| It's usually best to go with what your car's manual says. I used to think what PandaMoOo thought back when I owned a little Civic hatchback. I would normally put the 87 gas in, and once it a while when gas prices would drop I would "treat" my car to the more expensive stuff. It wasn't until one day when I was curious as to IF it was better at all. We're trained to believe that more expensive = better, but it isn't necessarily true.
Since upgrading to a little BMW now, the manual says to put in 91 gas, and that's what I do. From what I understand, like others have said, the engine was designed to use that type of gas. Putting in the cheaper stuff would still work and wouldn't leave residue, but the engine would burn it up faster than other engines would. In other words I'd have to refill my tank more often and probably end up spending more on gas in the process than if I were to use the 91 octane.
Are there actually any cars that require the middle octane? I hardly see anyone using that, and Costco gas stations have done away with it altogether. What is it useful for?
Speaking of misleading consumers. There's a Shell station near my house that recently remodeled. It closed for a couple weeks and yanked out all its old gas pumps and everything. When it reopened with all new pumps, I noticed they had also had brand new advertising everywhere for it's "new V-Power" gas. So they had Unleaded (87), Super (89), and V-Power (91). Definitely misleading advertising to anyone who doesn't understand what octane ratings mean! Bottom line I guess is to obey your car manual and not gas station advertising. |