With high gasoline prices and many Canadians looking for ways to save money at the gas pump, you might want to check if your car truly needs premium gasoline.
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There is a common misconception that premium gas will help any car due to being a “premium grade” with additional additives and detergents. While quality of gasoline can vary from brand to brand, within a brand often the only difference between regular and premium in octane level. Octane is simply a rating of the gasoline’s ability to resist knocking and pinging in your engine.
The reason that most cars can run on regular, even when premium is recommended, is because newer cars have sensors that detect uncontrolled burning in the engine and will adjust the engine timing accordingly.
If your car is designed for regular fuel, then you would not receive any improvements by using premium. If your car’s manufacturer recommends a higher octane gas, you would likely still be able to use regular gasoline. At worse, the car may suffer a slight decrease in performance as it’s adjusted down to a lower octane.
However if your owners manual or a sticker inside the fuel door says that premium is required, than you should continue to use it. Not only might this mean that your vehicle is not designed to change it’s timing, but not using premium could void your warranty. This is something to keep in mind when shopping for a new vehicle. You should either factor in the additional expense or better yet, move on to look at a different vehicle that accepts regular gasoline. For the rest of us, choosing regular gas can be an excellent way to reduce our transportation spending.
Even when I drove a Cadillac CTS.. i didn’t use premium.. Regular is just fine.. thanks!
My new Hyundai Accent takes regular gas. It’s cheap.. That’s the bottom line.
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Majority cars have no need for premium gas, it’s just a waste of money. Unless your car absolutely needs it, there is no reason for it.
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I believe things like “Premium Gas” are created because of simple economics. Econ 101 – there are people willing to pay more for a good so give them method of doing that and they will. Look along a simple demand line with an xy graphy: 1 person demans x at $10, 5 people demand x at $5, 20 people demand x at $1. To extract the most profits from the market simply diffentiate your product into 3 classes (Premium, Extra, and Regular). There really is no difference, but some people will pay up so give them a method of doing so.
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Why not just cut it in the middle and get “PLUS” instead of “premium” or just “regular”?
I’ve had a couple luxury cars, and the check engine light would come on when I used regular gas. Watch out!
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Octane is a measure of how compressible the fuel is before it explodes. In high-performance cars, with engines that are designed to compress the fuel vapor to the maximum, you would be well advised to use the Octane rating your car lists in the manual. Otherwise, when the pistons go to compress the fuel vapor, it will explode before the cylinder reaches its maximum compression … hence the “Ping” you hear. As noted in the blog, some cars have sensors to help retard this, but if your car is designed to run on a particular Octane, use it. On the flip side, if your car runs at a lower Octane, you are simply wasting money by buying higher Octane fuel. Lower Octane engines have cylinders that never compress the gas enough to warrant the higher Octane. It is literally money down the drain.
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I have a 2002 Toyota Echo. When I bought it 2-1/2 years ago, I read in the manual that it needed 89 octane fuel so I filled up with that for the first 5 fills. Then when I was on a road trip, my friend forgot and filled the car with regular (87). My car knocked all the way from Connecticut – Boston – Albany, when I could finally fill it up with the right fuel. I learned my lesson pretty quickly. And I’m totally fine with that. I just say that my car is “refined” or slightly picky.
Rachel,
That’s a good example of when you better just stick with the recommended, but at least you found out. The other end or the spectrum are people who use regular without any issues and then “upgrade’ to a higher octane expecting it to help their car in some way.
This is all just another way for the government to make extra money cars have been running fine on the fuel we already have. Some cars may require certain fuel but if it doesn’t then don’t waste your money. Cars now are trying to make fuel disappear and create battery powered cars that have a similar performance spec as the cars you own today. Eco friendly cars are the new thing so don’t waste your time and money on fuel.