Wife's 2011 Honda Pilot = regular all day long

my Lexus' =premium

per the manufacturer

 

Yet the one thing they don't tell you is you're not only paying for higher octane but additives that help keep the cylinders and valves clean.

 

This isn't applicable to our 4GS though. They are talking about cars that don't say "premium fuel required". I am sure my car will run on 87, but it will have to retard timing to avoid pinging. I bought the car for performance, and I want to make sure I get what I paid for.

 

Premium gasoline is really only needed 'if' or 'when' you accelerate hard and want the engine to perform at its peak maximum. I use premium all the time!

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/american...n-premium-gas/

So, pardon the additional link, I'm at work and don't have YouTube access. Going to make the assumption that the info in the link is the same as the YT vid offered within the link. (apologies if I'm wrong).

So, stated...this revolves around those who waste Premium grade fuel in cars that only require regular or mid-grade and does not speak to the opposite which is to debunk myths of Premium-required vehicles to be able to use regular or mid-grade. Besides the ES, do any version of the GS recommend regular fuel? Don't believe so...irrelevant?

 

my car is a lease.. i used to put in regular, and now premium only.

I used to put in Shell 87 then switched over to Speedway 93. Basically from a cheapest gas of a premium brand to highest gas of a medium brand to minimize the cost difference. Currently, $2.05 Shell 87 vs $2.50 Speedway 93.. I get Speedway gas gift cards at about ~15% off to help offset the difference.

Regular vs Premium
MPG was around 16.5mpg vs 18.5mpg.. mostly city.. no lead feet.. but personally, I am not sure the 2mpg is accurate since traffic, time of the day, and other factors could change.

Here is the the reason I changed to premium even on my lease.. Car performance..
From a normal take off, the regular gas felt like a manual transmission not getting enough gas. It wasn't smooth. Premium gas eliminated this and car felt more "torquey" in the low-mid RPM range.

On a freeway merging situation and when I am flooring the car, the regular gas would emit black smoke, and it was pretty embarrassing since the GS isn't a fast car. With premium gas, there was zero smoke and the car felt about 28 times smoother when floored. The car probably isn't much faster on premium but it's definitely smoother.

 

By the name of the fuel alone, some marketing genius was able to milk money from people unaware of what they're buying. By calling it regular, mid-grade, and premium they imply a quality of the fuel rather than chemistry. Genius. Many folks took hook, line, and sinker. The reality, as many of us know, is that fuel chemistry is important for a machine devised to control an explosion, harness the energy of that explosion, and to move a larger and heavier machine without going into an uncontrolled explosive state that could damage the machine or its operators.

And so car companies jumped on this bandwagon of confusion and provided unnecessary recommendations to make people feel that their premium, expensive machine somehow required "premium" fuel, also at a higher price. Our 4GS machines actually require this chemistry to operate properly and achieve the advertised performance at a ~ 11.5:1 compression ratio. Sure it runs with "regular" 87 octane fuel courtesy of its knock sensor to protect the machine. Compare that to an Acura running at 10:1 compression ratio which "recommends" "premium" grade fuel, and a Honda engine at 10.5:1 that "recommends" "regular" grade fuel.

So my 4GS drinks the expensive stuff and she needs it. Others just drink it because they can.

 

+1 - Good post sir.

~ Im2bz2p345

 

The other big story should be how billions are wasted on oil changes. Jiffy lube and the dealers milked billions from customers with their 3 month or 3,000 miles oil change interval BS. Even my old 2000 Camry said oil changes between 5,000 and 7,500 or every 6 months. Ours 4GS says once a year or every 10,000 miles. I'm sure some dealers are pushing every 5,000 miles.

 

FWIW, I changed the oil on my old Camry at most twice a year with conventional Castrol oil and she was with me 14+ years with no issues. Sold it to a friend and she still runs like a champ to this day.

 

premium is required when your car is tuned to use premium to achieve the max performance/fuel economy...otherwise you are indeed wasting your money

 

Or just put fuel cleaner in your tank every few months.

 

Most of the video is correct.

Unless you have an engine specifically designed for multi-octanes, using 91 or 93 in an engine designed for 87 won't necessarily help it from an octane point of view....and, in fact, could make it harder to start in some circumstances, because premium gas has a different vapor-pressure than regular. Premium gas, depending on the manufacturer, DOES often have more detergent-additives in it to keep the engine clean......but there are other ways to keep the engine clean without giving it extra octane it may not need or be unsuited for. One can dump a can of fuel-system cleaner in the tank about once a year or so.

IMO, part of the problem is with the way that big-name gas brands are marketed.....oil companies generally put in more detergent-additives in the premium grades, in an effort to push their sales, even though many engines don't need the octane but DO need the detergent additives. In general, Shell and Chevron have the two best additives...the Shell V-Power and Chevron's Techroline. But, even with them, more of those additives are put into the 93 octane than the 87. One should not HAVE to purchase the premium-grades just to get enough detergent, but that's the way the fuels are often marketed. As I said, though.......a bottle of BG-44K or similar fuel-system cleaner once a year or so will do the trick.

 

Many engines, though, are not regulated that way by the engine/transmission computer.....but their owners still
treat them as if they were, thinking that they will get more power from premium gas. Higher octane alone does NOT boost power......unless the spark timing is advanced as well to allow it, where the higher octane will resist knocking and pinging better from the advanced timing.