Shell > Sunoco > BP > Marathon
 

2 months and 10 fill-ups later, I've noticed a trend with the listed gas stations. My driving consists of >95% city with many short trips. The weather has been quite cold and snowy. MPG ranged from a low of 13.89 (ouch!) to a high of 16.60 (ok but not great by any means). Shell V-power came in first with a MPG average of 16.18, Sunoco with 15.8, BP with 15.14, and finally Marathon with 14.33. Thought that these numbers might help the rest of you in deciding where do buy gas. Have you guys been experiencing similar numbers/ratings?

shell is definately the best gas available if you can get it. close behind is texaco and amico. bp and marathon arent bad, id stay away from anything else.

I'm not convinced Shell gives you better mileage.

It doesn't seem like I'm getting any more with Shell. In fact, Chevron seems to be as good or better. I'm wondering if our Shell is "watered down" so to speak.

Amoco and BP are the same company, since the merger awhile ago. I'm a computer contractor for BP. The gasoline formula changes for each little region due to pollution control standards and state laws requiring the use of ethanol, MTBE & other additives.

All refinerys, when blending gas,have to meet an octane specifics (87,89,93) so all major brands are good, unless a blend test does not meet specs and is sold as is if its not brought up to specs. thats where your neighborhood conveinient stores get there good deals from.

It's more or less the same stuff (within the 3 grades) no matter what gas station you use in your town. The only differences are in additives and there isn't a lot of differences there either.

Gee, I thought all gasoline came out of one big vat, like shampoo.

I dunno about shampoo but all gasoline from a certain region, of the same octane, no matter what brand, is the same except for the additive package. This is how it goes: Refinery owned by company A makes raw gasoline in New Jersey and pumps it into a pipleline owned by company B. Pipeline company B credits rifinery company A for the gasoline loaded into the pipleline. In Pennsylvannia gas company C offloads gasoline from pipleline B and adds their secret company C additive package that was purchased from BASF or the such. Pipeline company B charges gas company C for the gasoline that was offlaoded. Now over on the west coast company A might be the gas buyer while company C is the seller. Either way the gas is the same.

You made my brain hurt.

I always try to use Shell V Power (93 octane where I visit my parents in NW IL), but where I live, there are no Shell stations (or Sunoco), so I use BP/Amoco and get about 17-18 mpg w/ 60-70% highway miles. I don't know if they still offer it, but the best mileage I ever got out of my old '94 Probe GT was using Sunoco 97 octane. I'd like to try that in my 8.

What I always notice is that different brands offer their premium fuels at different octanes. Some are only 91...like Phillips 66, but BP is 92.

Sorry. I'll try another way:

Buy the lowest octane gas that your engine does not detonate with and the cheapest brand gas you can find.