[silki2112]

So i have read a lto about octane ratings and using good fuel.

Would it be better to use 93 Octane at Sames club or 89 Octane at BP or some other better gas station? Whats everyone thoughts?

BTW...thanks to all for this site..i have learned much in the past 3 weeks on owning a new to me 98' 323 vert!!!

 

[HyphE36]

93 octane from *super****ty club wherever* is going to be better than 89 octane at *best regular gas station ever*

 

[E36 Phantom]

Neither. And that's totally wrong, Steven. Sorry.

BP is total sh*t. Grocery store gas would never come within ten feet of my car.

Chevron or 76: 91 AKI or up only.

If for some strange reason that extra 20 cents for premium is really hurting you, it's better to get 87 from a good brand (Chevron or 76) than 91 from a sh*tty brand. Your car only requires 87 AKI anyway. 91 is better, the car can compensate for it and you'll get slightly better performance/mileage, but 87 is all that's necessary. Good gas, however, is a must at any rating.

 

[Kamdog]

Top Tier gas, premium. For me, that generally means Shell 93. I will only buy at a lesser gas station than top tier as a last resort.

 

[silki2112]

SO what the diff between the top tier and lower? WHich are "top" tier?

 

[E36 Phantom]

Top Tier gas, premium. For me, that generally means Shell 93. I will only buy at a lesser gas station than top tier as a last resort.

Shell has too many detergents, IMO. Chevron 91 faithful here. 76 91 as a backup.

We don't have 93 in Kalifornia.

 

[Kamdog]

Shell has too many detergents, IMO. Chevron 91 faithful here. 76 91 as a backup.

We don't have 93 in Kalifornia.

No Chevron or 76 around here.

 

[Just Bryce]

Chad,
When I pick up the Range next week should I not be getting the 87 at the "Sunny Food Mart" ?

 

[E36 Phantom]

Chad,
When I pick up the Range next week should I not be getting the 87 at the "Sunny Food Mart" ?

Ask Adesh. He might know. :dunno:

As for me, I would very me much be finding it of the preferable to be going to gas stations of the reputations of very much being good.

Thank you, come again.

Seriously......see my sig pic for info on my gas station choices. :rofl:

 

[HyphE36]

I wondered shortly after my post about the logic posted... haha, too lazy to change it tho.

+1 to chad, chevron "91 petro"! All I roll on (lyrical reference courtesy of Keak da'Sneak, "Fast like a Nascar", Yee!!!)

 

[heidifleiss]

Top Tier gas, premium. For me, that generally means Shell 93. I will only buy at a lesser gas station than top tier as a last resort.

So you use the V-Power shell gas? Is it really worth it? Is there much of a difference?

 

[bimmerbarbie]

Chevron 93 FTMFW!!!!! The best. Absolutely. None around? Drive another car with a gas can to get some for the bimmer. All the rest = evil death.

Years ago I was a big Shell V-Power fan, then they had too much sulfur in the mix (don't really remember, this was a while ago) and it screwed two of my cars' fuel systems up. How did I fix it, without replacing everything? A mechanic told me to run two full tanks of Chevron 93 consecutively.......
















And it fixed it!!!!! Since then, its only Chevron for me. You can really tell the difference, too, once you get used to the performance and how clean they run on it. Everything else is sub-par. IMHO.

 

[Kamdog]

So you use the V-Power shell gas? Is it really worth it? Is there much of a difference?

It hardly costs more than one or two cents more than the competition, and I suppose it is worth it. Not being willing to tear apart the engine, I am just taking it on faith from BMW to use top tier gas.

It does help that it really is no more money.

 

[foamerdave]

O how I love PA I can still get 94 at two stations around me. Also can get Cam2 race gas (105) but at 8 bucks a gal. 90% of the time my car sees Hess 93 it likes it and at 2.09 a gal. I am not bitching

 

[dinanm3atl]

Come on now guys. Let me shine some light on this for you.

There is a pipeline which I am sure with all gas crisis here and katrina there you have heard of it. Well every company puts in X amount of 93 at the beginning of the pipe and then removes X amount of 93 at the end. They could be getting Chevron's or Amaco's or Shell's. Then they put in their own additive pack. THAT is the difference. The 93 AKI is 93 AKI at all the stations. They aren't cheating and putting in .5% extra ethanol just to lower the price. The discount places don't want water in their gas either, it is bad for business.

Some of you guys are saying "Online Top Tier for me" or "None of that cheap, discount gas for my car". Look at Top Tier website and see who is on their at the top. QuickTrip. One of if not the largest 'discount/cheap' retailers there are. They buy from whatever wholesaler is currently selling cheap and has fuel in stock and ready to load into a truck. So one week it may be 76, the next Chevron and the next Shell. They do have their own additive pack but to shun them is just dumb. I have a feeling that Sam's Club and Costco and Kroger all do the same. They may lack a little on the additive/cleaner/detergent side to save a couple cents but I don't see it being a problem.

I track my car, thus I am abusing it and revving it. Middle of July heat at Atlanta, on the track with a hot engine. I have used and NEVER had an issue with QuikTrip(my fuel of choice), Kangaroo, Chevron, Shell, Costco, Kroger, BP, Amaco.

So don't fret, your local discount station isn't going to ruin your car. Hell, the cap on the 96 328iC says run atleast 89... I put in 93 but seriously... To say you would rather run 87 of the 'good brand' over 93 from the 'cheap brand'. That is just being stupid.



Also on the running 93 and such... If it is tuned to run 91 then running 93 is just a little extra protection against pinging. You are NOT getting ANY sort of 'extra' performance. If you have a chip for 93, then run 93 or you may ping and have an issue. Running over the necessary is a great thing to do if your really beating on the car. 100 degrees outisde at Road Atlanta, my Dinan flash was 91 but running 93 leaves me a little safe spot in my mind just in case. Running it for performance reasons in a 328 or 325 that says 89 right on the gas cap? Doing nothing...

 

[dinanm3atl]

Shell has too many detergents, IMO. Chevron 91 faithful here. 76 91 as a backup.

We don't have 93 in Kalifornia.

yah and cali rules right?

Sureeeeeee

 

[HyphE36]

Yes, Cali does rule, doesn't need 93 for that, besides, where there is a will there is a way... :thumbup:

 

[e30e]

Who gives a sh!t its a 10+ year old car that has had worse gas then sam's clubs. Sam's club buy's left over gas from the filling trucks of the surrounding stations at a lower price and are able to pass this on to the customer. You can go on and on about detergents and what not in gas but at the end of the day 98% of all gas is the same as long as your getting the proper octane rating. Besides this is why fuel filters and knock sensors were created. My 97 m3 with 220k miles has ran on everything and I'm not a person who blames a spark plug issue or o2 sensor issue on where I bought my fuel from.

 

[edgar620]

Come on now guys. Let me shine some light on this for you.

There is a pipeline which I am sure with all gas crisis here and katrina there you have heard of it. Well every company puts in X amount of 93 at the beginning of the pipe and then removes X amount of 93 at the end. They could be getting Chevron's or Amaco's or Shell's. Then they put in their own additive pack. THAT is the difference. The 93 AKI is 93 AKI at all the stations. They aren't cheating and putting in .5% extra ethanol just to lower the price. The discount places don't want water in their gas either, it is bad for business.

Some of you guys are saying "Online Top Tier for me" or "None of that cheap, discount gas for my car". Look at Top Tier website and see who is on their at the top. QuickTrip. One of if not the largest 'discount/cheap' retailers there are. They buy from whatever wholesaler is currently selling cheap and has fuel in stock and ready to load into a truck. So one week it may be 76, the next Chevron and the next Shell. They do have their own additive pack but to shun them is just dumb. I have a feeling that Sam's Club and Costco and Kroger all do the same. They may lack a little on the additive/cleaner/detergent side to save a couple cents but I don't see it being a problem.

I track my car, thus I am abusing it and revving it. Middle of July heat at Atlanta, on the track with a hot engine. I have used and NEVER had an issue with QuikTrip(my fuel of choice), Kangaroo, Chevron, Shell, Costco, Kroger, BP, Amaco.

So don't fret, your local discount station isn't going to ruin your car. Hell, the cap on the 96 328iC says run atleast 89... I put in 93 but seriously... To say you would rather run 87 of the 'good brand' over 93 from the 'cheap brand'. That is just being stupid.

Also on the running 93 and such... If it is tuned to run 91 then running 93 is just a little extra protection against pinging. You are NOT getting ANY sort of 'extra' performance. If you have a chip for 93, then run 93 or you may ping and have an issue. Running over the necessary is a great thing to do if your really beating on the car. 100 degrees outisde at Road Atlanta, my Dinan flash was 91 but running 93 leaves me a little safe spot in my mind just in case. Running it for performance reasons in a 328 or 325 that says 89 right on the gas cap? Doing nothing...

Thank You Thats exactly what i was going to say. Smartest thing I've seen today. They all throw the gas into the same pipe, cut out the transmix between types of fuel, and everyone pulls out their part at the end of the line. There is no such thing as one fuel having more sulfur that the other. THe sulfur is removed in the refining process. If one company removes more sulfur, they are spending more to refine the gasoline, and when they take out the gas they usually get other companies dirtier gas. They don't do it because then all they did is lose money. Its all regulated by the EPA and each company leaves in the exact limit +- %. The additive is added at the terminal for each company and it goes to the different stores. The gasoline is still the same. Now yes, you can say one additive is better than the other, but in reality it is all the exact same. Economcs always determine it. The sams club station can get gas at a cheaper price by taking excess gas in the pipeline for example. The refineries refine the product a month in advance and sometimes when demand decreases it is cheaper for the site to dump its excess fuel at a lower cost than to maintain the loss by holding inventory. They can't just shut the refinery off and stop producing. Ethanol doesnt go through the pipeline and is blended at the terminal. The same ethanol gas goes to the different companies. I think its stupid to say one gas is better, cleaner, yata yata. Its all the same thing with MINUTE differences in the additives. If you run a sample of gas from each company through the GC they will all return the same compounds.

 

[BMW318i_]

Who gives a sh!t its a 10+ year old car that has had worse gas then sam's clubs. Sam's club buy's left over gas from the filling trucks of the surrounding stations at a lower price and are able to pass this on to the customer. You can go on and on about detergents and what not in gas but at the end of the day 98% of all gas is the same as long as your getting the proper octane rating. Besides this is why fuel filters and knock sensors were created. My 97 m3 with 220k miles has ran on everything and I'm not a person who blames a spark plug issue or o2 sensor issue on where I bought my fuel from.

I agree, V-power for me.