SocaliCLS

i was told that we should always put 92 octane is this true? or can we put 87 or 89?

NiteQwill

Use 91 and above to prevent pinging and knocking.

btw, Cali doesn't have 92 octane.

anothercls

94 when you can find it and rip of your arm to give to the attendant.

fahoumh

the engine was made to work best with 91 octane, right?

Dan

patek007

Anything 'leased' such as Bimmers, in my case X5 - I use 87 [as BMW mechanic told me], since there is NO noticible difference whatsoever, even though they require I believe 91...
Yet in CL-S... you can go down to 89, but NOT 87... since it does start knocking... bringing back carburated knocks from yesteryear ... [Tried/confirmed twice during 3 years of ownership]

RUF87

Use the octane recommended in the user manual.

If in a pinch and they are out of 91 (or premium) you can use a lower grade.

Note: It doesn't give you any benefit to run a higher than required octane. In some cars it can actual be bad to run a higher octane. Since higher octane gas doesn't burn as easily unburnt fuel is passed in to the emission system, specifically it collects in the CAT and can cause odors and such.

Unless you are running higher compression or a S/C you won't need more than 91 octane.

Also note that different regions have different grades based on elevation and such. Here in Texas we get 87, 89 or 93 . . . so I end up using 93 as the default.

Ruf

BEETROOT

I've used 87 a bunch of times and I can't tell the difference.

My tank is actually full of 87 right now becaust I didn't feel like paying 230/gallon...it drives great.

Is it actually bad for the car? Seems fine to me...

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Recommened 91 or better. You can use 89 in a pinch as said. The ECU will detune your engine to run with 89, or even 87. however the car will run like crap. In FL we have 93 instaed of 91.

NSX-Tuner

I'm running 91 Chevron with a S/C and for the most part it's ok. According to CT, this is sufficient. But I wish there was higher octane gas available in my area.

farberstyle

but does brand matter? for some reason it seems when i put in off brand gas, i tend to get lower mileage then when putting in chevron, texaco etc.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Do a .

Several folks have put lower grade gas in and experienced knocking, meanwhile Beetroot didn't.

The owners manual recommends 91, so that's what you should put in.....

SanMarinoTypeS

I alternate between 89 and 91, but now that 91 is $2.10 in NY I find I cheap out a lot more often , besides I have never seen the diffrence in power, or gas mileage between the grades.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

ouch... $2.10.... I was paying $2.03 for 93, but now it's up to $2.08. Damn... this blows. I won't cheap out though b/c it doesn't really end up being that much in the end. If it gets significant I may have to re-consider, but it depends how bad.

Dan

Lucky you! 2.39 in so cal.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

damn.

I was in Charlotte last week (Thurs - Sun) and it was $1.59 for 87 and around $1.75 for 92. I wanted to stockpile gas before we came home

BEETROOT

yep, $2.32 here last time I got gas (AZ)


Out here there are more additives to the gas than most places in the US I think. Its something like 15% ether. They use a different mix in California than the rest of the US to cut down on the smog and pollution (AZ gets most of its gas from Cali).

I wonder if thats why I don't get knocking or any loss of performance with the 87 octane?

SocaliCLS

$2.45 in LA.