I work at a refinery (one of the "others" so I'm pretty unbiased towards this poll), and know much more about making gas than burning it in engines, but I think you're really drawing more conclusions than you should from that dyno chart.

Octane is really just the anti-knock characteristic of the fuel. To put it another way, higher octane is less likely to ignite early when compressed. If you don't have an engine designed or tuned to take advantage of high octane fuel, it's a complete waste.

 

I'm going to agree and disagree. It doesn't really matter what engine you have, if it's a combustion engine it will churn out more hp on higher octane fuels. How much more...is like you say it depends on how well the engine was designed to ignite, compress, explode and discharge the exhaust. But I can tell you with certainty that my lawn mower would get more hp on higher octane fuel...maybe only 0.001% more but still more.

While the energy content is no higher in higher octane fuels the anti-knock provides a benefit to the overall cycle.

In the end VPower simply has better advertising and people buy it because Shell doesn't pollute the gulf as much as BP

 

Lol, too soon?

edit: btw this smiley has a crazy receding hairline ^

 

Is that without changing ignition timing? I can see getting more power out of a modern car engine if timing is actively controlled by the knock sensor. But if I put high test in my lawn mower, with fixed timing, how can that give more power?

Ken

 

Think past the octane rating. As you move up in the Octane scale you are dealing with hydrocarbons moving up the distillation curve which affects their vaporization temperature. Since gasoline has to be in it's vapor state to burn this can lead to increased efficiency and power.

Knocking can also be caused by hot climate temperatures. So in the south higher octane is probably even better.

 

I like to use the Shell gas station near me, don't know why, I used to go there for years after years.
Now I use Mobil also sometimes.

 

whichever gas station has a driveway level enough for me to even get into it.
I used to be a shell guy but the one closes to me has the driveway from hell so I can't go there anymore.

 

QuikTrip, Midwest convenience store chain.
They have a deal with a local grocery store for discounts.
The one closest to me doesn't have it, but a couple within a few miles have non-ethanol 91 premium.

 

^^ yup, fortunately we have a Vons (subsidiary of Albertsons) in our neighborhood that does the same thing so whenever I fill up I usually get a discount since we do quite a bit of shopping at Vons.

 

No real preference. Whichever cheapest and convenient.

 

I usually use Sapp brothers in my area, but really I'll go anywhere else that has 91. 93 at times if its cheaper...

 

Spent the last 8 years Building, Maintaining, Servicing, and Certifying Gas Stations from various brands and franchises, I've seen some **** in that time.

I've pulled up samples that were Pure Mud, or Rust/Metal Particles, Water, and a combination of all 3.
I've seen 2,500+ Gallons of Red Dyed Kerosene get dropped into Unleaded Gasoline Tanks and it took 3 days of selling fuel for the mistake to be realized. "Please Dispatch a tech to investigate our 87 tank, the product is coming out red" *facepalm*
I've seen on many occasions X grade of fuel tank gain 1,000-5,000 Gallons in water overnight.
I've pulled 10+ year old Filters off of gas pumps that were completely rusted away internally.

It doesn't matter the brand, and barely matters the franchise. The quality of fuel you get is much more dependent on the Health, and Age of the the site you bought it from. Good rule of thumb, if the site is ****/looks like ****, or just has old gas pumps, their gas is probably ****.

Majority of Franchises and Retail Gas Stations never clean their tanks unless there is a legal obligation.
They do not routinely change filters either. On average should be 1-2 years for a site with clean tanks. I've serviced sites with tanks so dirty, changing filters was a weekly requirement till it cost the owners enough money to have their tanks clean.
Many States have allowances for water in their tanks, alot of gas stations out there have water in their tank, and it is normal.
Many States are far, far behind on Regulations in regards to both environmental, and Quality control of Retail Fuel Vendors, and the few who aren't have very poor enforcement for it.

Some Gas Station Franchises are extremely proactive about routinely having their tanks cleaned, and filters changed however, but usually these gas stations are fairly well kept, clean, and have visible steady growth as a company.

If there is anything else i can add... Stay away from BP's.

 

Maverick because they have ethanol free, it’s a new station, and is kept up.

 

I'd go Costco but any savings will be negated by the idle in the long line-ups.

 

Our costco is only a year or two old, and it seems they are pretty diligent about upkeep on things. Not to mention there 93 is 30 to 60 cents a gallon cheaper than most other gas stations in the area.

 

Anyone actually notice differences/benefits from the various gas stations? I normally just assume busy=better just through having newer gas & an actual maintenance schedule.

 

I pretty much always choose QT because they offer the cheapest high-octane with guaranteed quality. Also snacks and drinks are nice sometimes. I sometimes use Chevron, but Chevron is pretty much always 10 cents more than everywhere else, sometimes more. I have had bad experiences with fuel from 3 different Shell stations in my area, so I just don't use Shell anymore. TBH as long as I go to a popular station that I can be certain sells quality high-octane for a decent price, I'll go there. Gasoline can oxidize and lose it's octane a bit if it sits in the holding tank for a very long time, so I avoid going to quiet/small stations for high-octane fuel.