Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 13:12:20 -0500
Reply-To: "sam.cooks" <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
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From: "sam.cooks" <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
Subject: [Fwd: [Syncro] GAS Additives: DRIVING; My Gasoline Beats Yours
(Doesn't It?) Welcome,
dixoncj DRIVING; My Gasoline Beats Yours (Doesn't It?)]
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FYI
from my correspondence with Chris Dixon of the NYTimes who wrote an
article about Syncro Westies a few months ago, is a Syncro Westy owner.
He kindly tracked down an article I remembered reading but couldn't
locate with a NYT archives search.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Syncro] GAS Additives: DRIVING; My Gasoline Beats Yours
(Doesn't It?)? Welcome, dixoncj DRIVING; My Gasoline Beats Yours
(Doesn't It?)
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 09:50:50 EST
From: jahsurf@aol.com
To: sam.cooks@verizon.net, syncro@yahoogroups.com
Hey Sam
I didn't write it, but wish I did. Here it is.
Cheers,
Chris Dixon
DRIVING; My Gasoline Beats Yours (Doesn't It?)
By GEORGE P. BLUMBERG
EVERYONE knows the woman who buys only Mobil, or the man who drives five
miles and passes 10 gas stations to get to the BP pump.
And everyone knows the driver who brags that he will only fill up at the
cheapest station in town -- and always knows which one it is.
Some of us also know the tomato-tomahto couple who can't agree: one partner
is fastidious about gasoline, demanding only a particular brand; the other
would rather get it at Wal-Mart and save a couple of dollars for coffee.
So, who is right? Does the driver who insists on a higher-priced brand of
gasoline guard his automobile from decay and disruption? Or is he a chump,
falling for empty marketing slogans?
Ah, if the question were only that simple. Yes, there are differences in
brands of gasoline, but then again, there aren't. What's safe is a two-part
conclusion. All gasoline sold in the United States is basically the same stuff,
mingled near the distribution point in the same gigantic tanks, and it is all of
good quality. But when the gasoline rivers branch off to be pumped into
separate trucks, companies tinker with it, taking that consistently good product
(whether regular or premium) and spicing it with their own chemical signatures,
the additives that they claim set them apart. The resulting differences are
hardly major ones, but if you're an aficionado tuned to your engine's every ping,
you may care about them.
Michael Scardino of Brentwood, Tenn., a 52-year-old advertising creative
director, said his cars ran better on Chevron and added, ''I'd go out of my way to
get it.'' But when the brand is Shell, he said, ''I'm never happy with the
performance.'' He also switches periodically between Chevron, Citgo, Exxon and
Texaco ''to get the additives from one that may be missing in another brand,''
he said.
Meanwhile, Laura Brengleman, 41, who lives in Greenwich, Conn., and is the
editor of the motorcycle magazine RoadBike, puts the cheapest gas she can find
in her family car, which has rolled up 150,000 miles so far. ''I have no
problem buying from a no-name gas outlet,'' she said, ''as long as I see it's a busy
station with turnover.'' (When a station goes through its gasoline supply
quickly, there's less potential for water to condense from the air and settle
into half-empty tanks.) On the road, Ms. Brengleman said, she might look for
Exxon because she counts on its restrooms to be clean.
It sounds as if this brand issue is one for the experts. But they're not much
help.
''I can't say one brand is better than another,'' said Dr. Edward Murphy, a
spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group that represents
oil companies in Washington. ''Base gas is a freely traded commodity that must
meet certain government specifications. It flows through common pipelines into
commingled storage tanks.'' What he could say, he added, is that ''the major
brands spend R-and-D money on patented additives, which they add to the basic
gas.''
Ron Baker, the director of the Petroleum Extension Service of the University
of Texas at Austin, is well informed on these additives, which are the true
distinguishing elements of gasoline brands. He described them as ''detergents
and other chemicals'' designed to keep gasoline from evaporating, keep engines
from corroding, help engines run well in different climates and seasons, and
keep engines clean. The goal, he added, is ''forming less deposits when the
gasoline burns, for better mileage, performance and exhaust emissions.'' So which
brand does Mr. Baker choose? ''I buy cheap gas,'' he said. ''All U.S. gas is
of good quality.''
Gabriel Shenhar, the senior auto test engineer for Consumers Union, the
publisher of Consumer Reports, has experience that ought to make him a determined
scoffer at brand preference. ''We tried to conduct tests a few years ago to
measure the differences in acceleration and fuel economy of different gasoline
brands,'' he said. ''We bagged the test, because any differences we found were
not greater than those you find day to day caused by changing air temperatures
or humidity.'' But in his private life Mr. Shenhar is partial to Sunoco Ultra
94, which he says works best for him in performance and economy.
About 36 percent of adult gasoline users are loyal to one brand or another,
said Robert Pasikoff, the president of Brand Keys, a Manhattan brand consulting
firm. That leaves 64 percent to be lured into stations by low prices or
special promotions.
Perhaps these uncommitted consumers are overwhelmed by the sheer number of
brands -- ''a couple of hundred,'' according to Trilby Lundberg, an analyst
responsible for the Lundberg Survey, which tracks daily prices and sales at the
nation's gas stations.
''Sunoco is big in New York and Pennsylvania, but not in the West at all,''
Ms. Lundberg said. ''The 76 brand is huge all over the West but not on the East
Coast.'' Amoco (now BP at many stations), unknown in Texas, is the
top-selling gasoline in the New York metropolitan area.
''At our Little Rock terminal we store and distribute gasoline for many major
brands,'' said Oakley Bohannon, national accounts director of the Truman
Arnold Companies of Texarkana, Tex., a major gasoline distributor. ''All the
gasoline taps off the same Texas Eastern pipeline, then goes into commingled
150,000-barrel tanks.'' The distinctive additives go in as tank trucks are filled;
the brands acquire their differences just before the gasoline is taken to
stations. ''If it's a load for Shell stations,'' Mr. Bohannon said, ''the pump
injects the Shell additive package with a measured squirt into every 40 gallons of
gas.''
ALL gasoline has additives. For unbranded gasolines, like those sold at
low-cost outlets, the additive is a generic version that meets minimum federal
standards, and the ratio is about a third of a gallon of additive to every 1,000
gallons of gasoline.
Gasoline companies aren't telling what's in their unique additive packages;
they are closely held and patented secrets. But whether these details even make
a difference to a driver is an open question. ''The majors claim they go
beyond the federal standard in formulating their additives,'' Mr. Bohannon said.
''I can't argue that, but it's a mystery to me if it's better, and I'm not sure
what it practically means. I've sold billions of gallons of unbranded gas
over the years, and it has never been a problem.''
Major brands tout their own additives while vaguely denigrating one
another's. Chevron, whose additive is acknowledged as the most expensive, says it keeps
combustion chambers free of deposits while ''some of'' its competitors'
additives will actually increase these deposits. Dave Harvey, the developer of
Citgo's additives, says his creation includes a corrosion inhibitor and a
de-emulsifier that ''others'' don't have. Sunoco says its additives perform ''above
the minimum levels'' in cleaning up intake valves and fuel injectors. Shell
claims its formula keeps intake valves clean while an unnamed ''convenience store
gas'' damages them.
''The consumer has to take on faith what's in the pump'' said Mr. Baker, the
University of Texas extension director.
So what gas do his colleagues use? ''I took an informal poll of staff at the
University of Texas Petroleum Extension Service and asked which brand of gas
they think is best,'' Mr. Baker said. ''They all threw up their hands and
shrugged their shoulders.''
The tomato-tomahto couple may as well just keep arguing.
OCTANE
Premium or Regular? Ask Your Car
GASOLINE brands may be mysterious, but the difference in grades of gasoline
-- between regular and whatever kinds of premium a station offers -- is
straightforward. Gasoline is graded by octane number, which rates its resistance to
premature ignition, or engine knocking. Regular gas has an octane rating of 87,
a medium grade is 89, and premium gasolines begin at 91 and go up.
Higher-performance cars generally need higher octane. Racecars use a grade of over 100,
which you won't find at your local station.
The differences in octane number originate in chemical mixtures created at
the refinery, and different grades of gasoline are kept separate throughout the
distribution process. The right grade to buy is the one your particular car
was engineered for; you need to use only a grade high enough to prevent knock.
''Putting premium in a car designed to run on lower octane is a waste of
money,'' said Dennis Simanaitis, the engineering editor of Road and Track magazine.
Using regular in a car designed for premium, however, is a mistake. ''If a
car is rated to run on premium, it will still run on 87 or 89, but the engine
computer will dial back its performance and you won't get optimum performance or
gas mileage,'' Mr. Simanaitis said. In that kind of car, ''using premium fuel
will eliminate the knock,'' he added, ''and the engine computer will deliver
full performance.''
So which grade of gasoline is right for your car? Look in your owner's
manual.
END
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--
Sam Walters
Baltimore, MD
89 Syncro GL, soon to have SA suspension and 15" disc brakes
85 Westy Weekender, new to me 8/01/03
84 Vanagon, original owner, soon to be retired, just too many problems
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