I'm Tired of Getting Screwed

[wing]

I've actually seen this in action and it is quite remarkable!

Wing - tell us what you saw.

They had a car with half "other brand" and half v-power shell fuel.  They had a scope and went right down to the valves on the engine.  The valves with the v-power were CLEAN like new looking, the other fuel was gunked up and black it was remarkable! 

[jamie1]

I've actually seen this in action and it is quite remarkable!

Wing - tell us what you saw.

They had a car with half "other brand" and half v-power shell fuel.  They had a scope and went right down to the valves on the engine.  The valves with the v-power were CLEAN like new looking, the other fuel was gunked up and black it was remarkable! 

So this was on the same engine? Interesting. How did they get the BAD fuel to go just to those valves and the V-POWER fuel to go to the other valves?? Having been tearing down engines for over 25 years, the only time I have ever seen carbon build up on the valves ,is on engines that have had 150,000km and have had valve seal problems.

[wing]

It was a pretty cool setup.  They had 2 gas tanks 2 pumps etc etc.  So the injectors were pulling fuel from different sources.

[inco]

I've actually seen this in action and it is quite remarkable!

I agree.  Evo did a test of this a few years ago and ran a few cars on cheaper fuel for 3 months, stripped and photographed the parts.  Then ran them on V-Power for 3 months and did they same.  The difference was astonishing.  Even if your ECU can't take advantage of the increased octane, the cleaning properties alone can be worth it.

Was the car that ran on regular a car that as designed to run on regular or was it a car that requires premium and was given regular? I'm thinking it wasn't a car that uses regular and tuned that way.

[wing]

Yeah it was a chevy of some sort.... forget exactly.  Nothing fancy about this car.

[Turbo Bob]

I've actually seen this in action and it is quite remarkable!

I agree.  Evo did a test of this a few years ago and ran a few cars on cheaper fuel for 3 months, stripped and photographed the parts.  Then ran them on V-Power for 3 months and did they same.  The difference was astonishing.  Even if your ECU can't take advantage of the increased octane, the cleaning properties alone can be worth it.

Was the car that ran on regular a car that as designed to run on regular or was it a car that requires premium and was given regular? I'm thinking it wasn't a car that uses regular and tuned that way.

IIRC it was a "regular" gas car.  The test was for the detergent side rather than the octane side.

[wing]

Yeah the test has nothing to do with octane it's the cleaners in the fuel.

[99 Silver]

I haven't got to the point of what to buy yet - probably next fall.  I've driven the previous generation CTS and didn't care for it.  IMHO - OK handling, 3.6L engine was mediocre with poor sound and a terrible interior.  I understand the new CTS is much better though.

I make a living contracting various construction projects and to be successful you have to be sharp on costs.  I don't like it when I think I am being taken advantage of.  But, as OVR says it's not that much money - in my case about $500 per year for both cars.

Shells new premium formulation looks interesting and perhaps they have increased the price spread because they think the market will pay it, but I never had any problems with my cars on the old formula.

I think I will check out a couple of other brands to see what their premium spread is.

I haven't been inside a first-gen CTS, but I have driven the second-gen, and interior quality was right on par with the C-Class, 3-Series, and IS in my experience.  I liked the sound of the 3.6L--I thought it sounded much better than the muted-and-dull C300--but your mileage may vary.

I wouldn't give up on an entire genre of cars just to get regular fuel.

I will look at the next CTS when the time comes.  I'll give GM an opportunity to sell me a car.  I am not looking at anything right now as I don't want to get the "itch" too early.