If you stick with name brand gas stations, will you get better MPG ratings versus going with a no name or off brand? Another words, do the name brand places have better gas that will result in better mileage, or do all the stations generally have the same stuff?

 

I think that is a bunch of bullS#$@. However, in my experience the "name brands" may have slightly better fuel due to newer tanks and quicker usage of the fuel in said tanks. Another way to look at it if you buy into the cleaning powa! of their stuff over the other guys overtime it is better to run the name brand. However, I think they are all mandated to have some amount of cleaning stuff in them thanks to the EPA. This is all opinion and not based on any fact what so ever.

 

Two friends of mine work for two of the larger oil refining companies in Europe (NAM and ARAL). The fuels of different brands are usually only different by colour. That colour is added after refining. Depending on the area usually just one multinational refinery provides the fuel.

On the tanks being clean: With the modern fuels (low in Sulphur) there is virtually no sludge. All residues relevant which might come from the tank will be filtered by your fuel filter.

No opinion. Facts.

 

That color thing must be a European thing. Living in one of the larger oil refining areas of the US, Southeast Texas, and just about everyone I know working for or retired from the refineries.. they add no coloring to it.. lol. Not sure if I would want food coloring displacing gasoline in my tank. The only difference between them in the US is the cleaning crap/mixture they add and even that is so gov mandated I doubt any of them are really special. Then I believe they can each use a varying amount of ethanol (this could be a State by State thing). They are only limited to a 10% cap, but nothing ever shows what that refinery and that station have at the time you are pumping the stuff. In TX anyway, it always says up to 10. If they would actually show what amount they use whoever had the lowest amount would get my business. I am pretty sure all of that is fact not an opinion.



US does not use low sulfur gas yet (lower maybe, but not what you guys use.. that keeps us from being able to run the lean burn cycles hyundai can use in Korea), So far we only mandate really low sulfur on diesels, also fact.



On the tanks being newer, I was more worried about moisture content than particulate stuff, our filter wont catch water and I don't know of any hyundai with a fuel/water separator. New regulations on the tanks should make that less of a problem, but using fresh gas just seems like a better idea than crap left in a big tank for who knows how long at a less used station.. random guess/assumption on that one.. I have no data or friends to ask to get the facts behind that stuff.

 

yah, name brand gas is better, like name brand clothes, shades, shooze...yo! it get's you moar wimmens.

It's all in your head.



In the real world, it's impossible "prove" or "disprove" your theory (about name brand gas). Temp, traffic, speed, wind, engine/vehicle load, all vary from moment to moment and day to day.



Unless you want to yank your engine out, and put it into a lab, where you can exactly control all variables, you'll never know.



end of story....

 

@blue2000

as you can see most people do not think there is a noticable difference



@WytchDctr

I actually called one of those friends again to dig a little deeper. He told me that it ain't food coloring, much as I expected. Usually it is just the "functional" additives which are chosen to give a certain colour. Are all American fuels really the same colour? He also reckons there is no real diff because all his customers (fuel/oil companies) go for the maximum profit margin.

That ethanol thing just led to a huge debate over here. Some European cars that are not sold in countries where a higher ethanol content is normal (like the US) cannot deal with it. Over here the idea was that the greenhouse gases have to be produced in an ecofriendly way... So now we buy our maize/corn from Brazil where they cut down the rainforest to plant it so that companies like AUDI, BMW and Mercedes with a high amount of CO2 output per mile driven (average of all cars sold) can continue to produce larger cars as the amount of "green" fuel used is not included. Here that has to shown on the pump.

It is a bummer you don't use fuel low in sulphur. In some cars (Mitsubishi Galant around year 2000) mpg improved with low sulphur fuel.

I'll try to find out about that water thing.