I'm very interested in buying this car when the lease runs out on my Murano in September. The only negative I can see is that all the Acura vehicles seem to take premium gas. I currently do about 20000 miles a year so I'm not a good lease candidate and want to buy my next vehicle. The difference here between regular and premium gas is about 25-30 cents which will negate any better fuel economy from this engine. My Murano does 20/24 now.
Is there anyone out there who has an Acura who uses either regular or mid-grade gas? If so, what are the results? Is this harmful to the engine?

 

....but considering the high-tech TURBO-4 POWERPLANT, it is very very unlikely that this engine is designed to run on regular gas. It will in all likelihood require PREMIUM (or, more specifically, 91 Octane) as do all other Acuras. Honda tends to design it's "mass market" Honda line for "regular" and the "Acura" line for Premium, and most rightfully so. If you are buying a high end vehicle, it is assumed that you should be able to afford it's "high end" requirements!!

 

I don't believe we have an option for 91 octane here. It is either 87, 89 or 93. I'm assuming you would have to use the 93 octane.
Also affordability of the car is not a relation to the gas price. I don't really consider the RDX to be a high end car. It is on a par with my Murano pricewise. I am just looking for a smaller size premium SUV. The main features I want are AWD, Navi, Bluetooth and great audio system with Ipod controls. I also like sitting up a little higher and having the extra cargo space. I have no real need for a back seat. If there is another comparable car, I will consider it. Obviously Acura saw that there was a market for this type of vehicle that was not being filled. Even the most expensive CR-V does not have leather or Navi as an option. And the Pilot is too big for my needs.

 

You are correct, RDX is not a high end car but Acura the brand is a luxury brand (as Lexus and Infiniti). So altough the RDX's price is on par with your Murano (a Nissan, which is on par with Toyota and Honda), there is nothing wrong with Acura assuming it's customer would be able to afford the premium gas.

 

im pretty sure most turbo engines require premium, especially the newer ones

 

.....you're talking about the current CR-V, which is virtually at the end of it's lifecycle. In all likelihood, the next generation C-RV will have everything you're looking for, except maybe bluetooth (even the Civic has a Navi option now!!)...Honda is a LEADER as far as NAV SYSTEMS go, and I'm willing to bet anything the redesigned CR-V will have both Navi and leather as options. The audio system may not be as "high end" as that of the RDX (DVD-Audio surround etc.), but if other new Honda models are any indicators, it will be a pretty good "high end" system!!.....I would imagine that the redesigned CR-V will probably show up this fall.

 

That would be great if Honda added leather and Navi to the CR-V. I would actually consider it then. Leather seats have always been an important option to me since I have two big dogs that shed terribly that ride in the car. I have actually changed the seats to leather in both a Camry and an Accord. That is a must-have feature. I have read wonderful things about the Honda/Acura Navi system so that is a feature I really want next time. Another feature I want now that my Murano has it is Homelink (garage door opener). It seems that once you have these features you can't go back. Due to the rising prices of gas though and my 70 mile roundtrip commute to work, fuel economy is one of my most important features. I don't want to do any worse than I do now.

 

What's the average fuel economy you get on the Murano, and the price of regular fuel?
What's the expected average fuel economy on the RDX, and the price of premium fuel?

If it's 22mpg @ $2.50/gallon, that = $0.1136 / mile (Murano)
If it's 25mpg @ $2.75/gallon, that = $0.1100 / mile (RDX)

Given that you drive 20k/year, that equals an annual fuel cost difference of only $72 (in favor of the RDX in this case). If the RDX gets 24mpg average, the Murano would save you just $18.94/year.

 

Based on the above example, I don't think the difference will be significant enough to worry about. I do average about 21-22/gallon miles now. Hopefully the RDX will be better than that. Can't wait to see the final pricing and mileage.

 

only cars need regular gas are...

RSX
CSX

but I dont see RDX to be those group therefore, it should use 91 along with

RSX-S
TSX
TL
RL
MDX

 

For the average driver, using premium vs regular gas may cost a dollar or two a week. With a vehicle in the RDX's pricerange, the assumption would be that most buyers would consider this is a reasonable price to pay for the improved performance which can be obtained by requiring premium fuel. Those who don't feel that way may be happier with the new CRV.

 

It will cost more than a dollar or two here in NY. Their is a 30-40 cents difference from 87 to 93 (we don't have 91), so even if you get 10 gal. it will cost $3-4 more. I know not much, if I did get this, I would put in 93 because it will get alot better mileage than my current MDX (which I put in 87)

 

The current CR-V special edition has leather seats, steering wheel and shift knob heated seats and outside mirrors for 26k.

 

Turbo motor pretty much guarantees that it will use premium.

 

I never understood why people get so into buying premium gas. Per gallon, water costs about $1 per pint at a gas station which equals $8 per gallon.

 

you will get better gas mileage with premium over regular due to reduced premature detonation, which robs power and wastes gas. also over the life of the car, your injectors will stay cleaner, as well as the fuel filter sine premium is cleaner than regular. also your spark plugs will be cleaner and last longer since there is less detonation. it is worth the extra $.20 a gallon. here in GA we have 93 or higher octane premium for only $.15-.17 more than regular. Im sure that in california with the much lesser quality gas than we have here, i would definitely always run premium in my car whether it requires it or not.

 

I always use premium. But when somebody buys a TL or RL from me they often complain they 'have' to use premium. Big deal.

 

well here in canada it is huge difference in money to use premium.
On top of being already $3/gallon regular gas. We also get winter gas which yields significantly lower mileage.

any calculations people make here don't work.

anyway, I usually get plus grade these days.

 

Almost none of this is true.

 

It's interesting that you say you get winter gas and get less mileage there. I filled up at a sunoco in Ottawa (ultra 94) and still got 30mpg in my CL. What I find interesting is the 10cent drop in gas prices in the evening hours.

 

California gas is one of the cleanest in the world, hence it's steep cost vs. other states.

 

I'm not sure if its cleaner for your engine, but its cleaner for the environment. And thats what brings up the costs, special gas for CA so only refined in CA, less competition.

 

about octane rating for RDX turbo-I have a 9-5 SAAB and it has a turbo "limiter" ( there is a more technical name) so that gas octane from 87 to the preferred 92 is safe for this 3.2 turbo engine. If the RDX has a "limiter" then lower octane may be O.K. Try ACURA with your question.

 

In most modern vehicles that require premimum gas, the motor has what is known as a knock sensor and a detonation sensor. The reason why some motors require premimum gas is that they run high compression and/or some sort of forced induction via turbo or supercharger. With a motor running higher compression than others or having a turbo or supercharger, the higher octane fuel reduces the probability for premature detonation of the fuel by compression to occur which can cause the valves to knock by hitting the piston. The higher the octane rating of the fuel, the higher resistance it has to prematuring igniting by compression.

When the sensor(s) sense that the motor is detonating or knocking, most motors will then retard the timing to prevent damage from happening. This almost always results in lower performance and efficiency of the motor. In other words, your motor makes less power and gets less fuel economy than it would/did with premimum fuel (91+ octane depending what you can get and where you're from). The reason you car gets less fuel economy is that your motor makes less power to move the almost standard weight of you and your car, meaning it has to work harder and use more fuel.

If your car is knocking or prematurely detonating fuel by compression, you can be sure that your engine is hating you. During premature detonation of fuel by compression, your piston is on its up-stroke of its movement which is on the opposite side of its usual down-stroke. What does this all exactly mean? Your piston wants to go up, the fuel and air its compressing explodes before it should, thus pushing down on the piston while the piston continues to go up due to mechanical force. Do this enough times, and well, i'm sure you can see that something eventually will break (read: the rod connecting the piston to the crankshaft). A broken rod can break a hole in the cylinder and/or motor which means death to the motor causing you downtime and a rental car while it gets fixed.

 

On the reverse side, a car requiring regular gas will not benefit from the use of a higher grade gas than it requires. If anything, you may not get a complete burn and fuel gets left in the cylinder because of the higher octane gas's natural property to resist ignition. Any notion of better performance, cleaner engine, cleaner emissions, etc. is just your mind wanting you to believe you paid for something more than what you did pay for.

 

Just to throw some more information into this thread....

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question90.htm

 

I can guarantee with almost 100% certainty the RDX literature will say "using gasoline with an octane lower than 91 may cause damage to the engine." 91 plus will be mandatory for this engine.