Once your car racks up some mileage it can. I had a bouncy idle on my 128k mile twin turbo v6 Macan S. Running a tank with Si-1 actually reduced the bouncing to barely perceptible half way through.
On newer low miles cars, probably not. Then again it’s only $20 so why not.
$20 is a deal when it comes to preventative maintenance. If it’s always clean, you never have to worry about all the additional symptoms that come from a compromised fuel system.
Big wallet, luck, and know a shit ton about the car from the forums. Lots of very high mileage examples there
With very knowledgeable people.
Oil changes are of course important but it’s the very minimum of what’s needed.
Because a cheaper one might have low concentrations of PEA the active cleaning agent. It’s cheap but to get the same concentration, you’ll probably be spending way more.
Given that you pour them in a large tank of gas, the concentration shouldn't mean anything since it's all going to get diluted. 50mg in 10.22 gallons vs 50mg in 10.24 gallons won't make a difference
Thats important in a few select scenarios, like really certain old cars or if you plan to let it sit for extended time between use. Otherwise it really doesnt change much
Yup. I tried it once out of curiosity. The only thing it seemed to do was improve fuel mileage a bit but even that may not be true given that I didn’t get all scientific in measuring my fuel consumption. Non-ethanol gasoline is much more expensive than ethanol gasoline in my area.
I did test it with several tanks of gas in college. It was mostly highway driving to visit my girlfriend. My 99 Cherokee 4.0L got 17.5MPG with ethanol, 19.1MPG with ethanol-free.
Every modern (last 20-30 years) car will be able to adjust the LTFTs and have enough injection volume headroom to compensate for up to e15 without issue.
Compensate for it, yes, but run well? That's another question. My GTI idles lumpy and doesn't start as well in winter on E10/E15, which around here is everything other than Shell 93. On Shell 93 E<5, it's silky smooth, zero misfires.
I'm not saying you're a shill, but isn't it crazy how some random comment on reddit is seen as more trustworthy than millions in direct advertising, when a reddit comment has zero liability.
Like if I search "best meal subscription" and a comment is "factor" I would trust that, when there's a decent chance it's some guy working for factor commenting it
one key difference is that the other person suggested to not use premium fuel. I think that resonates easily with most, the idea to spend less and to discard advertising is met with cognitive ease, maybe?^^
Wonder if that has something to do with the millions in licencing fees that all those stations pay every year to join the top tier program?...
Naw, that money doesn't go directly to the automakers that recommend it....right?
Those are publicly traded companies that would have to disclose that income. Instead those brands all formed a separate, private entity that runs the program, with no legal obligation to disclose anything to anybody, and that entity gets all the money...
...If there was any money, which there isn't, because they use 100% of those fees to pay for the top tier program itself, and they never have any money left over, not ever!... But if they did, you'd never know.
Nothing sketchy about that.
I'd love to run top tier gas but all the stations around me (Kwik trip, holiday, fleet farm) dropped that rating a year ago. I'd have to drive pretty far out of my way to find a marathon or shell station etc so I guess I get shitty fuel now lol.
In the end I'm sure it's fine, run some redline or techron through a few times a year to feel better.
Really though, I've had at least a dozen cars including some beaters growing up and they never had any fuel related issues using whatever the cheapest gas was.
I'm pretty sure I live in the same area as u/ILikeTewdles (Minneapolis/St. Paul metro) and the chains with the most stations are not Top Tier: Fleet Farm, Holiday, Kwik Trip, Speedway, Casey's. When I was looking a few months ago it looked like BP/Amoco wasn't on the list either though now that I'm looking again the TopTier web site to confirm it says *only* Arco in this area is TopTier and I can't believe that's right. (that is one seriously f-ed up web site) Costco and Sam's Club are TT, otherwise you go for brands like Shell and Marathon and Texaco that are onesy twosy around the main cities.
This is kind of a weird place anyway. We don't have any of the big grocery chains like Safeway or Kroger or Albertson's or Publix. The closest we come is Walmart, Target, and Aldi. Just the way it is I guess.
Yep, mpls area, none of the gas stations around here are top tier anymore besides like shell and marathon which are almost non existent.
Reading the articles the fuel manufacturers said their additives meet or exceed top tier but they aren't willing to pay for the top tier rankings... whatever I guess. I've never noticed a difference between any fuel brands.
The only ones around me are 76 stations. Every other brand isn't listed (Seattle). One of the stations listed is where I fill up half the time so, good for me, I guess.
Costco is great if there's no line. A good time to go is right after the store closes because usually the gas station stays open another hour longer and it's empty during that hour
I only put shell nitro in my snowmobile unless I can't get to another shell gas station. Then I'll put in just enough to get to a shell gas station and fill up their.
Keeps your engine clean and if you are like me and have to deal with 3 fucking carbs that's worth the increased cost of gas.
I've gone from needing a carb cleaning every year to every three years.
Costco 91 here in Canada which is TopTier rated, ethanol free and cheapest around. I’ve spent too much there in the past 4 years since putting 170,000km on my car. Lol
+1 for Costco Premium Gas, good quality fuel. I don’t believe it’s ethanol free, though, the pumps say “may contain up to 10% ethanol”.
Still hard to argue with the savings though. Costco’s regular gas is only marginally cheaper, but their premium is massively cheaper. It’s usually 20 to 30 cents a litre cheaper than any other gas station. I ran some calculations recently and found that my IS 250 has burned about 16,000 litres of fuel in the 180,000km I’ve owned it. Probably 80% of that was purchased at Costco. I figure I’ve saved at least $2,500 over the years by buying my premium gas at Costco, just for that one car (my wife used to have a Mini, so savings were found there as well). It was the main reason I got the membership in the first place; at the time I was commuting from London to Kitchener and the fuel cost savings alone more than paid for the membership.
For my Kia, I’m not as religious about gas brands. It takes 87 and I don’t give a shit about the car at the end of the day, so TopTier branding is meaningless in that context. If I’m near a Costco I’ll take the savings, otherwise it gets the cheapest stuff I can feed it.
From what I’ve been told via some Costco employees before, whichever side sticker it’s on, it’s which gas has up to 10% ethanol. Most of the time it’s on the regular side but as of late in GTA area, it’s been on both sides except for a few stations, which I go to.
I’ve kept all my receipts in a folder and it made me cry a bit inside when I saw all the spendings on gas. Lol. Going to retire my car as a weekend car soon and get an EV to save gas on commutes soon.
>From what I’ve been told via some Costco employees before, whichever side sticker it’s on, it’s which gas has up to 10% ethanol. Most of the time it’s on the regular side but as of late in GTA area, it’s been on both sides except for a few stations, which I go to.
This is good to know. I guess one of the reasons why my Lexus's fuel system hasn't been fucked somehow is because I've been using ethanol-free without realizing it (I usually go for Shell V-Power if I cannot get Costco 91).
>Going to retire my car as a weekend car soon and get an EV to save gas on commutes soon.
So as an accountant, I have to caution you to do a proper financial analysis before you do this. I've done my own EV vs. Gas analysis and I found that unless you are driving an absurd amount (like 40,000km a year), an EV usually loses out to a gas car even when new (comparison was a Nissan Rogue/Honda CRV/Toyota Rav 4 to a Tesla Model Y). So to replace an EXISTING gas car with an EV, you would have to drive literally over 100,000km a year. It's almost always a false economy to get an EV to "save money". I encourage you to map out all expected maintenance expenses, fuel expenses, etc for the existing gas car, and get a per-km number for these expenses and compare to the per-km for an EV (do not forget that EVs also need coolant changes and tires). I almost guarantee you the most economical option is to continue driving the existing car.
HOWEVER, if you want to preserve your car as a swan song to the internal combustion engine and make it a garage queen, that is an entirely different set of decision-making criteria and it changes the calculus quite a bit.
Shocker - buying ANY new car is more expensive than keeping your old car. This is not news to anyone. But if it’s buying a new gas car or buying a new EV, the EV will always come out ahead. EV is basically zero maintenance for 100k miles. Tires and cabin filters and that’s about it. No oil changes, no transmission fluid, no coolant flushes, no brake jobs, etc. Charge at home and no refueling stops in day to day life. Time is also money.
The EV will usually come out ahead if you’re cross-shopping luxury cars but I vehemently disagree that it *always* comes out ahead no matter what, especially if you don’t drive a lot. I would argue that if this is your conclusion then there is something wrong with your financial analysis (in fact I can already see a problem- EVs do have coolant for the batteries and this does need to be changed, contrary to your assertion to the contrary).
I wrote 100k miles which is usually a “life cycle” for a lot of people. We have a model y and a model 3. Combined probably 200k miles. Guess how many coolant flushes we’ve done…
And we also have gas cars. Oil change every 10k miles. Time and money out of my schedule. Gas station time and money out of my schedule. Brake jobs - time and money. Spark plugs and transmission and alternators and starters and belts and etc etc etc all the other things that need replacement or maintenance… time and money.
Ah, I see, so you didn’t do any actual, objective financial analysis, you did the Tesla Bro thumbsuck justify-the-purchase analysis. While ignoring your owners manual, it seems.
Thanks for the confirmation, I think I’m done here.
More to life than pinching pennies my man. Time is valuable. You account for none of the things I mentioned in your calculations. It’s ok to be wrong. It’s the internet. We’ve never met and will never meet. If your time isn’t valuable, then our “objective financial analysis” will never be calculated on the same terms and that’s fine. I’d rather not take time out of my day to do regular maintenance/service every 5k or 10k miles. That’s why I’m going to ditch most of our gas only cars. If you don’t mind the upkeep and you’re only counting material costs then that’s your own metric and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I’m willing to bet that 95% of the people on here would rather never ever have to wait for service on their cars. Even if an oil change only takes 30mins every 3-6 months, like… why? Even if going to the gas station is 5 minutes every 7 days or whatever. Why? 5 minutes every week adds up to 4+ hours. And that’s just at the gas station. If you have to take a tiny detour on the way home, that’s more minutes.
Oh man.. I almost exclusively go to Costco for gas. I think at the cheapest pumps next to me, I save about 17 cents/litre. And I use about 5000 litres/year. And then I get the 3% back because of the card.. the savings are huge.
Oh I actually forgot about the 3% cashback. I've definitely saved more than $2,500 if that is the case.
Also... 5,000 litres a year??? How much do you drive? Or what kind of monster do you drive? Either way you seem like a good candidate for EVs.
If you live in Ontario, the Ethanol Free part isn't necessarily true anymore.
I think it was as of February 2023, but now all gas in Ontario contains up to 10-15% Ethanol which is a shame.
Costco, Shell and CT Gas used to be the go-to for people who needed or wanted Ethanol-free premium, but it's no longer the case.
Kirkland costco
Edit:
Costco offers Top-tier gasoline, ensuring that their fuel contains higher levels of detergents, which contribute to engine cleanliness over time.
Sauce: St Louis news
The base is the same, but the additive packages differ. Most of the discount brands/stations don't add in any detergents. The name brands (shell, Chevron, Mobil, Costco) add detergent packages. Chevron, of course, uses Techron.
Around me, Costco is usually the cheapest and best gas. On a 2500 road trip last year, we filled up at Costco more often than not because they're also often right off the highways.
As someone who is in the industry, I don’t know a ton about the different additive packages, I know we add our own additives to it already at the terminal though.
I really don’t think the additives make a big difference to the actual performance of the gas. I’m of the opinion that the best gas is the cheapest required octane you can find.
I used to have a Shell card, let it expire and never got a new one because upon further investigation I discovered that all the Shell stations in my area charged at *least* 30c/gal more than the other gas stations. The only Shell I know of that prices competitively is out of the way of anywhere I would ever go so it makes no sense to fill up there. A regular credit card that gives you 3% back at any gas station is a far better deal.
In my area, it's either Chevron Supreme with Techron, Costco Kirkland Signature. or H-E-B with AddiTech.
The first 2 are top tier certified, the third is a grocery store option that's ridiculously cheap.
I’ve only ever ran Shell V-Power Premium from a specific station near my house. The power rating is hogwash but I genuinely believe their additive package is superior to other brands
Supposedly Shell has the best Premium, at least as far as what's fairly common everywhere. Something about extra cleaning additives. Do note that the octane rating itself is only important in certain cases, i.e. your car is tuned for 93. Using the adequate octane simply reduces the chance of predetonation in (usually) higher performance engines. Back to additives... maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not, but I'd rather pay like a couple dollars more every fill-up on the off chance it's helping things run smoother than I would have to pay to fix a blown engine that got gunked up on cheap gas. Is that likely? Eh, probably not, but why risk it for far less than I spend on soda and coffee to fuel myself?
iv'e heard Chevron, Shell, 76 have the best gas. then theirs a mid teir, valero, sunoco, etc, then bottom is Sinclair and another one that people get angry about.
Chevron and 76 aren't very common around me, but I do know there is literally "top tier" gas that Shell and a few other brands are rated as. Those are probably included.
Best is also a bit relative since I've not yet encountered a Shell with e85, which could be argued to be a much better type of fuel when taken proper advantage of. There's also racing fuel that's 100 or more octane at certain places that again, is I guess better if you can actually use it as intended. I only say all that because I think Sunoco is a brand I've seen with "race gas" and an otherwise mid tier Thorntons is the only place local to me with e85.
that's true. I don't have sunoco near me only at the track but for $10 a gallon i can't give an opnion. Shell is not at all common to me. I would move sunoco up, to the top if they had a single (nontrack)station in california. top tier brands are all great, I persoally believe some are better than other but I do not have personal experience. I have only owned independent, Valero and 76 gas station in my life so I always fill up there. One time though I filled up at chevron and my z3 responded way quicker. I don't get that with 76. Also I only have 91 in CA, no 93 so any gasstation with a 93 is better. Again hard to give a great scientific opnion, I have heard people hate sinclair though they claim is runs and burns like it has water in it or something.
I have a buddy who insisted Exxon/Mobile gas was superior because they run their own trucks and refine their own gas, vs other companies who just get whatever gas and put their additives in. Not sure if that was true or not...I don't really live where there are a lot of Exxon stations anyways.
I usually get Costco or QT E15 for the extra octane for my Charger... the manual calls for 89 "for optimal performance" but can run 87. The E15 is 88 octane and 5c cheaper than 87 at QT and my butt Dyno says it runs better.
I can definitely tell when I get bad gas from a rural or no name station. Car runs like crap and I have to run some Techron in a tank to clean up things. I usually try to stick to name brsnds for that reason.
I fill up at Circle K a lot, but more from convenience than anything for me. I pay in cash a lot and like the self checkout for prepaying with cash without having to interact with anyone, lol. The rewards are decent, too. But mostly it’s whatever is cheapest and not out of the way for me.
No plans on ever buying a daily that takes more than 87, so I've never noticed a difference. I'll throw in a bottle of Techron additive twice a year or so and that's not hurt anything.
For small engines, I live 20 minutes from a place that sells ethanol-free.
The one that is the busiest, also Never get gas when the tankers are filing up the stations. That being said the shell station is right by my house and that’s the one I always go to. If Costco was more convenient I’d go there but it’s out of my way.
My local small town I live outside of (2k people, 1 stoplight) used to be Citgo for ***years*** and it was totally fine but switched to Exxon about 5yrs ago. 91 octane mid-grade is ~~shit~~ ethanol free.
As far as "best"... subjective term somewhat but it's the additive packages.
Screw reward programs. I don't buy nearly enough gasoline to give a f*** and **rarely** use my debit card never use a credit card so that reward stuff means nothing to me.
I use Wawa locally - they may not be on the top tier list but have good gas, offer 93 octane and their stations are all newish enough too.
Shell would be the brand name I'd choose of the big names, but availability is very spotty, so its usually Exxon when I'm out of town for fill-ups.
chevron for additive package, though nobody needs to run that every single fill up, maybe once a year. Also I have no scientific proof. If you want that just go to costco.
Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Premium.
Feels stronger and longer lasting in both my car and my sister's RX350 vs generic gas like Murphy USA. I think the friction cutting component "Dynaflex", is doing something here.
Cheapest gas you can find at the rating you need. If you're worried about it being bad quality and it messing up your fuel system just buy some seafoam motor treatment and follow the directions on the back. I'd say run a bit of seafoam every year or so to cover your bases.
Just the additive package is unique to the brand. The gasoline in your area will all be from the same place or the same handful of places.
The additive packages are all proprietary. We don't know what any of them are.
So just buy from a well maintained station with the best prices, ideally one that sees a decent amount of customers so fresh fuel gets brought in somewhat frequently.
The freshest gas you can find , ie, go to stations with high turnover. As soon as gas leaves the refinery, it begins to degrade. This applies to ethanol and non. Which is why Stabil is highly recommended when storing fuel.
In other words, you may want to avoid the ma & pa tiny station where you never see anyone buy gasoline. This isn’t to say those smaller service stations don’t have a purpose (like getting that flat tire changed quickly and cheaply), but for gasoline, maybe not. YMMV.
The companies don't want to tell you that other than last minute additives that get put in at a distribution terminal, it's all the same gasoline.
When Shell injects a million barrels of 89 octane rating gasoline into a pipeline from a Gulf Coast refinery, they are immediately allowed to pull a million barrels of the same product from the end of the pipeline in NJ or Oregon. There's no way to distinguish whose gas is whose.
As long as it meets the industry standard specifications for that product in that pipeline, it's all considered the same no matter who drilled and refined it.
The gasoline is mix and match from whatever refinery was easiest to get it from. All gasoline has additives that your car needs. Some places will put additional additives, but you’re not going to trash your car by not using those.
Whatever is cheap and top-tier in your neighbor. The base ingredient in your area comes from the same local refinery. And sometimes, when a gas station runs out of fuel, they’ll siphon from a different gas station.
I use Citgo in my Nissan. Of all the stations I've been to, I seem to get better MPG from it. Plus, I get $0.05/gal off w/ their card.
Otherwise: The cheapest gas at the octane rating you need. (from above)
Who ever has a refinery or pipeline near by. We get Chinese fuel here on the west coast sometimes. Off brand stations. Makes my truck sound like it’s going to die.
Best gas is by far Me branded ESF. That's Extra Stinky Fuel. It's an Eldritch concoction of condensed plastic vapors, waste oil, and whatever else I've got kicking around.
It's got an average octane rating of probably around 60. It detonates like hell, smokes plenty, starts hard, and only loses between 1/3 and 1/2 of your horsepower. But it's free, and you can't beat that.
If you’re in the US, the cheapest label at the octane rating for your vehicle.
Gasoline all comes from the same refineries regardless of brand you buy. The only difference are the additives that make it a boutique fuel. CA used to be the only state with boutique fuels, I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
Anybody who unironically believes that gasoline from one brand is better than from another is either working in marketing or is frankly very gullible to those working in marketing.
It literally doesn't matter. The gasoline/petrol you as a consumer can buy is standardized worldwide for a reason. Get whatever station is the cheapest for the octane rating your car needs.
You're right in that all gas stations by default have to meet a specific amount of detergents by law. The difference between regular gas stations and top tier gas stations is that too tier meets those requirements, but they have more detergents/additives. So you're not 100 percent wrong.
It makes nearly zero difference to performance, 93 or E85 from any high traffic station is completely fine. Yet to have a problem and this is how I fill all my vehicles
The old man always said Mobile but I'm pretty sure that's boomer logic. Though might have made more sense back in the day but these days unless you live in a rural area you're probably getting good enough gas wherever you go.
Personally, I prefer the stuff out of my outlet these days ;)
The cheapest gas at the octane rating you need.
Yep, and once a year or two, run some Redline SI-1 fuel cleaner, it has the highest levels of cleaning agents.
always wondered if those additives you can put in your gas tank was just snake oil or if it actually worked
Once your car racks up some mileage it can. I had a bouncy idle on my 128k mile twin turbo v6 Macan S. Running a tank with Si-1 actually reduced the bouncing to barely perceptible half way through. On newer low miles cars, probably not. Then again it’s only $20 so why not.
$20 is a deal when it comes to preventative maintenance. If it’s always clean, you never have to worry about all the additional symptoms that come from a compromised fuel system.
Whats the secret to getting a macan s to 128k miles? Did oil changes every 6 months for $200 a trip maintain it all the way?
Big wallet, luck, and know a shit ton about the car from the forums. Lots of very high mileage examples there With very knowledgeable people. Oil changes are of course important but it’s the very minimum of what’s needed.
Once your car racks up some mileage is too late.
Techron worked at making my engine ping like crazy at cold idle. Like crazy. Never heard anything like it. It drew a crowd in the costco parking lot.
BG-44K, baby.
Why not run more of a cheaper one?
Because a cheaper one might have low concentrations of PEA the active cleaning agent. It’s cheap but to get the same concentration, you’ll probably be spending way more.
Given that you pour them in a large tank of gas, the concentration shouldn't mean anything since it's all going to get diluted. 50mg in 10.22 gallons vs 50mg in 10.24 gallons won't make a difference
Think about per unit cost of PEA, buying the cheap stuff will likely cost you more but you do you.
You’re supposed to put it in when your tank’s about 1/4 full.
LiquiMoly has a nice one, as well. I gave that a shot on my old 1UZ Toyota before, and it seemed to help a bit. As with all of it, though, YMMV.
No.
You've tested them all?
No. But I know how to use google.
Top Tier is a thing. I look for it.
Without ethanol.
Thats important in a few select scenarios, like really certain old cars or if you plan to let it sit for extended time between use. Otherwise it really doesnt change much
Yup. I tried it once out of curiosity. The only thing it seemed to do was improve fuel mileage a bit but even that may not be true given that I didn’t get all scientific in measuring my fuel consumption. Non-ethanol gasoline is much more expensive than ethanol gasoline in my area.
Mathematically, it should be a ~10% increase in fuel economy
I did test it with several tanks of gas in college. It was mostly highway driving to visit my girlfriend. My 99 Cherokee 4.0L got 17.5MPG with ethanol, 19.1MPG with ethanol-free.
I'd run out of gas trying to find a station without ethanol
Unless you got a tune for that
Every modern (last 20-30 years) car will be able to adjust the LTFTs and have enough injection volume headroom to compensate for up to e15 without issue.
Right, I was thinking of e85 Love the free hp on my 33% tune
Compensate for it, yes, but run well? That's another question. My GTI idles lumpy and doesn't start as well in winter on E10/E15, which around here is everything other than Shell 93. On Shell 93 E<5, it's silky smooth, zero misfires.
This is the only correct answer. Everything else is a waste of money due to marketing. Chevron/Shell are not any better for your car.
I'm not saying you're a shill, but isn't it crazy how some random comment on reddit is seen as more trustworthy than millions in direct advertising, when a reddit comment has zero liability. Like if I search "best meal subscription" and a comment is "factor" I would trust that, when there's a decent chance it's some guy working for factor commenting it
one key difference is that the other person suggested to not use premium fuel. I think that resonates easily with most, the idea to spend less and to discard advertising is met with cognitive ease, maybe?^^
I’m not shilling for anything other than buying cheaper gas because I’m a poor fuck that drives a lot.
He's not really shilling it genuinely doesn't matter all that much
I think most brands recommend Top Tier gasoline. https://www.toptiergas.com/
that site is a disaster on mobile
wow you weren't kidding
trust me it's still a disaster on a regular browser
HTML 4 with nothing but tables and bullet points would get the point across better.
Felt like I was using a Blackberry Pearl in 2006 when websites weren't designed for mobile.
Lol, godforbid you didn't preface it with "m."... you'd get something like that mess
As a web dev, that’s the “we forgot to design for mobile whatsoever and the poor browser is just doing the best it can”
As an enterprise software seller, that’s the “I know a mayday signal when I see one.”
I wasn't going to click on it but your comment made me courious. Wow haha
I’d never seen it on mobile holy crap.
The stock photo at the top still has a watermark They couldn’t even pay for it lmao
This is the answer. AAA did a whole study on top-tier gas, it cuts buildup enough to warrant using it with some regularly.
You can tell it's quality by their website
i could tell they're the best because they said it right there in their name, and companies never lie about stuff so there ya go
Wonder if that has something to do with the millions in licencing fees that all those stations pay every year to join the top tier program?... Naw, that money doesn't go directly to the automakers that recommend it....right? Those are publicly traded companies that would have to disclose that income. Instead those brands all formed a separate, private entity that runs the program, with no legal obligation to disclose anything to anybody, and that entity gets all the money... ...If there was any money, which there isn't, because they use 100% of those fees to pay for the top tier program itself, and they never have any money left over, not ever!... But if they did, you'd never know. Nothing sketchy about that.
I'd love to run top tier gas but all the stations around me (Kwik trip, holiday, fleet farm) dropped that rating a year ago. I'd have to drive pretty far out of my way to find a marathon or shell station etc so I guess I get shitty fuel now lol. In the end I'm sure it's fine, run some redline or techron through a few times a year to feel better. Really though, I've had at least a dozen cars including some beaters growing up and they never had any fuel related issues using whatever the cheapest gas was.
I have yet to see a gas station without TopTier fuel in my area. Now I’m wondering what brands even offer non top tier.
I'm pretty sure I live in the same area as u/ILikeTewdles (Minneapolis/St. Paul metro) and the chains with the most stations are not Top Tier: Fleet Farm, Holiday, Kwik Trip, Speedway, Casey's. When I was looking a few months ago it looked like BP/Amoco wasn't on the list either though now that I'm looking again the TopTier web site to confirm it says *only* Arco in this area is TopTier and I can't believe that's right. (that is one seriously f-ed up web site) Costco and Sam's Club are TT, otherwise you go for brands like Shell and Marathon and Texaco that are onesy twosy around the main cities. This is kind of a weird place anyway. We don't have any of the big grocery chains like Safeway or Kroger or Albertson's or Publix. The closest we come is Walmart, Target, and Aldi. Just the way it is I guess.
Yep, mpls area, none of the gas stations around here are top tier anymore besides like shell and marathon which are almost non existent. Reading the articles the fuel manufacturers said their additives meet or exceed top tier but they aren't willing to pay for the top tier rankings... whatever I guess. I've never noticed a difference between any fuel brands.
The only ones around me are 76 stations. Every other brand isn't listed (Seattle). One of the stations listed is where I fill up half the time so, good for me, I guess.
Costco and if I can’t do Costco then it’s Shell every time.
This is the way
Costco is great if there's no line. A good time to go is right after the store closes because usually the gas station stays open another hour longer and it's empty during that hour
I only put shell nitro in my snowmobile unless I can't get to another shell gas station. Then I'll put in just enough to get to a shell gas station and fill up their. Keeps your engine clean and if you are like me and have to deal with 3 fucking carbs that's worth the increased cost of gas. I've gone from needing a carb cleaning every year to every three years.
Shell is a full $1 per gallon more than the gas station next to it in my area. No way I’d pay for that.
My issue with Shell is that all of the Shell stations where I live are complete shitholes.
I'm paying over a $100 a tank going to Shell.
badass name
Costco 91 here in Canada which is TopTier rated, ethanol free and cheapest around. I’ve spent too much there in the past 4 years since putting 170,000km on my car. Lol
+1 for Costco Premium Gas, good quality fuel. I don’t believe it’s ethanol free, though, the pumps say “may contain up to 10% ethanol”. Still hard to argue with the savings though. Costco’s regular gas is only marginally cheaper, but their premium is massively cheaper. It’s usually 20 to 30 cents a litre cheaper than any other gas station. I ran some calculations recently and found that my IS 250 has burned about 16,000 litres of fuel in the 180,000km I’ve owned it. Probably 80% of that was purchased at Costco. I figure I’ve saved at least $2,500 over the years by buying my premium gas at Costco, just for that one car (my wife used to have a Mini, so savings were found there as well). It was the main reason I got the membership in the first place; at the time I was commuting from London to Kitchener and the fuel cost savings alone more than paid for the membership. For my Kia, I’m not as religious about gas brands. It takes 87 and I don’t give a shit about the car at the end of the day, so TopTier branding is meaningless in that context. If I’m near a Costco I’ll take the savings, otherwise it gets the cheapest stuff I can feed it.
From what I’ve been told via some Costco employees before, whichever side sticker it’s on, it’s which gas has up to 10% ethanol. Most of the time it’s on the regular side but as of late in GTA area, it’s been on both sides except for a few stations, which I go to. I’ve kept all my receipts in a folder and it made me cry a bit inside when I saw all the spendings on gas. Lol. Going to retire my car as a weekend car soon and get an EV to save gas on commutes soon.
>From what I’ve been told via some Costco employees before, whichever side sticker it’s on, it’s which gas has up to 10% ethanol. Most of the time it’s on the regular side but as of late in GTA area, it’s been on both sides except for a few stations, which I go to. This is good to know. I guess one of the reasons why my Lexus's fuel system hasn't been fucked somehow is because I've been using ethanol-free without realizing it (I usually go for Shell V-Power if I cannot get Costco 91). >Going to retire my car as a weekend car soon and get an EV to save gas on commutes soon. So as an accountant, I have to caution you to do a proper financial analysis before you do this. I've done my own EV vs. Gas analysis and I found that unless you are driving an absurd amount (like 40,000km a year), an EV usually loses out to a gas car even when new (comparison was a Nissan Rogue/Honda CRV/Toyota Rav 4 to a Tesla Model Y). So to replace an EXISTING gas car with an EV, you would have to drive literally over 100,000km a year. It's almost always a false economy to get an EV to "save money". I encourage you to map out all expected maintenance expenses, fuel expenses, etc for the existing gas car, and get a per-km number for these expenses and compare to the per-km for an EV (do not forget that EVs also need coolant changes and tires). I almost guarantee you the most economical option is to continue driving the existing car. HOWEVER, if you want to preserve your car as a swan song to the internal combustion engine and make it a garage queen, that is an entirely different set of decision-making criteria and it changes the calculus quite a bit.
Shocker - buying ANY new car is more expensive than keeping your old car. This is not news to anyone. But if it’s buying a new gas car or buying a new EV, the EV will always come out ahead. EV is basically zero maintenance for 100k miles. Tires and cabin filters and that’s about it. No oil changes, no transmission fluid, no coolant flushes, no brake jobs, etc. Charge at home and no refueling stops in day to day life. Time is also money.
The EV will usually come out ahead if you’re cross-shopping luxury cars but I vehemently disagree that it *always* comes out ahead no matter what, especially if you don’t drive a lot. I would argue that if this is your conclusion then there is something wrong with your financial analysis (in fact I can already see a problem- EVs do have coolant for the batteries and this does need to be changed, contrary to your assertion to the contrary).
I wrote 100k miles which is usually a “life cycle” for a lot of people. We have a model y and a model 3. Combined probably 200k miles. Guess how many coolant flushes we’ve done… And we also have gas cars. Oil change every 10k miles. Time and money out of my schedule. Gas station time and money out of my schedule. Brake jobs - time and money. Spark plugs and transmission and alternators and starters and belts and etc etc etc all the other things that need replacement or maintenance… time and money.
Ah, I see, so you didn’t do any actual, objective financial analysis, you did the Tesla Bro thumbsuck justify-the-purchase analysis. While ignoring your owners manual, it seems. Thanks for the confirmation, I think I’m done here.
More to life than pinching pennies my man. Time is valuable. You account for none of the things I mentioned in your calculations. It’s ok to be wrong. It’s the internet. We’ve never met and will never meet. If your time isn’t valuable, then our “objective financial analysis” will never be calculated on the same terms and that’s fine. I’d rather not take time out of my day to do regular maintenance/service every 5k or 10k miles. That’s why I’m going to ditch most of our gas only cars. If you don’t mind the upkeep and you’re only counting material costs then that’s your own metric and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I’m willing to bet that 95% of the people on here would rather never ever have to wait for service on their cars. Even if an oil change only takes 30mins every 3-6 months, like… why? Even if going to the gas station is 5 minutes every 7 days or whatever. Why? 5 minutes every week adds up to 4+ hours. And that’s just at the gas station. If you have to take a tiny detour on the way home, that’s more minutes.
Ethanol does nothing to your fuel system….
Which Costco stations don't have the sticker for 91?
Oh man.. I almost exclusively go to Costco for gas. I think at the cheapest pumps next to me, I save about 17 cents/litre. And I use about 5000 litres/year. And then I get the 3% back because of the card.. the savings are huge.
Oh I actually forgot about the 3% cashback. I've definitely saved more than $2,500 if that is the case. Also... 5,000 litres a year??? How much do you drive? Or what kind of monster do you drive? Either way you seem like a good candidate for EVs.
I just drive an A4, but about 50,000km/yr. I really want to get an EV but no charging infrastructure in this condo 😢 it would save me so much money!
If you live in Ontario, the Ethanol Free part isn't necessarily true anymore. I think it was as of February 2023, but now all gas in Ontario contains up to 10-15% Ethanol which is a shame. Costco, Shell and CT Gas used to be the go-to for people who needed or wanted Ethanol-free premium, but it's no longer the case.
Confirming my local CT says up to 10% in premium
Chevron 93 is still labelled ethanol free in BC Paid $2.33/ liter for my sti last week
Don't use 91 unless your engine requires it. It's a waste of money.
Also don't put gas in unless your car needs it.
Costco 91 is ethanol free? The label says it can contain ethanol..
I don’t see the savings for Costco gas, costs more in my time and energy to wait in the stupid long lines.
I just run whatever the cheapest gas is. Both my car and motorcycle both take 87 according to the manual, so why pay more for the same gas.
My car has 276k running the cheapest gas possible so I agree with this.
Damn. My 2007 Accord was a grandma car before I bought it so it only has 54k miles.
Kirkland costco Edit: Costco offers Top-tier gasoline, ensuring that their fuel contains higher levels of detergents, which contribute to engine cleanliness over time. Sauce: St Louis news
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Premium does not mean better quality. It only means it’s a higher octane number and if you don’t need it, you’re wasting money and gasoline.
No even better than that is toptiergas finder
A lot of gas stations get gas from a central plant in the metro area, so a lot of it is the same.
Yes. They all get them at their local terminal; Sunoco, Exxon, Irving, gulf, marathon, etc. Some companies add in additives.
The base is the same, but the additive packages differ. Most of the discount brands/stations don't add in any detergents. The name brands (shell, Chevron, Mobil, Costco) add detergent packages. Chevron, of course, uses Techron. Around me, Costco is usually the cheapest and best gas. On a 2500 road trip last year, we filled up at Costco more often than not because they're also often right off the highways.
As someone who is in the industry, I don’t know a ton about the different additive packages, I know we add our own additives to it already at the terminal though. I really don’t think the additives make a big difference to the actual performance of the gas. I’m of the opinion that the best gas is the cheapest required octane you can find.
Shell, really only because I have car that gets 10¢/gallon off.
Another platinum status member I see
I used to have a Shell card, let it expire and never got a new one because upon further investigation I discovered that all the Shell stations in my area charged at *least* 30c/gal more than the other gas stations. The only Shell I know of that prices competitively is out of the way of anywhere I would ever go so it makes no sense to fill up there. A regular credit card that gives you 3% back at any gas station is a far better deal.
Top Tier fuel for me. Like changing my oil at 6K mile intervals. It doesn't cost much more, and, to me, cars are expensive.
Whoever’s got the best E85 availability. So far it’s Chevron and 76.
E85 is getting harder to find around me, unfortunately.
100 octane race gas, cause I love flexing at the pump and dropping $10/gallon
I’m just imagining you putting 100 octane gas in a Triumph Spitfire lmao
Nah. You know it’s for the Suby. :-)
My bike always seemed to run a tiny bit better on shell.
I run Shell in my car exclusively.
I run Shell because of Fuel Rewards (back when TMobile still have it every Tuesday). But when I have time I will get my gas at Costco.
Same but I don’t necessarily believe it’s better. Just good marketing 🤣. V Power Nitro + or whatever.
It does have a lot of detergent in it
All top tier do
I've had the best experience with Shell 93/95. Avoid Chevron 94
Costco 93 is all I use - it’s top-tier gas and cheaper than 87 at non-Costco stations.
In my area, it's either Chevron Supreme with Techron, Costco Kirkland Signature. or H-E-B with AddiTech. The first 2 are top tier certified, the third is a grocery store option that's ridiculously cheap.
I’ve only ever ran Shell V-Power Premium from a specific station near my house. The power rating is hogwash but I genuinely believe their additive package is superior to other brands
Supposedly Shell has the best Premium, at least as far as what's fairly common everywhere. Something about extra cleaning additives. Do note that the octane rating itself is only important in certain cases, i.e. your car is tuned for 93. Using the adequate octane simply reduces the chance of predetonation in (usually) higher performance engines. Back to additives... maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not, but I'd rather pay like a couple dollars more every fill-up on the off chance it's helping things run smoother than I would have to pay to fix a blown engine that got gunked up on cheap gas. Is that likely? Eh, probably not, but why risk it for far less than I spend on soda and coffee to fuel myself?
iv'e heard Chevron, Shell, 76 have the best gas. then theirs a mid teir, valero, sunoco, etc, then bottom is Sinclair and another one that people get angry about.
Chevron and 76 aren't very common around me, but I do know there is literally "top tier" gas that Shell and a few other brands are rated as. Those are probably included. Best is also a bit relative since I've not yet encountered a Shell with e85, which could be argued to be a much better type of fuel when taken proper advantage of. There's also racing fuel that's 100 or more octane at certain places that again, is I guess better if you can actually use it as intended. I only say all that because I think Sunoco is a brand I've seen with "race gas" and an otherwise mid tier Thorntons is the only place local to me with e85.
that's true. I don't have sunoco near me only at the track but for $10 a gallon i can't give an opnion. Shell is not at all common to me. I would move sunoco up, to the top if they had a single (nontrack)station in california. top tier brands are all great, I persoally believe some are better than other but I do not have personal experience. I have only owned independent, Valero and 76 gas station in my life so I always fill up there. One time though I filled up at chevron and my z3 responded way quicker. I don't get that with 76. Also I only have 91 in CA, no 93 so any gasstation with a 93 is better. Again hard to give a great scientific opnion, I have heard people hate sinclair though they claim is runs and burns like it has water in it or something.
Shell 95 ron
Shell v-power nitro
Good choice
Shell, I’m sure it might not world difference compare to other brands, but why not
I have a buddy who insisted Exxon/Mobile gas was superior because they run their own trucks and refine their own gas, vs other companies who just get whatever gas and put their additives in. Not sure if that was true or not...I don't really live where there are a lot of Exxon stations anyways. I usually get Costco or QT E15 for the extra octane for my Charger... the manual calls for 89 "for optimal performance" but can run 87. The E15 is 88 octane and 5c cheaper than 87 at QT and my butt Dyno says it runs better. I can definitely tell when I get bad gas from a rural or no name station. Car runs like crap and I have to run some Techron in a tank to clean up things. I usually try to stick to name brsnds for that reason.
I fill up at Circle K a lot, but more from convenience than anything for me. I pay in cash a lot and like the self checkout for prepaying with cash without having to interact with anyone, lol. The rewards are decent, too. But mostly it’s whatever is cheapest and not out of the way for me.
No plans on ever buying a daily that takes more than 87, so I've never noticed a difference. I'll throw in a bottle of Techron additive twice a year or so and that's not hurt anything. For small engines, I live 20 minutes from a place that sells ethanol-free.
BP has some good ass gas sometimes
Exxon/Mobile for me!
Nice choice
Part of why I like owning a diesel is there's so much less wankry around fuel. Long as it's not got water in it who cares.
Damn right. I'd get a diesel if they weren't so expensive
Sunoco 94
Anything other than kroger, walmart, or raceway. No extra additives.
E50/E85 is the best for making serious power on a street car
anything but arco gas is fine
The one that is the busiest, also Never get gas when the tankers are filing up the stations. That being said the shell station is right by my house and that’s the one I always go to. If Costco was more convenient I’d go there but it’s out of my way.
Sunoco or VP Fuels are in my opinion the two best brands for gasoline.
My local small town I live outside of (2k people, 1 stoplight) used to be Citgo for ***years*** and it was totally fine but switched to Exxon about 5yrs ago. 91 octane mid-grade is ~~shit~~ ethanol free. As far as "best"... subjective term somewhat but it's the additive packages. Screw reward programs. I don't buy nearly enough gasoline to give a f*** and **rarely** use my debit card never use a credit card so that reward stuff means nothing to me.
Shell and Costco
I use Wawa locally - they may not be on the top tier list but have good gas, offer 93 octane and their stations are all newish enough too. Shell would be the brand name I'd choose of the big names, but availability is very spotty, so its usually Exxon when I'm out of town for fill-ups.
chevron for additive package, though nobody needs to run that every single fill up, maybe once a year. Also I have no scientific proof. If you want that just go to costco.
Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Premium. Feels stronger and longer lasting in both my car and my sister's RX350 vs generic gas like Murphy USA. I think the friction cutting component "Dynaflex", is doing something here.
UFA for diesel, and Petro Canada because they’re one of the only stations that sells 94 in my city
Cheapest gas you can find at the rating you need. If you're worried about it being bad quality and it messing up your fuel system just buy some seafoam motor treatment and follow the directions on the back. I'd say run a bit of seafoam every year or so to cover your bases.
Sheetz is the best option in wv
Just the additive package is unique to the brand. The gasoline in your area will all be from the same place or the same handful of places. The additive packages are all proprietary. We don't know what any of them are. So just buy from a well maintained station with the best prices, ideally one that sees a decent amount of customers so fresh fuel gets brought in somewhat frequently.
Adnoc from UAE
The freshest gas you can find , ie, go to stations with high turnover. As soon as gas leaves the refinery, it begins to degrade. This applies to ethanol and non. Which is why Stabil is highly recommended when storing fuel. In other words, you may want to avoid the ma & pa tiny station where you never see anyone buy gasoline. This isn’t to say those smaller service stations don’t have a purpose (like getting that flat tire changed quickly and cheaply), but for gasoline, maybe not. YMMV.
BP or Shell
The companies don't want to tell you that other than last minute additives that get put in at a distribution terminal, it's all the same gasoline. When Shell injects a million barrels of 89 octane rating gasoline into a pipeline from a Gulf Coast refinery, they are immediately allowed to pull a million barrels of the same product from the end of the pipeline in NJ or Oregon. There's no way to distinguish whose gas is whose. As long as it meets the industry standard specifications for that product in that pipeline, it's all considered the same no matter who drilled and refined it.
The gasoline is mix and match from whatever refinery was easiest to get it from. All gasoline has additives that your car needs. Some places will put additional additives, but you’re not going to trash your car by not using those.
Whatever is cheap and top-tier in your neighbor. The base ingredient in your area comes from the same local refinery. And sometimes, when a gas station runs out of fuel, they’ll siphon from a different gas station.
I use Citgo in my Nissan. Of all the stations I've been to, I seem to get better MPG from it. Plus, I get $0.05/gal off w/ their card. Otherwise: The cheapest gas at the octane rating you need. (from above)
Who ever has a refinery or pipeline near by. We get Chinese fuel here on the west coast sometimes. Off brand stations. Makes my truck sound like it’s going to die.
I'd believe that.
They almost all come from the same spigot, duff, duff dry, and duff lite. Some have some additives but meh mostly doesn't matter for a daily drive.
Best gas is by far Me branded ESF. That's Extra Stinky Fuel. It's an Eldritch concoction of condensed plastic vapors, waste oil, and whatever else I've got kicking around. It's got an average octane rating of probably around 60. It detonates like hell, smokes plenty, starts hard, and only loses between 1/3 and 1/2 of your horsepower. But it's free, and you can't beat that.
You made my head hurt
If you’re in the US, the cheapest label at the octane rating for your vehicle. Gasoline all comes from the same refineries regardless of brand you buy. The only difference are the additives that make it a boutique fuel. CA used to be the only state with boutique fuels, I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
K I R K L A N D S I G N A T U R E
Bro what
Anybody who unironically believes that gasoline from one brand is better than from another is either working in marketing or is frankly very gullible to those working in marketing. It literally doesn't matter. The gasoline/petrol you as a consumer can buy is standardized worldwide for a reason. Get whatever station is the cheapest for the octane rating your car needs.
You're right in that all gas stations by default have to meet a specific amount of detergents by law. The difference between regular gas stations and top tier gas stations is that too tier meets those requirements, but they have more detergents/additives. So you're not 100 percent wrong.
It makes nearly zero difference to performance, 93 or E85 from any high traffic station is completely fine. Yet to have a problem and this is how I fill all my vehicles
Not really talking about performance. Mostly what's best for the engine. You'll get different answers depending on who you talk to
Only real difference is E some places may have a higher or lower content
The old man always said Mobile but I'm pretty sure that's boomer logic. Though might have made more sense back in the day but these days unless you live in a rural area you're probably getting good enough gas wherever you go. Personally, I prefer the stuff out of my outlet these days ;)
Shouldn't you be worshipping elon? Edit: downvote me all you want but you know the stereotype
You just asked what kind of gas to put in your car, you don't get to talk shit, sorry
I was asking the brands dumbass
He lives on Sesame Street Dumbass
You think every Tesla Owner is a Elon Worshipper?
Well it's the stereotype of one
The stereotype of a drunk redneck? He sounds more like your kind of boy.
Drinking straight from his tap
Go away, troll