been running on premi since delivery in May. $3.60 avg these days in NY.
Curious to know what others pump and if they notice any effect on the engine, milage, insects on the windshield, or coffee they buy.

I'm getting 24 around town and 32 OTR (55 plus for periods of time).

Wouldn't mind stepping back to reg if there is no difference to speak of.

 

If your knock sensors do their job then the engine will adjust timing for running less than 91 octane. The recommendation is 91 and here on Long Island I usually see 87-89-93 at the pumps. I've never run less than the recommended octane in my cars so I'm not sure how it might affect performance or fuel efficiency.

 

Can of worms here.

You can run 87 and be fine. Premium does not "burn better" or "burn cleaner" or any of that nonsense.

Some cars do require (not recommend) 91. Those need 91. The minimum for Volvo's has been 87.

 

My S60 2.5T has 130K miles running on regular 87. The couple of times I have used premium, I have not noticed any difference in performance.

 

This has been discussed numerous times.

 

sorry to discuss it again.

and thanks for the feedback.
I'm on LI as well.

 

There are a bunch of u tubes on octane use that were made in Canada and they used diagnostics and scientific measurement.
From what I got from it is the modern day engines will run all of the above and the computer (engine management systems) will adjust what the engine needs.


My 2012 runs fine on the 87 and have noticed no difference in higher octanes in any of my cars.


The old 1991 wanted the 91 and it was MFG recommended.
Use what is recommended.


Also a small note: It takes 30-60% more crude to make 93 over 87. (light or heavy crude)
Environmentalists beware.

 

Watch this. Boring, but informative.

 

thanks. very interesting.

 

Recommended and required are two different things. There are vehicle that require premium. Not running premium in those can and likely will cause damage.

I don't remember the year, but Volvo actually put in the owners manual that running 87 will not hurt performance or fuel economy or damage anything.

This is worth a read:
https://volvoforums.com/forum/2001-2013-model-year-xc70-53/gasoline-grade-69726/

 

I agree and there is a lot of urban myth out there.

My wife commuted 60 miles a day with the 2002 S60 and I tried both regular and premium. She never noticed a difference and the MPG was not noticeable.

The knock sensor should do its job when running on the different octane rated fuels.

From car and driver -
"Mind you, premium fuel does not necessarily pack more energy content than does regular. Rather, it allows more aggressive engine designs and calibrations that can extract more power from each gallon of gasoline.

Our low-tech Ram managed to eke out a few extra dyno ponies on premium fuel, but at the track its performance was virtually identical. The Mustang's knock sensors and EEC-V computer found 2 hp more on the dyno and shaved a more impressive 0.3 second off its quarter-mile time at the track.

Our tests confirm that for most cars there is no compelling reason to buy more expensive fuel than the factory recommends, as any performance gain realized will surely be far less than the percentage hike in price. "

Since I'm not running the quarter mile with my cars, I really don't care if I may miss out on .3 second. Really what is .3 of a second...an eye blink maybe?

I will use either octane. If the manual says that the car will run on 87 it will run on 87. I flip flop on the octane. Several years ago when gas prices were much higher, I tended to lift the lever more often for 87 octane.

 

For @ 20 years my daily drivers were Jaguars. My one Jag was a 1985 SIII and I always ran premium. I was told that it was a high compression engine and required the high octane. I just pulled out my old SIII manual and realize that I wasted a lot of money. I never read the manual or if I did I just went with the high octane preachers. The manual says -- "''You should use unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of at least 87.''

So I could have been running that car on 87 but chose to go with the highest octane which the manufacturers didn't even recommend. I was under in misinformation that the higher octane was required.

Yep -- required and recommended are different animals.