Gas Brand and Mileage

[WaatDaHell]

To most people, gas is gas, no matter what brand it is. I did believe in this for a while until I started noticing something in my old Accord. When I used 76 gasoline, my old Honda Accord felt a little faster. I know it's not a big difference but I didn't have to push my gas pedal as hard for it to accelerate quicker. The Accord I had was a weak 120 Horsepower engine so any difference was quite noticeable. So, after I bought the Protege5, I only used 76 gas. My mileage has been pretty horrible at around 21 mpg under hard driving. The best I've ever had was 23.6 mpg when I never used the A/C on purpose and didn't accelerate quickly, which was very difficult to do by the way. Then I remembered an old friend telling me that Shell gasoline burns quicker. So I thought that maybe my gas mileage could have resulted from using 76 gas. With the last tank of gas, I used Mobil gasoline and ended up getting a little over 25 mpg. All in all, do you think there's a difference at all, or am I just being absurd and thinking too much? Please give me your opinions, good or bad.

 

[ph0enixrising]

I never really get great gas mileage, with this car, or any other car I have owned. I gun it off the line alot, and travel over 80 all the time on the freeway. I rarely get over 22 mpg. I know that if I didn't drive the way I do, it would be better. Also I make alot of short trips. Doesn't help. I never use any gas other than 76 and Chevron.

 

[WaatDaHell]

I know what you mean. Living in California with the traffic really doesn't help either. My brother said that Chevron is really good for your fuel system and he recommends it. That's why my other brother with a 1999 BMW 328i uses only Chevron. But I didn't like it on my old Honda Accord because my car felt sluggish with Chevron and not with 76.

 

[eeveyl]

I've only used Mobil's Super+ on my P5. As far as brand's go, I don't think there's a difference as long as you go with "premium" gas. I think the higher the octane the faster it will burn, but the cleaner the gas. Whereas, lower octane gas (regular 89 octane) may last a little longer, but might cause some knocks.

Personally, I don't think it makes a difference in our cars, other than keeping your fuel injectors cleaner. The truth is we don't have high performance engines and/or turbo, so the type of gas we put in our cars wouldn't make a "functional" difference.

Of course, that's just my opinion... Maybe someone with a "Mechanical Engineering" degree might disagree

I simply put "the good stuff" in my car, because I love it and want the best for it. I plan on keeping this car until I run it to the ground (hopefully 100k miles or more) and want to take care of it as best I can.

That's my $.02

 

[WaatDaHell]

Slick....very slick. I don't have a "degree" either, therefore I had to bring up the topic. I don't agree with you on using premium, due to the fact that our engines aren't high performance engines. This is an age old debate and I've come to the conclusion that higher octane gas only serves a purpose if you have a high performance engine, like a BMW engine. But for ours. Regular is good enough. Going back to the brand issue though, I wonder if anyone else noticed a difference.

 

[Dexter]

edit: i always get 89 octane.
i usually use Citgo, and get about 22 mpg.

i used Shell last week, and i got a craptacular 19 mpg.

what the @#&^.
maybe i will keep a log of this stuff from now on.

i have a regular protege, not a 5, but i seen this topic on the main forum "NEW TOPIC" list

 

[Sir Nuke]

I usually stop at one of two stations....neither are big brand names...but rather convience stores....just who ever has the better price....I get pretty decent mileage too....we took my wifes p-5 on a 5000 mile trip this last summer...and I still got gas just where ever we were at.....didn't stick with anything in particular other than I have always just used REGULAR unleaded in them....on the trip I ran between 80 and 90 MPH on the highway all the time....the car was loaded with four people and all our stuff....and the car got between 28.5 and 30 MPG the whole trip.

 

[Dexter]

if i try 87 octane in my car this week, will that hurt the engine or anything?

 

[tyr]

i'm partial to amoco/bp... locally that's all i use... however, if i'm on a road trip and there's no amoco/bp, i'll pull in to whatever gas station there is at the time i need fuel... as a side note, my bmw tech recommends shell as his #1 pick and mobil as his #2... also as another side note, i've heard that once you choose a specific brand of gas, to stick with that brand... i don't know how much validity there is to that... but since i have a amoco/bp charge card, i prefer using amoco so that i have all my gas expenses consolidated into one payment per month...

the only gas that i felt a significant difference in performance was with exxon... made the car feel very sluggish and rough...

i drive aggressively but always with safety and respect to other drivers as a priority (no accidents in 18 years of driving... knock on wood!)... i usually get around 19-22 mpg... although my last tank i got 25 mpg surprisingly with same driving style and city/highway mix...

later,
tyr

 

[Sir Nuke]

if i try 87 octane in my car this week, will that hurt the engine or anything?

if you are driving a stock protege, or P-5...it won't hurt a thing...

if you are driving an MP3...you are supposed to be running premium. and I would imagine that the mazdaspeed pro will be the same.

 

[eeveyl]

I don't agree with you on using premium, due to the fact that our engines aren't high performance engines. This is an age old debate and I've come to the conclusion that higher octane gas only serves a purpose if you have a high performance engine, like a BMW engine. But for ours. Regular is good enough.

I think we are in agreement, bud. I only use premium not out of necessity, just my own preference... I like to throw my money away.

 

[dficken]

Well....

Looking at a previous post that I made, It looks like a lot of people with Sport AT's are getting aroung 22 MPG. I am trying to figure out how some people are getting close to 30 with theirs.

For example, Sir Nuke's. I believe his is a stick... but still. DO you honestly think a stick will give 8 miles more per gallon? The only other thing i can think of is roof racks causing wind resistance. Sir Nuke, do you still have your roof racks on?

I am just trying to figure out what else i can do to improve MPG. Do you think the K&N filer will help? I need the roof racks cause my MT bike goes up there.

I also read somewhere that someone took their car in to the dealer and they did something to improve their MPG. I mean, it does say like a minimum of 25 on the sticker doesn't it?

Thanks,
Dayill.

 

[Dexter]

Re: Well....

Looking at a previous post that I made, It looks like a lot of people with Sport AT's are getting aroung 22 MPG. I am trying to figure out how some people are getting close to 30 with theirs.

For example, Sir Nuke's. I believe his is a stick... but still. DO you honestly think a stick will give 8 miles more per gallon? The only other thing i can think of is roof racks causing wind resistance. Sir Nuke, do you still have your roof racks on?

I am just trying to figure out what else i can do to improve MPG. Do you think the K&N filer will help? I need the roof racks cause my MT bike goes up there.

I also read somewhere that someone took their car in to the dealer and they did something to improve their MPG. I mean, it does say like a minimum of 25 on the sticker doesn't it?

Thanks,
Dayill.

it says like from 19 to 28 or something gay like that i think.

 

[jhanson9]

"gas mileage"

Being that I am a "mechanical engineer", I would say that 87 octane is fine, and anything higher is wasting your money. I can sign off on that issue if you need me to, being that I am a "mechanical Engineer."

 

[WaatDaHell]

As long as you know you're using premium due to preference and not necessity, I guess it's fine. I think we'll have a very long debate if we're discussing octane levels, but I'm gonna stick to the brands issue. I'm not done with my tank on Mobil Gas yet so I can't tell you guys what my mileage is. But I was at 162 miles halfway through the tank. That's amazing compared to 76 gas. The most I ever had with that was 140 miles halfway through. So far, I'm leaning towards different gas brands do matter.

 

[WaatDaHell]

Re: "gas mileage"

Being that I am a "mechanical engineer", I would say that 87 octane is fine, and anything higher is wasting your money. I can sign off on that issue if you need me to, being that I am a "mechanical Engineer."

Oh, and jhanson9, I do absolutely agree with you on the 87 octane. You only need to go to a higher octane for a tank if you start to experience knocking. But after one tank at a higher octane, you should go back to 87 octane.

 

[Red Baron]

After 10 years of keeping track of brands, octane levels, mileage and other things, I can say that yes there is a difference. My '90 Civic Si had to have premium gasoline from Shell so I could get very decent mpg and NO pinging (41mpg Imperial), but my 2000 Civic 4 door did not run well on Shell and was fine with regular gasoline from Petro Canada (43 mpg Imperial). My P5 is not yet passed 25000km (15500miles)/1 year so mpg is still quite low (best is now at 33.6mpg, Imperial gallon that is) and seems like Shell is the best choice (we only have Shell, PetroCanada, Esso and Ultramar to choose from in my region). Premium gasoline is way to expensive for the mileage I do in a year to buy the stuff, and I read somewhere that some cars may develop problems if you use premium because of the "length" of the burn. If some of you are interested, I've posted a fuel calculation sheet on 3 threads before. That was my .02.

 

[eeveyl]

Re: "gas mileage"

Being that I am a "mechanical engineer", I would say that 87 octane is fine, and anything higher is wasting your money. I can sign off on that issue if you need me to, being that I am a "mechanical Engineer."

I agree with you 100% dude. BTW... I was only busting your chops about the Mech.E. thing. No hard feelings?

 

[gaZOOM-ZOOM]

Using anything other than what the engine was designed for will cause excessive carbon build up, due to excessive unburnt hc's, so in using anything other than 87 octane fuel you will spend more in keeping the emi system clean, plus whatever you are paying for fuel, however as a mazda tech if you want to spend more of your money with me or my fellow techs go for it, as a mazda tech it does fell good to see so many people happy with there p and p5. (silverp5) btw our m/t p5 getting high 30s fuel mileage, like I always say, PLAY LIKE A SPORT, PAY LIKE A SPORT, I.E. keep you foot buried in it dude, the fuel companys will love you for it.

 

[Red Baron]

High U.S. gallon 30's!!! gaZOOM-ZOOM, I must admit I'm surprised. I am honestly careful, on cruise control at 110km/h (68.4mph), no a/c, manual tranny and almost never shift over 4k and I'm not getting better than 33.6 mpg IMPERIAL, that's about 28mpg U.S. gallon. And I drive mostly on highways, same daily commute 5 days a week (114 km/70.8 milles per day), and I haven't changed my way of driving, I was getting 43mpg Imperial on my previous car . Must be something wrong with many people's cars. Do you have a secret fix to share with us?