[Gunner]

Other than one tank of obviously bad gas I bought from a noname station perhaps twenty-five years ago, I have never been able to pin engine or drivability problems on the "quality" of the gas, from Chevron to Arco to Sam's Club to small discount independents. The requirements for gasoline are so strict that the difference between "cheap" gas sold for a few cents less to independents and Chevron's extra sprinkle of Techromagicgoo is likely indistinguishable outside of a laboratory. And no, I don't drive lawn mowers - this is all in high-end, high-performance engines, the lowest of which was a Honda V-6.

I think it might have more to do with how well the seller maintains their filtering and moisture control of dispensed gas, and how long each gallon sits at a particular seller. Most sellers only buy a specific amount at a time instead of keeping their tanks filled (betting on cost drops at every time, like any frugal driver), so even low-traffic indies are not likely to have stale, watery gas.

But to each his own. I worked with a guy who had to stretch every dollar until Washington screamed, and he INSISTED that his plain-jane mid-80s Corolla would only run on Shell Premium, the most expensive gas in a five mile radius.

Ron, I'd guess any problems you've had are from the relative remoteness of your location, which might limit supply options and increase fuel contamination and age problems. I know people along the remoter stretches of Highway 1 have similar issues.