Was wondering how many of you guys stick to premium gas, as it recommends it on the gas panel. To those who don't, have you noticed any problems or lack of performance?

 

Premium! I tried regular once and got the infamous gearbox fault. Coincidence?

 

Fezz, the best advice that I can tell you is that it is a roll of the dice as to whether you can or not. i have been tracking this and I can not find any reason why some people can and others can not. Some cars seem to handle the lower grade gas and others throw complete fits.

If you are going to try running a lower grade gas, I would say to run your tank as low as you can then fill it up about half way with mid grade gas and then see how the car reacts. If it is fine, then you can fill the tank up completely with mid grade gas. THen later you can run the tank near empty and try regular gas.

If at any time you start having issues, you can go back up to the previous grade of gas and fill the tank up. That should be enough of the higher octane gas to get things back into place.

 

I have run 85 octane on my car without problems (my mom filled it up once trying to be nice.) Right now I don't use premium 91 octane, but instead use mid grade which for me is 87 octane. However, I am at a higher altitude which allows you to use a lower grade

 

I know its 70 cents more a gallon for premium (at least in NY), but the way gas is mixed with 10% ethanol in today's world it really screws with the motor. I noticed it on my lawn mower.
I used low grade (83 octane with 10% eth) on a bran new mower, next year lawn mower wouldn't stay running. I drained the fuel, cleaned out everything, and used high grade (93 with 10% eth) and it works perfectly.

Take it from someone who just replaced their entire motor, spend the extra 70 cents a gallon. It's not worth it to replace the entire engine.
$1700 for an engine and $4,000 for the labor is what it costed me.
You would have to buy 8000 gallons or drive 160k miles for it start being worth it to use the low grade gas...Good luck.

~Boss

 

You pay now or you can pay later. I usually find that manufacturers usually dial in their cars for the fuel grade they index. Most of luxury car manufacturers recommend premium fuel only. This becomes more critical as the car ages and/or accumulates high miles as the lower grade fuel tends to shorten the life of the catalytic converter. I put premium only into my 01 XJR. My wife's car is a leased BMW 3 series. Originally I used only premium. Then I tried regular. It did affect the performance as the car did not feel as crisp on the accelaration. Since its a lease vehicle driven by my wife no more than 10 miles per day, I prefer to save and use regular. The moral, if you own the car (rather than leasing it) and plan to hang on to it, don't skimp.

 

im not sure if you amricans know that in the uk we dont have low grade fuel our Regular is 87 and Premium is 95. But we do pay alot more for our fuel then you about $10.61 per gallon

 

The day I bought my X-Type I filled it up with 87. It went into limp mode after about 30 minutes. After some octane booster it recovered. I've used 93 since then.

 

I just use regular 87 unleaded fuel, and she still accelerates well.. but then the premium is approx 10p more per litre here, for not many more miles per gallon.. but saying that no sign of holding back or misfires as you would get if the octane was too low.. so for me yes, regular unleaded here..

 

The two countries have different measuring systems so the numbers cannot be compared directly.

The question about which octane to use comes up almost weekly followed by the usual debate. As Thermo says, try it and see. Do NOT mix the ethanol issue with the octane debate- there's no connection.

 

Yeah I haven't bothered to try changing gas types, so I've been sticking to 91 or 94. Some gas stations like Husky (not sure if many of you know that gas station) Has the standard 87, 89, 91.. Only problem is all 3 of those grades have up to 10% ethanol in them, but the prices are of course different. What makes their gas premium 91 even with 10% ethanol?

 

In Arizona we have the 87, 89, 91 grades. I run 91 exclusively and my car runs great, accelerates well, and zings up to 3500 rpms between shifting gears effortlessly. Car is a manual trans and has 108K miles.

It's true as Mickey said, the ethanol content is a different conversation, and possibly more interesting. I've seen studies released by manufacturers warning of internal engine trouble from ethanol over 10% in fuel. Then the corn industry counters that paper with research of their own. It almost gets political in the end, LOL! That said, I'd like to get some facts going on the matter of ethanol content in fuel and the effects it has on the motor, if any. I tend to go to Shell stations or Chevron. If I pull up to a Quik Mart or the like, and see that it claims 15% ethanol, I move on, but at this point it's just superstition.

 

Pure ethanol has a higher octane rating than pure gas...........

 

The main issue with ethanol is not so much that it alters the octane rating of the fuel (it does have some effect), but the issue comes in that the ethanol is more acidic than normal straight gasoline. With this being said, the motor internals need to be able to handle this more acidic condition. NOrmally the first things to be eaten away is the fuel system components (specifically the plastic components). But, with time, a lot of manufacturers have switched over to components that are more tolerant of ethanol. So, both sides of the argument are correct in that ethanol has no effect on the motor (for newer cars), but can be deterimental to others (older vehicles).

So, now, the question becomes, does your vehicle have components that will survive in a higher ethanol environment?

 

Here in "hot and steamy" S. FL, 93 oct is 30 cents more per gallon. I've tried regular, and I notice uneven acceleration, probably due to the "knock sensor" pulling ignition timing (due to detonation) . I've also noticed a small decrease in throttle response.

Our gas contains Ethanol, generally in the neighborhood of 5%, according to my test kit. Regular and Premium seems to contain similar percentage of Ethanol.

I've tried the 90 octane , ethanol free, marine gas available locally (twice) . It also has slightly uneven acceleration, though not as bad as regular 87 octane. I did not see more miles per tank, so I stopped using it. I stick with 93 octane super unleaded.

Interestingly enough, sometimes I get a batch of gas that the car simply "likes". Don't know why. But I can clearly feel a difference in power and response.

 

Cars have been built with E10 compliant materials for at least 20 years or more. If someone has a car older than that, the fuel lines are due for replacement, ethanol or not. Just like tires, they have a limited safe life

Contrary to common belief- gasoline with 10% ethanol is NOT new in many areas of North America. 'Gasohol' has been around since the '70s. All the 'the sky is falling' stories overlook this fact and make out like E10 is something new.

 

I always put the mid grade on my X and driver very well. I used the lower grade and it for some reason uses up more gas so I ended up going to the gas station quicker. So, use mid grade and runs excellent. Also, keep in mind that it varies from gas stations. If I use gas from QT for example, it's for some reason lighter than Chevron. Chevron and Shell seem to be the best for my vehicle. Dont know what the deal is.

 

I used 87 once and it ran like crap. 89 I've used on occasion without issue, but I almost always use 91 or 93 (when available, a lot of places don't have it)

 

I stick to manufacturer specs....saves headaches most of the time...never tired anything lower and will not...

 

The brand of gas can be as important as the octane. You can probably run Exxon 87 octane and get the same or better results as you would with 93 octane walmart/kroger gas.

I am not sure what the fuel maps look like, so it could pull some timing with lower octane, or if it is set up with a single map for 93 octane. There are a lot of variables that go into it, but if your engine is clean, and you're not getting on it too hard it should be ok. If you're going to be running 90mph+ on your daily commutes like I do, definitely just stick with 93.