http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/automobi...no_interstitial

Why are most of you guys still using premium?

 

its the norm

 

Because most of the people on here are driving a sports car that they do everything they can to get the most performance out of. So why would they intentionally lower there performance every time they fill up their car?
What that article says is that the ECU on modern cars can detect the knock from using lower octane gas and retard the timing, do what it needs to do, to reduce the engine power so it doesn't cause it to knock. So by running lower octane gas your gimping your car.
That and it costs what, 20 cents extra per gallon? so an extra 3 bucks every time you fill up. Filling up once a week it comes out to be $150 in total over a year. People have monthly cable bills higher than that...

 

let's look at the bright side people.. premium is relatively cheaper to regular than it was 10 years ago.

1.10 vs 1.30 = 18% premium
4.00 vs 4.30 = 7.5% premium

makes good financial sense to me

 

Even though cars have knock sensors and can pull timing, knock HAS TO OCCUR before it will pull timing, meaning a high compression motor (like ours) will knock if its high temperature (like now) and under high load. You will knock if these conditions are met, and some damage may occur before knock is detected. Knock is not a good thing ever - its like taking a hammer to piston while its still going up. Is it good for you, definitely not? Will it hurt you, probably not for a while.

 

I use premium because a) running lower-grade fuel will hurt performance and b) it's not really that much more expensive. The S2000 usually takes 10-11 gallons whenever I fill it up, and if it's $0.20 more than regular, that's not even $3 more per fillup.

There's no need to run premium if you're car was tuned to run regular, but S2000's are meant to run on premium for maximum performance and fuel economy. You can definitely get away with a lower grade, but why would you?

 

according to the experts it only decrease performance by 2% by using regular fuel. and that's if you use regular. "most of the people on here are driving a sports car that they do everything they can to get the most performance out of" i don't know if i agree with that statement. i would bet most people on this forum aren't using the car everyday to it's full potential.
so the loss in hp is minimal.
I fill up at least a couple of times a week. the car is a dd. so by your math i'll be saving 300 a year over 10 years that's 3,000 bucks and that's if fuel remains at the current price which is not likely.
I collect classic muscle cars so most of them are at least 40 years old.
again using your math if i keep the S for that long....well, just something to think about.
of course i have yet to use anything but premium...but its tempting.

 

i believe that if you own a S2000 you SHOULD have the money to pay the extra $.20 gallon. because if you dont, why do you have the car in the first place? plus if you want to save money you can always stop eating fast food

 

so give in to temptation if its not so bad. Let's see who is still on an original motor in 10 or so years. If you can't handle .20 more for premium don't buy a car that requires it. It may only cost you 2% performance but I can tell you right now that I take my car into vtec at least 2 times a day, some days more. I'm not willing to chance a motor to save 300 bucks a year. It's not really all that cost effective if you really break it down.

 

damn beat me to it. i was gonna post my version of this... but yes, its only 30 cents! you spent $30,000 on your car and you can't spend the extra 30 cents per gallon?! for god sake i'm a poor college student and i still pay for premium! you're an idiot...