Costco or Sam's club Gas really bad?
 

As topic? Anyone uses Costco or Sam's club gas at all? I usually go with chevron only but I just noticed how cheap the gas are @ those 2 places.... 50 cent cheaper per gallon so it's like 6 or 7 dollar cheaper per fill up. O.o

Obviously I know they ain't top tier gas & the fact how picky our car is over gas.... Wonder if anyone uses their gas constantly & can give some feed back.

(It's so cheap that I can go practically buy an injector cleaner/octane booster every fill-up..)

there is literally no way to know what brand gas they use. They could be using the same exact Chevron you pay a ton more for. The law allows that. They could be using something else. The only way to know is to try it and see what happens. Just because they are not a brand name does not mean they sell bad gas.

From what I know it is top tier gas. It should be good. I just don't like the lines.

Costco is top tier fuel.

But what is "top tier gas"?

That's the answer that is not being given. Actual definition is an industry standard approved by automakers: http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers/

As a general rule, if it meets the octane requirements to be considered "premium gas" then it will be fine for your car. All the other "nitrogen enriched" "cleaner gas" etc etc is all marketing fluff.

-alex

2 things here:

1. Costco does use top tier gas

2. The freshness of gas is more important than the brand.

I used to be a hardcore brand-loyal gas buyer until I saw the results for myself. We have notoriously bad gas here in Phoenix and a bunch of us did a ton of research.

Fresh gas > brand of gas


Tapatalk - because smoke signals would be too easy.

Thanks for the link @mav1178. Gas from the refinery is sold to anybody. Top Tier gas is just a distinction for gas that has the minimum amount of detergents deemed necessary to keep an engine from gunking up too soon. What you pay for when you buy brand-name gas, is the EXTRA detergents they put in the gas (Chevron has Techron, Shell has VPower, etc) - that's why Costco gas is so much cheaper. Costco isn't putting in that extra name-brand detergents, just the minimum necessary to gain Top Tier status. Is the extra detergents in name brand gas worth it? Up to you.

IIRC, Walmart and Sam's Club sell Murphy USA gasoline, which is not top tier. I have used Sam's Club gas in both my vehicles, and they ran just fine on it without any major difference in mileage or performance.

HOWEVER, I avoid Sam's Club gas in my BRZ, because it turns the minor chirping of the fuel pump into a cricket symphony. It sounds like I have the whole swamp under my hood. It's the only time I've ever really been annoyed by the chirping crickets. I don't know what the hell they're putting into their additive package to cause that reaction, but it is immediate and impossible to ignore.

The top tier gas standard also requires that the fuel contain at least 8% ethanol. So the folks who search out ethanol-free gas in an attempt to avoid crickets are not running top tier even if they buy it from a station branded as one of the top tier brands.

Have yet to see any third party research to verify the effectiveness of additive packages, all marketing imo.

I bought Costco gas once and it seemed like the crickets got louder. I typically buy Kroger gas because we get the minimum three cent discount and typically get a ten cent discount. The price is comparable and the crickets are on the quiet side of normal.

Good tip! I think they have changed the top tier program requirements since then, now they don't require a minimum, and only set a maximum of 10% ethanol content.

See #2 in the FAQ: http://www.toptiergas.com/faqs/

Costco tried for a month. Car ran same as Chevron. It's too far or i'd keep it at Costco. I go from Shell to Chevron.

If it weren't for the lines at Costco, I would use it. Happy with Chevron, no issues so far with them.

~3 minutes vs 15-20. :)

I've been putting in 91 Octane gas from Sam's Club ever since I got the car back in February & it has been running fine with it.

I also read somewhere (literally can't remember where, I've been trying to find the article but no luck) that gas stations will buy gas from like a retailer who is selling it the cheapest that day. & the retailer gets the gas from the refineries. So the gas that Chevron/Shell has in their tanks may be from the same retailer as the gas in the tanks of Sam's Club/Costco.

I have membership to both Sam's Club & Costco but prefer Sam's Club because the lines there are shorter. :thumbup:

Here in Honolulu the Costco/Sam's Club gas is from Aloha Petroleum which isn't the greatest gas IMHO. I only use Chevron 92 octane. Although I have thought about trying Costco/Sams but I heard some peeps get more crickets. ;)

I exclusively use costco gas for my FRS. I almost never fill up at any other gas station. I used costco before they had their top tier status and nothing seems different. Crickets chirp occasionally but it's just the nature of yhe car.

I had a engine failure but it was due to Rocker arms (manufacturing defect). Using a different brand of gas wouldn't had affected the rocker arms in anyway.

For me, costco gas is cheaper and convenient since I work and live near one.I also use my amex and get 3% cash back.

NAILED IT.

Exactly. I hate always hearing this. Every since going FI I've become more weary of what I fill my tank with now. I'm always logging and making sure the gas I get isn't knock prone. Gas quality isn't something that can be identified by brand name. You just gotta find pumps that consistently offer quality gas.




Don't know much about Costco gas, but I can tell you that their pizza is the bomb. :word:

I have had no issues using almost exclusively Sam's gas.

The Costco in my area uses BP/Amoco fuels. They have a 93 octane 10% blend that seems fine in my FR-S. I usually go with the 91 octane no blend from my local Hy-Vee though.

Costco Canada uses fuel from Husky, and I've not had any issues...

I have a buddy who actually works at a Costco gas station and he told me they actually use the same exact gas that Chevron does. It is purchased from the same place just does not say Chevron on the tanker filling up the Stations. I haven't been one to use Costco gas to much because the lines are just ridiculous but it is "top teir" gas. This is in Long Beach, CA btw.

If I giggled at this, am I a bad person?

http://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-gasoline.html

Costco is using 5x the EPA required amount of detergent additives in their fuel. "Top Tier" status is granted to brands that use the minimum amount of detergent listed in both the Clean Air Act and 40 CFR Part 80 by the EPA.

I used Sam's Club gas once, and will never use it again because the car felt terrible for that entire tank.

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/e6/e69a4...a815f2770c.jpg

Costco gets better and better!

Damn you have to wait a minimum of 3 minutes to fill up? Also, does Seattle have 93 octane?

I've been using Costco 91 and I actually noticed I don't get the crickets as often when I use Costco as opposed to lets say Esso or Petro Canada.

No. We've only got 91 available in most name brand stations.
Some very small retailers have different options, but they are few, far away
and the fuel may have been sitting in the tanks a long time.

Im glad someone brought this up. I tried Costco gas for a month and Chevron for a month. Throughout these tests, i paid close attention to crickets/any noise in the engine bay, and mileage I was getting. So far at the end of the testing I came to conclusion, they were the same. The mileage numbers weren't exactly accurate (because it varies on driving style) but were close enough to be exact. (probably a couple miles higher or less every fill up) So for me, im gonna fill up at costco, the lines dont really bother me because i really enjoy listening to my sound system in my car, but thats the only downside for costco. Right now in the Los Angeles, gas for Costco 91 is $2.85 and the cheapest Chevron 91 I go to $3.03. Both are local to me.

Another reason I costco gas convinced me was, I noticed there was wayyy more high end cars than the twins. M3, AMG line Mercedes, and S-line Audis, and STI were filling up at costco. Could be a lease or costco gas is the same or just as good as other brands.

What's the difference between the minimum, 5x, and 50x the detergent as required by the Federal Govt?

I never take anything that a manufacturer or Direct Market Retailer (DMR) says at face value. Having worked in a marketing-sensitive industry for so long (automotive aftermarket + tech industry), it's just all a bunch of BS to me.

-alex

I use Costco and its fine. Pretty much everything has been fine that I have used except the one time I used Arco when I was bone dry almost and crickets got hella loud. Only done it once but I haven't used it since to see if it was coincidence.

Costco is great for 2 reason:

1. The Price
2. You know with the amount of people going through the gas is fresh


The only downside is the lines, but those can be avoided depending upon the time that you go.

Shell and nothing else. Chevron knocks. Costco has minimum additives. Etc. Then again my Evo is more picky than the FR-S.

mainly use arco, sometimes costco. its a different result every time in terms of crickets. sometimes they both give crickets, sometimes not. engine feels good at 20k

Good to know I should be safe with costco :DThank for all the input guys. :thumbup: Time To burn rubber:burnrubber:


& ya I avoid Arco @ all cost possible.... even my CRV has absolutely no grunt at all with arco plus mileage got worse.

Not trying to discredit you but Sources?! You're throwing out very specific names and numbers and I would like to know where you got them from (I am genuinely interested in the subject)

What octane do Costco's have around here? Curious but I only go to Petro since 94 octane)

Agree, I think this is the only real way to know. You need to log knock and timing advance as you get gas from various pumps. I started doing this a bit with my OFT and found a few surprises locally.

I know they have 91 for sure as that's what I put. I think the other octane was 89. they are quite a bit cheaper though and the lines aren't too bad if you're there at the right times.