Is Arco gasoline inferior to other gasoline brands? If so, then why?
Gasoline prices are are very painful to pay nowadays. And Arco gas is usually the least expensive gas around. But for years various people have told me that Arco gas is bad for my car but I’ve yet to hear a good reason for this. “My mechanic said so”, isn’t good enough for me. Is there any valid reason those claims and if so then why? Is it really significantly better for a car’s engine to function using more the expensive gas sold by the likes of Shell, 76, Chevron, Mobil, etc.?
Perhaps this is just a rumor that is being spread by one or more of the more expensive gas companies to scare people into buying their more expensive gas?
FYI: I have used Arco gas far more than half the time on my previous vehicle and got over 300K miles out of it before selling it. Also it always passed State emissions tests.
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I’ve never heard about it being bad for cars, but I always tend to get lower gas mileage whenever I use Arco gas. Not huge, but noticeable, and enough that the lower price isn’t usually worth it.
Mobil seems to be the best compromise for me; I get good mileage, and it’s usually less expensive than Chevron or Shell in my area.
Then again, I don’t drive my car much at all. I usually ride my bike, so I haven’t filled up lately.
All gas is pretty much the same. Ionce saw a 60 minutes that showed multiple different stations, Exxon, Mobile, Shell, buy gas from the same place, same gas trucks bringing in the gas.
I have never had a problem using Arco gasoline, and no decline in mileage. I don’t usually buy it because 1) it is not near me, and 2) they only take cash or ATM, and the ATM fee adds about 4 cents per gallon.
From the Arco FAQ “Among major gasoline brands we’re known as a “high-volume, low-cost retailer.” More simply stated, the more efficient the company is, the more our customers save. And since we sell nearly twice as much gas at the average ARCO station as the industry average, our customers usually save 5 to 10 cents per gallon on average compared to other major brands.” – So, it sounds like they might be the Wal*Mart of gas stations.
USA Today put out a sort of generic article about cheap gas, which points out that it might just have different additives put in at the gas station.
Before you fill up your tank, just know that ARCO = BP.
In Tennessee, WalMart is now selling gasoline, which is Shell gas. They cannot keep enough gas in the stations gas tanks to keep up with the demand. Its always 3 to10 cents a gallon cheaper at WalMart and its Shell gasoline.
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