Hi everyone! Hope all is well.
Can you please explain whether Phillips 66 is a top tier brand? And what other brands are good qualities? Do you believe Shell is an excellent brand?
Thank you.
Top Tier gas is the standard of major gas brands.
Tester
Bad gas is such a rarity that the only thing I do is avoid some off the wall gas and grocery store in the middle of no where.
If you follow a fuel truck from a refinery you will see it stop at several different brands . The only real difference is the additives they put in with the fuel.
Edit : A simple Google search would have answered the question for Clueless . The Phillips 66 site will show that they actually have more additives than required by the EPA and more than needed for a Top Tier rating.
I’ve never noticed any difference in gasoline brands when it comes to performance or fuel mileage. Living out in the sticks, almost all of my gas is purchased from a couple of mom and pop stations; a.k.a. non-Top Tier. In 30+ years I’ve never heard of or seen an issue with that fuel and both have a substantial amount of gasoline sales.
Shell and Phillips are both Top Tier brands along with dozens of others. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the fuel that any of them sell.
Now and then if the tank is low I may fill up with Top Tier but it’s only because that particular station was in my way… 
I buy the cheapest Top Tier gas near me (Quick Trip). No need to make it any more complicated.
If you have some free time, read this study sponsored by AAA:
Luckily for me, although we have very few Top Tier stations here, one of them is the closest station to my house and it’s usually one of the cheapest in town, so that makes the decision easy for me.
Agreed. I’m a lot more concerned about the security of the gas station’s card readers than I am about the quality of their gas. There’s a gas station the next suburb over that sells bongs – er, “water pipes for tobacco” – and those little glass vials with fabric roses in them (also known as crack pipes). I figure if they’re catering that hard to the criminal element, the criminal element might just target their pumps for skimmers, and some of those things are hard to find.
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All the brands near me are Top Tier but I go to the one’s that are the most convienent.
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I didn’t buy any top-tier gas until about 2 years ago. There wasn’t a single top-tier gas anywhere near me. But 2 years ago a local chain (Irving Oil) is now top-tier. And they are one of the cheaper stations, and the closest to my house and my commute. Never really noticed a difference. Top-Tier gas may make a difference long term. You won’t see any difference from tank to tank.
The only gas where I could notice a difference was Mobil , for some reason my vehicles engines seem to run and idle smoother with less buziness .
The brand of gasoline I believed to be the best back in the late 1940s through 1956 was Cities Service (now Citgo). Cities Service sponsored Paul LaValle and the Cities Service Band of America that was on a national radio network every Monday evening. I thought when I would own a car, I would use only Cities Service gasoline. However, after Cities Service quit sponsoring the Band of America radio broadcasts, I have no brand allegiance.
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Year’s back I remember a brand called Gulf the reason I remember is that no matter what I was driving it would run like crap if I had to use it.
That’s one gas I refuse to buy. Every once in a while I have to use it because it’s the only one around…and there is a noticeable decrease in performance and gas mileage.
Just the opposite here. Cumberland Farms uses is a local franchise that uses Gulf gas. It’s not a top-tier, but our vehicles always run well on it.
[quote="MikeInNH
Just the opposite here. Cumberland Farms uses is a local franchise that uses Gulf gas. It’s not a top-tier, but our vehicles always run well on it.
Is it the same Gulf oil co. from year’s back I haven’t seen a Gulf sign for many year’s? The same for Sinclaire {not sure how to spell that ) and Dino.
Back in my gas jockey days, I pumped Citgo into people’s tanks, and it was not unusual for cars to stall shortly after filling-up at our station. Because our station was literally just a few feet away from a marsh area, I was pretty sure that water had contaminated the tanks, but I wasn’t in charge, so all I could do was to observe and to speculate.
A few times, customers asked if it was possible that there was water in the gas that they had just bought, and my usual response was, Yes! It will help to clean your engine!
Luckily, nobody ever punched me.
It’s always fun to point out to people that you very rarely, if ever, see a gasoline truck with a brand name on the tanks. The trucks pick up their loads at a distribution location, and the trailer is divided into sections so each section gets its own product, but the products are from the same basic supply. Regular is regular, but Shell adds certain chemicals and color, Mobil adds different things or different recipes, Chevron the same deal. If it’s going to a no name station they add nothing. Premium gasoline is done the same way, and if the station has a mid-grade it means they mix half regular and half premium together on the way to the nozzle. Regular gasoline is a commodity, a very common product used by all the retailers. There’s a different winter and summer blend in many places, but that’s regional, not brand specific.
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Yup.
Sinclair is still around. Just may not be around in your area.
Nothing I can prove, but I firmly believe that gas companies have been splitting up the presence into different regions to reduce competition. Growing up in Central NY 50 years ago we had all the brands. Today it’s limited to a handful. The rest moved out. And some of those brands in NY you can’t find here in NH.
Before Covid I was traveling at least once a month to different parts of the country. Each region has their own set of gas stations not found in other regions.
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I remember when Gulf gas had a grade below “regular” called Gulftane. Sunoco had blending pumps and “regular” was 200. The lowest octane was 190. My 1965 Rambler ran just fine on Gulftane and Sunoco 190 and I saved 1¢ a gallon.
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Cumberland bought the Gulf name from Chevron in 1986. Gulf oil company was bought by Chevron in 1984. So it’s the same name, but not the same company.
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