LEB Ben
Arrogant A-hole At-Large
Since I finally have a car where I can actually see the results from putting different brand fuel in my car, I've been round robining 3 different fuel stations...one is a BP, one is a Shell and one is a Pilot. To this point I've put in 8 tanks of fuel (with #9 coming tonight), I've used BP 3 times, Shell 3 times and Pilot twice (third coming tonight). I've used 87 octane at each fill up, and judging by the DIC, I've had less than a 1/4 gallon left at each fill up. These are the results I've come up with to this point:
BP:
Has yielded the best mpg's at an average of 30.1 mixed mpg's* over the course of three tanks.
Shell:
Has yielded the second best results at an average of 28.7 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks. However, sounds like there's a little bit of detonation when throttle is applied going up a steep(ish) grade.
Pilot:
Is coming in last at 27.3 mpg's mixed...but has yet to exhibit any detonation.
So these are my results to this point. I'm also gonna incorporate Conoco, Phillips, Citgo, Kangaroo, Hess, Wal-Mart's and the BP that still does 100% gasoline. I don't feel I've compiled enough data to this point, but I thought it was rather interesting that I'm already seeing a 10% gap between the top and bottom. If I spend $300/month in fuel, over the course of the year that 10% will save me $360, simply by educating myself what my vehicle prefers to run on.
At my current fill up rate, I'm filling twice a week, and if I wanna get 3 full tanks out of each store and try 3 different stores, I figure it'll be about 8 months before I can finalize data, but I look forward to it.
My current process for documentation, is to write down miles at the tank, zero my trip odo, and then document them both again at the next fill up. Also documenting price per gallon at each fill up...cuz I was thinking I could sacrifice a few cents at the pump, if mpg's were really that much better...and to this point it's true. Pilot is hovering right around 10-15 cents cheaper than BP.
I'd also like to note, that with the exception of the 100% gas BP, all of these stores are conveniently located, and not out of my way at all, I pass them every day.
Potential flaws:
-Engine isn't broken in yet
-Only tested at 1 store for each brand to this point (planning on using 3 of each store)
-Differing driving/traffic conditions
*MPG's are figured based on the weighted average of the 3 tanks. Also keep in mind my driving habits are approximately 75% highway 25% city.
***This is just an observation for my car, fuel quality may be different elsewhere and different vehicles have different thirsts...although it seems mine typically enjoy the BP flavor more often than not.
BP:
Has yielded the best mpg's at an average of 30.1 mixed mpg's* over the course of three tanks.
Shell:
Has yielded the second best results at an average of 28.7 mixed mpg's over the course of three tanks. However, sounds like there's a little bit of detonation when throttle is applied going up a steep(ish) grade.
Pilot:
Is coming in last at 27.3 mpg's mixed...but has yet to exhibit any detonation.
So these are my results to this point. I'm also gonna incorporate Conoco, Phillips, Citgo, Kangaroo, Hess, Wal-Mart's and the BP that still does 100% gasoline. I don't feel I've compiled enough data to this point, but I thought it was rather interesting that I'm already seeing a 10% gap between the top and bottom. If I spend $300/month in fuel, over the course of the year that 10% will save me $360, simply by educating myself what my vehicle prefers to run on.
At my current fill up rate, I'm filling twice a week, and if I wanna get 3 full tanks out of each store and try 3 different stores, I figure it'll be about 8 months before I can finalize data, but I look forward to it.
My current process for documentation, is to write down miles at the tank, zero my trip odo, and then document them both again at the next fill up. Also documenting price per gallon at each fill up...cuz I was thinking I could sacrifice a few cents at the pump, if mpg's were really that much better...and to this point it's true. Pilot is hovering right around 10-15 cents cheaper than BP.
I'd also like to note, that with the exception of the 100% gas BP, all of these stores are conveniently located, and not out of my way at all, I pass them every day.
Potential flaws:
-Engine isn't broken in yet
-Only tested at 1 store for each brand to this point (planning on using 3 of each store)
-Differing driving/traffic conditions
*MPG's are figured based on the weighted average of the 3 tanks. Also keep in mind my driving habits are approximately 75% highway 25% city.
***This is just an observation for my car, fuel quality may be different elsewhere and different vehicles have different thirsts...although it seems mine typically enjoy the BP flavor more often than not.
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