Gas Station fuel comparisons

[LEB Ben]

I wouldnt recommend draftin becasue its dangerous and it pisses drivers off and ya might end up with a face full of gravel.

Definitely hear that...I was puckered the whole time. It was purely in the name of science...haha.

Hey Ben check out http://www.fuelly.com might be an easy way for you to keep up with mpg's and locations..

Definitely looks cool, I'll look more in depth later to make sure it offers what I'm wanting to track.

 

[Krafty]

Subcribed. Deffinetly want to hear your results with this. I have always been a die hard phillps guy. Don't really know why just always have been and seem to drive a little further just to go to one.

 

[mrxlh]

Although brands are only available in certain regions, the best fuel for occasion use vehicles is Chevron, as it has techron fuel addative in all grades. Techron is absolutly the best fuel system cleaner I have ever used, bar none, better than B12 or Seafoam. It is also a stabilizer, so you get more bang for your buck without haveing to buy more addatives. If it is available in NC, which I don't think it is, give it a try. Amoco (now BP) was the second best fuel in my book. Of course I have Dyno numbers to prove it, not fuel mileage numbers.

 

[LEB Ben]

^^^I suppose you speaking on this topic is kinda like the Pope on Catholicism. Thanks for the info Lester. It's been a while since I've seen a Chevron, but I'll see if I can't locate one for gits and shiggles.

 

[mrxlh]

Well I don't know if I would go that far, but using Chevron and or Amoco we could always get advance timing more without detonation. That and the HP was always a tad better using stock timing. However this was all using Super Unleaded, as that is all I ever run in my bikes. My bikes alone probably had over 200 dyno runs on them. Of course it helped that a good friend of mine had a Dyno Jet 200 in his garage. I helped him on a regular basis and made tons more runs than just the ones on my bikes.

 

[dragogt]

http://www.chevron.com/productsservices/fuelsstations/countries/default.aspx?country=UnitedStates

 

[LEB Ben]

BP2:
Tank1 yielded 29.4 mpg's
***New*** Tank 2 yielded 27.6 mpg's which seriously surprised me, and was doing some serious pinging under heavy acceleration

Citgo:
Tank 1 yielded 29.7mpg's
***New*** Tank 2 yielded 28.8 mpg's

Kangaroo:
Tank 1: Yielded 28.8 mpg's
***New*** Tank 2 yielded 28.4 mpg's.

 

[CaFordDude]

What octane gas is recommended for your car? 92 is recommended for my Acura and I try and use it most of the time.

 

[LEB Ben]

87 octane is recommended, but peak mpg's and power numbers used 93, per the brochure.

 

[LEB Ben]

BP2:
Tank1 yielded 29.4 mpg's
Tank 2 yielded 27.6 mpg's
***New***Tank 3 yielded 27.7 mpg's

Citgo:
Tank 1 yielded 29.7mpg's
Tank 2 yielded 28.8 mpg's
***New*** Tank 3 yielded 29.0 mpg's

Hess:
***New*** Tank 1 yielded 27.6 mpg's

 

[LEB Ben]

BP1:
Has yielded an average of 30.1 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.

BP2:
Has yielded an average of 28.2 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.


BP 100% gasoline:
Tank1: Yielded 30.3 mpg's

Citgo 1:
Has yielded an average of 29.2 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.

Citgo 2:
Tank 1: Yielded 30.3 mpg's

Sunoco:
Tank 1: Yielded 28.4 mpg's


Shell:
Has yielded an average of 28.7 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks. (Detonation noticed)

Pilot:
Has yielded an average of 27.3 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.

Kangaroo:
Tank 1: Yielded 28.8 mpg's
Tank 2: Yielded 28.4 mpg's


Hess:
Tank 1: 27.6 mpg's
Tank 2: 27.7 mpg's

 

[LEB Ben]

Been a while since I've updated...but here it goes:

BP1:
Has yielded an average of 30.1 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.

BP2:
Has yielded an average of 28.2 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.


BP 100% gasoline:
Tank1: Yielded 30.3 mpg's
***New Tank 2: Yielded 29.9 mpg's

Marathon 100% gasoline:
***New Tank 1: Yielded 29.6 mpg's
***New Tank 2: Yielded 29.2 mpg's


Citgo 1:
Has yielded an average of 29.2 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.

Citgo 2:
Tank 1: Yielded 30.3 mpg's
***New Tank 2: Yielded 28.8 mpg's

Citgo 3:
***New Tank 1: Yielded 27.7 mpg's

Sunoco:
Tank 1: Yielded 28.4 mpg's
***New Tank 2: Yielded 28.6 mpg's

Shell:
Has yielded an average of 28.7 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks. (Detonation noticed)

Pilot:
Has yielded an average of 27.3 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks.

Kangaroo:
Tank 1: Yielded 28.8 mpg's
Tank 2: Yielded 28.4 mpg's


Hess:
Tank 1: 27.6 mpg's
Tank 2: 27.7 mpg's

 

[LEB Ben]

Alright...I'm not going to bore you guys with all the details, but I've finished my testing of regular grade fuel in the Mustang. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that quality of station brands are negligible, but do show some trending characteristics.

To review the testing, I tried any readily available fueling station I cam across, from stations like Murphy's (Wal-Mart gas) to BP's and Conoco's still serving 100% gasoline.

According to my best and worse average tanks, I ranged from as bad as 27.2 (Pilot and Hess were the lowest numbers of the bunch)mpg's up to 30.1 mpg's (Citgo and BP posted the highest numbers of the bunch) with an ethanol blend. I recorded 30.3 mpg's with 100% gasoline (Consistent among BP, Conoco, Sunoco and Citgo). I stated earlier, I believe this to be negligible in the fact that A/C usage, natural windage, drafting, temperature, road conditions, traffic conditions, etc. would affect the outcome.


That said...taking my numbers as Gospel, I travel, on average, 600 miles a week in the Mustang...which expands to 31,200 miles over the course of the year. I'm using 3.70 as the average cost of the ethanol blend over the course of the experiment, and the 100% gasoline averaged .05 higher than the blended...so we'll call it 3.75/gal.

Using the 31,200 miles mentioned above, divided by the average worst tank of 27.2 mpg's...means I'd use 1,147.059 gallons of fuel over the course of the year. Now multiplied by $3.70/gal, means I'd be spending $4,244.12 over the course of the year.

Now doing the same with the best tank of ethanol blend, I'd be using 1,036.545 gallons of fuel throughout the year. Multiplying by the same average cost, I'd be spending $3,835.22 for the year.

The final comparison of 100% gasoline would project me using 1,029.703 gallons over the year. Remember, it averaged .05/gallon more expensive, and it would yield an annual cost of $3,861.39.


So there you have it, those are the numbers I came up with. Keeping in mind, there are too many variables to get a true conclusion, but if all things were equal, I think you'd see less than a 1.5mpg difference between the 'crappy' gas and the 'good quality' fuels.




Side bar...I am on my 3rd tank of premium blended fuel in the Mustang, and so far it is averaging 31.8mpg's, 1.7mpg's better than the best regular grade blended fuel. And I'll make a little projection based on the collected numbers to this point. On average, premium grade fule costs .20 more per gallon than regular fuel in my area. So using the average annual travel of 31,200 miles, that would mean I'd 981.1321 gallons a year...multiplied by 3.90/gallon (compensating for the .20 difference) and I'd be paying $3,826.42.

So if the premium continues the way it is, it might be worth paying a little more at the pump...monetary savings would be negligible, but it would mean 3-4 less stops at a gas station over the year.

 

[fatherdoug]

Ben, if the comparison between regular and premium is a wash, then I would be going with premium. I notice a small increase in mileage when using premium on the '78, but there is only one gas station in town. (Exxon) or (hexxon).

 

[LEB Ben]

^^^Yeah...it looks like money will be a wash. I get about 25 miles more out of a tank, which should result in 5 less fill-ups a year...and a premium product.