Shell Nitro+ 93 VS Citgo Pure Gas 93

[SaltyNC]

I think I know what the consensus opinion will be, but I'll ask, anyway. Near my house, there is a small country store that sells 93 octane pure Citgo gas that contains no ethanol. Just a few miles away, across the state line, there is a Shell station that sells 93 octane Nitro+. Heck, it even has an ad on the pump touting that it's BMW's choice for their ///M cars. It's also cheaper due to cheaper gas taxes in South Carolina. The Shell Nitro+ at this station contains ethanol.

So, given the choice, would you go Shell Nitro+ with ethanol for less money or pay a little more and get 93 octane pure gas from Citgo with no additives other than probably the minimum detergents required?

Salty

[dc_wright]

For daily driving I'd buy the Shell Nitro because it's got the better detergents. If I was heading to the track or a competition event I'd be buying the Citgo to get the performance bump.
The Citgo will also give you slightly better mpg.

[VossenCoupe]

In the Netherlands we have 98 octane
And if i drive across the border to germany you can fill up with 102 octane from Shell that is the best you can instantly feel the extra power

[Westersund]

I can't understand how you can have so low quality gas in the US. The lowest quality gas you can find in Sweden is 95 octane, you can't find lower quality even if you threaten someone.

[gas-can]

Originally Posted by Westersund

I can't understand how you can have so low quality gas in the US. The lowest quality gas you can find in Sweden is 95 octane, you can't find lower quality even if you threaten someone.

Nerd fact: you're not comparing apples to apples. Different places use different ways of measuring octane ratings. The US method returns lower values b/c it's an average but if you compare it to the stuff in Europe (non averaged), it's 5-6 points higher.

So that 93 stuff we have is what's sold in europe as 98.

-gc

[bosstones]

Shell Nitro+ because:

1. I've always used Shell and been happy
2. Detergents (supposedly are better)
3. There is one near/on my way home that is easy in/out
4. Citgo is a subsidiary of Venezuela's national oil company (yeah, I just injected politics into this...lol)

I used to bounce between Shell and Philips so I wasn't only on one company's blend, but then the Philips turned into a Citgo and, well, see #4.

[Westersund]

Originally Posted by gas-can

Nerd fact: you're not comparing apples to apples. Different places use different ways of measuring octane ratings. The US method returns lower values b/c it's an average but if you compare it to the stuff in Europe (non averaged), it's 5-6 points higher.

So that 93 stuff we have is what's sold in europe as 98.

-gc

I didn't know this, I thought they used an uniform way of rating the octane. Jokes on me I guess.

Thanks for the lesson.

[dc_wright]

Originally Posted by Westersund

I didn't know this, I thought they used an uniform way of rating the octane. Jokes on me I guess.

Thanks for the lesson.

Nope, it's quite the mess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

[Westersund]

Why make it easy eh?

[Zyal8r]

I really like the way my 335i runs on ethanol free 93 octane . Why not add some Techron to a fill up. I understand it is similar technolgy to the Shell additives.

[SaltyNC]

Zyal8r,

That's exactly what I was thinking. I read a very interesting discussion about how little additives are added. A tanker truck holds 8000+ gallons, and you can imagine how little additive is being added to the gas. It's an extremely small amount. Basically, most gas is coming from a single source pipeline in most areas in the US (pipeline per grade of gas). They then add the additives to the delivery trucks before they are sent out to the various stations.

I just know that ethanol is horrible is small gas engines, and when I found 93 octane pure gas, I was thrilled, because most pure gas around here is 89 octane and is primarily carried for lawn equipment and other small engine motors.

My personal take is that I would rather have 93 octane pure gas over Shell Nitro+ with ethanol. Not all Shell stations have ethanol in their top grade gas, but the ones near me do. If the Shell was pure gas with Nitro+, I'd be inclined to go with Shell.

I think I could add a thimble of Techron to each fill-up of Citgo pure gas, and I'd have a far superior product to the ethanol gas, but that's just my opinion.

[ShakyDog]

I have read a lot about Ethanol and what it does/does not do to engines. (this is from my reading on the Internet, not sure about sources)

If you run the 93 with Ethanol you should get a very small boost in HP, but worst gas mileage. Also you do not want to store an engine with Ethanol for any length of time as it breaks down quicker. It also burn cooler than strait gas.

My concern with Ethanol is how closely is the percentage monitored? Here in Missouri, they passed something to force all gas sold here to be 10% Ethanol, not sure if this is still true as I keep finding places with Ethanol free gas. So I should be getting corn with every fill up.

My Tundra is a Flex Fuel and I have never run E85 as there is not really a good reason to do so. I could run it in the summer when towing, but it already gets crappy gas mileage and has a small tank, I would be stopping even more to fill up.

I like corn, just not in my gas. It cost too much to make and makes my fuel cost more.

Steve

[dc_wright]

Originally Posted by ShakyDog

I have read a lot about Ethanol and what it does/does not do to engines. (this is from my reading on the Internet, not sure about sources)

If you run the 93 with Ethanol you should get a very small boost in HP, but worst gas mileage. Also you do not want to store an engine with Ethanol for any length of time as it breaks down quicker. It also burn cooler than strait gas.

My concern with Ethanol is how closely is the percentage monitored? Here in Missouri, they passed something to force all gas sold here to be 10% Ethanol, not sure if this is still true as I keep finding places with Ethanol free gas. So I should be getting corn with every fill up.

My Tundra is a Flex Fuel and I have never run E85 as there is not really a good reason to do so. I could run it in the summer when towing, but it already gets crappy gas mileage and has a small tank, I would be stopping even more to fill up.

I like corn, just not in my gas. It cost too much to make and makes my fuel cost more.

Steve

It's actually the opposite. There's less available energy in ethanol than there is in gasoline, so you get less HP running ethanol blend than you do ethanol free gas. That's why your gas mileage drops with the ethanol blend because your engine is making less power and is less efficient.

You might see some info where cars running very high boost can get more HP with the ethanol or even the E85, but that's only because they can run very high boost pressures without getting detonation and the higher boost makes up for the lower energy content. You won't find too many cars coming off the factory production line running 28 psi of boost.

[ShakyDog]

I stand corrected : - O

Steve