What gas station do you fill up at?

Shell is a top tier station, so their gas is good. I usually buy at Shell or Chevron as both are conveniently on my daily routes. I used to buy Arco or 7-11. Since I cannot confirm that either of those are top tier, I no longer use them. There are two Rebel's on my regular route, but I have had bad experiences at both of those locations (not with the gas, with the employees) and so no longer buy there.

 

One day I stopped at a Shell station to fill up. Since I was using my credit card, and wanted to make a purchase inside the station after the fill up, I tried to push the "pay inside" button on the pump. When it wouldn't work, I went inside to find out why. They said I had to pay in advance. Since I didn't know how much gas it would take to fill up, I told them I would just go elsewhere. The attendant said he understood and that I should go anywhere "except for that BP station. Their gas is terrible." I thanked him and drove to the BP station where it was no problem to pay after my purchases. When I told the BP attendant what the Shell attendant had said, she rolled her eyes and said, "I'm getting sick of hearing things like this. After the fuel truck stops at the Shell station, he comes here and then goes across the street to the Speedway station. Its all the same gas." FWIW

 

Here at Prius Chat...and almost every automotive forum you want to visit the debate over "fuel" and Top Tier vs. Anything Else always rages.

Listen, I really don't know. But I can share my philosophy and approach.

There are always those that profess that "Gas is Gas" and it is all the same.

But I do know, that if you google Top Tier and/or Chevron, Shell...you'll find information which swears there is a difference between Top Tier gasoline provided by Top Tier stations, and everyone else.

Certainly the stations themselves profess that their gas is "different" at least in terms of additives.

But do I REALLY KNOW? No, I do not.

But here is my approach and reasoning.

I strive to fill up at Chevron or at least a established Top Tier station. Usually Chevron.

Because in my area, the difference between a gallon of standard grade gas at Chevron or Shell vs. "Any Other Station"....is usually pennies...10 cents or less.

So a fill up at Chevron "With Techron!"....cost me for a full tank, about $1.00 more than it would cost at "Bobs-Gas-O-Mart!".

So I can pay that. I can absorb that. Does Techron help my engine perform better? Chevron swears it does. They swear it's in their gas exclusively.

If I'm wrong and "Gas is Gas"....okay, I've given up some cups of coffee for this exercise in peace of mind. But I feel better using a Top Tier station.

If I'm out and find myself nowhere near a top tier station....I won't hesitate to "emergency" fill anywhere. But if I have a choice, which is most of the time, Even if it is wasted placebo affect, it's worth it to me.

Ironically there is an area nearby where I live that has a corner with an Arco, A shopping Store Fuel Center, and a Chevron all right next to each other on opposing corners. I often get gas there. What is funny is the lines at the Arco and the Shopping Store fuel center are usually horrific. With people lined up and waiting to get to a pump.

If you look at the signs? The savings at the Arco and Shopping Center fuel center are usually about 7-8 cents a gallon over the Higher priced Chevron. The Chevron where usually I can drive in...fill up...pay and drive away while most of the people at the other two stations are still waiting in their vehicles to just get to a pump. (Oregon is NOT self serve). This is also a benefit that I'm willing to pay extra for...although it has no real connection to the supposed quality of the gasoline in question.

I'm sure the people sitting in their cars at the Arco wonder why I'm paying more....when cheaper gas is right next store, but hey, my time is money and I'm willing to pay for convenience, I've never driven away feeling the 80 cents to a dollar wasn't money well spent....if only because I'm not stuck at a standstill, surrounded by gas fumes trying to save 80 cents.

So that's my approach. I'm running the Techron infused wonder fuel of Chevron....and if it's all just BS? It's okay with me.....

 

I find no discernible difference fuel economy wise nor engine performance wise using any brand of gasoline. From what I've read so far into it gasoline comes from the same refineries regardless of brand. The major difference is the additives that some brands add to their gasoline. The other major difference is turnover. You want to buy gasoline that has a lot of customers so that the station gas tanks are fresh and you don't end up with gasoline that has been sitting for a long time.

I just go to the cheapest station along my route of travel. This happens to be Valero which doesn't have additives. They used to be called Exxon but its a bad name around here I think.

 

Same refineries, sure, but as you said - different additives and whatnot. There may also be differences in ethanol levels. I used to always get my gas at Arco one of the other low-end chains in Southern California (red-yellow theme as with shell), until I got two bad tanks at two different stations.

As The Electric Me pointed out, I have no problem spending an extra buck once a month for the peace of mind of knowing I'm getting top tier fuel, and for not having to wait in line at the station where the gas is a whole 5 cents cheaper per gallon.

 

I used to be an auditor and one of our clients was a oil/gas distributor and I asked one of the head guys there about this since their trucks would service all different brands of gas stations. He told me that ^^^^^ this is true. The difference between the brands is the additives that they put in their fuel. Also, just because you see the same truck delivering to multiple stations doesn't mean that they are getting exactly the same fuel. The trucks have multiple different tanks on them and are probably carrying a specific fuel for each station.

For me, the Prius costs so little to fuel up it isn't worth taking the risk on the cheaper fuel. I am willing to pay the extra $1 to $2 per tank for the more expensive fuel.

 

They might just be idling away their savings. I always roll my eyes at those long lines at the Costco and the Chevron stations. (In my neighborhood, Chevron is to die for. Literally! 4-5 cars queued up outside the station at all hours onto a 4 lane expressway traveling in excess of 50 mph. So dangerous!) 5-10 cents a gallon savings plus wasted gas idling means you're saving what? A quarter per fill-up? Worse yet even if your time is worth nothing you've just squandered away precious resources and gotten zero use out of it.

 

I use Costco gas because it's cheaper, not sure how much cheaper, and I'm paying $110/yr for membership so why not, also I'm shopping at Costco all the time.

 

It doesn't make a difference where you get your gas. Some of the largest oil companies have had contamination issues in the past, so even a "top tier" gasoline can have problems.

 

Only 7-8 cents different? Your area must not have much price competition. Though it at least has some, other areas without price fixing enforcement can have two dozen stations with identical prices.

Within walking distance of my house this morning, Chevron's cash price is 23 cents higher than Safeway & Costco, expanding to 33 cents with credit (I nearly always use the later). A Shell in a different direction is 45 cents higher.

 

In the PC it doesn't matter, but in my old F150 days it would matter greatly. Plus, those grocery store gas stations usually give you points that you can use towards groceries. I know after filling up the F150 I would get a $10 off coupon for use at Kroger, essentially dropping my gas price from $75 to $65, which is huge when you add it to the $.04/gallon that they also save you. Plus... in the Prius you don't really idle...

 

In my area, I'd say the difference between " Top Tier " Chevron and Shell and everyone else, runs between 7-15 cents Max.

If I searched for more expensive stations? I probably could find them. I'm talking about my "direct area" in which there is a lot of competition, I think the competition keeps the prices within range of each other.

It's still much the same with me. My Honda Fit, much like a Prius, has a pretty small gas tank. Usually a fill up for me is buying about 10 gallons of gas, give or take a little. Compared to surrounding pricing? I figure I'm paying roughly $1.00 to $2.00 max premium, to fill up at Chevron as opposed to most other places.

Like I said, placebo, wasted money, whatever- it's worth it to me. Over the years there are some problems I've never had with any of my vehicles, and one of the problems I've never had has been dirty fuel injectors, or any symptoms of a fuel system that is contaminated or dirty.

Credit using primarily "Top Tier" gas? I don't know, I'm not going to, because there are reasons enough outside this personal experience for me to continue. And I can't really prove it one way or another....

But to me? For most of us, our automobiles represent one of the largest purchases or singular items we own. For something I depend on, that I've invested 1000's of dollars into owning, it's well worth the cost of the premium, for all the reasons I've already stated. I just don't see the advantage on going cheap here, even if gas is gas is gas....

 

One can also look at the results of using poor quality gas. Results, carbon build up and deposits due to lack of additives. With knowing the results, how many cars have you owned where you had to get repairs due to these types of issues?

I rely on government regulatory to keep things in check. Just because you pay go top Tier or bottom, who's to say you get or NOT get what you pay for?

What I do try to do though it go to stations that are pumps a lot of gas(fresh) and looks well maintained.

 

That's not quite relevant... If Big Name Station had only, for example, one known issue in the past 20 years, but Joe Blow Station had hundreds of consumer complaints - you can bet your engine I won't be buying my gas from Joe Blow. It does make a difference... how much that difference means is going to be unique to each consumer.

 

I normally uses Chevron because I prefer a good brand name gasoline and there is a good Chevron station with reasonable prices, a good brushless car wash and a Safeway discount that I drive past 90% of the times that I enter or leave the part of town I live in.

For fill-ups when I'm away from home I don't really care what brand I use. Since I use good stuff 90% of the time it doesn't much matter what I use the rest of the time. I do take the normal precautions of going to a station that looks like it has lots of business and doesn't look like an under maintained dump.

 

With such a narrow price spread, the placebo value and the convenience or time value can easily exceed the pump cost difference, so I can understand why you favor a specific type.

While traveling, I sometimes run through towns were a dozen stations (maybe two dozen in Kalispell) had no price spread, with Bubba's Gas-O-Mart & Laundry charging the same as Top Tier stations. Or in other towns, just a single penny less.

But my neighborhood has much larger spreads. Stations on different sides of the same intersection are usually only 10-15 cents apart, but spreads easily widen to 25 cents in two blocks, and 40 cents in two miles.

I do avoid non-brand-name stations whenever possible. My last two carbureted engines definitely had carbon buildup problems, despite usually getting good names for that era. Since moving to fuel injection, I've had no buildup problems that required attention of any kind, even at 235,000 miles with less Top-Tier-type fuel than the non-FI cars. The only single tank that ever caused any stumbling issues whatsoever came from a Chevron on I-84.

 

I always get a name brand such as chevron,shell, etc.

I primarily get costco gas nowadays since it's right next to my house and I can go when the lines are short.

 

Costco is a name brand?

 

kirkland signature? yes, i consider it a name brand.