Is the premium gasoline sold by COSTCO any good? Who do they buy it from?

 

IMO Most gasolines are the same unless you go to a place where they add water. If I buy 91 from Citgo it's just like 91 from Shell and 91 from Stop&Shop. Costco is obviously cheaper. Look at it this way, if a small Citgo station is going to put water in there gas they have ALOT less to loose than by Costco putting gas into their gas...

 

COSTCO's gas is very good. I know the price is so cheap
that makes you wonder why

It tells you right there how much money other gas stations
are making with their high prices !

 

mmmm... i remember a little while ago someone saying that Costco gas is bad for your engine. people complaining of knocking and pinging.... anyone can confirm this? (after i heard of this, i never took any of my cars there.)


Chevron by far is the best gas. Techron really does help. i'll tell you the story if you want to hear.

 

I can't confirm those rumors. My car has no knocking nor
pinging after using Costco's gas for about 10k miles.

Yes, please tell us the story about Chevron + Techron.

 

why dont you ask costcowholesale?

 

I've been using Costco gas for the longest time now, I think since last year. And I gas up every 3-4 days or so. Yeah I drive a lot. But anyways, I haven't had any problems with the car. I add Castrol Syntec Power System to the car every 2 months or so. So far so good. On top of that I have a high-pressure turbo so those things are so freaking picky.

 

we don't have gas @ costco here in Canada ... & it should be the same gas as in other stations ... just b/c u buy the gas from chevron ... doesn't mean it's chevron ... it's prob from the nearest refiner ... so if Texaco (do they even exist) has a refinery or distribution center closer 2 the city ... then Chevron will buy from Texaco's refinery/distribution center and sell it as their own .. obviously they'll add their own additives if they advertise such things ...

 

costco gas seems to be perfectly fine to me ive used it on several ocasions and never had any problems.

travis
zero tolerance

 

I asked a friend who works for Costco and he says the gas staions aren't out to make money but to provide a service for their members....some gas stations actually lose money year to year!

 

stupid Costco in Canada doesn't have gas station here

 

Damn! Nice ride!

 

hey ... how do u like your nittos? r u noisy? good wet weather traction? lol .. do u have wet weather in cali?

 

Compared to the east coast, this is winter here in the west. Cali is holding on strong to a nice 80 degrees.

 

What part of Cali are you from?

 

Gasoline is gasoline. Its transported all over through common pipelines. The refining companies simply meter very carefully what they put into a pipeline, and carefully account for what they remove at the terminals. Unless additives are mixed at the terminal (like Chevron), gasoline refined by Texaco, and gasoline refined by Tosco, and gasoline refined by valero, and so on, are well and throughly mixed together by the time you put it in your tank. So enjoy the low price COSTCO is getting you!

--Scrimbo

 

Things may have very well changed in the past 20 years, but I took an analytical chemistry course in college, where we played with gas chromotography on different brands of gasoline.

One gasoline sample from one brand was pretty radically different than another brand, due to anti-knock, detergents and other additives.

Anyone still have access to equiptment like that? It'd be interesting to find out just what they put into gas these days...

(Oh, and they may travel down the same pipline, but you'd be surprised at how little mixing actually occurs.)

 

or something like that...

In the UK, most petrol stations are franchised from the oil companies. Usually, the proprietors have to pay up front for their deliveries.

The big Supermaket chains here have sufficient muscle to be given something like 30 days to pay. Because of the large volumes they buy, the interest they earn on the unspent cash allows them to undercut the franchises.

The petrol seems pretty much the same.

One thing, though. Do you have extra-"Green" / ultra-low sulphur / fancy cleaner petrol?

We've got ultra-low sulphur stuff, and I'm sure it gives less miles per gallon than the proper full-fat version. Doesn't make a difference to how the car runs. Just seems to diappear more quickly.

Anyone noticed a similar phenomenon?

 

All I know is I get 2 - 3 MPG better with Chevron over RaceTrac (Citgo). That's worth $0.03 per gallon to me.

 

A few years ago, Consumer Reports did an article comparing the different brands of gasoline, and came up with the same results you mentioned you found in your analytical chemistry course. The following year they announced that the various formulations had become so much the same that they were not going to continue comparing brands anymore.

My view is that most any brand is the same now, as long as you have a gas sample with appropriate additives (i.e., stick to 91 or higher octane ratings like the manual says to do, and you should be fine!).

I just filled up at Costco: premium for $1.289/gallon in Houston! They're in the business of competing with Sams Club (with similar gas prices here), trying to get you into the store to buy stuff. Isn't Capitalism grand?