I stopped in at my regular Chevron station only to notice that the Circle K across the street had gas for 15 cents cheaper. I thought to myself, "self, if you don't have to get premium gas anymore, and the Prius does just as well on the lowest octane gas, maybe it would do just as well on the "cheaper" gas." What do you think? Do you all stick with the higher quality brands (Chevron, texaco, etc.) regardless of the cost the gas stations on the other corners are selling their gas for? Do you think additives like "techron" really matter to the Prius? I'd love your opinions. If I'm paying 15 cents (or ever 5) for something the Prius doesn't care about I'd love to know it. If you do think higher "quality" gas matters, at what price point does this become a mute point? 3 cents more, 5 cents more, etc. etc?
This is really interesting to me. Care to expand on this? I've never considered old vs. new and what age could translate to mean.
It's not really old gas you should fear from a station, it's a leaking underground tank. Gasoline doesn't break down for at least 6 months, especially when stored underground at 5C/50F temperatures. But gasoline stored in your garage in a can (plastic or steel) WILL slowly break down. After about a year it will have a noticeably different smell. It will also not burn very well. It will burn, just not like it did when you bought it. As in, it may not run a lawnmower! As for the original thread, the fuel is picked up by the delivery truck from one of a few refineries. The truck driver then adds the additives (either himself or he drives to a place that adds them). Then he delivers the fuel to the station. For example, in Edmonton we have two refineries that make gasoline. Near our Amateur radio site is a plant that makes ethyl alcohol for addition to gasoline (to make ethanol). I see a constant stream of tankers coming in almost, but not quite full, to top up with ethyl alcohol for Husky/Mohawk stations, who sell only ethanol. They come from one of the other two refineries. The Prius runs best on 87 octane fuel. It gets slightly better mileage on non-ethanol fuel, but runs cleaner on ethanol. You pays your money, you takes your chances. I used to use ethanol only, but now I only put in a tank full every few months (to chase out any water in there). I would -NEVER- use "top tier" fuel if it cost more. I don't drive an F1 racecar or a BMW. I don't need that stuff! This just in. Filled up Pearl this morning and I find a notice on the wall of the gas station telling me our Provincial Govt. has mandated all "regular" gas be ethanol as of this month. So I guess I'm using it again all the time. That station further stated they WILL NOT be adding alcohol to their premium. But Pearl needs regular. So ethanol it is!
My ownership manual recommends Top Tier gas for the car. Apparently the gas is all the same, but the additive packages from different companies are different. I don't put in gas from a no-name company like Rotten Robbies or the like.
I'm convinced that a couple of places in town that sell El Cheapo Gas, the flat roof is used to collect rainwater to pour into their gas containers. I won't buy BP or Arco because of the Gulf oil spill. I won't buy Exxon or Mobile because of their reaction to the Exxon Valdez (for those who don't remember, it was also the title of a song by Cee-Lo last year). I won't buy Shell because of the horrible things they do in Nigeria. I won't buy Chevron or Texaco because of the horrible things they do in Burma. Which pretty much leaves me with Hess and Citgo (Go Red Sox!)
I won't buy Citgo because it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela. Its profits support strongman Hugo Chavez, whose Presidency has made a mockery of 'democracy'. So also an earlier thread.
If anyone is reading this and uses anything other than 87 in their prius, don't. Higher octane gasoline achieves it's resistance to knock by burning slower. Our stock timing is set for 87. If you run 91, the stock timing is not optimal for ignition and results in poorer fuel economy. Always use the octane recommended in your owners manual as it will be the octane that provides the best fuel economy.
The majority of the stations around here, regardless of their franchiser, used to sell gas refined at the local Valero refinery. However, that closed down about 2 years ago, and I think the fuel is coming in from NJ now. Either way, I usually end up getting my fuel from the Shell or Wawa station that I pass on a daily basis on my work commute. I don't really discriminate against any particular station, regardless of their affiliation. I do feel like the car runs better with Shell vs Wawa fuel, but that could be more my just thinking it does/will and therefore I feel it does. As for the FE, I don't really notice any difference between the two. Typically, Shell will win out because it's less crowded, smaller, and easier to get in/out of.
Gas is a commodity. These additives are so infintesimal as to mean less than nothing. Here's an idea - you now have a club for those with 299+k on their cars. Ask them. I'd bet my house you will find they do not have strong preferences for name brand vs. generic gas stations. Whatever they say is the real world answer you need. -MKL
I choose to run cheapest no name brand gas It all burns the same to me I have 111,000 miles on my Prius and still manage to get 60+ mpg's Ive tried them all and like some people I will not use certain companies because of where money goes and to be honest we bought these cars for the environment and to save money
I used to buy gas from only brand name stations, i.e. Shell, Exxon, Sunoco, etc., but now I question the whole idea that the same truck/hauler delivers gas to the no-name stations and brand name stations, but the brand name stations supposedly contain different/better additives. Given the emphasis today on cost cutting, profitability and business survival, I don't think the haulers and station owners are all that concerned about additives and keeping the additive and non-additive gasolines separated. The consumer (at least not me) has no way of discerning whether the gas has good, bad or no additives. Because of this, and I regularly use a fuel system cleaner and dryer, I now buy gas from the cheapest station regarless of brand.
