Regular gas OK to put in premium cars
 

To finally end the debate of whether it is okay to put regular (87) gas into premium cars such as BMW or Infiniti.

The reponses come from Chemical specialists and engineers from Toyota, BMW, and GM.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...emiumgas_x.htm

hmm good read

Decent article, It's fine to put regular gas when some stations in certain cities or rural areas don't have premium/mid grade. I've done it a couple times when I was traveling in asia.

Now the question is, is it ok to put regular in supercharged and/or turbocharged cars?

I think that it's ok to put regular in the car as long as it's NA, and it's just a DD and depending on the type of driver you are. If you drive your car hard, you should put premium gas in.

so i guess we should all start pumping 87 instead of 91??

since only 5% power loss is predicited at the max


wat about high compression vehicle? 11:1?

the article only mentioned supercharged, not high compression N/A

The article specifically notes that cars with superchargers should use premium

i guess turbochargers are fine. maybe i should start pumping 87 into the gti

You guys are either being sarcastic or you guys really are retarded.

Cliff's Notes

You really shouldn't believe everything you read. That was not an objective comparison. There was zero real data.

You don't need to put in a higher octane than listed. That is obvious, unless you tuned a SAFC or similar for higher octane; but then you shouldn't be reading the stock car manual anyway.

Whether or not it is beneficial to use any particular octane must be determined by experimenting with your car in the same conditions. I know premium used to achieve more km per tank when I had an older car. It all comes down to km/$ or how often you want to fill up.

Personally, my engine is known to suffer an over sensitive knock sensor. So I am biased toward the high grades. Also, I like to floor it.

*IF* you car has a knock sensor and can automatically advance the timing for lower octane - then yes, it's okay, and you'll barely notice the difference.

In fact, the new Lincoln MKS has TWO horsepower figures listed, one for premium and one for regular.

HOWEVER, if you drive an older vehicle that is designed to run on higher octane, and it does not have knock sensors, and cannot change the timing automatically, then DO NOT RUN LOWER OCTANE!

I love these debates.

If you drive a car, and don't want to fork over the extra $0.11 per liter for 94 octane, then sell your car, or put whatever octane you want it in.

If you actually like your car, put in what the manufacture recommends.

Am i over simplifiying ?

speaking of gas..... isn't it something like $48 a barrel now or something..

no real data, no tests. word-of-mouth is all i read. bs without numbers as always. and the fact they chose older people to testify against premium just makes me laugh.

of course they're against it. older generations can't justify it. you're pretty naive to believe everything you read on the internet.

if you want the close enough to the octane rating, but want to pay low prices...
maybe try Husky?
I hear their lowest grade has an octane rating of 90 for the regular prices of other gas stations.

dont be cheap!

Chevron Gas:
87 = 100% regular
89 = 70% regular 30% supreme plus (94)
92 = 27% regular 73% supreme plus (94)
94 = 100% supreme plus

I'll pay the extra few bucks/tank to fill with the manufacturer specified 91, thanks.:rolleyes:

I thought chevon adds toluene(they call it techon) to their fuel to up the octane.

Tell that to all of our customers who come in with CELs.

It's a no brainer that you're generally wasting money with higher than recommended octane rating, but even when a car has a knock sensor sometimes the damage has already been done, since knock sensors respond after the problem has occurred at least once.

Come to think of it. What's the point of 89 octane gas?!

for ppl who needs 91 but dont wonna use 87 so they use half ass grade right in between of 87 and 91

which is STILL better than 87

Its already included when the fuel trucks come for delivery. So it's already added to the fuel. Even regular contains the formula but gas is gas, it's more of a marketing scheme
A true fact about supreme plus gas(94) is that it's better for the environment :thumbsup:
I'd recommend just getting 92 rather than 89, there's only a 3 or 4 cent difference but its a much better value. the difference between 87 and 89 is around 5-6 cents i believe

By the way, remember the 3.5cent discount? It's another marketing plot, they actually raised the price for the 89,92,94 by 1 or 2cent more so it makes up for people getting the 3.5c discount if they get 87. greedy corporations

ya but now the 3.5 cents off bs is over, they didnt change back the difference between 87 89 and 91

Did i read a article from here saying a brand new HOnda CIVIC Si used 87 and thus ruined the engine boz of a misleading info by the saleperson?

THe fuel just iginited too early before ever reaching the cyclinders...

I am NOT going to risk my TURBO ENGINE for saving that 15c/liter....

How much is the cost of a new OEM Engine?? $7500?

$7500/15c... you need 50,000L of OCTANE 87 to cover the cost.... WTF?