Automotive → costco gas

has a 2011 GDI Hyundai sonata and normally use chevron gas only but with gas prices climbing again and costco being 20-25 cents less just wanted to see what people think of costco gas and if its worth switching

It is fine - I use Kroger gas without issues in my vehicle. Costco can buy fuel from any of the 2 or 3 refiners or any mix of of the refiners. Just use the correct octane for the car and if the place is well cared for, newer (newer tanks), and is busy then by all means use it.

There will be top tier shills who will decry the anything but top tier - I have found it to be unfounded fud and marketing hype.

Try it out and see if your performance and mileage remains the same. If it doesn't then you know why it is so much cheaper.

All gas in the area comes from the same source. The only difference is the detergents added (stabalizers don't matter much if the station goes through gas in a normal fashion).

I agree 100% with Cylon... TTL gas is all a marketing gimick. There is absolutly no evidence that non-TTG is not as good as TTL. non-TTL could even be better (as the organization does not even test non-TTL gas).

If a person has a preference, great. Stick with it. I've yet to hear of vehicle having issues with a certain brand of gas.

I only buy name-brand gasoline. Costco is not a name-brand.

Apparently Costco has done some modifications to their gas recently to make it more like the top tier gas. »shop.costco.com/BC/In-Th ··· ine.aspx I personally use Shell or Chevron mostly in my 2012 CR-V.

I do not know what Top Tier Gas really is but here in SNJ I run Wawa Gas in my 2012 Cruze and have not had performance issues. The manual suggests top tier but it also states I only need 87 octane so I just run the 87 from Wawa with no negative issues.

The 2000 Impala before my Cruze also ran Wawa Gas for at least five years without issues.

i have used shell and Qt with no problems but cant say the same about AmPm/arco my car ran horrible and lost about 3mpg which at that point i just stuck with chevron since it is close by. ill take doctor olds suggestion and see what happens

»www.moneytalksnews.com/2 ··· ormance/

Quote from another site.
"Thanks for your note and interest in quality fuels.
BP's Fuels Technology group has tested BP gasoline with Invigorate and has demonstrated that all of our grades of gasoline with Invigorate perform as well or better than gasoline meeting the Top Tier standards.
Top Tier was a program started by GM and supported by a five other automakers. Ford (which recommends BP gasoline with Invigorate) and Chrysler and many other manufacturers are not members. The Top Tier program was created in response to one of the member's problems with fouling fuel injectors in certain models of their engines in the early
2000's.
To become a Top Tier gasoline supplier, the petroleum company or fuel marketer must submit their gasoline detergent additive to GM for testing at a certain dose. The applicant must sign a pledge to use that additive and dose for at least one year.
BP and some other major fuel marketers decided not to join the Top Tier program. BP's reason is simple: BP reserves the right to determine what goes into our gasoline for the benefit of our customers and does not want others dictating what to sell to our customers. We are confident that our gasoline will perform well in our customer's vehicles; in fact BP guarantees the performance of our gasoline in writing.
Thank you for your inquiry and interest, it sounds like you are interested in quality fuels. Why not give BP gasoline with Invigorate a try! It helps cars run younger for longer!
Kind regards,
US FUELS Marketing"
Source »www.smartcarofamerica.co ··· e-30962/

So somebody must believe there is a difference.

It's all the same. Do that many people really fall for the marketing?

See - »www.toptiergas.com

said by Honda :

---

...we strongly recommend the use of gasoline that does NOT contain harmful manganese based fuel additives such as MMT...

Qualifying gasoline retailers will, in most cases, identify their gasoline as having met "TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline" standards at the retail location. This fuel is guaranteed to contain the proper level of detergent additives and be free of metallic additives. The proper level of detergent additives, and absence of harmful metallic additives in gasoline, help avoid build-up of deposits in your engine.

---

After using Lukoil gas in my car for a year, my catalytic converter needed to be replaced. Was it MMT or some other additive? Maybe. Maybe not. But I won't use Lukoil any more.

Marketing would not exist, if it did not work.

It's anecdotal really. While some cars might run better on TTG some might not. Find what your car runs best on.

On two cars I had, '06 Grand Prix GXP and '04 Ford F250 V-10 I ran test over two years of my own to see which done better at a few different stations. Shell, BP, Thorntons and Speedway.

My truck got consistently 1.5MPG better running BP over the others the worst was Thorntons at 10MPG even and the best was BP at 12MPG.
The GXP ran better on Shell over the others, I can't remember the exact numbers anymore since it's been over 4 years.

Simply stated some cars run better on different blends.

Now with that said. My '97 F150 would simply not run on Speedway gas. Both times I filled up at Speedway the truck would die at stop lights. Ford couldn't find any CEL codes and it never happened on any other gas before or after those two times. Both fill-ups were about 6-8 months apart if I remember correct.

My two current cars I have no clue on gas data. My '09 Vibe I only drive 3.4 miles to work with it and a tank last 6 weeks and my SHO is only a month old so I have no clue with it yet.

I believe MMT has been outlawed as a commercial gas additive for quite while. I think you can still buy it in the bottles of octane booster, but apart from that you should not run into it.

I get 2-3 mpg worse gas mileage in both my vehicles with Mobil E10 gas. I can use any gas but Mobil and the mileage is 2-3mpg higher with E10 if it's not from Mobil. E0 gas gives me about 2 mpg extra, regardless of brand. Makes me wonder if Mobil is really selling E15 and labelling it as E10.

Normally I fill up at Sunoco or BP, I don't dare to use the no-name gas. It may be the same thing, but I don't want to be the one to find out if that's true.

Here in BC at least, I think Costco uses pure gas. I get good mileage with it unlike E10, and no RPM variation at idle as with E10.

Ah, the V10 F series. The quintessential fuel destroyer.

I find the one year part interesting. A company could use the additives to qualify for top tier status and then stop using them after a year to reduce costs without losing the status. My opinion is that it is marketing hype.

No, it's out and out BS.

Out here Costco gas is refined by either Tesoro or other area refiners.
California gas is formulated exactly the same between brands by regulation except for the detergent packages which are added at the loading dock when the tanker is filled. Some brands use the minimum amount required by EPA to keep car emission systems working and some use more than the minimum required.
For instance Chevron uses 400 ppm for their Techron additive, the stuff they sell to pour into the tank will make about 4000 ppm. That stuff is really interesting used as a parts cleaner.

Costco gas pricing matches the lowest price in the store's neighborhood within 2 cents, whether that is ARCO, Valero, Phillips-Conoco, or whatever local unbranded stations are charging.

Wrong. See - »www.toptiergas.com/faqs.html

Translation: We want to sell the crappiest gasoline we can get away with in order to maximize our profit.

I go to the gas station that's on the way of whereever I am going when I need gas

Though I try to avoid stations that seem to get little traffic, because the fuel might be old.

makes sense since we only have 1 refinery in montreal now!

I have been using Sam's Club gas (here they are tied for price) and have experienced no problems. My gas mileage has deteriorated about 1 to 2 MPG, since the government forced imposition of 10% (or more) ethanol was added to real gasoline.

Sam's and Costco were about 6 to 8 cents cheaper than the nearest stations, so the choice is obvious.

I quit using Price Club gas years ago when I noticed how my gas gauge would go down faster than with Chevron or Union 76. I currently have an 2002 CRV and use Chevron on it. I do know there is a Union 76 station located in the south area cheaper than other parts.

A lot of this depends on whether or not your local area is subject to smog restrictions, since these dictate what your local gas formulation is, which can and does vary considered based upon the time of year (winter formulation, summer formulation, etc.) I live in one of these areas and I've found that it DOES make a difference where we buy our gas - bargain vs. not, inside the metro area or not - particularly in summer.

My wife buys cheaper gas and has more engine performance issues, while I tend to buy the more expensive stuff and have fewer. Both vehicles on occasion will suffer from transient rough idle, which I blame on the gas. In my wife's case I've asked that she buy the more expensive stuff for maybe every third of fourth tankful (not that she actually does this); otherwise I have to regularly dump some kind of fuel additive in there.

I have used Costco gas for well over 5 years in AZ, CA, OR, NV, and WA. It has never created any performance issues. I sometimes plan long distance travel to hit convient Costco stations along the route.

2010 Taurus SHO here with DI, Turbos, all that good stuff. I track my MPG with a handy iPhone app. Have 42k on the car now. Ford says regular is OK and I may get better HP with premium.

I buy the cheapest gas I can find (marketing BS aside, it's all the same) and have not noticed a difference in MPG or performance. Some weeks it's Giant (grocery store), some weeks BJ's, Costco's, Hess, Turkey Hill, Valero, etc. It all burns just fine.

What I have noticed is that in the hot weather around town I seem to run better and get a slight MPG advantage with premium. In the cooler months not as much of a performance hit and the MPG is about the same. I've not found that the MPG difference makes up for the almost $0.40 gallon difference over regular though.

So buy what you want as it's all basically the same. Track MPG and see if it makes a difference.