Do you use particular brand of gas? Top Tier?

[Mark_888]

As far as I'm concerned, additives to gasoline are more about tracking/marking gas than actual performance or cleaning power. It discourages owners from buying non-branded gas or for distributors selling branded gas to non-branded stations. Since this has been widely debated since the dawn of time with no clearly compelling evidence that any brand is superior to another, personally, I lump the topic in with herbal supplements. Take them if it makes you feel better...or not, if you don't believe.

On the topic of premium fuel, since I have a V6 and since there's a 20 cent/gal differential between reg and premium where I live, it doesn't make sense for me. If there is a 1 MPG increase, that might make up for about 10 cents, but without the extra performance on the V8, the rest is just wasted money. If I had a 4.6, sure

All gasolines have additives. Without them, they would be crap. There is a lot of evidence that some gasolines are worse than others, which is why the auto manufacturer's created the TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline specification. They got tired of doing warranty repairs because of low quality gasoline.

The Genesis V6 is not designed to run on premium. The V8 is designed to run on either regular or premium, with a increase in MPG and horsepower with premium.

 

[MattG]

I think that it is really a three part issue. There is the gas, the car and the driver (or diving habits, more accurately).

Some people go through fuel more quickly than others. The person who routinely goes through a tank a week, or more, probably does not need as "good" an additive formula as someone who only fills up once or twice a month.

The older a car gets, the more likely it is that running it to the edge of running out is a bad idea (more likely to clog something as the crap settles at the bottom of the tank) - filters are designed to help, but they can only do so much, and are often overlooked in a vehicle, especially if it is not being maintained very strictly.

Bottom line: Someone who buys good gas, fills up often, routinely opens their car up once it has warmed up, and does not habitually run on fumes is incredibly unlikely to have fuel related issues. On the other hand, someone who buys the cheapest gas (from the oldest stations), fills up monthly (or worse), never even hits the 50% mark on the tach and prides themselves on being able to pull into the station within the last mile of the car's range, well they are the poster child for fuel problems. Of course, some cars are more susceptible to these problems than others too.

To build on the herbal supplements meme - a person who eats properly, exercises routinely and takes their supplements is probably going to be in better shape than someone who does not exercise routinely, eats junk food and does not take supplements. Focusing on how good the fuel is is like these two people arguing over how important the supplements are. They may (or may not) be important, but the other factors are almost certainly more important. To my way of thinking, supplements (or good fuel) is a positive indicator, if for no other reason than it tends to be the choice of someone who is actively taking steps to achieve a better outcome. The awareness involved is often the important thing.