Anyone else notice a difference with Costco gas?

[civicdabest-foo]

Yeah I apologize to everyone for letting the entire point of the thread get ignored.

I don't doubt that Costco fuel is causing problems for people. I have never personally used it. I did find it interesting that Costco fuel is listed as Top Tier. I wonder what the issue is because one thing I learned is that fuel in the US and Canada is across the board of high quality.

Supposedly all fuel that is sold in Canada of all octanes has detergents in it.

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[db220]

I don't see how ya'll get that kind of gas mileage. I never average 30mpg. I usually stay around 26-27mg.

I average around 25. I've never seen the published numbers whether I'm in Econ mode or not.

 

[himecraig]

Yeah I apologize to everyone for letting the entire point of the thread get ignored.

I don't doubt that Costco fuel is causing problems for people. I have never personally used it. I did find it interesting that Costco fuel is listed as Top Tier. I wonder what the issue is because one thing I learned is that fuel in the US and Canada is across the board of high quality.

I see in other forums owners of lifted trucks, high performance or tuned cruisers say Costco gas sucks...but for the vast majority of owners of family vans, suvs and sedans used daily buying Costco gas seems just fine.

The specific detergents used in name brand gas is the cost difference.
Where I live in the east Bay Area 5- refiners are concentrated within a 30 minute drive radius and the detergents are added before the drop.
Here each refinery has their own storage tanks.
If your car reacts well to a certain blend then yes by all means shop at that name brand station and pay the premium price for that particular gas blend.

My car has never been filled up at any other place other than Costco and I consistently get 42-53mpg on my way to and from work.

WOW 53mpg !!! That’s Prius like, do you drive at 50mph on flat roads for 500miles straight?
you must not have highway entrances and exits, overpasses, stop lights, hills...(I could possibly get 35mpg tops)

 

[_HawK_]

Supposedly all fuel that is sold in Canada of all octanes has detergents in it.

Well I am not sure what the regulations are in Canada. But in the US all fuel has detergents as well. Top Tier fuels are an industry standard and not regulated by the EPA. The rules for Top Tier fuels are that they have a minimum of 3 times the detergents mandated by the EPA. Currently Exxon is supposed to have the most concentrations with an average of 30% more detergents than other branded Top Tier fuels.

 

[mis3]

I myself had bad experiences with Costco gas a few years ago. It happened twice so I have stopped using them.

 

[Axatax]

Costco gas is from Valero, which is the same gas sold at gas stations under a variety of names (some big ones, too).

 

[civicdabest-foo]

This is like the total opposite of what I've heard about Costco gas here in Canada

Word on the streets here is that Costco is the best place to get gas and that it is the cheapest (which according to GasBuddy it most often is).

But to see MPG drops like are being reported here? Wow.

I don't use Costco gas, I use gas from a regional gas distributor called Gas Plus.

 

[caspar21]

i wonder if cosco gas is not using ethanol or something that our cars like so much.

so the gas is good stuff, just the 10th gens don't like the mix?

 

[nick94]

I don't see how ya'll get that kind of gas mileage. I never average 30mpg. I usually stay around 26-27mg.

I average around 29-30mpg.

However, I drive mostly on hills and there are a lot of traffic lights and stop signs. I zeroed the trip counter on a flat valley and tried to drive around in a very conservative way and I got near 40mpg for about 5 miles, so in theory it is possible.

 

[Gruber]

On the two guys having a heated dispute I say this: as usual, the truth is in between, but if I had to decide who is more right on the merit, I would say that would be the gentleman from Georgia.

You just can't go to any Shell gas station in these United States and count on the gasoline sold there to have been refined and blended by Shell. Period.
However, I also believe that there are some Shell gas stations, usually in great spots in large urban areas, and/or close to Shell refineries and storage/blending terminals which actually have mostly Shell gasoline. Why not? But generally, the pipelines are shared, and mixing (also known as commingling) of batches of refined products is normal, even if they tried to keep it pure. For this and other reasons, all gasoline must be tested before delivery to gas stations and if it's not up to standards it is (supposed to be) returned.

The best proof of that is that Shell never says anything of the sort in any of their advertising. The hard rule is that anything that is not advertised or specified is not guaranteed. Shell also does not boast, for example, the sulfur levels in their gas. This can be controlled only at the refinery, and if they could they would say something. If someone knows any link to Shell advertising only Shell-distilled gas, or lower sulfur than others, please let me know.

So it may be almost true that among most brands, all gas is the same, except for the additives (which btw. are not exclusively detergents). But this is absolutely not true between different batches, times of the year, regions, and localities. Additionally, it changes in the perspective of years and decades according to changing regulations and markets. The composition of the hydrocarbons changes with time, but not so much brand to brand.

The additives are crucial, even if they are "just a small amount." That's what makes gasoline great or "crap", but not the only thing. There is also water content, sulfur, acids, aromatics, etc. The main hydrocarbon contents can be different, since they are blends of several refined products. For example branched "alkylates" are better than straight gas distilled from oil. Butane (the cigarette lighter gas) also is blended in different amounts. Ethanol is not at the nominal fraction, for example E10 may have 6% ethanol or sometimes less.

While hauling gas brings some actual naked eye knowledge and evidence where the gas comes from, to appreciate what the "gas" is today and how one batch can be different from another, some knowledge of the chemistry involved may be necessary.

 

[voiddweller]

No issues with the Costco blends near Pittsburgh, PA.

 

[WOPSiWOT]

I don't see how ya'll get that kind of gas mileage. I never average 30mpg. I usually stay around 26-27mg.

City v Highway. I recently changed jobs and went from doing a significant amount of highway to none. I’ve gone from 34+ mpg down to 28. If you do a lot of steady state highway you can definitely get the EPA rated 38mpg or better. Around town you won’t.

 

[dthatcher7]

Here in San Diego, both Arco and Valero say they are Top Tier, but my 16 Civic EX (2.0L) runs smoother with Valero. I truly believe there are different amounts of filtering going on. Top Tier poorly filtered gas is like making Kool-Aid with toilet water.
Every vehicle owner owes it to themselves to run a few tanks of each of the local stations and see what runs best, then use that. Valero might be crap in your area for all I know.
My late 99 Chrysler 300M ran the best with the non-Top Tier swill at the USA Gasoline station. My Civic hated the stuff!

 

[Gruber]

I have been using only Shell and Costco 93 gas for 10 months since I bought my car. Not that I think they are better than anything else, but I just wanted to compare these two as representative of the "premium premium" gas and the "regular premium" gas.

During the summer I had a slight impression that Shell was a bit better for power and mileage. But this was not obvious. Now with winter gas I get easily high mileage with Costco and I hardly see any difference.

Just this weekend I made another 100 miles loop trip, this time including the so called Devil's Triangle 44 miles loop with hilly and twisty parts, some two-lane highways and a little freeway. I got 41.6 mpg on Costco gas mostly with the ECON off. The car runs perfectly on my current Costco gas. I don't see any mileage difference.

But my Costco 93 may be different from your Costco 93 somewhere else.

 

[defeated]

i wonder if cosco gas is not using ethanol or something that our cars like so much.

so the gas is good stuff, just the 10th gens don't like the mix?

Interesting idea! I haven't gotten Costco gas lately, but I liked it the few times I used it in my previous car, a 2011 Maxima. I used super exclusively in that car, so maybe that grade is, or was, ethanol free.

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