What kind of gas do you buy?

[shipps]

I get low grade unleaded and I dont know why anyone would get anything different unless your car specifically needs it.

 

Speedway always seems to be the cheapest.

[RockRaines]

Premium, any brand name station for my infiniti.

 

 

Any gas will do for my scooter.

[StrangeSox]

Usually BP, Shell or Meijer, whichever one I'm closest to. Premium grade. I could put in regular, but the mileage will drop enough so that I'm still paying roughly the same $/gallon.

[kjshoe04]

regular ass gas.

[iamshack]

Usually BP, Shell or Meijer, whichever one I'm closest to. Premium grade. I could put in regular, but the mileage will drop enough so that I'm still paying roughly the same $/gallon.

Really? Interesting.

 

I am like Rock, my car requires the expensive stuff (at least it says it does, I doubt it would fail to run if I put in the medium or regular stuff).

 

Out here in Vegas we mostly have Chevron. No Speedways, not many BPs, not even many Mobile's (is there any bigger ripoff than the Mobile station?).

[StrangeSox]

Most (all?) modern cars have knock sensors in them and can retard the engine timing to prevent knocking. If the manufacturer recommends 91+, the car will run on 89 or 87 but performance and likely mileage will suffer. For my car (Pontiac GTO), people have compared their mileage and fuel costs for 87 vs. 91+ and it's usually just a wash.

 

On the other hand, if your car recommends regular unleaded, you won't see any benefits from premium.

[knightni]

Regular unleaded for me. Usually whatever's open and near to my work/home at night time when I get off of work.

 

That tends to be Phillips 66 or Shell.

 

Sometimes, it's Speedway or Martin's (which is a station run by a local grocery chain).

 

[3E8]

Strictly Shell premium

[MattZakrowski]

Regular unleaded for me. Usually whatever's open and near to my work/home at night time when I get off of work.

 

That tends to be Phillips 66 or Shell.

 

Sometimes, it's Speedway or Martin's (which is a station run by a local grocery chain).

 

I love getting the gas discounts from buying groceries there, even if I shop ALDIs way more now.

[Jake]

Back home, I use my dad's company gas card at BP.

 

In Memphis, I believe it is a Chevron station that I've used.

[Whitewashed in '05]

I usually put regular 87 at BP.

 

Funny this thread popped up. I found this a few days ago.

 

http://www.toptiergas.com/index.html

 

You don't really need to use premium unless the manufacturer requires it. Running it on a car that only requires regular 87 is a waste.

Edited September 8, 2010 by Whitewashed in '05

[knightni]

[shipps]

I usually put regular 87 at BP.

 

Funny this thread popped up. I found this a few days ago.

 

http://www.toptiergas.com/index.html

 

You don't really need to use premium unless the manufacturer requires it. Running it on a car that only requires regular 87 is a waste.

Thank you Mr. Washed. This is why I started this thread. I think people are wasting their money on the "premium" marketing scam. Premium my ice cream cone ass.

[dasox24]

Back home, I use my dad's company gas card at BP.

 

In Memphis, I believe it is a Chevron station that I've used.

Memphis? What brings you there?

 

As for me, regular unleaded will do for my Ford Taurus. I typically go to Shell or Pilot (based in Knoxville so we have them around town... more of an Interstate-exit gas station elsewhere).

[StrangeSox]

I usually put regular 87 at BP.

 

Funny this thread popped up. I found this a few days ago.

 

http://www.toptiergas.com/index.html

 

You don't really need to use premium unless the manufacturer requires it. Running it on a car that only requires regular 87 is a waste.

 

With modern engine management technology, no cars really "require" it, but cars that are designed to run on 91+ octane will see performance and mileage decrease if they run regular unleaded.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

I try to get Kwik Fill gas since it's American and usually cheaper around me. But whenever i'm around NYC I usually have to get BP or Shell since that's what's around.

[Iwritecode]

(is there any bigger ripoff than the Mobile station?).

 

The Mobil stations near us have a value card program where if you buy stuff in the store you earn money on the card. Only a few cents at a time but when you redeem it you can get that amount off per gallon of gas.

 

So if you have $3 on your card and gas is at 3.60/gallon, you only pay .60 a gallon.

 

 

Otherwise I usually go to the stations that take 10 cents off the price per gallon for using cash.

[T R U]

What the hell is the difference between Regular and Premium aside from the 20 cents in price..

[Balta1701]

What the hell is the difference between Regular and Premium aside from the 20 cents in price..

In most of the U.S., regular gas has an octane rating of 87, midgrade gas is 89, and premium is 91 or 92. (Octane ratings are lower in the mountain west due to the effects of thin air on internal combustion.) Contrary to widespread belief, the octane rating doesn't indicate how much power the fuel delivers; all grades of gasoline contain roughly the same amount of heat energy. Rather, a higher octane rating means the fuel is less likely to cause your engine to knock or ping. Knock, also known as detonation, occurs when part of the fuel-air mixture in one or more of your car's cylinders ignites spontaneously due to compression, independent of the combustion initiated by the spark plug. (The ideal gas law tells us that a gas heats up when compressed.) Instead of a controlled burn, you get what amounts to an explosion--not a good thing for your engine. To avoid this, high-octane gas is formulated to burn slower than regular, making it less likely to ignite without benefit of spark.

 

The majority of cars are designed to run on regular gas, and that's what the manuals tell the owners to use. Higher-performance cars often require midgrade or premium gas because their engines are designed for higher compression (higher compression = more power), and regular gas may cause knock. If your car needs high-octane gas, the manual will say so.

 

Using high-octane gas in a car designed for regular accomplishes little except more rapid combustion of your money. Some refuse to believe this, claiming, for example, that premium gives the family Toyota better mileage or more power. These people are in dreamland. Others say premium is purer or contains detergents that will cleanse your engine of uncouth deposits. Likewise misguided thinking--government regulations require detergents in all grades of gasoline. (BP Amoco, I notice, asserts that its premium gasoline contains more detergents than legally required; if you think that's worth 20 extra cents a gallon, be my guest.) Some automotive types claim that using premium in a car designed for regular will make the engine dirtier--something about deposits on the back side of the intake valves. I've also heard that slower-burning high-octane gas produces less power when used in ordinary cars. Believe what you like; the point is, don't assume "premium" means "better."

 

Occasionally you get some genius who takes the opposite tack--he spends an extra 10 or 20 grand buying a high-performance car, then decides he's going to save three bucks per tankful using regular instead of premium as specified. He figures as long as the engine doesn't knock he's OK. Wrong, carbon monoxide brain. Car engines nowadays contain knock sensors that detect detonation and automatically retard the spark to compensate. The delay means maximum gas expansion occurs when the piston is farther along in its downstroke and thus there's more room in the cylinder head. This reduces peak cylinder pressure, eliminating knock but also giving you less power and poorer mileage.

 

You may ask: Don't knock sensors make it hard to tell when an old car needs higher-octane gas? Years ago, when your beater started pinging on grades or under acceleration, that was the sign that carbon had built up in the cylinders, increasing compression, and it was time to switch to high-test. Now the knock sensors compensate, which seemingly might conceal the problem. Don't fret--today's fuel injection systems precisely meter the fuel-air mix, resulting in fewer unburned hydrocarbons and less carbon buildup. If you're still concerned, I'd say it makes more sense to spend $6 on a bottle of carbon clean-out juice than an extra $150 a year on high-priced gas.

Random link found via google.

[JPN366]

Chevron.

[StrangeSox]

When you start your compression stroke on your engine, the cylinder is sealed off. As you compress the air/fuel mixture, the temperature rises. If the temperature rises enough, the fuel will self-ignite without a spark. This is known as "knock". If it ignites at exactly the wrong time, when the piston is at "Top Dead Center" (the highest point with the least volume available in the cylinder), the heat from ignition gets concentrated over a very small area on the piston surface. Over time, this can damage your engine.

 

 

Look at Step 2, the compression stroke. If you have lower-octane fuel in a high-compression motor, the fuel can self-ignite before the spark goes off. Performance cars use high-compression motors because thermal efficiency and power output are a function of the compression ratio (volume of cylinder with piston at bottom vs. volume of cylinder with piston at top). For the average car, though, many consumers would be turned off by a car requiring or recommending premium fuel, so lower-compression motors are used.

 

Modern cars contain knock sensors that can tell if the fuel is self-igniting. They prevent damage by firing the spark plug later in the cycle if knock is detected. This results in a less-efficient combustion and expansion process and lowers overall cylinder temperatures and pressures so that the engine doesn't knock.

 

This only applies to gasoline (Otto Cycle) engines. Diesel engines are a different animal and actually rely on self-ignition to operate; there's no spark plugs.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I usually just get regular at Speedway (Speedy Rewards, woo!), but my brother told me that getting BP Premium is actually the best thing to do because A) It has invigorate which DOES help give you better gas mileage, and B. It actually evens out in price.

 

My brother works at BP, and they had some guys do a test on an engine or pistons or whatever using reg. gas @ non BP station vs. premium gas at BP and the cost is actually the same when you figure in MPG increase vs. cost increase. And in the process, the Invigorate cleans your engine or pistons or whatever and helps your car last longer.

 

So, in all actuality, BP Premium gas w/ invigorate is the best thing you can do for your car, and won't actually cost you any extra in the long run.

Edited September 8, 2010 by JoeCoolMan24

[jasonxctf]

87 in the Acura RSX

Clean Diesel in the A3 TDI

 

Can't wait until my Jetta Diesel comes in. Was just told today, that they are building it on 9/20 and that I should have it by 11/1.

 

[clyons]

Whatever's the f***ing cheapest. Made it to 105K miles that way, so why stop now?

[Iwritecode]

I just got gas yesterday and realized that they are connected to a local grocery store's "saver" card. Swipe the card and get 10 cents off per gallon for every 100 points on the card.

 

Obviously I had over 100 points because I saved the 10 cents. Then I saved another 10 cents per gallon by using cash.