.

 

[foghorn67]

I only avoid Arco. Not because of the gas, but it's owned by BP.
Personal thing, really.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Jeez, a few of you are getting your panties twisted over how he worded a poll? Perhaps you should stop spending so much time pumping gas and sniffing the fumes.
The truth that someone pointed out is that all the gas comes from the same refineries.

There's an Exxon distrobution hub here and you can sit out in front of it and watch tankers for Sam's, Exxon/Mobile/Costco, QT, Race Track, you name it, they all get their gas from the hub. There are additive packages added to the gas and detergents to "clean" your engine but the problems don't come from the gas. Problems in fuel quality come from the quality and conditions of the tank in the ground holding the gas at the filling station.
Would you rather buy Exxon gas out of a 40 year old holding tank with unknown maintenance or unknown brand from Racetrack/Raceway in a new facility with tested and Q/Ced holding tanks?
I run whatever gas is the cheapest whenever the vehicle gets to a 1/4 tank. I don't care about brand.

 

[MovingTarget]

I typically go with whatever is around, but I prefer to go cheap. Lets face it, there's nothing wrong with putting 87 gas from Sams Club in my 97 Cavalier or 87 Caprice.

 

[Herr Kutz]

Why on earth can't people write proper polls.

This poll should say

What is the more important factor in your choice of locations to purchase fuel?

Lowest price
Best quality

You've totally ruined your results with the extremely loaded "A certain brand based on perceived quality"

You can't make a poll and skew the options and then try to use it as proof of anything. We already know you desire everyone to chose the first option. When we know what you want us to pick, you aren't polling our gas purchasing habits, but instead are polling a combination of our gas purchasing habits and whether or not we want to agree or disagree with you based on your wording. Furthermore, when you color one of the options so negatively, even if we didn't know what you wanted us to pick, you're biasing results against it.

If I had done that I would have had someone complain that there is no "best quality" gas (i.e. they are all the same). And no, I did not want everyone to choose the first option as you stupidly claim, otherwise I would not have started this thread in the first place. I'm not claiming there is no difference; I'm just trying to find out if anyone knows of a scientific study proving/disproving these companies' claims.

And futhermore, I have not even revealed my position to this topic in this thread.