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Generic brand vs Name brand of Gasoline

4K views 31 replies 15 participants last post by  PMB 
#1 ·
As everybody experiencing the price of premium gas is going up every day. My concern is, is it all right to buy those gas from independent gas station like in 7/11 and Food Mart on less prices compare to Shell and Chevron?:confused:
 
#4 ·
Search my techron thread for my list of top tier gas
 
#5 ·
Try this link; Top Tier Gasoline

Is TT gas worth it? Well, I've been told that COSTCO has Shell, but I don't know if this info is on the pumps or my friend happened to see a Shell truck "dumping" a load of gas. I've also read that "mini-mart tanker trucks" get their gas from the same storage facilities as Shell, Exxon etc. I don't have first hand knowledge of this. All I know is I use Shell.
 
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#7 ·
Many complain about the price of gas here, but I try to just wince a bit(I paid $4.19 gal 93 octane last week) since I know I can do little about it.
 
#8 ·
That would be heaven in the UK, not so bad in the car boat the boat uses about 1 UK Gallon a mile.

If it is the same as it is here the fuel is bunkered at a local fuel farm and distributed from there. any surplus is hoovered up by the supermarkets at knock down prices, so they will be selling top grade fuel from one of the major companies. additives are added at tanker though so detergents and octane boosters will not be present unless you pick it up at Mr Shell or Chevron.
If is cheaper you could always add your own additive to the tank after buying from 7-11 and achieve the same thing.
 
#12 ·
#13 ·
Read the consumer label/notice for Costco gasoline, it has 10% alcohol, at least the one in Irvine, CA.
 
#14 ·
My father was in the gas hauling business for many years in the USA. When it came to delivering to non-branded gas stations like a 7-11, his trucks would picked up their loads from whichever distributor the 7-11 buyer worked the best deal with that day. So one day the same store may have Shell, then Exxon, etc. At other times, they may buy from a Shell distributor for several months in a row. In that case, their gas would be nearly identical to a branded Shell station. There are really no "generic" distributors. Also, the different companies share many of the same pipelines, so there is obviously cross blending of different brand petros.

With that being said, I do agree that many of the 7-11 type stores do not look after their storage tanks as well as a branded station or take the time to change their filters, etc. They also do not typically sell as much gas and therefore, the gas has time to attract moisture which is the enemy to all car engines. Slow moving product is also another good reason to avoid buying your gas the mom and pop country stores that sell a few hundred gallons of gas a day.

Personally, I like to buy my gas from a higher volume Shell station.

Paid $3.95/gallon today in NC! HOWEVER, the weather was 80 and sunny....the quick road trip was worth every penny!!
 
#15 · (Edited)
Personally, I like to buy my gas from a higher volume Shell station.

Paid $3.95/gallon today in NC! HOWEVER, the weather was 80 and sunny....the quick road trip was worth every penny!!
I have 3 in a 5 mile radius, so it's easy to get the "good stuff" :)

I saw a Shell sign with reg. at $3.79, which should mean premium was $3.99(around here, there are typically $.10 steps). Yes, the R) :burnout:
DO ease the "pain" a bit :tu::tu:
 
#16 ·
Why is it diesel fuel cost more than gasoline? Is'nt it diesel is less refined than gasoline? Does diesel fuel give more miles per gallon. Never owned diesel car because not many station selling diesel except if you close by aroundf truck stop.
 
#17 ·
Some years ago diesel fuel was changed to a ultra low sulfer which requied more processing. I also have a 2011 VW Jetta 2.0 turbo diesel. I get over 42 MPG on the highway and around 31 MPG around town. The over all average is 34 MPG. Compared to the car it replaced that got 18 MPG average using gasoline I am saving a lot of money. The turbo diesel runs better than the 2009 Honda Pilot it repalced that weas 6 with the engine management that some times ran on 3 that was suppose to save gas. The Honda was a 2 wheel drive.
 
#19 ·
The biggest reason diesel is more expensive than gasoline comes down to supply and demand. There is more demand for diesel than there ever has been. That will slowly start to change as more trucks are beginning to run on natural gas which is in oversupply due to the latest hydraulic fracturing technologies. The same thing happened back in the 70's when most large trucks actually ran on gasoline and diesel was the new cheaper fuel.

Happy Capitalism,

Will
 
#22 ·
Dad was a Texaco Exec for many years and I grew up around refineries all over the world....worked in a few many years ago. Shell, Chevron, and BP as well as many of the minors loaded trucks out of the Texaco truck racks near our company house.

When Tex or Shell had a refinery outage they supplied each other, so the idea that your getting gas from a particular refiner is not certain. All motor fuels produced by reputable companies meet API standards. Many companies contract to military and other large entities which test fuel specs so they are pretty careful.

Der Fleiger was right on......proper maintenance of the dispensing tanks is the issue. Some retailers use a process to clean tank internals and they regularly change particulate filters....other do not. I go for newer high volume stations. BTW, good luck buying alcohol free gas.....it just doesn't exist in the midwest unless you buy AV gas at the local FBO.
 
#23 ·
BTW, good luck buying alcohol free gas.....it just doesn't exist in the midwest unless you buy AV gas at the local FBO.
I used to find it at gas stations in MN labeled as "non oxy premium" for small engines and collector cars.
 
#25 ·
Corollary query: Which is the lesser evil, MBTE or ethanol?
 
#27 ·
As I understand it (and I'm not a chemist or a biologist, I are a engineer) MTBE is more harmful if it gets into the environment.

For sure ethanol can bring water into the fuel system, which is not especially good news (understatement).

Including oxygenated materials in the fuel formulation reduces the fuel energy, so fuel economy suffers. Including bio-ethanol is considered a useful means to reduce the overall CO2 footprint of automotive fuels. Not everyone agrees with this, but there aren't many things in life that everyone agrees with.

To answer the original question; I'll say what I've said before.. I prefer to buy my fuel from someone that makes it and buy my food from a grocer.

The fuel additive technologies used by the major oil companies are not the same as those that are included in fuels from 'white-pump' companies.

I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I don't believe that any of the supermarkets invest millions of dollars each year in fuel technology research or production. They simply take advantage of the over-supply in downstream. That of course is fair enough that's what capitalism is all about, but anybody that believes that the fuel they put in their tank at the supermarket is the same as the premium products from the majors is actually wrong.

:soap: I'll get down now..... :)
 
#28 ·
MBTE it is.
 
#30 ·
What about methanol? Generally used in winter to prevent fuel line freeze-up. Or is its use limited to lowering the freezing point only.
 
#32 ·
Well, I always fill with Shell, except a few weeks ago I filled at a cheap ASDA station near Liverpool. I keep a track of the number of miles I get out of a tank. I will give you the figures for the last few tanks and you can guess which one was the ASDA tank.

327, 333, 322, 342, 302, 338.

I don't know if they can "water it down" of something, but 20 miles per tank less than my worst tank!!! Something is going on!
 
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