Well the only problem with that is that a car designed to run on 87, like ours, cannot advance timing to take advantage of higher octane.

All octane does is resist pre-ignition. If your engine isn't knocking or pre-igniting then you don't need it and it will do nothing for you. For some reason alot of people out there think octane is this magical horsepower-adding fairy dust. It's not.

I think this myth came from the fact that if you put 87 octane in a car designed to run on premium, it WILL retard the timing to avoid knocking and you WILL lose power---- but this doesn't work the other way. Engines designed for regular gasoline do NOT advance timing in the presence of higher octane, period. So you don't get any more performance.

It's pretty simple science. Use the octane your car is designed to use. Anything more is a waste of money. EVEN oil companies admit this if you read the FAQ's on their websites, even though their advertising tends to lead people to beleive otherwise...

 

You're saying you get 4 MORE MILES PER GALLON by using premium gas?

I find that more than a little hard to beleive. There are alot of variables in measuring MPG, if you were to do this scientifically I doubt you'd have those "results"

Either you need to check your math, or you need to call all the newspapers because you are onto a major breakthrough that is newsworthy.

 

Dude, don't be a smartass. I keep a decent level of respect, even when responding to most of your posts.

Of course it's not scientific! It's a baseline calculation from gallons filled and miles travelled. There really is no scientific way to do it, since driving style will ALWAYS vary the MPG. It is near impossible to keep driving conditions identical. Not to mention that weather and temperature plays a HUGE part as well. You should know that. . . c'mon.

Why the hell would I call the news papers. . . that was sooo uneccessary.

And furthermore, I actually agree that it is a MYTH that using premium in a car designed for 87 will not enhance performance. However our cars actually were designed and tested using a premium fuel (I believe it is called "research 91" or 93 or something). The manual states that it ok to use 87, but all the testing was done using a higher octane fuel. Furthermore, when that whole mess with the SAE measurements happened, and they had to change to their testing fuels to the ones recommended by the manual, HP went down. . . and HP is an indirect way of measuring MPG and the engines efficiency.

I'm more than willing to discuss facts and good arguements. But don't make feebly insulting, stupid non-sense comments, because then, IMO, you make me lose respect for your intellegence.

 

That was a well reasoned and mature response.

I wasn't aware these cars were tuned for 91 octane. I don't think that is what my owners manual says but I haven't read it in a while (not being a smartass here)

4 more miles to the gallon still sounds ridiculous though and I'm not kidding about informing the media on that one if it's true because that would be a major breakthrough if it's a verifiable fact. Seriously. I'd switch to premium right now if I thought it would bump me up to 38+ mpg

 

V-power baby!

 

I think you can see a difference. Im going to take a guess and say its different addatives, and different levels of those addatives that make the difference. My xA isn't to fond of Techron. So I tried Shell gas. Then I noticed I didnt get quite as many miles from a fill up so I switched to off brand. My car now gets better mileage and isnt as sluggish on the take off. TO ME saying one gas is extremely better than another is a hard claim tomake. But finding subtle differences isnt such a hard assumption to prove.

 

Well, I'm sure that my case isn't the case for all cars. . . but since we do have a lighter car, any small change in HP has a more drastic effect than a heavier car, a la power-to-weight. And HP and power/weight is directly relates to MPG. But seeing fluctuations of up 4MPG alone can be seen purely by driving conditions/habits and weather. Maybe I should clarify by saying that I saw a 4MPG difference, but not all of that may be accountable to the fuel change. Furthermore, a 4MPG fluctuation is fairly expectable during fill ups. However, I have noticed that I havn't dropped below 30MPG since the change, but this has only been my fourth tank. . . but on average, my MPG has been slightly higher.

I know Motortrend or some other magazine did a test back in 1998, and found that a Honda Accord LOST MPG using premium. . . and usually I am the biggest opponent of using premium or top tier brands. But I'm doing my own research right now, and need to try it out long term to see how consistent this is.

 

hess sucks.
it like making your car run on water.