I have been using 93 Octane all the time, but will use 91 in a pinch. Is it worth the extra $$? I also been using Mobil one for oil changes every 5000 can I use regular oil every 3000? I have a 04 XC wagon awd with 61,000 clicks on it.

 

I use 91 all the time in my XC70 and Subaru Outback with the H6 engine. No problems. I use Royal Purple syn oil and it makes a huge difference in the engine performance. Good oil is cheap insurance, keep up the good work.

 

Does the XC70 require premium fuel? We just bought an '03 w/67K on her and I KNOW my wife is only putting 87 octane in it (she refuses to believe that hi-octane is anything more than a price scam). I don't recall reading anything in the owners manual about a 91 or 93 min octane requirement.

Please advise

 

We use 87 and 89 in our XC70 with no problems. I will use the premium only when really cold out, or towing, etc. Concur on the synthetic oil.

 

The owners manual is very clear on this. The engine has been designed to work with an octane rating of 91 for optimal performance, meaning max horsepower, but will work just fine with any fuel that has a minimum rating of 87. Premium fuel is more than just a price scam, think of it like racing fuel, so if you're going to take your volvo racing, by all means put premium fuel in it If the Mobil 1 oil is working fine every 5K I would stick with that and not mess about altering the oil change intervals, then you're likely to end up forgetting what oil you put in last time and run 5K on regular oil.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.....

 

I use only 87 octane in my 2002 V70XC (2,5) and have had no problems, My mileage on the open road is 26+ mpg, and notice no loss of engine power. I've used higher octane gas and find no improvement.

 

The difference is to little to notice. Like upgrading the air filter you really wont notice it.
The higher octane allows one to run higher compression or higer boost with less of the risk of damaging the engine.