Costco Gas

[coolwater]

I used to like Amoco Ultra 94--don't know if they still have it after Amoco merged with BP a couple of years ago. Anyway, I only go to Costco for gas nowadays... only because Costco gas is cheaper than other premium brands and I usually trust the name Costco on whatever they sell at their warehouses.

Although I'm quite satisfied with Costco gas in general, I am curious about the quality of gasoline they sell. They only have Regular and Premium--no mid grade. Does anyone know how good (or bad) Costco gas is compare to other brands? I wonder if they do any quality control on the gas they buy from their supplier(s).

PS. I will never buy gas at Wal-mart ever again. I think the gasoline brand name was Murphy. I once put its regular gas in my Honda and the car was having a very hard time accelerating, really.

[SKperformance]

you want mid grade fill half the tank with regualr and the other half with premium

then you will have mid grade as that is all it is just ablend of the 2

[kingkong5]

There is a Costco less than a mile from my house, so I usually get gas there. It is cheaper than any of the other gas stations in the area by about 5 or 6 cents/gallon. I've used it regularly without any problems so far, YMMV. I think the Costco Gas is fine.

The Costco Gas station near my house is always crowded though. Usually very long lines to save those 5 or 6 cents. Living so close, I can go during off hours and it's better. The only thing I don't like is that I have to remember to bring my Costco card, and an ATM card because they don't take credit cards. They don't take cash either. I'll usually run into the Costco to get some pizza while I'm there, that stuff is good!

[jragosta]

Depends on how Costco buys their gas.

In the old days, discounters used to just buy from whoever happened to have some gas left in their trucks after their scheduled deliveries were over. That means that you were getting name brand gas, but from different suppliers.

Walmart currently has their own brand and negotiates their specs with suppliers. I don't know if Costco is doing the same thing.

To a large degree, it's probably not a big deal in most cases. All modern gasoline should be OK. However, what's going to really kill you is water in the gasoline. If they handle the gas poorly and allow water in, you'll have trouble. As long as they keep the water out, it should be OK.

[mbpgawest]

coolwater, I have used Costco gas on and off for several years now. Never had a problem with it. Only problem is that it's about 10 miles out of my way. Not very cost effective to drive 20 miles round trip to save 5-8 cents a gallon when it's $2.30 or so a gallon. :chairshot: Way to much $$ for gas here in California.

[turnbowm]

PS. I will never buy gas at Wal-mart ever again. I think the gasoline brand name was Murphy. I once put its regular gas in my Honda and the car was having a very hard time accelerating, really.

Never had a problem with Costco OR Wal-Mart gas. Have used both in my '97 Camry V6 and in the wife's '98 ES300 with no noticeable difference in performance between the two brands.

Martin T.

[kyle0k]

wow am i missing out on something here,lol. i have both walmart and costco stores here but i never seen their gas station?!??!?!?!?!

[steviej]

nor me either.

sj

[coolwater]

Yesterday, I wrote Costco an email asking about the quality of Costco Gasoline. Today, I got a reply. It's pretty lengthy, but let me just quote one sentence.

"All Costco gasoline is fully guaranteed to meet or exceed the standards of the major branded outlets."

[squarehat]

wow am i missing out on something here,lol. i have both walmart and costco stores here but i never seen their gas station?!??!?!?!?!

Since your profile says you're in Cleveland, kyle--

the far West side (Lorain County at that point) has both :). The Wal-Mart and Costco in Avon both have gas stations. I don't think I've seen a Wal-Mart or Costco in Cuyahoga County with a gas station (BJ's Wholesale Club in Middleburg Heights does).

[os2]

I've been filling up my '96 ES with Costco regular for years, good thing it's right on my way to work. Regular is as good as any other brand. Costco premium is a different story, all my cars that required premium did not like it, so for premium I stop by Exxon. I don't know i Costco regular has enough additives to clean injectors and carbon builup, so I just pour a bottle of Techron injector cleaner into a gas tank before every other oil change just for a piece of mind.

[coolwater]

Obviously, Costco is not a gasoline company, therefore Costco gasoline is not uniform across the nation like other premium brands such as Amoco, Shell, etc. I assume each regional Costco office has its own arrangements with its own regional suppliers. So, chances are it's just your neighborhood Costco premium gasoline that is not up to the quality standard, I think. My ES doesn't seem to have problems with Costco premium. I wonder how your cars did not like Costco premium--any obvious signs or results?

I have used Techron injector cleaner on my high mileage Honda a few times, but I'm yet to use it on my Lexus. Even though I trust the name Chevron Techron, I'm not even sure if those injector cleaners or other additives do the job as they claim to do. Some even say those additives may even be harmful to your car. I'm just not sure.... Unless those additives are made by Toyota itself, I will be very cautious to use them.

[os2]

AFAIK you can get BG44 injector/carbon cleaner from some Toyota dealerships, it's presumably based on the same detergent as Techron. BG is even more concentrated. I've used Techron at least four times already. Before I started using it couple of injectors were so clogged they made loud ticking sounds, but after second flush ticking is gone.

[coolwater]

That means the stuff really does work! I will keep that in mind. Thanks!