Back to the gas issue. It is true that there are a small number of refineries in the US and that different brand stations get there fuel from the same place, BUT the additives DO differ from brand to brand. This where the added cost comes from and what can increase the quality/value of the fuel. The detergent mix, etc. varies greatly.

As us poor saps in The People's Socialist Republic of California... we are stuck with a max of 91 octane. My government is robbing me of Horsepower!

There are a few 76 Stations in California that sell 100 octane gas at the pump (unleaded). For a treat every once in a while with my S2000 i would put in half a tank of 100 and half 91 to run about 95 octane. The car would start smoother, idle smoother and pull stronger. I don't notice a difference with the P-car. I think it made a difference with the S2000 because of the 11.5:1 compression ratio.
AA

 

List of SoCal 76 Comp. 100 Race fuel dealers
Last Updated 05/07/06

Socal Performance
9723 Washburn Road
Downey, CA 90241
(562) 862-9122 Open Mon-Fri; Saturday mornings (Call)
Lowest grade they carry is 108 Octane @ 5.50 per gallon. (Awesome price!).
You provide your own container or buy their 5 gal container for $22.10.
They also carry Methanol:
2.60 per gallon (you provide container)
38.00 per 5 gallon container.

Vic at HighTech *Updated 5/3/06
15144 Raymer St.
Van Nuys, CA Cross streets Rosco & Sepulveda enter thru back alley.
(818) 908-0943 Open 10AM-6PM
98 Octane = $5.20
110 Octane = $5.75
112 Octane = $6.15.
You provide your own container.
They also carry Methanol:
3.00 per gallon (you provide container)

Orme Brothers Inc. *Updated 5/3/06
18453 Parthenia Pl.
Northridge, CA 91325
(877) 676-3277 (877-ORMEBRS)
103 Octane @ $47.50 per 5 gallon sealed containers
They also carry Methanol:
$35.00 per 5 gallon sealed containers

Manning Fuel Inc. (Verified By Neal0124 *5/4/06)
8407 Tujunga Ave
Sun Valley, Ca 91352
(818) 767-FUEL
8AM-5PM Mon-Fri; Closed Sat.
Octane Levels of 103 thru 117
5 Gallon Jugs from $25.00 - 52.57
30 Gallon Barrel from $207-270
55 Gallon Barrel from $340-518
Methanol:
5 gal can 25.45
30 gal drum 124.20
55 gal drum 189.38

Agoura 76
28203 Dorothy Dr.
Agoura Hills (818) 991-6241

Bellflower 76 Service
16719 Lakewood Blvd.
Bellflower, CA (562) 633-9176
(Verified, 100+ Octane but not pump. Sold in 5gal ($8/per gallon 'fill your own container'-$50.00/per 5 gallon pail if you don't bring your own container & 55gal barrel/$440.00) updated 4/11/06.

Downs Oil Co. (Verified as of 6/28/05)
1296 Magnolia
Corona, CA 92879 (909) 737-3421 or 888-910-3835
-Sunoco 110 Leaded Racing Gas - $3.50 a gallon
-Sunoco 122 Leaded Racing Gas - $4.50 a gallon
-Sunoco Methyl Alcohol - $3.00 a gallon
http://www.downs4fuel.com/dcfracing.htm

Huntington Beach Car Wash
18971 Beach Blvd.
Huntington Bch. (714) 847-4924
(Verified $5.89 100 Octane Pump)

Mark's 76
(714) 278-0986
2043 W Commonwealth Ave. (cross street Gilbert)
Fullerton, CA 92833
(Verified $5.99 100 Octane Pump)

J & R Shell
1808 White Ave.
La Verne, CA (909) 593-7015

Brentwood 76 Service
12037 San Vicente Blvd. (cross street Bundy)
Los Angeles,CA (310) 476-4818
(Verified $6.45 100 Octane Pump)

Graham 76 Service
2690 San Miguel Rd.
(405 to 73 New Port to Mac Aurthur Left Anita, Right Prarie in Pavillion Shopping Center)
Newport Bch., CA (949) 644-7151
(Verified $5.49 100 Octane Pump as of 3-1-06)

Mike's 76 Station (Verified)
100- Octane 5.99/gallon
2807 Hamner Ave - (951) 278-2330

F&L Racing Fuel
111 Lead Octane
corner of Engineer road and La Mirada
Vista California
$5.06 gallon

Southern Counties Oil *
1825 W. Collins
Orange, CA (714) 744-7140

Smokey's Auto Parts Speed (Verified)
1602 S Coast Hwy
Oceanside, CA 92054
Sunoco 100 Octane

Arroyo Parkway 76 End of freeway 110
155 E. Glenarm
Pasadena, CA (626) 441-3392
(Verified was $5.99 100 Octane Pump NOW $6.19 as of 4-11-06)

Phillips Ranch 76
16 Village Loop Rd.
Pomona, CA (909) 623-2429
(Verified $5.35 100 Octane Pump)

S.T. Motorsports (Verified )
346 S. I Street Unit #8
San Bernardino CA 92410
(909)388-2536

Cosby Oil Co. (Verified)
6220 Fairmount Ave.
San Diego, CA (619) 280-6884

JBA Racing ·
VP Race Fuel
5155 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111
Local: (858) 495-3395
Toll Free: (888) JBA-5570
Fax: (858) 495-0954

Star Propane
4426 W. First St.
Santa Ana, CA (714) 839-7676
(Verified, but Leaded Only)

Cosby Oil Co. (Verified)
12902 E. Park St.
Santa Fe Springs, CA (562) 946-4404
www.cosbyoil.com
(6.53/per gallon if you provide your own container ($32.65/5gal your own container))
(8.03/per gallon if you buy their 5 gallon pail ($40.15/5gal pail))
(6.93 per gallon/55 gallon drums ($381.15/55gal))
They will drop ship the 55 gal drums and credit you 20.00 when drums are empty and they come pick it up.) updated 4/11/06.

76 - 100 octane (verified)
Pico & Barrington
Santa Monica, Ca
$7.99gal 100 octane

Alliance Gas Station
Sherman Mini Market Verified (4-19-06)
16103 Sherman Way,
Van Nuys, CA 91406
(818) 780-8209
Closes at 10PM!

Playa Vista 76
8300 Lincoln Blvd
Westchester, CA (310) 649-4683
(Verified $8.75 105 Octane; $7.50 111 Leaded; $9.25 Leaded 118)

Kahn 76 Service
150 S. Citrus
West Covina, CA (626) 339-8018
(Verified by Impresive-G 100 Oct at $6.05)

Woodland Hills, Texaco
101 Octane @ $5.60 per gallon pump.
Woodland Hills, CA. Northwest corner of DeSoto and VAN Owen

Perris 76 station, verified
100 Octane @ $5.99 per gallon pump
on Ramona Express way just west of the 215

 

Why would you want to spend more $$ to put higher than 93 octane in your tank? You won't make any additional power without modifications.

I'm struggling to see the benefit.

 

I agree with Ray more than 93 octane seems like a waste. One possible exception is if you believe you may not really be getting 93 out of your local pump and that wouldn't neccessarily surprise me either. But I just run the 93 from Shell everytime. Teaxaco/Chevron are backups as they are Top Tier gas also. I do believe the additives make a difference, the basic fuel is the same.

 

Shell 93 because it is a "top tier" gas.

 

Have always used Chevron. was told the techron was good for the engine. May be all marketing hype but Ive never had any problems relating to fuel.

 

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but tell me anyone if you've heard of this:

In my last car, I used to use Sunoco Ultra 94, which is ethanol enhanced. The use of ethanol naturally raises the octane level (octane, of course, being a property of fuel and not a substance in itself). I had the car serviced and some tuning work done by an indy guy I really respect. He told me that they had stopped using Ultra 94 in their track cars because something in the way that ethanol combusts was being read as predetonation by the BMW's knock sensor. They switched down to a non-ethanol 92 octane fuel and saw faster lap times (by fractions, obviously) because the knock sensor wasn't doing its thing with timing and mixture (engines, of course, don't 'detect' octane. They advance the timing and lean out the fuel mixture until just before they hear a knock).

On his advice, I did the same with my car. Coincidentally, one of the things that I was having done was a new exhaust. And, sure enough, many miles later, my tailpipe was still clean. The old one was always black, which in hindsight would be consistent with the car running richer under orders from the knock sensor.

So, anybody ever heard of such a thing? If so, is it a BMW quirk? Because my C2 seems fine with Ultra 94, and I noted with interest that the Porsche manual says some ethanol is okay, where the Bimmer manual discouraged it, as I recall. Is this a crack-induced fantasy, or is there some scientific merit to the story?

 

I'm sorry, but using anything higher than 93 on these cars is just pissing money away IMHO.

Unless your engine has been specifically modified to take advantage of higher octane fuel, you will not make any additional power.

 

Look guys, we've had this conversation before and I've told you that there's little difference between gasoline brands. I'm not going to rehash the same old points, as you obviously didn't listen last time.

To emphasize my point I'll quote a spokesman from AAA
reference, this web page:
http://money.aol.com/smoney/general/...12123309990001

"My gas isn't better for your car; it's just more expensive." Oil companies spend lots of money explaining why their gas is better than the competition's. Chevron's gas, for example, is fortified with "Techron," and Amoco Ultimate is supposed to save the planet along with your engine. But today more than ever, one gallon of gas is as good as the next.

True, additives help to clean your engine, but what the companies don't tell you is that all gas does so. Since 1994 the government has required that detergents be added to all gasoline to help prevent fuel injectors from clogging. State and local regulators keep a close watch to make sure those standards are met; in Florida inspectors checked 45,000 samples last year to ensure the state's gas supply was up to snuff, and 99% of the time it was. "There's little difference between brand-name gas and any other," says AAA spokesperson Geoff Sundstrom.

What's more, your local Chevron station may sell gas refined by Shell or Exxon Mobil. Suppliers share pipelines, so they all use the same fuel. And the difference between the most expensive brand-name gas and the lowliest gallon of no-brand fuel? Often just a quart of detergent added to an 8,000-gallon tanker truck."

Another interesting article here that quotes AAA and consumer reports:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/fyi/rea...sts/index.html

..anyways, I hope I've made my point.

 

Mobil or Exxon Supreme only!

 

IMO all you comments so far on the UK are way out of whack and smack of someone who has very little social awareness of people less fortunate around them.

How many people in the UK went bankrupt last year because of medical bills?

How many people in the UK didn't go to a doctor because they could not afford the expected bills?

The above two things don;t happen in the UK. Medical bills are the leasing cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA and I know countless people who avoid going to the doctor purely for financial reasons.

The UK has a good basic level of care for everyone. If you want a higher level of care for then you have the insurance option that is still a much lower cost than in the USA

One thing I get really annoyed about is

1. English people complaining about the UK health system when they don't realise how **** the US system is. And if they do come over here, complain they miss the NHS

2. Americans cussing 'socialised medicine', decrying it as the work of the devil

Making over $150k a year I classed myself as an affluent european before I moved here - did I even bother using my employer provided private Bupa healthcare? Nope.

When I broke my ankle recently my wife told me to get a cab to hospital because she was concerned our insurance would not pay. When people in the top 5% of income tax payers in the USA have to make a decision about whether or not to call an ambulance - the system needs to be re-evaluated...

 

OK I am an American living in Europe and there are good and bad points to each medical system. Yes the US has issues with people not having health insurance and people are forced sometimes to go on welfare in order to have there bills paid just at the Europeans pay 16-22% VAT and pay more for a liter of gas than an American does for a gallon. Which system is better, depends on you point of view. The lower wage earners in Europe I would argue pay a higher percentage of there individual pay check toward taxes than a higher wage earner would and of course you have people driving across boarders for tax free and catching cheap plane fares for getting there cigarettes. I would say Europeans look at it as a obligation to take care of the poor where we as Americans sometimes look at it as why should I pay for some person who is too lazy to go out and get a job, note sometimes but probably not most of the time true. I have no issue with either system and both countries seem to be doing fine. Now if you want to talk about the deficit, the devaluation of the dollar to the point of 1 pound to 2 dollars or where the dollar went from buying you 1.13 Euros to only .73 cents today then that would be another argument.

Back to the Gas Esso here in Germany, why I get it tax free other than that agree gas is gas.

 

Please take the politics to OT where they belong!! You'll get a far more lively discussion there anyway.

This thread is about GAS!!

 

A search of the net shows up lots of top tier info such as this:

http://www.newszap.com/articles/2005...uto/auto13.txt

The U.S. requirements for additives seems to have actually caused many fuel companies to reduce additives so that they are only putting the minimum in. Top tier requires 1 gallon of additive per 4000 gallons. Sounds small to me but I guess it's more than some are using. If it's good enough for GM, BMW, Toyota and Honda, it's good enough for me.

I'll stick with Shell, Texaco or 76 for my four cars, the 911 gets a steady diet of Shell 93 only.

They all charge the same unless you are buying truck stop fuel (unknown brand) or a discounter chain (same) so I am going to err on the safe side.

 

i use the highest octane which i can find....unfortuantely that's 91 in California....... can we put in additives etc.... it states in the owner's manual NOT to use them......... has anyone also used PROLONG?