My local station offers 89 octane non ethanol gas. I've been using the 93 premium. Both close to same price. Which one is kindest to the car?
Thanks,
2X

 

Car is manufactured for 93 w/ethanol. If you want decent performance use the 93. The modern engines tolerate more and there is the possibility of knock sensors kicking out any performance. Actually the 89 non ethanol on seaward states is mostly for outboards as they do not tolerate ethanol.

 

Hi 2ndxk8,

Which year and model car are you concerned about? Prior to the X300 AJ16, Jaguar saloon engines did not have knock sensors, so running them on anything less than the octane rating specified by Jaguar for your market is to risk internal engine damage due to pre-ignition / detonation, and these engines are so smooth that you can't always hear when they're knocking. The X300 and later cars with knock sensors can retard ignition timing when detonation is detected, but of course this results in some loss of performance and fuel economy. I mostly run 93 octane 10% ethanol in our Jags, except when I have a chance to fill up at a station across town that offers ethanol-free 91 octane (91 is the minimum octane specified for our '93 and '04).

That's my two cents!

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks for the reply. I was referring to a 07 XJR and a 06XK8.
2X