I had to fill up for the first time today. My choices were WaWa or Lukoil. I went w/ Lukoil. I am going to try to adjust my commute so I can hit a Exxon on the way home. But, that was not to be the case this evening. Did I just put 5+ gallons of crap in my tank?
No. It is possible that the truck filling your Exxon station then tops off the WaWa & the Lukoil. The 2006 seemed to like Shell best. The 5% kickback on the MasterCard didn't help. That station closed & the card's program changed so I try to go to Exxon but sometimes you just need gas elsewhere or have a card to use. At best our efforts to base fuel economy on gasoline brand are "inconclusive". Climate & environment have a bigger impact.
I find that "most" of the well known names are ok - Shell, Exxon, even Murphy, dare I say BP. But it seems that the rattiest looking stations also have the worst gas, quality-wise. I think JimN is right. They all get their gas from the same place. BTW, I have never heard of WaWa or Lukoil. We just don't have any of 'em around here...
Wawa is a chain of convenience stores much like a 7-11. Wawa employs 16,000 associates throughout portions of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Lukoil is the largest oil company in Russia. They took over many of the Mobil branded gas stations around here.
No. You almost certainly didn't pump crap into your tank. They sell Priuses all over the world, and gas has varying Q/A standards all over the world. I presume that PA has some kind of regulating body that oversees gas stations. Newer gas stations have newer tanks, and (sometimes) better filtering equipment, but other than that there's probably not a nickels worth of difference between one of the bigs, and your independent sellers. In fact....there are two independent gas stations in my area that (claim to) sell E-0, or non-ethanol gas, and depending on who you talk to, E0 can get you better mileage than E10, although I haven't shined the light of truth on that yet with my personal observations. If it makes you feel better going with Exxon, BP, or Chevron/Texaco, go for it! I personally do not think that your Prius is going to notice if you cheat and go to Moe's Gas Station. This topic has been hotly debated in motorcycle forums. Motorcyclists think that you have to run 'special' gas in their scoots, and the E0 versus E10 gas debate has raged on for years, as has the 93-octane versus 89-octane gas wars. (note: some vehicles like my V-Rod, Corvettes, etc...have manufacturer specs for minimum octane) Priuses pretty much don't care, and all of the gas snobs out there cannot argue with the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of Priuses out there that lead long and happy lives on a diet of plain old, every day, gas. I'm getting 58.5 MPG on my current tank (@ 403 miles, 43mph) and I buy gas wherever my company card works.
As an ex-Phila-stine, I'm glad to hear WaWa is still around. Though I went to the ones in the city, without gas stations attached.
