The Fuel Grade Poll

[Danny_O]

Who's saving money by just using regular or mid-grade fuel? Vote which fuel grade you are using.

 

[AlexG]

I always run 93 octane here in Pennsylvania and always look for 93 where ever I travel to. It costs a bit more, but I'd rather play it safe. Turbo motors tend to perform better with higher octane levels. Higher octane also reduces detonation which is very bad for your engine.


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[3.3Turbo4me]

93, the savings is so minimal it?s not worth it.

 

[mldavis2]

If the owners manual says "at least 87 octane" then 87 should be safe if not optimum. Modern engines have knock sensors containing piezo-electric crystals that are usually screwed into the block and are calibrated to recognize unwanted pre-ignition. They simply send the info to the computer which pulls timing back or whatever needs to be done to drop knock below undesired levels. So unless you are running something like "white gas" with terrible pre-ignition characteristics, any fuel above 87 should be at least safe and within the ability of the computer to manage. Where I live the difference between 87 and 93 (usually only 91) is about $5.00-6.00 per tank.

 

[punchdrunkboost]

Depending on gas prices, I've used both regular and premium on this car and honestly saw very little difference for daily driving.

 

[robz32]

93 always

 

[Chi-Guy]

So far just Premium

 

[CajunStinger]

Premium as long as gas continues to be cheap.

 

[DesertStinger]

Only premium

 

[bikerdude]

I use 87-89 most 0f the time. on days that I drive in sport mode 91. I drive a average on 100 miles a day 6 days a week

 

[KiwiStinger]

Here in NZ the owners manual says to use 91 RON or higher, the other option here being 95 RON, which is 10 cents a litre more (sorry, can't give you Gallons $) I will use 91 for the time being (done 850 km's/ 530 miles so far) May try 95 later, or even alternate tank fills (would that give me 93 ?)

 

[StingerYYC]

Mostly regular.

 

[OklaStinger]

91 is what?s most common here and is labeled ?premium?. We have a few Shell & VP Racing fuel stations around my metro, but none are on my usual routes. So I stick to 91 and so far my car seems to be running great on it.


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[mldavis2]

91 is what?s most common here and is labeled ?premium?. We have a few Shell & VP Racing fuel stations around my metro, but none are on my usual routes. So I stick to 91 and so far my car seems to be running great on it.

I'm in the SW corner of Missouri and that's what I get from the major brand stations 87 - 89 - 91.

 

[OklaStinger]

I'm in the SW corner of Missouri and that's what I get from the major brand stations 87 - 89 - 91.

Sounds the exact same here. Unless finding a race-fuel station, that's all we've got.

 

[ATXStinger]

91 is what?s most common here and is labeled ?premium?. We have a few Shell & VP Racing fuel stations around my metro, but none are on my usual routes. So I stick to 91 and so far my car seems to be running great on it.


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I'm surprise OK has 91 since we get 93 down here in TX.

 

[OklaStinger]

I'm surprise OK has 91 since we get 93 down here in TX.

Oh I hear ya. I?m surprised by it too.


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[Marc Collins]

Here in NZ the owners manual says to use 91 RON or higher, the other option here being 95 RON, which is 10 cents a litre more (sorry, can't give you Gallons $) I will use 91 for the time being (done 850 km's/ 530 miles so far) May try 95 later, or even alternate tank fills (would that give me 93 ?)

91 RON is equivalent to 87 octane over in the Americas.

We know that the car will run fine on 87 octane, but some sources including Kia documents, "recommend" premium, which is 91 or 93 octane (95 RON). Does the NZ manual or info suggest any recommendation for 95 RON?

I have a simple question that no one has answered so far on this forum or another one: At what octane level is the official advertised HP and torque developed? If it's 87/91 RON, then there is ZERO performance reason to use anything other than regular gas. If the official HP numbers are only developed using premium, then obviously some people will want that.

Some premium fuels have more additives and cleaners than regular. The car will unlikely develop more power with higher octane, because the engine computer will simply adjust for it. The higher octane could provide higher fuel efficiency, but not likely to the extent that the price gap between regular and premium justifies. At least where I live, the price gap between regular and premium has grown steadily in the past years. This gap varies dramatically from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, too... For a long time it was 10 cents/L as in NZ. Now it is 13, 14, 15 cents at most stations.

Before Canada switched to metric, premium was always 3 cents per (UK) gallon more than regular. Then, magically, it became 3 cents per litre, which is a 4.5x increase in cost. Then it crept up to 10 cents and stayed there for many years and now is higher as I mentioned.

For the metric and math challenged Americans, 15 cents per litre is more than 55 cents per US gallon!!!! Where have you ever seen premium 55 cents more than regular in the USA???

 

[snowman]

I've never even considered putting 87 in the car.

 

[Kale808]

We only get 92 octane here in HI.