Petrol Options

[shaunFB]

Let me know your petrol brand of choice. And why?

What drives you to stick to your petrol brand?

The price? The performance? The loyalty card benefits? Locations and convenience? Service?

[stevenl]

Whichever brand is there when I need to fill up the tank.

[thailoht]

Only Shell V-Power for my new 3.0L Isuzu engine.

It's supposed to burn 'cleaner' inside the engine and produce less air contaminants.

[eaustev]

I agree with stevenl, for me it is the first place I see without a line of cars when I need fuel.

[ThaidDown]

But Caltex have nano-men in the petrol and when they get inside the cylinder they give it a polish.

I know it's true as I've seen the adverts.

Seriously, as said Shell V-power diesel is supposed to have a lower sulphur content but otherwise just fill up at a major named station. Personally avoid the 'no name' places even though its about 3 satang/litre cheaper.

[thailoht]

Personally avoid the 'no name' places even though its about 3 satang/litre cheaper.

Amen brother! That's the bottom line, regardless of ones preference ....

[anon210]

But Caltex have nano-men in the petrol and when they get inside the cylinder they give it a polish.

I know it's true as I've seen the adverts.

Seriously, as said Shell V-power diesel is supposed to have a lower sulphur content but otherwise just fill up at a major named station. Personally avoid the 'no name' places even though its about 3 satang/litre cheaper.

Same here: I only tank at recognized names gas stations 'Esso' or Shell. I switched to V-power after my first tank.

No loyalty cards, but planning on getting a platinum Central credit card (gets you 2 to 3 % discount).

[transam]

At the mo Shell V-Power is the best for any ride.

[mogandave]

_{I usually buy Caltex because it is close, clean and convenient, and the staff is quick and courteous.}

_{On the old Isuzu, I carefully tested Shell V-power, Caltex and Esso over about six months and I did not see any performance or mileage benefit to using any of the three. It ran the same and got about 9.4 KPL regardless.}

_{I have not done a careful comparison between brands with the new Isuzu, but it seems to run the same and get about 12.4 KPL regardless of what I put into it.}

Edited September 19, 2012 by mogandave

[shaunFB]

Anyone tried PETRONAS? Any good?

Edited September 19, 2012 by shaunFB

[mogandave]

same-same

[Spoonman]

What ever that comes out of the Blue pump at my local petrol station.

[Jitar]

But Caltex have nano-men in the petrol and when they get inside the cylinder they give it a polish.

I know it's true as I've seen the adverts.

Seriously, as said Shell V-power diesel is supposed to have a lower sulphur content but otherwise just fill up at a major named station. Personally avoid the 'no name' places even though its about 3 satang/litre cheaper.

Thailand changed diesel fuel regs in Jan 2012 so all diesel is low sulphur now.

Shell promote their GTL process and cleaning additives etc and I have seen posts that reckon the difference is noticeable.

I have used mostly V Power, regular Shell Diesel and Esso Diesel but can't really noticed any consistent difference. I have had the odd tankful of that seemed a bit down but not consistently from one brand. Then again, maybe I need to try the Caltex Nano men more.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Jitar

[wordchild]

caltex benzene gold 90% of the time, 9.5% of the fills shell vpower, less now they no longer do pure benzene; i try to avoid everything else, if an absolute emergency then 300bt at a PTT (poison) to get me to the next caltex or shell!

I once sat next to a Thai oil industry exec at a dinner who told me he would never fill any of his cars with anything other than shell, caltex or esso. He was particularly scathing about the quality of PTT fuels which was a little odd as he worked for part of that organization!

Edited September 19, 2012 by wordchild

[cowslip]

I'd say that brand loyalty is a particularly US thing - "We're a Ford family" - something that in Europe would get you a raised eyebrows.

The problem with fuel is that it is all EXACTLY the same, so choice has to be generated by

• Facilites at the station
  
• Price, freebies etc
  
• Possible poor storage (tanks etc)
  
• or,
  
• and this applies to Thailand...telling lies about the product.......e.g. "cleaner" or "more power"
  

I like the PTT stations that used to be JET - they tend to be cleaner and have a better shop.

Edited September 20, 2012 by cowslip

[cheeryble]

Over coffee yesterday I mentioned to a friend as we talked car problems (see my other thread if you are an auto electrician).

I mentioned I had changed a petrol pump for 1500 instead of 15000 for the Suzuki one......but had been told the pump would only las a year and a half as I used gasohol (91).

My friend asked why I used it.

Easy said I the regular 91's 20% more expensive and I already spend 6000 a month on gas.

Wait he said you'll get much better mileage Witt he regular it will probably cost the same and you won't get any other potential problems.

A 20% increase in mileage seems impossible....

Is he right?

Is he partly right?

Edited September 20, 2012 by cheeryble

[aussiebebe]

I use E20 in my little Honda City - I always buy it from BangChak because they are convenient in my area; I like the shops, the loyalty card and I think they have the best air pumps for tires. I wouldn't care about using E20 vs regular unless I had a good car and I'd sooner get an E85 conversion kit than try an LPG or CNG conversion as my local BangChak has started selling that too.

[Histavia]

Over coffee yesterday I mentioned to a friend as we talked car problems (see my other thread if you are an auto electrician).

I mentioned I had changed a petrol pump for 1500 instead of 15000 for the Suzuki one......but had been told the pump would only las a year and a half as I used gasohol (91).

My friend asked why I used it.

Easy said I the regular 91's 20% more expensive and I already spend 6000 a month on gas.

Wait he said you'll get much better mileage Witt he regular it will probably cost the same and you won't get any other potential problems.

A 20% increase in mileage seems impossible....

Is he right?

Is he partly right?

He's wrong - sheer nonsense.

There's nothing in any fuel that can dramatically change its performance. Petrol/gasoline have substances added to change the point of combustion and that is just about it.

If you check with the EU, you'll find that there are very few claims made for different kinds of gasoline as they have to be scientifically verifiable...which of course they are not.

In other countries the Oil companies are not forced to back up fallacious claims so they just go ahead and make them,

[mogandave]

Over coffee yesterday I mentioned to a friend as we talked car problems (see my other thread if you are an auto electrician).

I mentioned I had changed a petrol pump for 1500 instead of 15000 for the Suzuki one......but had been told the pump would only las a year and a half as I used gasohol (91).

My friend asked why I used it.

Easy said I the regular 91's 20% more expensive and I already spend 6000 a month on gas.

Wait he said you'll get much better mileage Witt he regular it will probably cost the same and you won't get any other potential problems.

A 20% increase in mileage seems impossible....

Is he right?

Is he partly right?

He's wrong - sheer nonsense.

There's nothing in any fuel that can dramatically change its performance. Petrol/gasoline have substances added to change the point of combustion and that is just about it.

If you check with the EU, you'll find that there are very few claims made for different kinds of gasoline as they have to be scientifically verifiable...which of course they are not.

In other countries the Oil companies are not forced to back up fallacious claims so they just go ahead and make them,

He is comparing Gasoline to Gasohol, and I think there is a pretty significant mileage and (to a lesser degree) performance difference.

[eaustev]

Over coffee yesterday I mentioned to a friend as we talked car problems (see my other thread if you are an auto electrician).

I mentioned I had changed a petrol pump for 1500 instead of 15000 for the Suzuki one......but had been told the pump would only las a year and a half as I used gasohol (91).

My friend asked why I used it.

Easy said I the regular 91's 20% more expensive and I already spend 6000 a month on gas.

Wait he said you'll get much better mileage Witt he regular it will probably cost the same and you won't get any other potential problems.

A 20% increase in mileage seems impossible....

Is he right?

Is he partly right?

I always heard that using E85 came with a 30% reduction in mileage. I would therefore be surprised if gasohol 91 (E10) brought as much as a 20% reduction, particularly when compared to regular 91. It certainly has some impact but I don't think that much. Even though my former car could run gasohol 91, I generally used gasohol 95 as it ran better, had better mileage, and is cheaper than regular 91.

[cowslip]

Basically gasohol has less energy than gasoline.

BUT - I think Thailand uses E10?

“A gallon of ethanol contains about 35% less energy than a gallon of regular gasoline, which means that E10 gasohol has an energy content 3.6% less than that of regular gasoline and E85 gasohol, about 30% less. (12) This is not the end of the story, however, because ethanol also has an octane rating roughly 20% higher than that of gasoline, which should offset--at least in part--the reduced fuel efficiency resulting from the lower energy content. One set of laboratory experiments indicates that the higher octane rating of gasohol would increase fuel efficiency of E10 by very roughly 1.6%, of E85, roughly 13.9%, (13) so these would partly offset the lower energy content.”

For E10, the mileage per gallon is not greatly different than that of regular gasoline, so it is difficult to draw definite conclusions from most of the available studies. The most extensive project was a recent year-long study in Minnesota by Kittelson, Tan, and Zarling (2007) of 40 pairs of similar vehicles, one running on E20, the other running on regular gasoline. They found no statistically significant differences in gas mileage in regular and E20 gasoline and also no differences in start-up times in cold weather between the two types of fuels. Smaller scale studies show mixed results. (15)