Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 48731
Berkeley CSUA MOTD
 
WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ
http://csua.com/feed/
2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/8     

2007/12/2-6 [Transportation/Car] UID:48731 Activity:high
12/2    Is there a big difference in quality of gas sold between brand name and
        generic gas stations?
        \_ Not enough to pay extra for it.
        \_ Supposedly not, but my car runs like crap when I put cheap gas
           in it. I prefer Chevron if given a choice. I go out of my way
           to avoid Arco/BP if I can help it and I never buy true generic
           gas (like Costco or Thrifty or whatever). Next time you buy
           something at the grocery store compare the ingredients in the name
           brand with those in generic brand. Sometimes they are identical,
           though not usually. Once in while the generic is actually superior.
           Most of the time the generic is inferior. Why would you assume
           any differently about any other product, including gas?
           \_ So, are you saying that he bas sold at BP brabded gas stations
              is not as good as say Shell?
              \_ It seems not based on how my car runs. YMMV.
           \_ You can STFW, but gas stations are all basically supplied the
              same gas (you can't really build a budget oil refinery),
              with the difference being the proprietary additives.
              \_ Yes, and the additives make a difference. So, too, might
                 storage (lots of gunk in the tank) or other variables.
                 \_ Well, now, that's not so clear. But you certainly hope
                    they do if you're willing to pay for them.
                    \_ I go by what my manufacturer (BMW) recommends:
                       http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html
                       Notice BP and Exxon are not recommended. If you do
                       research you will see Chevron (who holds a lot of
                       patents for this stuff) and Shell (supposedly just
                       released a new product) recommended over and over
                       again. I also read that the EPA uses Chevron for
                       its tests, going so far as to bring it in especially
                       from Kentucky because it's not sold in Ohio.
                       \_ Who operates this web site?
                          \_ The gas companies who are members.
                             \_ That speaks for its credibility.
                                \_ Huh? The gas companies that choose to meet
                                   the standards set by certain auto
                                   makers call themselves "Top Tier".
                                   Companies may meet the standards and
                                   not participate or they can choose not
                                   to meet the standards. Participation is
                                   voluntary, but that doesn't mean the
                                   standards and participants are not credible.
                                   \_ Is there more background behind this
                                      certification? A website run by
                                      Denny, Jim (ynnedj@aol.com) seems
                                      slightly less than professional.
                                      \_ Why? Do you know him?
                                         If you look at the address of the
                                         registered company (National
                                         Products Group in Tulsa, OK) you
                                         will see it is QuikTrip.
                                         \_ AOL is so early 90s and screams
                                            one-man job, and incompetent
                                            one-man job at that. I don't see
                                            how you connect QuikTrip to this
                                            outfit, nor why I should consider
                                            QuikTrip to be an unbiased source.
                                            \_ Look at the postal address. Who
                                               said QuikTrip needs to be
                                               unbised? I don't understand
                                               your skepticism. A few
                                               automakers joined together
                                               and came up with some
                                               standards. Gas companies
                                               (including QuikTrip) can
                                               choose to meet them or not
                                               in a self-certifying process
                                               that does involve random
                                               3rd party testing. Exxon
                                               claims they meet the standard
                                               but they don't want the hassle
                                               of certifying. That's fine,
                                               so they aren't on the list.
                                               The companies that *are* on
                                               the list meet the automakers'
                                               standards. Other ones may or
                                               may not. What are you
                                               concerned about here?!
               \_ It think there's a few issues.
                  1) use of alcohol in the gas: most stations now use up to
                     10% ethanol, but some don't (e.g. I think Chevron often
                     doesn't). Ethanol gives you worse mileage and runs worse.
                     \_ I thought the ethanol percent was mandated by law?
                        \_ I don't know, I guess maybe it will be. Which is
                           FUCKING STUPID of course. Fuck US agribusiness
                           subsidies.
                  2) turnover. sometimes low-priced popular gas stations are
                     actually better because the gas doesn't sit around as
                     long when they sell more than the expensive place across
                     the street.
                  3) proprietary additives, which I can't really comment on
                     (Techron, blah blah)
2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/8     

You may also be interested in these entries...
2013/7/22-8/23 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:54711 Activity:nil
7/22    "George Zimmerman Emerged From Hiding for Truck Crash Rescue"
        http://www.csua.org/u/10qi (gma.yahoo.com)
        The auto accident was staged by Zimmermand and his lawyer, I'm sure. :)
	...
2012/7/29-9/24 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:54446 Activity:nil
7/29    Is it really true that we subsidize auto driving to the tune of
        $5k/yr? Shit I could probably hire a private driver for less...
        http://tinyurl.com/cars-suck-ass
        \_ You might have missed the point.  Hiring a chauffeur to drive your
           private vehicle won't change the amount of gasoline your private
           vehicle use or the amount of real estate it uses on freeways and
	...
2011/7/10-8/2 [Transportation/Car/Hybrid] UID:54141 Activity:nil
7/8     Is there some reason we can't have mass market nat gas cars?
        \_ Not enough infrastructure for refuing.  Chicken and egg.
        \_ Not enough infrastructure for refueling.  Chicken and egg.
        \_ It has less than half the energy density of gasoline.  -tom
           \_ So you have to compress it, which results in huge explosions
              during a crash. Same for flywheel tech.
	...
2010/1/15-25 [Transportation/Car] UID:53634 Activity:nil
1/15    Hey guys, can you provide recommendations for home loans and
        car insurance? I looked into http://www.marlihomes.com and
        it looks promising. As for insurance, I'm looking at
        http://www.pasoinsurance.com (e.g. "We did the Car insurance
        homework for you. See the results at Paso Auto Insurance").
	...
2009/11/4-17 [Transportation/Car] UID:53496 Activity:nil
11/4    I posted the probability question the other day. It was nothing as
        complicated as MTBF or the like. My situation is very similar to
        looking at auto accident rates, asking if the rate of caraccidents
        for any given driver is N%/year, what is the chance that for a
        given day that driver will have a crash? N% or N/365% or something
        else? Thanks again.
	...
2009/8/5-13 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:53240 Activity:kinda low
8/5     The Technium. Economics, needs, and physics-- is there an end to
        Moore's Law, or any other laws wrt to storage, bandwidth, megapixels?
        http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/07/was_moores_law.php
        \_ Automobile MPGs don't follow Moore's Law.  Oh, the article already
           mentions this.
           \_ Maybe they just have a lower exponential coefficient.  Processor
	...
Cache (628 bytes)
www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html
Deposit Control TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline Retailers Gasoline retailers must meet the high TOP TIER standards with all grades of gasoline to be approved by the automakers as providing TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline. In addition, all gasoline outlets carrying the brand of the approved retailer must meet the TOP TIER standards. Additional gasoline retailers are added to the TOP TIER list as they meet the standards. The retailers known to be on the TOP TIER list are shown below. TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers: QuikTrip Chevron Conoco Phillips 76 Shell Entec Stations MFA Oil Company Kwik Trip/Kwik Star The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Cache (220 bytes)
aol.com
NOTE: Many features of this site require Javascript and cookies. You can enable both via your browser's preference settings. AOL Dial-Up Internet Service with TopSpeed, Add AOL for Broadband to Any High Speed Connection.