Am I crazy? I think I read in my manual. It will run on regular gas. Has anyone tried it? What result? Any downside longterm??????

 

I've heard the engine will retard itself to run on lower octane fuel. You will *not* get the same performance with lower octane.

 

doesn't the manual say 91 octane?
i've tried 89 and you can tell a slight difference.

 

Page 116 of the manual, paraphrased:
Your Honda is designed to run on premium gas 91 octane or higher. If you are unable to find premium gas, you may substitute regular. The engine will compensate for the lower octane, but you may notice a slight decrease in power as a result.

 

Yeah, using regular gas will lower the performance of the engine. I know that in the Honda Odyssey, the 3.5 liter V6 will make 210 HP with premium,and 205 HP otherwise on less than premium.

A strange thing was that a friend of mine has a Bug, and says that if you put anything above 87 octane, that the engine gets a knocking sounds and doesn't like it.....

 

Please please, no SUV or minivan comparisons or post in this forum. I think I might get sick.

 

With the recent gas prices, I sometimes will fill up with 93 and then refill at 1/2 empty with 89 mid-grade. The price spread is often .10/gal here in PA.

Anybody think there is a problem with that "mising" logic?

 

But how much do you really save that way? I mean you'd save say $.10 at 5 gallons, that's $.50. But let's say you fill up with cheap gas... $.30 difference. That's probably about $3 a tank. Even if you fill up twice a week, that's $24 a month you save........

 

It is my understanding that higher octane gas burns slower. The timing of our engine is designed for this. Quicker burning lower octane may not run well. Any experts on this?

 

Not an expert bit this is what I think. Higher octane burns at a higher temperature. So you can have a higher compression ratio without spark knock or premature ignition.