Part I: Buying Gas: Watered down gasoline?

Folks often claim that their gas is ‘watered down’. That’s a load of BS. Oil and water don’t mix. My pop sells gas. He’s been selling it for almost 30 years now. Sometimes my dad takes a large dipstick to measure what’s in the tank. The water always floats on top. You can see the water mark on the stick. I really wonder where some people learned this idea about watered down gas, because it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

If you think you didn’t get a lot of mileage out of your last tank of gas, it’s not where you got it from. It’s probably how you are driving. Ask yourself, did I start accelerating really fast? Did I drive at a reasonable speed? Are my tires properly inflated? Did I start driving on city streets in stop and go traffic? Was I idling a lot? Did I run the air conditioner? Did I have all the windows open?

I find that when I’m tearing it up on the highway, I’m getting horrible gas mileage. If my car is properly tuned, oil changed, tires correctly inflated and I’m going about 60 mph to work, I can get almost 31 mpg in the summer. It dips to 27 mph in the winter. If I deviate or start driving fast like all the other jerks on I-66, then it starts going down to 24-25 which severely displeases me.

I think your choice of car also effects your fuel efficiency. My cousin’s boyfriend drives an Acura RSX, a very pretty car. However, he gets about 250-300 miles per tank, though he couldn’t tell me what his tank holds. I drive a Nissan Altima. I get about 350-400 per tank and it holds around 12-15 gallons. I like to get about 100 miles per quarter tank, e.g. at least 25+ mpg. I know he was envious of my fuel efficiency because he mentioned it again about 10 minutes later. I think he kind of regrets his flashy car. (If you have an Altima and are thinking you don’t get efficiency as good as mine, it’s probably because I drive a stick. It’s about 100 lbs lighter and therefore more fuel efficient.)

Read your car’s manual. It’ll tell you all you need to know about the gas your engine needs. A lot of high end cars require premium, but most regular cars don’t need it. So don’t bother spending the extra money. In fact, if your engine doesn’t need it, it’ll make your engine burn hotter and over time, that’s bad for your engine in the long run.

Another tip is that ‘regular’ is defined differently by different retailers. Some places sell 85 as Regular, but where I live 87 is usually Regular. Check your pump. It should have the octane clearly labeled for the grade you are buying. Ignore the name ‘regular’ or ’super premium’, just buy by the number.

Also, the pump should always have a weights and measures sticker that shows the pump was evaluated to be accurate by the local government. If you check for it, the sticker should be there. If not, I’d shop somewhere else.

Tomorrow: I will post about how to shop for the cheapest gas.

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