It won't hurt your car, ignore all the nonsense above

If your just cruising this week, put a tank of 89 in it
Even 87 us fine

91+ for best performance though

 

What I was going to say!

Feed it 91 octane or better, or sell the car. Period. If you want to have a sports car, a real sports car......give it what it needs or don't own one.

I know for a fact that there a members of these forums that have a lengthy commute, and are not complaining about putting expensive gas in their S2000

I for one and am not rich. But the S2000 is a very affordable sports car. I am just will to spend a bit more at the pump for some good ole fashion fun driving. If you are such a tight ass you can't do that, buy a Civic. Fast/fun and cheap in most situations don't belong in the same sentence, but in the case of the S2000 I feel like I am ripping someone off.

 

LOL you guys are funny, most of you are ignoring his question, and turning it into a value judgement of whether the car deserves hi-test...

The question was, is it detrimental. And the scientific answer for Variable valve timed engines is a resounding NO, it won't hurt his engine, and it the engine won't "miss" or anything wierd.

And actually, the car runs dang good on 87....

 

You are aware that the engine in the S2000 has no active VVT like toyotas VVTi. It's just a cam switch at 6000rpms. So there is no cam phasing. On a high compression engine using a gas that has a lower ingnition point is just asking for trouble. When the sticker on the fuel door states "premium required" I think that's a good indication that, you know.... premium is required.

 

No, you should not run a lower octane than Honda says. All higher octane does is resist detonation. In a high conpression engine such as the F20 this matters. Just because a Civic can VTEC on 87 does not mean that is OK to do so in an S2000. The ECU in the S2000 can detect knock from the engine and pull timing to some degree. It is my understanding that the ECU is constantly monitoring the knock sensor in order to determine how much timing to pull. If you run a higher octane the ECU will let the timing advance slightly. So in my opinion it would not be wise to run lower than 91 octane in an S2000. I believe there is only so much the ECU can do to protect against detontaion and poor judgement.

 

Even if the question was being ingnored, its an ignorant one to begin with. If you get a car and it says 'premium fuel only' on the fuel door, there is probably a very good reason.

 

To detect knock, the ECU must see that there is knock first. If you run with 87, the car will knock, and it will run really bad. The guy I bought my car from started filling with 87 (told me as I took the keys and was about to drive off) when the gas prices started getting bad this year. I immediately finished the tank and refilled with 93 octane. I saw in immediate performance increase. The car was actually ABLE to idle well and accellerate smoothly.

If you cannot afford the extra 2.00 per fillup for premium, than this car is probably out of your price range.

To the guy with the excessive " " : grow up. We're not putting this guy down, we're just telling it how it is. Everyone wants to save money, but if you're trying to save 2.00 every week or so because you can't afford to buy premium, than you should be buying a much more affordable car than an S2000.

 

i honestly think hes screwing with all of you. biodiesel? c'mon guys...

 

You can afford an S2000 and you are complaining about spending 20 cents more per gallon of gas?? thats only like $5 more than the 87 for nearly a full tank of gas??? what else can you get for $5 these days?? If you are saying you cant spend the extra $5 on gas then get another job.

 

Granted I don't really know for certain but I've read the S2000 ECU is constantly retarding the timing based on input from the knock sensor (as well as others) no matter how high the octane. A good explaination was offered with the info. I read it on these forums some time ago, possibly a post by Ultimate Lurker or Woodwork. Hopefully someone can chime in and clear this up for me. Thanks