Groucho, are you really 100% sure it isnt some other factor? Im dubious that you can accurately assess your own driving style as being totally consistant take to tank...I think you will find you cant replicate the extra 50 miles out of a specific brand fuel, too many other factors abound..but hey good luck with it anyway, and Im interested to see what happens, over here the fuel industry is very regulated, and i doubt there is a discernable difference between blends, despite the stupid advertising they throw at you..
I'm not sure of anything. But, FIFTY miles difference in one tank of gas from MANY others? My driving doesn't vary that much at all from week to week, or tank to tank or I would NOT have started this thread. In fact, the 400 mile tank was in a HOT period where I would've run the AC more than lately. I'm sorry I've painted a picture of myself being an idiot that has to prove himself of possibly knowing what I'm talking about
I have a 2007 VW Jetta diesel. I live in Wa. state. I get 50 mpg all the time. I was in So. Cal. last month for 2 weeks. I got 39 mpg when down there. I am back and I get 50 mpg again.
hi Groucho.... You'll believe what you want to believe, so don't worry what anyone else thinks. Gasoline is hydrocarbons, it all has about the same amount of energy per gallon. Alcohol has oxygen which lowers the energy content per gallon. So if there's alcohol in the fuel, you probably will get less mileage, but otherwise it's far more likely a strange combination of how you filled the tank, the temperature, driving conditions, etc. I was just in socal and got crappy mileage while I was there. But I did run an 11 in the old 55 at Fontana, so I expected to get crappy mileage. The traffic alone will drop mileage 10-30%, compared to driving in "normal" places.
Have you noticed a huge drop in mileage since they introduced Ultra-Low Sulfer diesel? Me and Cliffy took a long trip this winter and we searched out the regular low-sulfer diesel for his Super Duty and we got WAY more mileage out of the regular low-sulfer rather than the ultra-low sulfer. What do you have in your hometown? I realize sulfur is some bad shit but really, how helpful is reducing the levels of it in the fuel if you're only going to use that much more fuel? Is there any replacement/additive for diesel that makes up for the lost power/efficiency of the reduced sulfur? I'm very interested in hearing anyone's findings on that. My '73 220D would get 40 mpg on the old stuff but I'm worried those numbers are going to be down the toilet now with the new fuel.
Ive noticed a considerable difference since Ive been going to Chevron. Havent broken it down exactly yet , but it takes pretty close to a quarter of a tank to get to work and back home in my 06 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD. About 60 miles round trip($25 a day) Since Ive been using Chevron..I can get to work, back home and to work again the next morning on a quarter tank. The few times I had to get gas elsewhere, Im back to the quarter tank to work and back. Im sold on Chevron.
Okay, here is what I can ad from an auto industry insider... My long time friend now works for Hyundai Motors of America in their R & D sector, he takes out all the new and unreleased vehicles on a SoCal to Vegas "hard driving" trip(s). Hyundai did national and regional fuel tests on all the brands, the big ones, independents, etc. for 18 months. The findings were very clear, the Techron (sp?) additive in the 3 fuel lines offered by Chevron were hands down superior to all other brands. As logic would lean, the higher octane Chevron fuels performed better than the lower. Once established, they did a second test into engine wear and mechanical failure, higher octane performed better, but it wasn't until they pulled those motors apart. It's not just a case of higher octane in "premium" but also higher Techron. The Techron has a conditioning quality to as well as a cleansing quality. The higher amounts of Techron kept seals, rings, etc. soft/flexible and doing their job and in the end the cars that premium experienced higher fuel mileage and (more importantly $$$) less "serious" mechanical failures. He said Hyundai easily spent in the 6 figures establishing this test and results. Chevron is all he runs in his hot rod, 2500 Chevy truck, and his motorcycles. Once he told me this, I switched and it's all we run in our cars. I kept track in my wife's new Camry, with Chevron the Camry always got 5-8 mpg better than any other brand. I swear by that Techron sh*t... whatever it is!
interesting read, want to hear more about this. I've been documenting my mileage on my SV1000 sportbike as I commute on that, 42-45mpg pretty consistently...now I'm curious to try maybe two tanks per brand and see if I can tell a difference. I know out of CA diesel blends typically yield around 3 mpg better. thanks california air resources bastards...that's what C.A.R.B. stands for, right??
i have the best luck with chevron , about 370 or so a tank if i drive it easy. with 76 im getting about 345 a tank. personally i think gas has changed alot i replace more fuel lines and plastic fuel pump housings cause they get brittle.
1). No such thing as an accurate trip meter - this is a marketeer's deranged fantasy. 2). Chevron - end of story.
Did you run the PSCA event this past weekend? Anyway, you seem to be very "book" smart. But, the temp has been very consistant here, my driving conditions are very consistant in this SoCal mess, and no VooDoo while filling the tank to make a FIFTY mile difference in one tank to another. I suspect the Chevron that's in the car now "seems" to be ahead, but too soon to tell. However, I noticed this morning that others here have had noticable improvements in mileage with Chevron. So, we'll see. I'm putting aside hydrocarbons/oxygen/alcohol/energy per gallon, and resorting to a good ole hands-on experiment.
PS-a buddy topped off his Mustang here in L.A. and couldn't make it to Vegas. He topped off in Vegas, and made it back with fuel to spare. He paid a DOLLAR less a gallon in Vegas for that better fuel, but didn't recall the brands used
Interesting.... 'round here i used to use Racetrac fuel. Changed to QT & picked up over 2 mpg. Interestingly enough, there is now a station that sells "100% Gasoline" Started using that and noticed another increase, of almost 3 mpg. Granted this is on my driver (91 mustang 2.3 5 spd), but i make a little over 30 mpg, with the air on, in a vehicle with damn near 200k miles.. As a side note, the real gasoline costs on the average, about .04-.06 per gallon more. Now i'm not a rocket scientist, nor a math major, but it didn't take long to figure out that for 1-2% more per gallon cost, i can get 10-15 % better fuel economy. So, tell me again, why ethanol is the great panacea
I was at the PSCA thing Friday only, made a few time runs, it was hot! but fun The problem with good old hands-on experiments is that nothing is very well controlled. I've been keeping track of fuel use for years, I note how many mpg I get per tankful every time I fill up, and I've never seen any more difference than I would expect. Never anything like a 3 mpg change unless I'm towing a trailer or driving in very heavy traffic or something, and that's only in the "late models" that get 20 or so to start with. The 55 will give 10 to 13 on the highway depending on how full I get it, temp when I refill it (fuel expands when it gets warm, so you will see a slight decrease in how much it takes to refill if the fuel inside has expanded and the tank still has quite a bit in it), how I drive, traffic, hills, etc. Wife's late model truck gets 19 to 20 every tankful, unless towing then it gets 14-16. This is over 175,000 miles. Without seeing a well controlled experiment with published methodology and results, I'll just assume that everyone who says there's a noticeable difference in mileage from one brand is dreaming, or selling something. I've used them all and never noticed any difference. But you don't have to believe me....and I know you wont
It was 105 in vegas on Wednesday, 6% humidity, and it felt cool compared to being in LA. weird. Indio was really bad compared to Phoenix. I don't know what it is about california.
I wish I'd known you were out here, it would have been cool to watch you make a few passes. Fontana is only about a 30 min drive from my new place...
I didn't know for sure that I would be there, we had to get back home (500 mile drive) by friday night (we got home at 2am). Our original plan was to leave Friday morning.
I have started using the 100% gas in my 74 Van and the hard start has disappeared totally. Since the temps have gone up above 95 it was getting harder to start as if flooded. Nothing else has changed. The 10% advertised blend is testing to be about 15% here and the price difference is only 10 cents per gallon.
Dude..I got to be honest...nobody is going to look at what you wrote with an avatar like that! Wowzers.... Interesting you saw better milage with 76...i tried 76 and didnt see a difference....maybe your hot rod and Goat just prefer 76..
Adding ethanol to gas at a 10% rate will decrease MPG by 5%. It takes twice as much alcohol to yield the same power as gas. Anything that I have ever ran on alcohol had to have the jet sizes roughly doubled when it was converted from gasoline.
OK, update Union 76 29 MPG Mobil 29 MPG Chevron 32 MPG My driving is pretty consistent on many levels, so I believe there to be no real variables other than fuel. I now have a fresh tank of Exxon in the pile. The 35 MPG shit is still elusive. I wish I'd paid attention to the different brands sooner. After the Exxon, I'll try Shell. However, I don't remember using Shell in this car. So, it's prolly NOT the elusive elixer
I'm not sure I get the question. I fill the tank on the slowest setting at the pump til it clicks off. I gently/slowly let it click off twice more to insure a full tank. I drive til the gauge needle eclipses the empty line, and refill. Then divide miles driven by gallons comsumed. Is there another way? And, like I said, my driving is pretty consistant, and routine from week to week. It's been in the mid 80's here for weeks. So I run the AC a consistant amount (not full time). Hell, my driving is so routine, in the 9 weeks I've owned this thing, I've never had the headlites on (never driven this particular car after dark). I feel you're determined to find fault in the FACT I did get 35 MPG with "somebody's" gas. I may, or may not find it. But, it did happen.
Here in Sunny Arizona, mpg seems to be the same no matter the brand. I'm wondering though, wouldn't it be more accurate to figure the mpg by mileage than by tank? Fwiw: At night, you get 1 gallon and the next day - 15 degree C increase in the ambient temp - it expands to 1.01425 gallons. It breaks down to this, during the day you pay $40. At night you would get that same amount of gas for $39.44 You save 1% for every 10 degrees C drop in temperature. Surprising to me, I figured the buying gas at night bit to be an old wives tale. Info derived from here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070608101130AA79rH6&show=7 Is Californa still running MTBE in the gas? That's a mileage killer by 10% as shown by accurate records over a period of time. And it was Governor Grey Davis who outlawed it except for allowing the gas companies to use MTBE until the stocks were expended. That was how long ago? I dunno if Arizona was using Ethanol in 2004 when I moved out here, but I did see a 10% improvement in mileage. A few months later mpg went down 10% and I noticed the new ethanol label on the pump....
The Jalopy Journal
