[Joe166]

This has been the subject of a long thread. The views range from "You can see the trucks filling up at the same tanks, so buy the cheapest!" to "Nothing for the best for my baby, I buy premium, name brand gas and a few extra cents doesn't bother me!" I lean toward the first view, but I mostly watch out for places that look like they don't maintain their stations very well, I am concerned with letting contaminants in the fuel, but frankly it has been a long time since I got a load of bad gas. Gas companies make enough money without my helping them.

 

[Joe166]

The only really important road vehicle fuel variable for consumers is the octane number. Fuel 'additives' are much like snake oil, marketing ploys to make you feel good about a particular version of a generic product. My car is immune to the alleged benefits of additives, because they only work if you believe in them.

I would advise rational consumers to not fret over brands or additives and just buy fuel with the minimum required octane rating at a good price. In modern, regularly driven cars, using fuel with a higher octane rating than needed is completely useless and wasteful.

Hear hear!

 

[Joe166]

I use a Mobil that is right down the street. Across the street is an Arco which is usually cheaper by 5 to 10 cent. I just refuse to stand in these triple long line at all the stations there at Arco. At about 10 cents a gallon I am paying a dollar extra, Take My Money. I don't do long lines for 10 cents a gallon savings.

A perfectly reasonable position. Time is money! I just don't understand those people who claim that they are getting some sort of benefit from paying too much that involves the "quality" of the fuel. Theoretically possible, but not likely and even less likely to be recognized by us.

 

[Joe166]

Anecdotal evidence suggests that using petrol blended with ethanol does not really provide any financial advantage because the vehicle consumes more thereby negating any advantage over petrol with no ethanol at all. The jury is still out on this but I personally do not fill up any of my cars with ethanol-blended fuel. And I only go to reputable petrol stations.

Unfortunately, we don't have that choice in most of the USA. The farmers corn lobby is quite powerful. If you can find non ethanol gas (lots of stations near the coast have it for boats), the cost is higher than premium and the octane is about the same as regular. Now they are talking about increasing the amount of ethanol. Lunacy!