Why buy off brand gas?

[ricosuave420]

I work at a gas station in NJ at a shell station and I usually have a few ppl come in asking why our gas is .30$ more than say "gas port" gas and I tell them it's better gas but they think I'm just blowing smoke bc I work at shell but I now have proof, when my dad gave me his bonneville he said it got 22-23 mpg highway and he for years put in "brand x" fuel, and I've had it for 5 years and have only ever put shell premium in it and a few weeks ago I did a 260 mile drive, including about 45 min of near dead stop traffic and including 35 miles of city driving. Now I filled up right before I left then filled up again right as I got back, and I know it's gonna sound a bit crazy but trust me I'm being truthful, I only used, accounting for city, traffic and the actual drive, I used 9.7 gallons, so estimating for the city driving and 45 min of dead stop traffic I'm getting 29-30 mpg, 7 more than when my dad gave it to me and 20% more than when the car was brand new ( I actually have the origional window sticker) 21 years and 183k miles ago, so by spending an extra 5-6$ at the pump I'm basically getting an extra 120 miles more for free over the cheaper off brand gas, so why do ppl buy the crap gas if they are clearly loosing like 20$ every time they fill up

[RJolly87]

What octane did he use, and what is the ethanol content of both fuels? All are fuel mileage drivers, not even counting driving style and city/hwy comparison

[harofreak00]

The most most unscientific proof I've ever heard.

[DaMaroon]

Getting the tank exactly the same amount of "full" could screw up your test on such a small quantity.

[younggunls1]

The most most unscientific proof I've ever heard.

[1tinindian]

How, may I ask, are you getting ANY MPGs in dead stop traffic for 45 minutes? was the engine turned off?

[Wes]

I filled up at a locally owned gas station and got exactly the same mpg as I did filling up from the shell that is closer to my work.

[deano55]

as much as it is "unscientific" my wife's 02 ford taurus loved shell gas, we used too always check mileage and shell was always good for another 40 miles per tank. Now was it worth the extra .20 or .30 cents? Most likely not. I use Citgo and BP for my 93 octane, too much KR on some off brands

[vogie01]

Gas is gas!! Yeah, some places use different additives but that is not being done at the station so they are really not that different. That is done by either the distributor early on in resale or at the refinery so most fuels essentially the same. If you look online most of the big name suppliers are all rated in as Top Tier Gas. Don't forget that one distributor will sell to a couple of different brands. The fuel around here for BP, SuperAmerica and I believe Shell come from the same distributor and out of the same tanks.

I do firmly believe that fuel can get old/bad due to lack of turn over or water getting into the tank which can cause some issues. I won't fill up at one station in town because I swear the owner puts a water hose in his tank to "thin out" his gas or he has a major leak going on resulting in water in the tank. I bet if he got his tank tested the results would not be right.

[deano55]

there are more than a couple of refineries that make gas, yes some add ingredients at the customers request which raises the cost, but all are not the same. I guess you could follow a tanker around for a day to see where it goes

[ricosuave420]

Well when I say mpg in dead stop traffic I meant that even with the engine idling for 45 min I still got around 28-29 mpg, I run 93 octane, and I filled it only till the pump stopped, I didn't add anymore after bc that would scew the results, and I drove the car for a few months on the cheapest gas I could find and barley got 20 highway, with shell for 5 years I'm just about at 30, and I got 30 when I was doing 65 in overdrive, plus my moms Lexus SUV would ping terribly on off brand regular then when she put shell regular the pinging would immediately stop