What's the Best "Brand" of Gasoline?

Ilpav

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Location
GTA, Ontario, Canada
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'04 Toyota Corolla LE
There are three major gas companies around where I live: Petro Canada, Shell, and Esso. I am currently using Petro because it has something called "Petro-Points" which you gain every time you fill up and you can use those points to get free gas or a chocolate bar.

What I want to know is: is there a company that distributes the "best" gasoline? A new Shell station popped up across the road from my local Petro and when I think of Shell, it makes me think that its gas is somehow of a better quality than Petro and Esso, so I find my self in the Shell sometimes. Some people even stated that when they switched to Shell, their mileage improved (and vice versa for other companies).

I think it has something to do with how some companies put special "additives" in their gas (which can be better or worse).

So, which one's best? And what are your experiences with different companies?
 
I use shell. My car really likes Shell, no more "shaky starts" after I switched to Shell.

Let me explain "shaky starts". Lets say, after driving until the vehicle is warmed up, I park it and turn off the engine for five or less minutes. When I restarted it, it would idle very low, and Boxer engines are shaky at low RPM's. After switching to Shell six months ago, the problem ceased.
 
I've never had a bad tank from Exxon (Esso), nor have I ever heard anybody complain about their quality of gas.
 
I either use Husky/Mohawk or Esso. Both seem to work well. At the Mohawk near me only 92 and 98 octane are available though (but for regular and regular plus prices might I add)
 
I get the feeling that old Top Gear would've done a segment on this, the most petrolheaded of topics.
 
:whistle:

I tend to fill up at the cheapest place.. I don't go out of my way to go to a specific fuel station. Never really noticed the difference, if I'm honest.

Usually end up at BP or Caltex, though.
 
Some people even stated that when they switched to Shell, their mileage improved (and vice versa for other companies).

So have I. On most fuels my Mercedes gets about 11.5-12 l/100 km. On Shell fuel that drops to 10.5l /100 km. With fuel prices around 1.42 eur/ l that is quite a difference. Luckily, a very cheap Shell filling station (on par with most elcheapo noname stations) lies on my road to work, so I don't need to drive any extra kms for Shell fuel. On Shell V-Power it runs even better and i get an even better mileage, but not enough to justify the 5 ct/l premium.
 
I don't quite understand the quibbling over a few cents... Whether I buy the most expensive V-Power from Shell or the least expensive stuff from Caltex where they have that shopper-docket discount I'm still going to be paying roughly $100 to fill up... For that amount of money I might as well have the highest quality stuff from a brand that I have a bit of faith in.

$1.48 minus 4 cents per litre because of the Woolworths shopper-docket discount = $100.

$1.55 with no discount = $108.

For that measly eight bucks I'm getting a higher quality product, better performance, better economy and I don't have to mingle with those stingy Caltex savages. I guess I can understand that if you're as poor as... oh, lets say BlaRo..... Then the eight bucks might mean the difference between having Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner and having McDonald's for dinner... but for me it doesn't seem like that much money. Maybe that's the problem; $100 is so much damn money that people are tempted to save as much as they can... but when you're only saving a few cents what's the point?


Anyway, BP is pretty good, too but I got out of the habit of going there when I used to own a dark red car because it clashed with the bright green & yellow of the BP station. Yes, I'm serious.
 
There are three major gas companies around where I live: Petro Canada, Shell, and Esso. I am currently using Petro because it has something called "Petro-Points" which you gain every time you fill up and you can use those points to get free gas or a chocolate bar.

What I want to know is: is there a company that distributes the "best" gasoline? A new Shell station popped up across the road from my local Petro and when I think of Shell, it makes me think that its gas is somehow of a better quality than Petro and Esso, so I find my self in the Shell sometimes. Some people even stated that when they switched to Shell, their mileage improved (and vice versa for other companies).

I think it has something to do with how some companies put special "additives" in their gas (which can be better or worse).

So, which one's best? And what are your experiences with different companies?
I find in the Toronto area it completely depends on the station itself. Most of the Petrol Canada stations near me do not seem to provide that good quality of gas. It seems to be just preference in most cases. In terms of the best gas it has to be Sunoco since its the only one in the GTA that provides 94 octane, depending on your car you may or may not notice the difference. Since my engine intended for high octane I did notice a very big difference.
 
I find in the Toronto area it completely depends on the station itself. Most of the Petrol Canada stations near me do not seem to provide that good quality of gas. It seems to be just preference in most cases.

I've noticed the same sort of thing throughout Utah. Chevron/Texaco is the only brand around here that has consistently kept both my wife's Saturn and my Sprint from pinging, but even then, there are a couple of stations I avoid at all costs. For whatever reason there are one or two stations that just get bad gas. I don't know if they use a different supplier than the rest or if they're trying to pawn off lower-octane gas than what they're advertising, but there's a real difference.
 
I use Shell Vpower 95 octane :D don't care whether its more expensive or even if it won't do much good on a stock engine. I just like the peace of mind that im getting nothing but the best, plus, it does better mileage too compared to regular shell unleaded :)
 
I've never seen people so willing to throw their money away. If I was in the marketing department of any major oil company, I would be extremely happy upon reading this thread.
 
I've never seen people so willing to throw their money away. If I was in the marketing department of any major oil company, I would be extremely happy upon reading this thread.

hey im getting better mileage on Vpower! so im getting a good ROI :D:lol::mrgreen:
 
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