acford

Does anybody here use less then 91 octane for their Type-S? If so, do you see any performance decrease?

I've had my car for a week now and I've only put 89 in it so far. I haven't noticed any decrease in performance, but then again, I haven't had it for very long.

ranberndt

Our cars have a 10.5:1 compression ration. Premium is a must.

yeah, yeah it will run on 87 (via knock sensor), but it ain't good for your engine.

run 91+ & enjoy it.

Ken1997TL

You can but i REALLY wouldn't recommend it on the Type S. The Base model will run regular with no problems. The Type S (shudder) will act like its choking with anything under 91 octane.

vancityguy01

alot of guys even been sayin to put 91+ in my tl-p so in type s i would put 91 for definite, if not higher grade even.

Tracer

Friend of mine with an 02 TLp runs it on regular.. no problems, sure it's not as fast as it can be, but it runs fine.. and it has for 65000 miles.

My wife occationally manages to get plus in my own TLp, no problems either.

Tracer

ShadyVille

just put premium in it, your car performs so much better with it

FTM-1

The 1999-2001 TL are desiged to run on 91octane or higher.
No where in the owners manual does it say to use less than 91 octane premium fuel. If you do a search on this you will see many agree. When I got my 2000TL over 3 1/2 years ago the service maneger told about 25 of us in a new owners car clinic that my dealership had so use only premium. He said only in an emergency that we could get away with lower octane. Also one car magezine did a test on this a few years ago. It found that using lower than required octane in cars designed to run on premium ended up costing more in many cases. This was because the lower octane messed up the cars fuel economy & it ended up costing more overtime.

Ken1997TL

No no no. The Base TL's just like the Type S's come with knock sensors. All J series V6's have very sophisticated ECU's to optimize the spark timing. The Base TL's lose maybe 15 hp when using regular fuel. The Type S's with their higher compression suffer far more dramatically.

When you're just loafing around on the highway at a steady speed you're using maybe 40 or 50 hp. So unless you're racing people at stoplights, you can get away with regular on these engines. Now on the 1st gen TL's its a different story.

jdone

Does anyone understand that it's not just a matter of losing a little power at the margin. The knock sensor retards the timing thus preventing pre-ignition (knocking). By doing this you make the engine less efficient and it gets fewer mpg.. YOU DO NOT SAVE MONEY BY USING REGULAR in the tl or tls.!!!

disgookonfiya

i always put in 93 octane, u think i should start using 91, or just keep on with what i'm doing.... b/c the maybe 50 cent difference in price doesn't bother me......

gohawks63

x 23478238946237462376238746283!!!!

I don't remember if it was Car & Driver or Motor Trend did an experiment with a BMW 3 Series. As you said, any savings by using < 91 octane is offset by decreased gas mileage.

I guess I'm amazed that people are willing to spend $30k+ on a car, but then will skimp on gas. If the price difference between 91 octane & 89 octane is $0.05, the you're saving $0.85 ON ONE TANK OF GAS! $1.70 if the price difference is $0.10 a gallon. If you fill up once a week, this results in an annual savings of...................................... are you ready for this? .................................................. .................................................. ....... $44.20 ($0.05 difference) or $88.40 ($0.10 difference)!

Put premium in it!

The Acclude

These are the kind of people I was talking about in my "Car People" thread

Bear2Day

If you are skimping on gas, what else are you skimping on? Your going to pay on way or the other! If you don`t what is right for your car, you are going to find yourself stranded in the worst places possible.

BigNard

I agree with you guys. Why spend $30k on a car and then go the cheap on gas? Its like buying a Bentley and worrying about the cost of insurance. Is the savings of a whopping 5 cents/gallon worth less performance and maybe shorter engine life. I'll answer in one word. Notttttt!!!!

unlemming

The insurance one I can understand, my insurance is damn near my car payment (If I was leasing it would be over). As far as gas goes I never put low grade in my Honda Magna, and it was meant for 87.

2001TL4KCdude

3 words "not worth it"

AK_MOBBER

Well you guys are assuming all of us paid 30 K for our cars. haha! And you know what they say about assumptions - dont do it.

I started putting 87 octane 'regular' into my 99 TL when gas prices here in phoenix were $2 for regular! Premium 91 octane was around $2.50 sooooo.... lets see
14 gal * 2 a gal = $28 a tank
14 gal * 2.5 a gal = $35 a tank

So I was saving $7 a tank.

$7 can buy enough top ramen to live off for 3 weeks.

now that gas prices have come down a bit to *ahem* normal prices. I put 1 tank of 91 octane for every 3 tanks 87 octane.

acford

I agree with all the posts I have seen on this subject and will start putting 93 octane in my tank. Especially since I have the Type-S.

As for price, 93 is 20 cents more expensive then 87. So it is a significant amount when you look at it from an annual basis.

And as for $30k for the car, I got a very sweet deal on my Type-S last week. I was able to negotiate almost $250 under invoice at $28,800(including the $500 destination). Radley Acura where I bought the vehicle in Falls Church,VA was also offering free oil changes for life and of course Acura for the first time in history is offering 2.9% financing for 60 months. They have done 2.9% for 36 months before, but not 60. So I walked out feeling pretty good.

vancityguy01

i been puttin in 89 in my car and feel bad at times, 87 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to low of a gas grade, and about puttin 91 in every 3 tanks or whatever, it's actually bad to be switching the gas constantly around like that, i think it's best to pick one grade and stick to your guns, i will be puttin 91 from now on.

FTM-1

This was my point you are messing with your cars fuel economy by using the lower octane fuel.