Does using a higher octane gas improve fuel economy?
Is premium gas really worth $208.00 more per year? Do you get better mileage or fuel economy with premium? Does premium gas make your car run better?
The cost difference between regular gas and premium is generally about twenty cents per gallon. That means filling up a 20 gallon tank will cost $4.00 more if you fill with premium instead of regular. If you fill your car once a week the premium will cost you $208.00 more than regular over the course of a year.
Let’s address the fuel economy question first. The simple answer is no, premium gas does not increase fuel economy at all.
The octane rating is a measurement of the proportion of isooctane to heptane in fuel. In non technical terms it is a rating that grades how much energy it takes to ignite that fuel. The rating has nothing to do with how much energy the gas puts out.It has absolutely nothing to do with fuel economy.
Does premium gas make your car run better? Once again the simple answer is no, there is no increase in a cars performance with premium gas.
That said, I must throw in this one caveat, your car might perform with slightly more horsepower with premium than with regular but you would be hard pressed to notice the difference. Premium just allows car makers an extra advertising ploy.
By designing and tuning engines to take advantage of premium’s anti-knock properties, it allows automakers to market their cars with a few more horsepower. Auto engineers generally agree that if you use regular in a premium engine, the power loss is so slight, that it is very hard to detect.
What if your car manufacturer recommends that you use premium? In this case burning regular instead of premium won’t void the warranty, nor damage the engine, most automakers say.
Next time you go to fill up try regular instead of premium. You will immediately save $4.00. See how your car performs with the regular. If it runs fine and you don’t hear any knocking continue to use regular. You could save $200.00 per year!
Posted: February 14th, 2008 under General Fuel Saving Tips, Money Saving.
Comments: 6
Comments
Comment from Bill
Time: March 15, 2008, 11:56 pm
Another great post. I had written a similar post on the subject a while back and now I’ve linked to yours as well.
Comment from Scott
Time: April 5, 2008, 12:44 am
Thanks Bill for your comments on this and the previous post.
You are right, Gas will be $4.00 per gallon this summer.
Comment from Mark
Time: April 7, 2008, 9:48 pm
Hi! Excellent articol, thanks a lot. I don’t wanna argue on this issue yet. I’ve been using regular since last week. Now I’m at the second tank with premium. All I can say right now is that I feel the diferrence: the engine is running different, it seems to “like” premium. I can even say it gives me an extra power. Or, maybe it’s something like “placebo effect”… I’ll keep an eye on this matter.
Comment from Tim from hosting
Time: October 20, 2008, 11:34 pm
“If it runs fine and you don’t hear any knocking”
but how exactly would you define “knocking”?
Comment from brandon
Time: October 23, 2008, 9:34 pm
I find some info to be controversial. I drive a 2002 Nissan maxima and based off of my experience and calculations, my car runs better off of premium and gets better gas mileage. My engine tends to knock with 87 even though my engine specs indicate that my car can use regular. 91 simply improves performance and fuel economy for many vehicles. Your observations seem to be based off of a particular vehicle that is particularly designed for regular fuel and only regular fuel.
Comment from Scott
Time: October 25, 2008, 2:54 pm
Hi Brandon,
Thanks for the comment. The accepted industry wide advice has always been, if you can use regular gas instead of premium then do it. A car that can run on regular gas will not see a marked difference in fuel economy by running on premium.
However, if your car cannot run on regular then you must use premium. There are some engines that are designed to run on only premium gas and if you put regular in, the engined my do unpredictible things. Some cars will even go into limp mode to protect itself which will make the car inopperable until a service technician can correctly reset the engine mode.
It sounds that regardless of what the manual says, you have found you cannot run your car on regular. If that’s the case you should certainly use premium.
My point was only that if a car can successfully run on regular gas, filling with premium instead will not add to fuel economy.
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