I was wondering if my 97' 960 and my 96' 850 turbo require premium fuel? Thanks in advance!

 

No. I've put 260k Miles on my 960, entirely on regular 87 octane gas.

 

Not sure if this would apply to the "modern" '97 model, I did an extensive test for a several months back when I was driving about 750 miles a week. On my '94 it turned out that the added cost for premium was almost made up in the increase in mpg. It came down to less than a dollar difference per tank when considering mpg. The car had much more pep on premium too, if the engine starts to ping, which I imagine on 10 to 1 compression ratio it will, the retarding of the spark to compensate reduces the gas mileage. One might argue that cold start ups are better on lower octane fuel though.


DanR '94 964 356,000 miles (122,000 on the new engine)

 

No, 87 is minimum. I always pumped 93. Got better mileage and paid for itself easy.

 

You don't NEED the premium fuel, but here's what happens without it:
The engine's ECU is constantly picking up knock on the knock sensor and retards timing and adds a little fuel to avoid it.
So, not only do you lose power but you also lose economy.
Switch to E85 and make life good!