Anyone noticing a widening gap between regular and premium fuel?

It was a Sunoco station where I used to buy the 94. No idea if it was exclusive to them..

 

...I haven't bought a DD that requires premium for decades, and unless Owner's Manual specifically states premium (think warranty), most computer-controlled engines will tune to grade...

 

Correct.....

 

If it wasn't for the factI have multiple vehicles + fuel cans on one card to purchase Diesel, non ethanols 87 & 91 .
The odometer option would be cool... For instance 1 vehicle only. Mileage + gallons = MPGs on the paper bill that I get every 2 weeks or so.

 

Neither have I. The only vehicle that I own that requires premium fuel is the Buchev. The Magnum RT Manual says that the mid-grade is recommended, but you can run 87 but with "reduced performance." It will do everything that I need it to on regular, and that's what it gets.

 

My 92 caprice. TBI 305.... If I use ethanol 87 I loose 5 MPG. If I use ethanol 92 I loose 3 MPG on my daily run-around... I run 87 CORNless I get 19 on am daily run-around and up to 28 on the open highway...

 

mid 20+
premium 60+
here in Washington

 

The race fuel I use in the Caddy cost $9.99 a gallon also, but it's 112 octane. I use Sunoco 94 in my
Ford Flex(ecoboost) probably my quickest daily driver yet.

 

Premium has always been expensive up here in Canada, and it's the biggest reason I sold the Electra. Add to that the fact that it's all got ethanol in it now, which makes it bad for any of the older engines. The Electra hated ethanol, it would gum up the carb. So, at about $8 a gallon (give or take) and an average of around 15 mpg, it just became a losing proposition.

 

Gas has always been the biggest cost and most money spent per month and especially if you like to cruise around, guess that is out now.
This is like the days when/if youhad a 12.1 engine and needed all race gas to run it . That car if you had it did not cruise that much, but back then the race gas was $3.00 a gal That was only 30 yrs ago. Now regular gas is that much..barely

 

Raising the spreads was done consciously to improve margins. Someone thought Premium buyers were less price sensitive so this raise was used to gain profits. I was in some of the meetings when this was discussed. I worked in the convenience store industry for 45 years. Unfortunately most of our stuff takes Premium.

 

And they all laughed at me for leaving some power on the table for building my engines for cheap gas! Who's laughing now?

 

I was afraid that was the issue. Soak the "rich"

 

It’s more like “soak anyone we can.”

 

When was the last time a 3rd party tested the actual octane at the pumps? There was a time back in the 70's or 80's where some news station tested some and found the higher octane ratings were BS. To be fair, that was back when the mob had controls over various stations. But I still feel that it can be BS here and there. Maybe not everywhere. But hey, human nature is what it is. And if a company can easily fleece you with no repercussions (I mean, who is gonna test octane levels?), they will do it. I know some people make this judgement by whether or not they can "hear" or "feel" the performance difference. Whatever.

 

A good writeup about your question regarding third party auditing/testing, including detergents and other additives besides octane:

https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICCT_fuelqualityBP_nov2011.pdf

Devon

 

Thanks Devon. Long article. Did a quick search on "octane" just to see if there was end user location testing of fuel but didn't find anything specific to that. I was just looking for some kind of quality control regarding octane claims but while looking, found out that one of the main funding sources for this "independent" council ICCT, is; ClimateWorks Foundation is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization founded in 2008.[1] ClimateWorks Foundation's mission is to slow global warming by funding other organizations internationally to help find best practice solutions to cut down on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions .[1]

What a tangled web.

 

It is.

Mentioned on page 15, US/Japan/UK testing:

But that may be at the refinery only. I think the States take care of gas station tests.

FYI, if I remember right, ASTM D2699 (Research number) and D2700 (Motor) standards can only determine within 0.7 points, so we're talking about almost +/- 1 point tolerance.

Devon