Costco Gasoline OK?

Gas is gas. It's an urban myth that they vary in quality.

 

I've been using Costco gas for over 10 years with both German and Japanese cars, and had no problems.

The different branded gas stations in your area will likely get their supply from the same refinery to save cost, so there is really not much differences in the end. Go with the cheapest or the most convenient choice.

With that said, several unrelated mechanics over the years did mention they would personally avoid ARCO.

 

About half the times I fill up, it's at Costco. No issues.

As far as I can tell, the only difference in gas brands is the additives some blend in. Are they worth it? Who knows.

 

I agree that gas is gas however you want to buy from a place that moves gas at a decent rate. Like the bobs gas station on the corner (so to speak) if they're storage tank is 600 gallons and you only see a car a day at the pumps that a bad place to buy. Not because it's bad gas but because it has sat long enough that it may very well have a fair amount of condensation in the bulk tank. As apposed to say costco that probably moves a lot of gas in one day.
Hope this makes sense and helps.

 

Costco service stations in the Great Central Valley CA (Sacramento, Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield) do constant business. Self-service is quick, gasoline is consistent, price is great.

 

I used costco gas in my last car and it was fine. I even dyno'd with costco premium when I was tuning for boost and my numbers were not any different than others with the same setup. I filled up at shell for my first fill up with my Prius but my next fill up will be at costco when I leave for my road trip this Thursday.

 

i have also heard that they have great air.

 

In the Cleveland area Sams Club is always about 5 cents cheaper then Costco. I always fill up at Sams Club. It is 20 to 30 cents less then everyone else (except Costco)

 

I use it all the time...............no problem...........

 

I'm on my, um, fifth tank of Costco gas, and I think I'm actually getting the same or better MPG than I was with Shell gas.

I agree that volume moved through the tanks is important.

 

But try to avoid filling up right after the station's tanks have been filled - the fill will have mixed up any sediment that might be in the tank.

 

As for what brands are 'bad' in any particular market, I believe the vagaries of the shared and co-mingled petroleum distribution system mean that each local market is different. The marketing arrangements that provide no-name-refinery 'bad' gas to certain stations in San Fran or Phoenix or Boston have no relation to what is bad in Seattle.

I believe this would be more of an issue at old low sales volume stations than at recently built high volume stations.

My local Costco refills so often that it seems any sediment will be pumped out through the filters very quickly, before it can accumulate. The local Safeway would do fairly well on this score too.

 

Costco is cheap, but its also as good as the higher quality brands. i've used it often when i cant find a shell station around.

and gas is not gas. Different brands of gas are indeed different. Our priuses, with high mileage, are extremely sensitive to different types of gas. My dad's 2004 prius would lose 5-10% gas mileage if he filled with a cheap no-name brand versus shell or costco.

Different refineries produce slightly different variants of gas.

 

I got Costco gas semi-regularly when last I lived in the Bay Area (over a 5 year period), mainly in Sunnyvale and sometimes near downtown San Jose. I never noticed any problems w/it. I also sometimes went to Shell and Quik Stop for gas, also w/o any issues or noticeable difference.

That's what I used to think too, but I spoke to a tanker truck driver a Shell when he was unloading and he basically said it doesn't matter but understood (and respects my concerns, if I wanted to leave/come back later).

He said the underground tanks have stirrers running the whole time anyway to mix the ethanol w/the gasoline so him adding in gas really doesn't make a difference. Due to the stirrers, it's as if gas were being added all the time.

 

all gas is FUNGIBLE! which means its interchangeable. so one brand to another, its all the same...literally. pipelines move the major portion of gas around the country and all oil manufacturers share them. so we will have a Mobile refinery put 10,000 barrels of regular into the pipeline ANYWHERE in the country and they are essentially issued markers for 10,000 barrels of regular. which can be pulled from the pipeline anywhere in the country. now premium is put into the exact same pipeline and there is separators placed in the line to separate the blends (ever see the middle grade blend? i always thought that that blend was invented because the separator was not placed correctly).

now, "some" companies put additives in the gas, but that is usually mixed locally just before being trucked to local stations. the general consensus is that additives make for good TV ads and little else.

another thing. Costco probably buys gas from the local distributor who would also be selling the exact same gas to several other local stations as well.

as for me, i use Costco gas mostly because its usually cheaper, its ALWAYS busy so the gas is definitely not stale. i talked to the Costco guy at the Tumwater, WA station and they get their tanks filled 3 times a week.

PLUS, with a Costco AMEX, i get 3% cash back on gas purchases.

 

The local Costcos have their gas delivered by the same trucking company as I've seen delivering to Shell stations. One time I saw two trucks at the same station - one unloading and the other waiting for the first to finish. I've never seen that station with less than two cars lined up waiting for every pump.

Prices seem to vary faster at Costco than at other local stations. They're the first to lower prices, but when they go up, they may even match an Arco for a day or two.

As for quality, my car rarely has any other brand in it, and I've never seen any difference with another brand except for price.

 

Here's the deal. Gasoline is made from crude oil. NOT ALL CRUDE OIL is the same. Therefore, not all gasoline can be the same. There are different qualities of crude oil that yield different qualities of gasoline. They are all adequate and make basic requirements, but some fuels out there are simply better. Is it brand name gasoline? Not always, i've always had good experiences with Shell. I've had horrible ones with Chevron.