I've been reading this forum for several days. Tomorrow I pick up my new (Winning Blue) 'baby' in Balitimore. I plan to use the RX-8 as a 12-month car in upstate NY.

I followed the multiple octane threads with careful attention and experiment with the different grades locally, and I'm sure the forum doesn't need another re-hashing of the great octane debate.

What I'd like to know is people's experience with the qualtiy of major brands.

I've not seen Shell or Chevron or BP in the Corning/Elmira area (or Binghamton, Buffalo or Rochester either) though I remember them from my youth in So. Cal. We have mostly Exxon, Mobil, Sunoco along with some generic brands like Brownies, Fast-Track, Dandy and Costco.

I plan to avoid the discount and generic stations. Does anyone have clear-cut (multiple tanks) experience with certain brands? Are some local brands better due to their detergent additives? How about more benign winter blends?

I've been pumping anything cheap that burns into my `95 Subaru, `98 Grand Voyager, `87 F150, etc, without a second thought for years. Obviously, I'm more concerned for the diet of my new 'baby'.

Do any of the major NE brands offer a true value-add or just marketing hype?

Exxon and Mobil are fine brands. never had any experience directly with Sunoco as that brand name isn't marketed down here and i'm not sure if they even distribute down here.
Chances are, most of the "generics" get their gasoline from one of the major distributors, or possibly a variety of major distributors (just depends on what kind of contracts they get).

that said, the main reason why i would stick to one of the major branded companies is because they have more resources to make sure that their tanks are properly maintained, as the major problems with gas from various gas stations isn't the actual gas they sell, but from water and sediment that has somehow gotten into the storage tanks.