Southern States Diesel - Any Good?

[DieselCologne]

I know this is an old thread, but Southern States is currently pumping 50 Cetane diesel. As far as all fuel being the same, with a diesel my route & loading varies too much to do a valid comparison, but back when I had a relatively long commute (100 miles) with my gas car, I found that the fuel could make up to a 10% difference in MPG. I've heard all the stories about different brands of tankers filling up at the same places and the additive packages being the only difference, and all I can say is that those additive packages must make a difference since I saw differences in my mileage based on where I filled up. I was very careful to fill the same way & drive the same way and recorded everything. I could see the difference between summer & winter gas easily. Always kept my tires aired the same way using the same gauge. In my experience Amoco/Arco gave the worst mileage and Shell gave the best mileage. This was a modern car where the computer controlled the amount of advance and the mixture automatically, the only thing I could conclude is if the fuel comes from the same sources, the additives must be making the difference. Maybe the additives allow for different optimizations of the engine?

I'd be interested to hear what others think.

SS "Gold" 50 Cetane makes my TDI units run a tad better...

I alternate between SS and Shell based on proximity and tank level.

I prefer the SS diesel. Works for me.

 

[ddixonpd]

I am in the same boat. I only put shell diesel but when I found ss had 50 cetane in Frederick I tried two tank full runs from Frederick to dc and back I was getting about 700 mile per tank thats at 75 to 80 mph drive. With shell I only would get about 600 to 500 per tank.

 

[Turbo_Dan]

Southern States near me, Frederick, MD says 50 cetane. I fill up there whenever I can but hardly get to drive enough to tell if it makes a difference. I did fill up there in August 2017 and we made best mileage I ever had on a tank in my 2010 Golf, 714 miles to Chicago. Not enough testing to credit it all to 50 cetane though.

Scott.

 

[AndyBees]

Not CR engines .......... but

I've been driving VW Diesels over 41 years. I've always purchased fuel on the basis of price but never drive out of my way to save a penny or two. Point is, in my opinion, the difference in quality (Cetane or otherwise) mixed with driving habits, road conditions, weather, etc., makes it difficult to determine what may negatively or positively affect the outcome. My formerly owned 2000 Jetta had a life-time running average above 50 mpg. I kept extremely detailed info in an Excel Spreadsheet. My son has it now and it still gets close to 50 mpg and occasionally more, but all those factors affect results.

The Road trip to Chicago had more to do with the good MPGs than the fuel.

 

[Ton]

Yes, I prefer the 50 cetane diesel from southern states. But it's out of the way for me so not super practical.