Gas mileage varies with brand of gas?

[slim]

Am I crazy or does the brand of gas really make a difference in MPG?

Over the last year, I kept track of my mileage according to brand of gas used. Always regular.

I would fill up a near-empty tank with a brand ,run untill almost empty, note mileage and fill with a different brand. Some of my friends say "gas is gas" but I have to say that Gulf gets me the best mileage.

My 96 Honda DX coupe gets 22-23 overall (mostly city) with Gulf, 20-22 with Mobil and 19-21 with Hess

Is there a reason for that? Does gas vary that much from brand to brand?

I am not trolling or looking to start a war.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gohan Ryu]

I get the best mileage using Chevron in my 96 Prelude. They use the highest quality fuel additives, which definitely affects the quality of the gas and your mileage. BMW, General Motors, Honda and Toyota got together and set a standard for what can be called "TOP TIER Gasoline". Chevron with Techron was already within that standard.

 

[JP]

Years ago I would occasionally fill up at a Union 76 station. Their gas was about 10% higher priced than the Arco, but I got about 10% better gas mileage using the Union gasoline. More energy per gallon, but I never knew why.

 

[slim]

I get the best mileage using Chevron in my 96 Prelude. They use the highest quality fuel additives, which definitely affects the quality of the gas and your mileage. BMW, General Motors, Honda and Toyota got together and set a standard for what can be called "TOP TIER Gasoline". Chevron with Techron was already within that standard.

Thanks for that info.

Mobil and Hess are right near me, but what got me started was big improvement I got with Gulf (3-4 mpg better) and I thought all regular gas (at least from the big oilcos) was basically the same.

 

[AZ Nomad]

Years ago I would occasionally fill up at a Union 76 station. Their gas was about 10% higher priced than the Arco, but I got about 10% better gas mileage using the Union gasoline. More energy per gallon, but I never knew why.

placebo effect

 

[SMS]

Am I crazy or does the brand of gas really make a difference in MPG?

Over the last year, I kept track of my mileage according to brand of gas used. Always regular.

I would fill up a near-empty tank with a brand ,run untill almost empty, note mileage and fill with a different brand. Some of my friends say "gas is gas" but I have to say that Gulf gets me the best mileage.

My 96 Honda DX coupe gets 22-23 overall (mostly city) with Gulf, 20-22 with Mobil and 19-21 with Hess

That's way too close to draw any conclusions from. The pump at one station may be cutting off 1/4-1/3 gallon different than at another station.

It is true that the more ethanol in the gasoline, the poorer the mileage, and some of the lower end gasolines end up with more ethanol mixed in, even though it's still less than the legal limit.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

Am I crazy or does the brand of gas really make a difference in MPG?

It does make a difference, no question.

Shell gives me the lowest cost per mile overall.

 

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Am I crazy or does the brand of gas really make a difference in MPG?

Over the last year, I kept track of my mileage according to brand of gas used. Always regular.

I would fill up a near-empty tank with a brand ,run untill almost empty, note mileage and fill with a different brand. Some of my friends say "gas is gas" but I have to say that Gulf gets me the best mileage.

My 96 Honda DX coupe gets 22-23 overall (mostly city) with Gulf, 20-22 with Mobil and 19-21 with Hess

Is there a reason for that? Does gas vary that much from brand to brand?

I am not trolling or looking to start a war.

Thanks in advance.

Some lean-burn or high compression engines can be picky about the gas. The 96 DX has a very basic engine so you're not seeing anything significant.

 

[pj]

That's way too close to draw any conclusions from. The pump at one station may be cutting off 1/4-1/3 gallon different than at another station.

It is true that the more ethanol in the gasoline, the poorer the mileage, and some of the lower end gasolines end up with more ethanol mixed in, even though it's still less than the legal limit.

SMS is correct, ethanol contains less energy than gasoline so if you are using gasahol, you have to expect somewhat lower mileage. The Mobile station near me is selling gasohol with 10% ethanol and I have seen a noticable decline in how far I can go on a tank of gas when I fill up there. Fortunately, that station is usually as cheap as Walmart or anyone else in the area. On the plus side, each gallon of ethanol in the gasoline is about
0.9 gallons of gasoline we don't have to buy from the Mid East.

 

[nm5k]

Am I crazy or does the brand of gas really make a difference in MPG?

Over the last year, I kept track of my mileage according to brand of gas used. Always regular.

I would fill up a near-empty tank with a brand ,run untill almost empty, note mileage and fill with a different brand. Some of my friends say "gas is gas" but I have to say that Gulf gets me the best mileage.

My 96 Honda DX coupe gets 22-23 overall (mostly city) with Gulf, 20-22 with Mobil and 19-21 with Hess

Is there a reason for that? Does gas vary that much from brand to brand?

I am not trolling or looking to start a war.

Thanks in advance.

They do make a difference. But it can also vary from station to station, and also from season to season, as the blends change. My accord runs better on some brands than others, so I can easily see mpg being effected. Ethenol gives less energy than gas per amount also.. But all our fuels here have it at 10%.. We have many brands here, and mine will run on all of them without pinging. But...I can tell small differences in the feel, pickup, smoothness, etc.. IE: Mine runs better on shell, chevron, or texaco, than it does on Valero, or diamond shamrock, etc.. I like chevon and texaco cuz some techron is added. But it runs good on shell too, and might possibly get the best mpg on shell. It's real close, and hard to call on the top three choices. But if I go from say chevron to valero, I can *feel* the difference in the way the car runs. Slightly less smooth..So I've been trying to stick to the first three. If fuel injected, using a gas with techron is a real good idea..Techron is good stuff, and actually does work to clean out that carbon crud.
MK

 

[jim beam]

SMS is correct, ethanol contains less energy than gasoline so if you are using gasahol, you have to expect somewhat lower mileage. The Mobile station near me is selling gasohol with 10% ethanol and I have seen a noticable decline in how far I can go on a tank of gas when I fill up there. Fortunately, that station is usually as cheap as Walmart or anyone else in the area. On the plus side, each gallon of ethanol in the gasoline is about
0.9 gallons of gasoline we don't have to buy from the Mid East.

yeah, but it takes more fuel to make the ethanol than it yields, once you take the agricultural side of the equation into account. unfortunate though it may be, buying gas from rag heads is a good thing. we simply need to buy less of it, not put lipstick on the backdoor farming subsidy pig and call it "domestic energy". and if we were really serious about foreign oil, we'd tax suv's to blazes and stop using "crash testing" as the excuse to make cars 50% heavier than they need to be, thereby ruining their gas efficiency. ban "oxygenated" fuels and encourage more diesels too.

 

[Grumpy AuContraire]

yeah, but it takes more fuel to make the ethanol than it yields, once you take the agricultural side of the equation into account. unfortunate though it may be, buying gas from rag heads is a good thing. we simply need to buy less of it, not put lipstick on the backdoor farming subsidy pig and call it "domestic energy". and if we were really serious about foreign oil, we'd tax suv's to blazes and stop using "crash testing" as the excuse to make cars 50% heavier than they need to be, thereby ruining their gas efficiency. ban "oxygenated" fuels and encourage more diesels too.

Amen to that... And consider that the bulk of our petroleum imports is from our "pal" in Venezuela..

JT

 

[PotIsYourFriend]

Ethanol is a poor substitute to MTBE.. Unless there's another additive they use I think most use Ethanol to replace MTBE..

 

[Mike Smith]

Amen to that... And consider that the bulk of our petroleum imports is from our "pal" in Venezuela..

Actually, the top two sources of oil imported to the US are Canada and Mexico, respectively. Venezuela is #4, behind Saudi Arabia.

http://snipurl.com/7c1e

 

[cmiles3]

Two possible answers; ethanol may give you worse mpg than straight gasoline. This isn't true for all cars & driving conditions. Some fuel pumps give you more than 1 gallon for every gallon of fuel you pay for. Best I've seen is +6 tablespoons (about 2 ounces) based on the state's measure of proper fuel delivery. Of course, some fuel pumps don't give you the amount of gas you paid for- worst I've seen is -2 tablespoons. If your state requires this rating, you might experiment and keep track of mpg based on the rating.