91 is $4.75 a gallon here in San Diego right now.

 

Nope. I use Premium fuel always; where I live it's not much more than 25 cents per gallon, and sometimes less. Then again, mine is more of a weekend car and I don't have to fill up that often...

Scott

 

I'm crying, weeping, blubbering, and generally inconsolable.

Filled up today.

Taking all conversions into account I am paying $9.00 per US gallon for basic fuel.

Or for an empty to full fill $205.00

Still I don't run the XJ40 on premium thank god.

 

Lately I use the 87 octane but I do get some 'pinking' with full throttle on occasion. When that happens I put several gallons of higher octane fuel in the tank. Different brands seem to be better than others regardless of octane rating.

I don't drive the car every day so I can use it when I want. (or my 1988 Chevy 2500 Pick-up, 1999 XJ8, 1980 VW Rabbit/Caddy Pick-up)

I do drive my 'dinosaur' 1982 Rabbit Diesel as a daily driver to chase car parts for my shop. The 10 gallon tank gets me several weeks between fill-ups.

 

I hear that all the time on other forums that have European members. Do to varying factors its almost comparing apples and oranges.

You guys don't pay for healthcare and we have cheap gasoline. It evens out I guess.

That said.

I don't because regardless of how high the price of gas you will generally only save about $4.00 ($0.20 upcharge x 20 gal = $4) So essentially a Large coffee a week at the cost of pinging and knocking. Its worth the tradeoff.

 

Not quite, we also have to pay for medical insurance over here. Similar to the US. But we do receive great service.

 

True- and I don't recall ever seeing a large coffee in France at any price, unless standards have well and truly slipped

 

Right now my black cat is running horrible. I just put a brand new aftermarket fuel pump in this week as well. I have been using 89 because of the prices, I am starting to think cheap gas whether by octane, price or brand is killing my cat. Today I put 93 in hoping it was a cheap gas issue, maybe it will take some time to get through the system, because it isn't working yet.

I can't prove my theory, but I know my car. I swear there is water in the gas I'm buying it from. Because that is how my car is running, like there is water in the tank.

 

Certainly not one of those obscene buckets. Two swallows and you are done here.

And keeping to standards, Gainsbourg/Birkin; timeless.

Back to topic, I simply don't see how a high volume supplier can have water in their fuel to the extent that they will deliver a bad tank.

OK, don't know US setup, but at college spent 2 years running a petrol station, to pay for fees.

We had 4 tanks, 16 pumps, and a full delivery every 3 days.

Inspectors regularly visited to check the tanks and the pumps.

Biggest problem was at peak time, when some fool put diesel in a petrol car, and I didn't notice at the moment of delivery due to having 64 cars all either requiring paying or filling.

Then the unfortunate would say it was my fault that they had put diesel in their petrol car!

I've always run my XJ40 on the lowest available, perhaps my lowest, is higher than your lowest?

 

I guess I must have stated a dozen times on different posts here that the label 'premium gas' means nothing other than high(er) octane. Nothing to do with quality or purity or extra additives or daisy freshness or any of the other myths.

It is possible that a filling station may have a contaminated tank- but it wouldn't selectively affect one car and not another, nor would the octane level make any difference.

North America uses a different octane rating system than Europe. Our 93 is Euro 98.

 

Then you are getting shortchanged. Off topic but how much is a cup of coffee there? I over guestimated as a 16oz cup is about a $1.75 but the cost of premium vs regular is still about $4.00 for 20 gal.

 

Hmmm, coffee is more expensive than petrol.

Av size = 10cl = 3.4floz.
Price €1.5/cup. = $2.0/cup.
1 US gal = 128floz = 38 cups.

1 US gal of coffee over here works out at €56.5 euros.

Or $74.9 per gallon!

Mind you, I drink Tea. LOL

and run the Jag on SP95, which I think is your AKI 90-91. Never had a problem in 10 years.

HTH

(now need to do some work)

 

That's correct, and is marketed as the much heralded 'super' or 'premium' gas. Our regular is between 85-87 AKI depending on area/altitude.

The coffee subject reminds me of an old joke about a German tourist returning home after his very first trip to the US. He recites stories marvelling over the tall skyscrapers in the cities and the wide open spaces of the prairies. As his friends ooohh and ahhh, he stops and wonders aloud- for all the marvels and wealth, I wonder why Americans call hot and cold water 'coffee and beer'................

 

I don't know too much about coffee, but I've been running my 93 xj40 on 89 octane fuel since I purchased it 3 months ago. Haven't had any unwanted noises, but it all really depends. I can't afford 93 or 94 octane either, but I just can't bring myself to put 87 in her. A vehicle as classy as a Jaguar deserves at least 89 octane, in my opinion

 

I have a 92, purchased new in that year, and only on certain occasions (i.e. high speed trip to Vegas) do I fill with the higher octane. The rest of the time, especially on the stop-n-go traffic we have in Los Angeles, I fill with 87. Been doing that for 20 years now and way over 100K miles with no problems. By the way, saw Arco at $4.17/gal (87) this morning on my way to work.

 

Last week in South Australia 91 octane was $1.42/litre, Add 10/litre for 96 octane and another 5 cents/litre for 98 octane.
1 US gallon = 3.785 litres.
1 imperial gallon = 4.546 litres.
Having said that I always use 98 octane in the XJ12 and a minimum 95 octane (last fill was 98 octane) in my XJ6.
I think it's false economy to use 91. With temperatures in South Australia regularly in the mid 30C (with highs of 40C) you are stressing the Jaguar engines as it is.

 

This is exactly my argument. It's definately worth 4-5 bucks. Now if the car itself won't stop nickel and, well quartering me then ill be happy Haha.

Still under 500 bucks total cost tough. Saved her from the junk yard.

 

I'm in Sydney, Aus and always use Shell VPower 98 in my 91 XJ40 Sovereign. The average cost here of that fuel is around $1.60 per litre which converts to $6.25 per US Gallon (the US and Aus dollars are currently around equal in value), so at $4.00 or so a gallon, you guys are laughing. Plus, 98 apparently gives better mileage so dropping the octane level might be an exercise in false economy.

 

There is not much that I can add to this discussion except that I have been running 84 octane ( regular rating in my area ) in mine since purchase with no problem. NOW I have to add that my elevation is at 7,600 ft ( about 2,400 m ) and at this elevation going to a higher octane will not improve performance or stop the non-existent ping that I do not get. I find that when I need to go to elevation below 4,000 ft I do need to up the octane level of the fuel to protect the engine from "Ping"

 

Mmmm, interesting reading this tread, I'm in New Zealand -- 1/2 a world away, at my last gas filling which was 95, Which is the highest octane I can get in the town I'm in.
It cost $2.21 per liter, Times 2.21 by around 4, (8.84) and you will get around what we pay per Gallon down under.