Regular vs. Premium Gas - a perspective

Unless you're supercharged, run a 91/93 tune, or nitrous, you don't need premium

 

Best study I have ever seen on the truth about Octane and it uses our truck as its test vehicle. http://news.aaa-calif.com/internal_...46/files/20168/Premium-Fuel-REPORT-FINAL2.pdf

 

Always cracks me up when those guys, in those threads swear “its just runs better” and they “can tell the difference”....when running 91/93

 

I'm one of those guys and I know the science tells me I'm wrong. I can say this I've had zero issues using premium, never knocking, never dirty gas. Even on my motorcycle where there is known problem with expanding gas tanks most run regular I run premium and my tank has not expanded.

 

I run premium for the extra detergents...me likey clean stuff.

 

I guess my trucks in on the conspiracy too when I get better mpg and longer distance between fill ups when running premium?

 

. It makes a difference in the sound and performance
Also increase in mileage. It is an extra 10.00 per tank but a fuel treatment is about the same so i run a tankful of shell premium once a month.

 

I drive the same routes all the time, I consistently get 1 mpg better on Premium. Worth the extra cost, maybe not but I get gas at Costco so the premium price there is the Regular price at the other stations around so its worth it to me.

 

Pumping up my Reeboks in 1992 made it feel like I could dunk too...you boys do you

 

My 2007 has a run a 91/93 tune, and I get by just fine running regular.

I do feel a boost in power / responsiveness when I run premium, and I use SeaFoam often.

 

Who has proof there are more detergents in premium fuel? All octane has to have cleaning agents if you are using top tier fuel.

I definitely noticed a difference with my Ecoboost, but haven’t tried it on the Tundra yet. I suspect it would be a waste

 

I can only speak from my own experience , but when my truck was shiny and new , I ran 93 octane for about 18 months and was averaging about 16 mpgs. I switched about a year ago to regular 87 , and I am only averaging around 13 now. Im not saying one is related to the other. Just my two pennies.

 

I'm driving from Alabama to Ohio next week. About 500 miles. I'm going to run regular on the way there and then premium on the way back just to see.

 

Route during the work week is the exact same, AVG with 87 Costco gas is almost always 14-14.2mpg, with 92 its 14.7-15mpg. Its modest, but I do get better with premium.

 

Growing up I was taught that octane level is related to compression ratio. The higher the ratio, the higher the octane. My old 69 Camaro only ran on 92. Anything lower and it wouldn't shut off! The compression ratio on my 88 4rnr is nearly 10:1, it will ping like crazy on regular. I switched to 91 and it's been purring ever since. You also get better MPGs with premium since there's more btu energy per gallon, so I've been told.

 

91 tune made a huge difference in hwy mileage for me.

City only half mpg though

 

There’s a video around here comparing different octanes of Shell brand gasoline. He states “there’s 7 times more detergent in their premium than mandated by the gov”

 

When I drove my beetle daily I felt a big difference. 91 I thought was good, until I ran out of gas and used the 87 from my lawnmower can. It ran significantly quicker, I went to 87 after that for that car.

With modern cars I think its different. I dont feel a thing in my truck or my wifes Honda. In my tuned GTI I'm afraid of detonation at 21psi, so 91 it is.

 

Like the pumps reference. Brings back memories.

 

I liked letting the air out. Like a blow off valve for shoes

 

I use premium because it’s the only one around here with no ethanol. No, I don’t have any proof ethanol is bad but I still don’t care for it. I even use the premium no ethanol for everything I have like the lawn mower.

 

+1 on this one

I use non-ethanol in my motorcycle and all my power equipment. Always have ... always will.

 

Well that's a no brainer, it's all down hill on the way home which equals less fuel....you're welcome

 

I can check the elevation changes of my computer at work tomorrow. Doesn’t matter a whole lot either way though. I drive like a retard. I have two Beltronics radar detectors in the Tundra. Hard accelerations and 80-90mph most of the way in both directions.

 

Do you have to search for zero ethanol? I don’t know if I’ve seen non ethanol anything around me.

 

https://www.pure-gas.org/


I use the app on my phone as well

 

I experimented with this before and I noticed no difference using 87 vs 91/93 I used 3-4 tanks of each Octane in my experiment. There was also no difference in how it acted towing as well with all fuel fill ups taken from the same place. I can't speak for everyone elses trucks but for mine with no differences experienced in performance nor any changes in the mpgs I decided to stick with 87. My truck is a Flex Fuel 5.7L.

 

Depressing. All of CA basically has ethanol in it

 

I ran all three grades for a month each using Fuelly to track and 89 ended up with slightly better economy in my truck than 87 and not really any different than 91, so I run 89. Religiously no, but 99% of the time I do.

 

There 1 gas station that I try to always go to that has the non ethanol. There are a few around here that don’t have it. If I’m out of town I don’t go out of my way though. But 90% of the time I use that 1 station.