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Frustrated at the pumps


petitepedal

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Road construction sent me back tracking so I opted to get gas while I was out. Stopped at what has become my usual Speedway...and the pay process locked up..the clerk told me to try a differnt pump..same thing..pay inside ..I had to prepay...but I wanted to fill up..and I had no clue how many gallons...oh and with my discount..this station $5.56 per gallon. 

I was frustrated ... and just stopped at the Speedway by my house...it was $5.61 a gallon with the discount...but their pump wouldn't  read my Speedway card..which activates the discount. The two clerks managed to calm me and I prepaid $50 and pumped...Why have prepay pumps and discount cards if the stoopid system doesn't work...and you can no longer leave your credit card with the clerk while you pump and FILL your tank..you just have to guess..

I was frustrated :angry:

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With our gas pushing $6.50 (premium for my turbo engine) I go to Arco which is cheaper than Chevron & the like.  Except getting into the pumps is like getting Costco gas except cars are coming at the pumps from 3 different driveways.  It’s a freaking nightmare. 

I generally don’t go below 1/4 tank as it may take me 2-3 attempts to even get gas at a “reasonable” price.

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Hmm, I pretty much know how much it takes to fill my tank. $100 puts me at the full line with 1/4 tank remaining. Never got frustrated worried about how much I'd need to put in. 

The price around here cheapest is $5.87. Some ar at 6.85. Now THAT  is frustrating. 🤣

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I paid $4.899/gal. on 6/19 at a Sunoco Station where I got 5% cash-back with a Discover Card

At Costco itself, it's probably at least $0.30/gal. cheaper - plus the 4% cash-back from the Costco Visa of 5% cash-back with the Chase Freedom Visa from July-September - but the lines have been too long when I've been there lately.

Fortunately, my Honda Fit fill-ups, about every 190-230 miles of local driving, are about 7.5 gallons so I'm spending in the mid-$30's instead of the low-$20's, and that's tolerable.

The Chase Freedom Visa card is paying 5% cash-back for Gasoline from July through September.  Discover did that April to June - both at "stand-alone" gas stations.  Otherwise, the Citi Costco Visa gives 4% at Costco or stand-alone stations.

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12 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Have you confirmed with the car manufacturer?  I have a pretty high performance, twin turbo engine and have always used regular gas.  Never knocked once, and I can drive it rather spiritedly at times.

You can run regular, but you will feel a significant performance drop. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing you get better fuel economy with the premium as well. How much better I don’t know. 

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17 minutes ago, groupw said:

You can run regular, but you will feel a significant performance drop. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing you get better fuel economy with the premium as well. How much better I don’t know. 

I've never tried premium, I guess I'm happy enough with the power I am getting with regular.

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47 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Have you confirmed with the car manufacturer?  I have a pretty high performance, twin turbo engine and have always used regular gas.  Never knocked once, and I can drive it rather spiritedly at times.

Yes I have and…

33 minutes ago, groupw said:

You can run regular, but you will feel a significant performance drop. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing you get better fuel economy with the premium as well. How much better I don’t know. 

My car goes from 250 to 227 HP by using regular gas.  Your car may not have as much as a drop off.

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23 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Yes I have and…

My car goes from 250 to 227 HP by using regular gas.  Your car may not have as much as a drop off.

Some cars go from stupid power to stupider power. You won’t notice in daily driving but you might on track day. 

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Just now, groupw said:

Some cars go from stupid power to stupider power.

That's one of the cool things about my car.  It's stock from the factory at 330hp.  It can be tuned to get to 500ish.  Clearly my warranty would be gone, and I'd be putting a lot of strain on the engine, but it's possible.  Lots of people buy these cars just for that reason, they are highly programmable.  Some of the changes do need to be physical like air intake and exhaust, but you can gain a lot of hp just by tinkering with the electronics.

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Just now, ChrisL said:

With your car maybe not.  Maybe it was my imagination but it seemed more sluggish to me with regular fuel. 

Did you get pinging on hills with regular gas?  I've had my car in NH on lots of hills, never had on knock or ping.

I'm not trying to argue, you do what's best for you.

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Most modern engines have knock sensors that retard the spark timing if knocking occurs. Retarding timing also reduces performance. This is where I wonder if the retarded timing is affecting fuel economy. Not just from the spark timing not being as efficient but also a driver is likely to press the gas harder when it is sluggish feeling. 

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I really try to avoid gas stations that the pumps want you to play games, insert discount cards, do you want a car wash, what’s your favorite color? Just give me the freakin gas. Sheetz is the best, tap your card and pump your gas. No stupid questions, Loves truck stops are almost as simple. Tap your card and enter your PIN number and their gas is 40 cents a gallon cheaper.

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5 minutes ago, groupw said:

Most modern engines have knock sensors that retard the spark timing if knocking occurs. Retarding timing also reduces performance. This is where I wonder if the retarded timing is affecting fuel economy. Not just from the spark timing not being as efficient but also a driver is likely to press the gas harder when it is sluggish feeling. 

High performance engines have high compression engines. You have to run high octane gas because the high compression will combust regular gas causing knock. I don’t see how retarding the spark could change that.

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58 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

My car goes from 250 to 227 HP by using regular gas.  Your car may not have as much as a drop off.

My CX 9 has the same engine. With its nearly 6000 GVW, you don't need a dyno to notice the difference between 227 and 250 HP.  

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45 minutes ago, Longjohn said:
56 minutes ago, groupw said:

Most modern engines have knock sensors that retard the spark timing if knocking occurs. Retarding timing also reduces performance. This is where I wonder if the retarded timing is affecting fuel economy. Not just from the spark timing not being as efficient but also a driver is likely to press the gas harder when it is sluggish feeling. 

High performance engines have high compression engines. You have to run high octane gas because the high compression will combust regular gas causing knock. I don’t see how retarding the spark could change that.

If your car manufacturer requires premium you probably use the premium fuel.   If you don't, the ECU, assuming knocking is detected (which may not be audible to people), will do what it can to prevent the knocking.   Some manufacturers may void the car warranty if there is engine damage.   That said... regular fuel may burn in the engine, there will be less power, and it may be OK.    Then again... there could be engine damage over time too.   

Some cars premium is recommenced.   In that case, there should not be engine damage from regular fuel.   

Our cars live just fine on regular gas. 

Car & Driver had an interesting article a while back about premium vs regular.  link  (I like the mention of 'price gouging' for gas, and it was 2001 when the article was published)

The last time I filled up 2 of our cars I paid $4.219 per gallon.   That was after a $1.00 per gallon credit for shopping at Kroger. 

The Prius will get filled up next.  This time that will be free.  I get gift cards for being healthy and walking.   Healthy is defended as 500 steps per day for 5 days in a month, that is worth $5.00.   Walk more than 10 days a month and I get $10.    WoBG gets the same rewards.  So $20 a month just for walking.   We walk about 12K steps a day.

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58 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Did you get pinging on hills with regular gas?  I've had my car in NH on lots of hills, never had on knock or ping.

I'm not trying to argue, you do what's best for you.

As others have mentioned, no knock or pings.  It was just one tank of gas but the fuel economy showed about 24.8 mpg avg vs 26.4 avg per tank.  It might be part of what @groupw notes and my pushing harder on the accelerator compensating for perceived sluggishness.

My main issue is the crowded gas stations more so than the cost of premium fuel.  I can pay an extra $8 per tank and go to a less busy station.

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17 hours ago, petitepedal said:

Road construction sent me back tracking so I opted to get gas while I was out. Stopped at what has become my usual Speedway...and the pay process locked up..the clerk told me to try a differnt pump..same thing..pay inside ..I had to prepay...but I wanted to fill up..and I had no clue how many gallons...oh and with my discount..this station $5.56 per gallon. 

I was frustrated ... and just stopped at the Speedway by my house...it was $5.61 a gallon with the discount...but their pump wouldn't  read my Speedway card..which activates the discount. The two clerks managed to calm me and I prepaid $50 and pumped...Why have prepay pumps and discount cards if the stoopid system doesn't work...and you can no longer leave your credit card with the clerk while you pump and FILL your tank..you just have to guess..

I was frustrated :angry:

That's totally frustrating. Speedway is my go-to when downstate. I don't know why, maybe the points? Sometimes Speedway drive me nuts, sometimes I love Speedway. But that experience was ridiculous!!

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14 hours ago, Longjohn said:

High performance engines have high compression engines. You have to run high octane gas because the high compression will combust regular gas causing knock. I don’t see how retarding the spark could change that.

Modern engines with variable ignition timing, variable fuel injector timing and variable valve timing can do almost anything with gas from crap to great.  The result shows up as power levels and maybe even a gear change to ease the load.  Back in the day when I had high compression engines in street cars I had to run extremely rich for around town conditions (remember non variable carbs) getting about 6 miles per gallon and maybe a thousand miles on a set of plugs.  I wonder what a modern engine control system could do with that 440 cubic inch monster motor.

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