Remember that debate a month or so back that pitted Premium gas buyers against Regular gas buyers? I was one of those few that admitted to using Regular gas on occasion. Of course, some members said that I was ruining the car and cited all sorts of technical reasons why I should only use Premium.

Well... here's an article from USA Today from about a year ago. What do you guys think? Especially when even the FTC and prominent people from Toyota and Nissan agree Premium isn't really necessary?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-0...remiumgas_x.htm

[QUOTE]Why use premium gas when regular will do?

By James R. Healey, USA TODAY

Marti Mayne once fueled her low-octane Subaru with high-octane gas. Not now. Premium-gas prices "went sky high, and now I just use low grade" to motor around Yarmouth, Maine, where she runs a marketing business.

When prices dropped earlier this year, she stuck with cheaper fuel because "I don't think that my car runs any differently on high, medium or lower grade."

She's right. Engines designed for regular fuel don't improve on premium and sometimes run worse. And today's engines designed for premium run fine on regular, too, their makers say, though power declines slightly.

But premium lovers are passionate. "I would simply curtail driving rather than switch grades," says Bill Teater of Mount Vernon, Ohio, who puts high-test in both his Cadillacs, though only one recommends it. He's sure both the DeVille and the Escalade run rough and lack pep on regular.

Prejudice and preference aside, engineers, scientists and the federal government say there's little need for premium.

When fuel's cheap, motorists are willing to pay 20 cents or so more for premium. But as gas prices sneak back up, the mental wrangle begins anew over whether it's OK to burn cheaper, regular-grade gas.

The answer almost always is yes.

"I personally use regular even though my owner's manual says you'll get better performance with premium," says Lewis Gibbs, consulting engineer and 45-year veteran at Chevron oil company. He's chairman of Technical Committee 7 on Fuels, part of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Fuels & Lubricants Council. Gibbs knows gas.

"My wife runs midgrade (89 octane) in her car, and it's a turbocharged engine" meant for 91-octane premium, he says.

Premium

 

[QUOTE]Actually, the price debate is nearly worthless. At 20 cents more for premium, pumping 20 gallons of it instead of regular would cost $4 more. Annually, that's a difference of $171 for a vehicle that averages 14 miles per gallon

 

The majority of cars won't benefit at all from premium fuel, some will even perform worse with it (most econobox GM vehicles, Saturn even clearly says NOT to use it). Other cars, like high compression (S2000) and turbo'd cars need it to prevent detonation which can ruin and engine very quickly or down the road depending on how bad it is.

 

I'm not even sure how this debate even exists.

If you own an S2000 and you can't afford the extra whole $1-2 per tank then you shouldn't own an S2000.

 

It's not about IF you can afford it or not. It's whether or not premium really is as necessary as some people make it out to be.

As the article pointed out, some people who have cars that run on regular prefer to use premium anyway.

 

This is like the guy pulling into the marina with his 40 foot yacht asking how much gas is per gallon. Cant afford it, sell it. Must be a bean counter.

 

And this question, I'm sure, has already been answered for you numerous times.

If you want to run regular in an engine with a compression level this high be my guest.

 

LAst week, because of Hurricane Frances, most stations only had regular....I had no choice but to do it....I forgot I even did so until I read this thread.....

No noticeable difference in performance, but I'd just rather stick to what Honda reccommends.

 

To me, there's a big difference between putting premium in a car that rated and/or recommended for regular and putting premium in a car that's rated and/or recommended for premium.

I've got a 2001 Odyssey minivan. Honda claims the 3.5L V6 in this van will put out 210 hp on premium and 205 on regular. They pretty much leave it up to the owner to decide what they want to do. I can attest to the fact that, on my Odyssey at least, I can feel "absolutely" no difference between regular and premium. I tried it once on a 2500 mile round trip. Ran regular on the way up and premium on the way home. I felt no difference in performance, had no improvement or degradation in fuel mileage. In short, it made no discernable difference that I could tell.

The S2000 is a high performance, relatively high compression engine. Honda doesn't offer a choice in the owners manual that I ever saw. Premium fuel is what's recommended, period. Now, the salesman told me on delivery, that I could run a tank of regular from time to time if I'm in an area where premium isn't available, but not to make a habit of it. While I'm not big on taking the word of auto salesmen on some issues, I had no problem with what the guy was telling me in this case. I'm sure the S2000's engine will take regular just fine but I think to run it exclusively is asking for it. The article may be right but I'm not particularly inclined to risk my engine on a "maybe" at this point in time.

JMO!

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

I always use premium on my S. Most our new Acura's recommend premium, but in the brochures in small print it says it is not necessary. They will run fine off of lower octane fuels. It might reduce performance and gas mileage. I thought it was fine because new cars have a knock sensor that will fix any problems with lower octane gas.

I also noticed that Acura considers 91 Octane premium. Here in NJ 93 is premium.