Mid Grade Fuel?

[Sandy G]

I noticed this week that COSCO only offers reg and premium grades. What is the purpose of a mid grade? Who would buy it? Why does it cost so much over regular? It seems it cost about .20 over regular...........do we need it at the pumps?

 

[dave6666]

Apparently COSCO does not think so.

 

[bluesrt]

mid grade is some wise guy who thought of another plan to get a little more money.

 

[GTSnake]

Yeah, it's all marketing. Put Premium in your Viper and regular in everything else....

 

[ryan94rt10]

i use regular, but the manual for my 07 hemi ram says i can use regular but suggests to use 89 octane!...i have never used it so i don't know if it will get me better gas milage or not!

 

[kennyhemi]

I noticed this week that COSCO only offers reg and premium grades. What is the purpose of a mid grade? Who would buy it? Why does it cost so much over regular? It seems it cost about .20 over regular...........do we need it at the pumps?

Gas stations only have two grades(87 and 93) to get mid grade the pumps are plumbed to dispense an equal amount from both tanks to give mid grade.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Gas stations only have two grades(87 and 93) to get mid grade the pumps are plumbed to dispense an equal amount from both tanks to give mid grade.

Correct, the final octane is the simple numerical average of the volume adjusted octane numbers. Historically sales are 70% regular, 20% premium, 10% midgrade.

 

[eucharistos]

Gas stations only have two grades(87 and 93) to get mid grade the pumps are plumbed to dispense an equal amount from both tanks to give mid grade.

Correct, the final octane is the simple numerical average of the volume adjusted octane numbers. Historically sales are 70% regular, 20% premium, 10% midgrade.

cool info

thanks

 

[bluesrt]

some cars and trucks will acually run bad with high test fuels,only run super if it calls for it,otherwise your wastn ur money.systems now days are programed for only the fuel they call for for the most part,but doesnt apply to everything.

 

[Paul Hawker]

My Jeep with Hemi engine is tuned to run best on mid grade. It will run fine on regular, but with less performance and fuel economy.

When the engine management system detects knock, it dials back ignition timing till the knock goes away, reducing performance and fuel economy.

With mid grade the engine runs optimized timing to maximize performance and fuel economy.

No damage is done running regular, and no benefits are gained running premium.

The Viper, on the other hand, is optimized for premium fuel. Only premium should be used.

Many have reported that running high octane race fuel causes the Vipers to run poorly also.

Just run the best, high octane, regular pump fuel you can get in Vipers.

 

[Red Shift]

Gas stations only have two grades(87 and 93) to get mid grade the pumps are plumbed to dispense an equal amount from both tanks to give mid grade.

I question that they blend the two for mid-grade. Many times I've observed the mid-grade to contain a percentage of ethanol while regular and premium do not. The ethanol can be used to "spike" up the octane rating of gasoline.

 

[mike & juli]

Off-subject most likely, but we have decided we DESPISE the ethanol in the gasoline. Our cars/pickup have dropped DRAMATICALLY in mpg since that was added...up to 20%. We CAN travel an hour away to get fuel that does NOT have ethanol added...and we may do that in the summer when we're out cruising with the cars. Sorry...no idea about mid-grade, never used it actually.
~juli

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

I question that they blend the two for mid-grade. Many times I've observed the mid-grade to contain a percentage of ethanol while regular and premium do not. The ethanol can be used to "spike" up the octane rating of gasoline.

Technically correct, but uneconomical for delivery and maintenance reasons. Similarly, Sunoco doesn't sell 85, 87,89, 91, and 93 out of 5 underground tanks.

 

[Joseph Houss]

If I'm not mistaken, it's been reported that in most cases, taking 1/2 tank premium, and 1/2 tank regular actually is LESS expensive than 1 full tank of midgrade. I believe it was disclosed by a few consumer oriented programs. Not sure if that irrgularity still exists.

 

[GTS Bruce]

Chump change mixing your own fuel. Just select the one your manual calls for or what you have had the computer reprogramed for by DC or others. My Yoda and 300c both call for mid and its not worth a few pennies to screw around with. GTS Bruce

 

[Sellshomesdrivesviper]

Fortunately, or unfortunately every vehicle I've owned in the last 10-years has drank Premium unleaded 93 octane, even the Harley gets it.

 

[PAvenomRT/10]

FYI, for those complaining about lower mileage with fuels containing ethanol compared to straight gasoline, this is totally to be expected and does not indicate anything wrong with the ethanol blend. It is simply due to the fact that ethanol contains less combustible carbon per unit volume than gasoline so you will get lower mileage per gallon with ethanol vs. gasoline. The higher oxygen content of ethanol is the reason it results in less hydrocarbon air pollution and why it is mandated in certain parts of the country.
PAvenom RT/10

 

[Warfang]

FYI, for those complaining about lower mileage with fuels containing ethanol compared to straight gasoline, this is totally to be expected and does not indicate anything wrong with the ethanol blend. It is simply due to the fact that ethanol contains less combustible carbon per unit volume than gasoline so you will get lower mileage per gallon with ethanol vs. gasoline. The higher oxygen content of ethanol is the reason it results in less hydrocarbon air pollution and why it is mandated in certain parts of the country.
PAvenom RT/10

What's the point then? You're burning MORE of the less polluting fuel. Add in R&D and other costs that gets passed onto the consumer... it's just an added burden to all of us with barely any improvement to the air.

How about more nuclear power plants?

 

[2snakes4us]

i use regular, but the manual for my 07 hemi ram says i can use regular but suggests to use 89 octane!...i have never used it so i don't know if it will get me better gas milage or not!

I use the Mid grade because it gets me 4 extra miles per gallon. our Mid grade (.10 more)here is 89 octane and my 2003 Hemi dodge 4x4 calls for 89. I runs ok on the 87 octane but my mileage drops to 10 per gallon. It pays to use the 89.

 

[2snakes4us]

Gas stations only have two grades(87 and 93) to get mid grade the pumps are plumbed to dispense an equal amount from both tanks to give mid grade.

Unless things have changed, When i managed a Shell gas station many year ago, we had 3 seperate 10,000 gallon tanks. One for each grade. they were never mixed. each tank was tagged what fuel was to be put into it. there can be driver error.

 

[mike & juli]

FYI, for those complaining about lower mileage with fuels containing ethanol compared to straight gasoline, this is totally to be expected and does not indicate anything wrong with the ethanol blend. It is simply due to the fact that ethanol contains less combustible carbon per unit volume than gasoline so you will get lower mileage per gallon with ethanol vs. gasoline. The higher oxygen content of ethanol is the reason it results in less hydrocarbon air pollution and why it is mandated in certain parts of the country.
PAvenom RT/10

Yes, we know the 'reasoning' behind it, still doesn't dispute the fact that we get HORRIBLE gas mileage now. We prefer to buy when we can the NON-ethanol fuel.
~juli

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Unless things have changed, When i managed a Shell gas station many year ago, we had 3 seperate 10,000 gallon tanks. One for each grade. they were never mixed. each tank was tagged what fuel was to be put into it. there can be driver error.

Don't want to reveal anyone's age, but my Texaco experience (which actually overlaps Shell via Equilon) was 87, premium, and diesel. And since EPA required all steel tanks to be replaced with lined tanks during the last 3 (?) years, small old tanks were probably replaced with fewer, bigger tanks in the ground now.

That said, depending on the station age, there may be a "pure" 89 tank at the station. But working back upstream, with additional storage required for ethanol and RBOB, it doesn't make sense to also have an 89 tank at the terminal or pumped through the pipeline.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

What's the point then? You're burning MORE of the less polluting fuel. Add in R&D and other costs that gets passed onto the consumer... it's just an added burden to all of us with barely any improvement to the air.

How about more nuclear power plants?

From an engine and fuel consumption view, I agree. The benefit is that any domestic fuel source avoids the wide swings of energy costs due to foreign countries. Make fun of Brazil in other ways, but their fleet is roughly half ethanol, half gasoline. Totally independent sources (unlike gasoline and diesel) and competition keeps the cost of "fuel" down. I wish the US would use some of that TARP or Obamanomics money to set up natural gas dispensers at every station. It's high octane, burns cleaner, known technology (OEMs sell CNG cars already) and very much a domestic supply. And as safe or more safe than gasoline fuel tanks, before anyone jumps in.

Nuclear would be cool, too. You'd only have to refuel every 5 years or so.

 

[kennyhemi]

Unless things have changed, When i managed a Shell gas station many year ago, we had 3 seperate 10,000 gallon tanks. One for each grade. they were never mixed. each tank was tagged what fuel was to be put into it. there can be driver error.

Interesting! When I was in the process of trying to buy a Chevron station in Miami Shores, They had installed two new 15K tanks, one for premium one for regular. The Sum of both would equal midgrade. I guess this is the new way to save money on an extra tank! This was 2 years ago.