Chevron FTW!

 

Maverik or Smith's as they are the cheapest and closest.
Is that bad?

 

I've got 70k on an Ecoboost in a 2010 SHO. It's seen all kinds of gas - from the cheapest swill to the most expensive Champagne. It runs well on it all.

In the winter she gets 87 and in the summer 89 as it seems to run better on 89 with the additional heat of summer. You can feel better acceleration on premium in the summer and get a tad better fuel economy but not enough to offset the $.30/gallon price increase over regular.

I do track all my tanks in the Road Trip app for iOS and have not seen any real difference among brands for MPG. In the car I'm pretty consistent - 19-20 MPG in the winter. 20-21 in summer, and up to 25 on long highway stretches. The shocking thing was seeing since Dec, 2009 I've spent over $10k in gas!

I'm on my first (free) tank with the truck and resetting the meter says I'm at 16.3 MPG. I figure that's not bad considering it's cold out and it's got the 3.73's. Most of that has been around town with a couple 30 mile highway trips thrown in. It will be interesting to see what it does on a long highway trip.

 

I can't say that I see better fuel economy using Shell, but I have gotten worse mileage in general using cheaper economy gas, so I stick to top tier gas. I went with Shell because of its reasonable price for top tier.

 

Even at 1.5 - 2 MPG less on Safeway gas, I still use it, as I usually get about .80 to .90 cents off per gallon by the time I fill up. I'm getting a consistent 14.5 now with winter blend combined driving.

 

Interesting thread. Decades ago, I did an assessment on fuels supplied to a big three assy plants. Not even close to Q1. Sometimes the additive package was in a paint can(s) the driver was supposed to dump in the truck tank. Of course, I was looking for a quality system like we had in our plants. Since we bought about zero percent of the refiners' output they were not about to deal with our inquiries seriously. I am snow-birding in the Fl keys now and treat my truck to 90 octane non-ethanol fuel sold here as "recreational (read boat) gas". The truck likes it. Increased fuel economy, power, but have done no data studies. Figure the Iowa corn lobby is not in favor of this being a fuel choice. No disrespect meant to Iowa or other corn belt states. You feed me.

 

My 08' 3 Liter V6 Ranger and the wife's 3.5 Liter V6 Edge are treated differently, though both vehicles have inscripted on the tank 'BP Gas preferred'. For the Ranger, I used to run exclusively Shell 87 Octane and swear by the difference. BP and Speedway 87 Octane would bog the already bogged down engine more. The wife's petty 3.5 Liter engine doesn't seem to care about fuel and isn't as sensitive, and since I hardly drive the vehicle, I fill-up wherever a name brand station is cheapest - Shell, Sunoco, Speedway, and rarely BP. I stay away from the perceived lower quality places, such as Gas USA, Fuel Mart, etc., which isn't hard because three Shell stations, a Speedway, and a Sunoco are all within a 1 mile radius of my residence. I have noticed for both vehicles no difference in MPG when I switch brands. The Ranger is my DD, and I have a 41 mile one-way mostly highway commute. Working afternoons, I miss rush hour both ways, and typically I use AC with cruise control. The wife has a mixture of highway and city driving, a commute of approx. 15 miles one way, and she has more of a lead foot. I have been avr. 20+ MPG, while she averages 16-ish. Overall, I'm pleased. Back to top-tier fuels and computing MPG properly. A tanker supposedly only has the equivalent of a couple bottles in additives, so basically, Shell 87 should be no better than Sunoco 87 or any other 87 in my region. The additives are marketing hypes. Also, even the owner's manual says strange things about achieving MPG, such as filling up at the same station, pointing the same direction, using the same pump (I guess to account for minor inaccuracies), and filling near empty. Unfortunately, this isn't real convenient and most fill when either empty, near empty, price is right, etc.

 

I feed all my Fords Shell but I am more loyal to the dealer than I am to the brand.

My local Shell carries gas, diesel & kerosene and is a distributor as well. Their property and equipment is meticulously maintained so I have a sense of trust that I'll get clean fuel & the correct blend comes out of the hose!

 

which side of the fence are you on?

I don't understand how you say shell could perform better in your ranger if the additives are all hype. they either help in some instances or they don't.

in your case, it appears that shell's additives are doing something for you.

 

Costco claims Tier1 fuel with 5x the EPA required deposit control additive. I'd sooner get it there than BJs but BJs is closer
http://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-gasoline.html

 

I track every fillup in my truck with the aCar app on my Android phone. Inspired by this thread, I decided to take a look at my fuel economy over the 28k miles and almost 3 years I've had the truck. For reference, it's a 2011 Ecoboost Lariat 4x4 with 3.55 gears.

BP: 15.67 mpg (25 fillups)
Marathon: 16.59 mpg (5 fillups)
Mobil: 16.00 mpg (12 fillups)
Shell: 16.37 mpg (18 fillups)
Sunoco: 16.23 mpg (9 fillups)

So, based on that, I'm done buying BP! I've only ever run 87 in it, and I haven't done much towing, so that shouldn't be skewing things much.

 

SHELL 93. I swear by it. Get better gas mileage and performance. Allegedly it 'cleans' your motor but when was the last time you actually had an engine fail due to a gasoline quality?

I typically hear 'all gas is the same, refined by same people and they put the same detergents.....' And I promise you that is not true.

I've worked for a couple OEM's so far, in pretty engaged roles. Now I can't say exactly what they are using or in which vehicles (i'm pretty sure i signed a confidentiality clause) but what I can say is after the hoops the plants go thru to get it, the additional cost incurred, and the engineers demanding it... there is a method to my madness.

 

I run Sunoco 93 in my H-D and my chainsaws 99% of the time

 

I use shell gas, mostly premium. I used to run mobil until I got a check engine light on my 5.4 with 42000 miles, changed the spark plug and boot on the offending cylinder, cel was back in a week. figured out it was a dripping injector, added a couple of cans of seafoam and switched to shell, the check engine light and funky starting went away. Throttle response is better than when I ran mobile in both my car and my wifes car. Mobil was supposed to be good, I suspect that the dealer was playing games with the additive package, in Michigan all of the gasoline comes up the same pipe and is only differentiated by shells pkg or bp's pkg or mobil's etc. In the generator and the lawn equipment, I use a mixture of 50/50 av gas and car gas. the generator starts on the second soft pull as does the lawnmower after sitting all winter.

 

The Ranger and Edge have two different engines. While the wife's Edge doesn't seem picky at at all, the Ranger is a different beast. I further explained that by saying that the Ranger predominately gets Shell. I haven't noticed any issue with the wife's much more powerful engine, which is one reason I'm not as picky with that vehicle. I don't work for an oil company, but naturally, Shell is going to say that their brand is better, while other brands will say the same. Remember the old BP commercials with the slogan, 'you go or we pay the tow'? Supposedly, the only difference amongst brands is a couple cupfulls of additives, so how can that little bit added to a tanker of 7,000 gallons seem to make a difference in performance (but not necessarily mileage wise) with all other things being equal? Surely standards have to be met and the formulas can vary slighty, but 87 Octane is still 87 Octane regardless if the gas is Nitrogen enriched at Shell or containes STP, which I believe is Marathon's recipe. So, yes, Marathon hasn't convinced me that the Ranger runs best on 'their' gas, and yes, marketing hype. Marathon also owns/operates Speedway and SuperAmerica stores in the Midwest, and they compete against themselves. In my neighborhood, we used to have a SW and a SuperAmerica, but in Ohio the SA's were rebranded Speedway. Either way, Speedway is consistently rated a 'good quality buy' (forget the exact term). Does that mean Marathon is superior? Same gas in the tanker that goes from station to station. So, yes, as with anything marketing Hype. Which is why I responded to the OP's inquiry about top tier fuel. As long as there is a name on the banner, such as Shell, Sunoco, BP, then it should be a top tier.