ATLANTA — The search for cheap gasoline this holiday travel season will involve a balance between price and quality.
AAA estimates that 3.6 million holiday travelers will fill Georgia highways between Christmas and New Year's. That’s a lot of miles and a lot of fuel.
There are ways to find gasoline at such a bargain that you might worry about sacrificing quality.
“Everyone is always fiddling around with different additives, but I think at the end of the day, gas is pretty much gas," Tim Lieuwen of Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering said.
Many stations sell what’s known as “top tier” gasoline. It has additives that exceed what the Environmental Protection Agency requires, lowering the risk of carbon buildup inside your car’s engine.
Lieuwen said if you want to save a few pennies a gallon, putting non-top-tier gas in your car should be fine if it meets minimum EPA standards.
“It doesn’t require a lot of expertise,” Lieuwen said. “It’s pretty simple, and this is one of those things where we don’t need to make it more complicated than it is.”
For those who don’t mind the extra pennies, laboratory tests by AAA determined that top-tier gasoline “keeps engines significantly cleaner than other tested fuels.”
AAA also reports that only a tiny percentage of drivers are worried about additives in gasoline. Most are focused on the price.
If you want to find top-tier gasoline in your area, this link will provide you with a map.