Premium Gas on Military Installations
 

I've read a bunch of posts regarding the quality of gasoline at some stations vs others. I have a Shell station with V-Power 93 octane gas less than a mile from my house, which would be great, if I didn't have to drive past the AAFES gas station every day that's almost a full dime cheaper per gallon.

Has anyone heard anything or done any research on the gas at these stations vs the big, well-known stations? If 10 cents a gallon buys me better gasoline, or even peace of mind, I'm all for it, but if I can get quality gas on the installation for less, I'm all for that as well.

All the gasoline is the same.... Just different addatives... Shell puts some stuff in theirs

BTW, as military we dont get **** for a discount - what they do is they find the cheapest local price and generally match it. But, most of the time its delayed, so many times you can find cheaper off base...

I wanna know if I can get some stuff from AAFES. :happydance:

Time to do some googling!

Not without a military ID you cant. You might get lucky and they may not check it, but if they do, you're ******. Ive heard them across the PA's sometimes and asked people to bring their ID up to the window if they dont look military...

I'm good on that. I was military. I still look military. Most importantly, I fill up after hours when the station is unmanned, but the pumps are on 24/7!

Unless you're at Tinker AFB where civilians outnumber airmen by like a 10 : 1 ratio or more. :D

Matt, I can't speak for the AAFES gas because I don't use it even though I could. I remember that the Citgo stations on Whidbey Island were Citgo and I boycotted them because I don't prefer Hugo Chavez much, but thats another story. Here it isn't that much cheaper than AAFES and frankly I prefer to use the 93 octane Chevron or Texaco with Techron. Its worth it to pay the extra cost to have a proven quality gasoline for your high performance Z. Now my Mazda 3? It gets WaWa 91 octane and it runs fine after 81K miles.

Here in San Diego, gas on base is 15 cents a gallon cheaper than the cheapest gas off base and as much as 30 cents less than Shell.
And yes, it's still CITGO gas or Valero as they now like to be called after the CITGO boycott. Though the AAFES stations don't label it as such. Since the highest octane you can get here in California is 91 anyway it doesn't make sense to go off base to get higher octane. And the quality is just as good as off base. Have never had an issue with it or heard of anyone that has.

here at Ft. Bliss, the gas is ALWAYS cheaper on post, however, I've done some testing after a few fill ups, the quality of the gas that AAFES uses is horrible. I posted awhile back about my car having trouble cranking up consistently, I was using nothing but the gas I get on post. I stopped using it and either get the Shell or Chevron, havent had the problem since. You get what you pay for right?

Here is some good information on TOP TIER Gasolines:

Top Tier Gasoline

You'll find Shell is one of the retailers that meet this standard. For me I can use Shell but I prefer Chevron or Texaco with Techron. At the end of the day you can use whatever gasoline you want and as long as you meet the minimum octane rating you should be okay. However, you'll likely experience decreased performance over time as the engine deposits increase depending on the additives that are used or lack thereof by the retailer.

Also, I found this posted on the net at: http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/for...46/index3.html

As far as I know the AAFES gas is simply NATO F-57 MoGas or equivalent, and the NEXCOM and MCX gas is ordinary Citgo (yup, Chavez gas – until the contract expires in 2010). Knowing that those fuels are not T/T, I add a 6oz application of Shell V-Power additive to a full 8.7 USg tank at 2,500 mile intervals (instead of 12oz into a 20g tank at 5,000 mi. intervals).

Hope that helps.

I know my Mini runs better with off base Top Tier premium gas. I get better gas mileage, more power, and the engine idles better. The base gas sucks, my Jeep that normally could care less what gas I use knocks when I use it. Even with a full tank of gas you're only saving about $1.90 if the difference is 10 cents, don't tell me you can't afford that!

I'm in the Army now but used to work at AAFES in Gordon (Augusta). Gas is purchased from same supplier most of the other local gas stations get their fuel from.

The price is cheaper at AAFES due to a few reasons: AAFES sets the priced based on the average local rate minus a few cents, and they don't make as much of a profit on gas. At Gordon they are making their money off of the stuff the Basic and AIT students buy....and liquor/beer sales...who else sells on Sundays? :)

But yeah 93 octane on post is more than likely the same as 93 off post with the exception of some places like Chevron. Oh yeah they used to sell 100 Octane in North Augusta, next to the Toyota Dealership on the Aiken-Augusta Hwy.

Oh that's cause it's that cheap Tesoro gas. I used to have to run Methanol on my SRT4 to keep it from knocking. Aloha/Costco is a little better but not by much.

I think they sell 96 Octane on King St (can't remember the gas station now...crap...I'll check back when I do remember).

So CITGO is now Valero?