MPG/Performance wise...

 

In terms of fuel economy and performance, gas is (generally) gas. In terms of detergents, no- cheap gas is cheaper because it has fewer of the engine-cleaning detergents that name-brand gas has. That doesn't account for ALL of the price difference, but it is a large part of it.

Cheap gas is cheap for a reason, and you do get what you pay for- Mark W.

 

All gas come from the same refinery. The differences with the brands are the additives that the companies add. Costco probably goes with no additives, I really do not know that part.

 

The debate over gas quality...Top Tier, Cheveron, Shell...Regular, Mid-Grade or Premium...is a hopeless and endless battle...

I site no study, no tests..no results...

All I know is IMO I felt and heard a real difference in engine noise and smoothness between regular and premium...so now I fill with Premium. It also seemed my gas mileage was better with Premium.

Also, I shouldn't of done it...but "Once" just because I was being a cheap bastard and I was in a hurry I filled with Premium at a "cut rate" station. Well, all gas might come from the same refinery...but since I've owned The Fit...after filling at the local Straight Up Gas Institute station...I may of saved $1.00 but my Fit failed to start on the first turn of the key..for the first time ever...and it sounds rougher and seems sluggish.

Could it ALL be my imagination...sure...but I'm sticking with Premium and Top Tier stations from now on out...$1.00 to $2.00 savings...isn't worth it to me...

 

altho the octane rating is the same, the gas is not. It may come from the same refinery but the end product in your tank is different. You CAN feel the difference

 

No idea about Costco. However, having actually kept track with an iPhone app of my gas purchases, I can tell you that Chevron is consistently cheaper per mile than Arco. Don't let the price per gallon fool you.

 

I only get gas when I go shopping there and/or the line isn't long. I used to run it all the time because the line was good in the morning, on my previous cars and never ever had a problem with their gas

 

I miss SUNOCO

 

The closest station to my house is at a convenience store that sold Citgo and now sells a generic fuel.. It is owned by a corporation that owns over half of the stations in and around town that sell Exxon Chevron and Shell all that I have also used in my Fit... The only fuel brands I have had problems in any car with has been Shell and Conoco, Chevron is okay and Exxon a little better, Citco and Valero seems to be the best in this area.. I had quit buying from the little station that is close by and started trying other brands when they took down the Citco sign but have started filling up there again and found that it must be the same blend of fuel as what they had always been selling and at a lower price than other brands. I have had my CEL light up on a couple of cars and could feel a loss of power in others without a CEL when using Conoco... I only used 87 octane twice when having stopped to fill up while traveling and stopping at stations in the middle of nowhere that were out of premium... Like fitchet, I can feel a difference but I can also see it on the ignition timing read out on my scangauge.

 

Top Tier Gasoline

 

Is BP listed under a different name? Cause I find it difficult to believe it wouldn't be a top tier gas brand.

My reason is that its too big, and not being top tier would get it too much flak.

 

Any company that issues credit cards and can advertise in the regions they sell in are going to have to be selling a good product in order to have a share of the market.... The percentage of retail mark up on gasoline must be a lot more than in the day of full service stations that had to work for their money.... We only made a nickel off of a gallon and had to treat people real good, wiping at least their windshields, airing up tires to proper pressure, and check everything that you could make a sale on under the hood.. Charging full retail on an oil change and a lube job that included cleaning and packing the front wheel bearings would turn a gross profit of maybe $9.00. The labor rates on replacing parts and making repairs in those days were under $10.00 an hour.

 

Theres a couple high traffic BP stations out here, one on Lake-Cook another on Dundee by Milwaukee that I have tried on a tip from SilverBullet.

Typically I fill up at the same exact Shell station for consistency in tuning, and found that at least for their winter gas blends, BP does not use the E10 ethanol blends in their 93oct like Shell uses in all grades and consequently my gas mileage and throttle response improved in the Fit.

In the race car, I was able to run 2 psi more on my current "winter" tune (28 vs. 26) using pump gas only (no meth or toluene added to skew results) at the same 18* peak timing before I started to get hints of knock (1-2* retard) and then backed down the dial on the boost controller. So not huge, but I picked up just over 2lbs/min with that extra 2psi, which is about 15-25whp worth of air.

Injector Duty cycles were down like ~2-6% across the board as well on switching to BP, this is on 1450cc/min injectors, so that is actually a significant change. I think they use more isobutane instead of adding ethanol.

Now I will be curious to make the switch back when they return to summer gas.

So long story short, BP is top-tier in my opinion.

As far as Costco gas.. at least the on here has some wealthy patrons and I don't think they could afford to get away with sub-par fuel considering the cars I see going there. All types of high compression german and japanese engines, and the last thing you want to do is put bad gas in an 11.x:1CR BMW Dinan M3 or a twin-turbo Brabus Mercedes.

 

We don't have BP here but I did fill up my Goldwing with it after leaving Virginia Beach a few years ago.... I had no idea what BP stood for at the time.

 

@.@?!?

dude... almost all of that went over my head!

I did understand the Costco part! lol.

I've used Costco gas on and off ever since I started shopping there. I effectively haven't used Costco for the Fit, because I end up pumping gas after work... and the only station nearby that's open is Mobil. I hate the northern suburbs... everything closes too early for my tastes. Costco is cheaper than Mobil, but pretty far out of the way, so I only pump there when I shop there. When I DO go to Costco to shop... I've already pumped gas the night before or something... so it isn't needed. =.='

The BPs on L-C and Dundee are WAY further than the Costco (I live across the highway from Old Orchard mall). But there is one BP very close to where I work... I've been viewing it as "worse" compared to Mobil... but after this, I'm rethinking that. Maybe I'll try pumping there (they aren't crazy busy, but do get a fair bit of traffic)... damn it, they're kinda pricey though.

Back to the highly technical part... you're saying that BP is really good, if you want 93 octane gas for the Fit, even during winter? That's interesting... but at the moment, I don't use 93 octane, just 87. It's not that I don't believe in the benefits of the 93... it's more of, I probably don't make use of it. My ever increasingly influential lead foot might like it though. Damn this Fit!!! Before the Fit, I'd never even considered stuff like springs.

I found this thread that talked about Costco, BP and Toptiergas.com

http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?t=2606847

I guess that explains why BP isn't listed. As for some of those other brands listed on toptiergas.com... the way the stations are maintained make me think they would fit perfectly in Cambodia (I was born there, visited there 2 years ago). I've always had a negative impression of them because of that.

 

Nice find! I almost never go inside unless I'm buying methanol, the -20F wiper fluid is a 50/50 water/meth mix.

Post #1 from your link left me with more questions than answers though. Especially when they use language like this:
#3 and #4 are suggesting they get their fuel from Union 76. I haven't seen one of those in years. They used to have one in downtown northbrook with one of those big goofy orange 76's standing 25 feet above everything

And I understand BP's reason for rejecting the Top Tier push by manufacturers, it would be easy to scape goat one of the oil companies in an effort to avoid covering repairs or making recalls. But BP nd others claim to not only meet but exceed requirements and on their websites often list what they actually use if you dig. Shell is pretty good about this and they have whole seperate domains online for their multitude of race fuels. This is why I use them, they are used by many big name events and rarely if ever do you hear about any issues with their products.

As far as BP 93 being really good overall? I don't know, so far I have seen good things in both cars. The Fit even seems a little perkier than the last few months on Shell E10 93.

See I haven't yet tried BP for more than a month now and never in the summer, this was just an experiment on a tip from SB.

The Fit is pretty flexible with fuel but the real test is under >25psi and attempting double digit timing advance, which the GD can't do.. yet

I normally use the same gas station, typically its late at night so I actually use like the same pump depending on which is open.

Since I am on a budget I only run pump gas in the winter. The methanol kit is actually out of the car right now and in the first pic below you can see where the wiring harness plug for the injection controller box is just sitting above the intake cone.

And really theres no traction, no tracks are open and the weathers been so crappy I don't need to get that nastiness all over everything.

Gets dirty enough on nice days (this was taken before battery relocation to trunk and a bit of wire tucking):


The car is already two decades old and I don't need the salt to undo all my hardwork on the undercarriage. I also have two fuel pumps mounted on the outside of the car which I like to keep dry. (plus another in the tank)



I've only run two tanks of BP 93, but in boost I go through it quickly. So it's hard to say on only about 200miles worth..This is a post with some pics I took for Klasse Act's mileage thread:

So I will have to see over the course of a couple months whether BP is better than Shell.

Then perhaps I'll switch to CostCo and shares my results from that too. The closest Costco to me is in Glenview which is a bit of a haul.

Fortunately with ECMLink and the ability to datalog I can see exactly whats going on at any given split second of operation which makes comparing fuels easy and checking it against ambient environment and engine conditions helps me determine say weather inducing knock vs. a fuel issue



Along with direct feedback to gauges in the cabin to provide a sanity check and let me know if somethings going wrong on the fly.



And this is a shot of the engine running at perfect stoich for Shell 93 with 10% ethanol I took for K A's fuel thread

 

I like Goobers.... It is quite possible that he could become a Boost Junkie with the right kind of questionable influences. He already posts some wild stuff and he's got attitude and brains, why the hell not.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, my wallet can't afford it.

wild? dunno what you're talking about! ☺

I do like reading many of the things you, DSM and Lyon have posted ♥, and as nerdy as it sounds, it's always interesting (to me) to learn something new. But alas, between my laziness and general lack of funds... it isn't a good idea.

I am currently in a cold war with my family... they're trying to get me to find a wife. If I lose this cold war... well, I think you guys know what happens. even LESS money! and probably less time to even be on the forum. stinkin Asian family!!! *shakes chopsticks*

 

Well I'm just thrilled someone finds it interesting lol I hear ya on that, my relatives have been pushing me and the long term GF to get married but we are taking our sweet time.. and you should do.

No sense in rushing a decision like that.

As far as asian families.. it always reminds me of the "High Expectations Asian Father" which incidentally looks and sounds a lot like my friend Stephens dad when being sarcastic:









Nothing wrong with a focus on work ethic and education!

But these had us cracking up, hope you enjoy!

 

For some reason my 99 accord moves like a slug and unresponsive on MOBIL. Can't be the station where I got MOBIL from as I did tried 3 different stations with same result. I have never used MOBIL ever since. Is there truth in a car getting used to a specific gas? The accord was on SUNOCO 95% of the time. Yes, gas is gas but...