We were just talking about this a few days ago, but I don't think anyone came up with an authoritative answer. I'm guessing since they may be or are removing the stickers, and they're no longer listed on the site, they must no longer have that certification.

Edit: Err I guess they deleted the post. OP was asking because the pumps at their favorite station had the Top Tier stickers removed.

You know, I noticed the same thing about the stickers. Well, BP ended their participation a year ago, but I don’t understand why, if you had certification, why let it lapse.

I don't have any insider knowledge, but I imagine a lot of factors are at play. It's entirely possible that the fees for licensing and testing Top Tier gasoline are prohibitive, or the retailers decided to cut them as an expense. Association and certification fees are huge in some industries. They may have decided that it wasn't drawing any more consumers having it than not having it. Or maybe they are seeing a future of much higher gasoline prices, so as a cost/price-cutting measure they did away with it to avoid scaring consumers away. The joke's on us in that case since the PA gas tax just went up again. Either way, I'm willing to bet overall inflation (with or without fuel) drove the decision.

I'm hopeful someone who works for GetGo can shed some light on this since the topic seems to come up every now and then.

I doubt the licensing fees are a factor, but if getgo is changing to a cheaper detergent mix, I can see that being big bucks.

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The few GetGo’s I went to maxed out at 92 octane. Their certification and the fact that they couldn’t pull off a 93 octane always bugged me. I wanted them to succeed, but I now just do BP and Sunoco.

Well, BP dropped Top Tier last year, but Sunoco is still listed.

I didn’t know that. Thanks for the heads up! I like to use 93 octane for one of my cars, so those two (and occasionally Sheetz) were my primary stops. I’ll try to support Sunoco a bit more this year I guess.

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Top Tier is the new Monster Cable, I see.

They probably did market research and figured out that the vast majority of drivers don't care about Top Tier certification, so why bother.

Remember, GetGo is the gas station that was pretty much created around the "spend $50, save 10 cents a fill up" to drive people to shop at Giant Eagle. And people went gaga for it, to save $1.50 when spending $50.

Plus, with how they're gutting the current perks program to whatever the new MyPerks is (much worse) it seems they're re-aligning their model to be less of a shopping driver to an Sheetz-type high markup convenience store that happens to have gas.

I thought so too, but when I saw that my car recommends using it in the owner's manual, I looked into it a little more. Turns out it does make a significant difference.

Modern direct-injected engines are also more susceptible to having gunk build up in the intake, so fuel/detergent quality is more important than it used to be.

I don't freak out if I fill up with non-Top Tier from time to time, but since I plan on keeping my car for a while, I do try to use it normally.

I kept an 88 Ford Taurus with well over 200k miles on it alive for years, and never once had a fuel issue. Back in the 90s.

With the amount of complaining people do about gas prices, I'd wager they'd do the same thing if a particular gas station's brand was known for causing the damage you're trying to avoid. I don't see these news stories. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but you clearly drank someone's Kool-Aid.

BTW, your article is a study done by AAA (a for-profit enterprise) and published in Consumer Reports (also a for-profit enterprise) - if you'd like an honest and unbiased paper, read something from a scientific journal. Consumer Reports is a literal advertisement rag that is willing to shill for whoever pays. There's a reason it's on your Nonna's coffee table.

is this some sort of weird astroturfing campaign to pressure getgo to keep paying for certification

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Well, it’s a C8 Corvette so I figure if I can afford the car, I can afford to fill it with 93 octane. When I drive it, I’m usually driving it pretty hard.

My new Honda Civic (which should be here in January) recommends 91 and that’s the max it will get.

Edit: Just checked the manual for my C8 and 93 octane is recommended. “If unavailable, unleaded gasoline with a posted octane rating of 91 may be used, but with reduced performance and fuel economy”.

> I kept an 88 Ford Taurus with well over 200k miles on it alive for years, and never once had a fuel issue. Back in the 90s.

Like I said, today's direct injected engines have issues with carbon buildup that didn't exist with old port injection systems. They are much more sensitive to fuel quality.

Some engines even require dismantling the intake and cleaning it out periodically. Ford and Toyota use direct and port injection together as a workaround. Don't take my word for it, it's an extremely well-known issue that anyone can research.

Are those 1000% perfect sources with no possible conflicts of interest? Of course not, but it's certainly a better data point than someone posting their opinion on Reddit. I'll stick with the recommendation in my owner's manual, especially when we're talking about less than 50 cents a tank.

Their methodology is weak because the conditions they're claiming to research aren't present by the very nature of their test.

Running an engine for 100 consecutive hours isn't "carbon buildup because fuel is present in the cylinder after the engine is off" which is the entire reason detergents were invented.

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What kind of car do you drive that recommends it, is it higher-end?

I totally get it for people who buy high-end cars and have to put in like 93 octane. At that point though I consider it a niche/enthusiast kind of thing though. Like a coworker drives something like that, and he's a gear head customizing stuff under the hood that is way over my head. Nothing wrong with that.

But if I bought a new Camry and I had to put "special" fuel in it, that would be a deal breaker for me.

> My new Honda Civic (which should be here in January) recommends 91

That's actually shocking to me, with the Civic being Honda's compact sedan. Is it a Si, or Type R?

It’s just a normal Civic Hatchback EXL. It’s the turboed engine though which is probably why they recommend 91 octane. If I just got the Civic Sport with the NA engine, then it would probably be 87-89.

No, just a Civic, but it does have a turbo GDI engine. The manual discusses it on page 541.

Incidentally, Toyota recommends it as well. From page 590 of the 2023 Camry manual:

> Toyota strongly recommends the use of Top Tier Detergent Gasoline. For more information on Top Tier Detergent Gasoline and a list of marketers, please go to the official website www.toptiergas.com

The price difference is something like 3 cents a gallon, nowhere near the expense of 93. And it's not like the engine will explode if you fill up with non-TT gas, it's just advisable over the long run.

Top tier is really better. It doesn't matter what octane you use, they all have the added cleaners in them. Getgo used to have the worst gas before they went top tier, probably will be crap again.

Leave your auto manual in the bathroom, in a month you will be an expert!

In the United States, there is a summer gas and a winter gas essentially. If you want to read more about that you can here but the tldr is that the summer blend prioritizes less emissions and better mileage as people are driving more in the summer while the winter blend prioritizes better cold starting. I'm guessing it's just easier and cheaper to meet TopTier standards with the blend that GetGo purchases in the summer and too expensive in the winter. I definitely would prefer TopTier gas any day though since it's been shown to be better in the long run.