stan_t

When Shell started doing the nitrogen formula stuff a few years ago, many turbocharged Subaru folk turned away from it, I think even Subaru recommended not using it. Again, carry-over from my previous car ownership days. Price-wise, they are the same, Shell is sometimes even more expensive.

Chevron has the techron additive which I believe to actually work for cleaning the fuel system, valves, etc. Could just be marketing, but it seems to be working okay for me, so I stick with it. Chevron stations around here seem to be consistent with fuel quality, and are usually pretty clean -- some other stations are just dirty and rundown, which makes me wonder what their underground tanks look like.

Stan

Acura_Dude

I can understand how people have their differences, but I wanted to point out something. Pursuit you're literally at sea level in miami. Florida is a flat state. IDK the elevation of San Fran (Stan may can help me here) but I'm going out on a limb and say they're at a higher elevation than we are. Even if it's a few hundred feet to a thousand difference.

I know in my area we have 93. I don't see 91 much. It seems it's easier to find 93 on the east coast/south than it is on the west coast. There's many variables going on here, plus you two live and drive in 2 different parts of the country. What doesn't affect us may affect someone else in a different environment. Just my observation.

stan_t

I live 1/2 mile from the beach, so sea level. But I can go to 2,000 feet easily nearby, and 7,000+ on a road trip.

Stan

Tannis

A couple of weeks ago I decided to run the 87 test on my own car. It would be the first time ever that I introduced anything less than 92. I didn't want to go cold turkey so I topped off with 87 when I had a half-tank left of 93. So then I was driving around for a couple of days. Didn't notice much at first but then I started feeling a slight difference in performance. And then when stomping on the accelerator yielded much slower than expected results, I started regretting my decision. Then while climbing a slight hill, I slowly pressed the accelerator without making it downshift and I got that horrible "diesel" sound. Never heard it once prior to that mix. So if it was doing it already on a mix, I can't imagine how horrible it would be on straight 87.

Maybe it needed more time to adjust. I don't know. I'd like to be able to use 87 because this now $0.50 price difference between regular and super is bullshit. Anyone else have that experience and got past it? If gas hits $5/gal, I'm selling my car and moving to Jersey City so I can take the train. Stupid cars.

stan_t

If you don't reset the ECU, long term fuel trim and timing values stay at what was learned while running with the engine happy. Then, as you get some knock, ECU will pull timing and add more fuel. It will keep trying to advance, but if it detects knock again it will pull back again, repeat. Not a fun mode to be driving in.

Stan

gitchies

Old topic, but I registered just to comment on it...
"recommended" and "required"...take them for what they are.
And come Canada to buy gas.....stop complaining about gas prices in America...I love going there, its only 3.40 a gallon...
Here it's usually 5.60 gallon.....
still complaining?

TSXy Luster

Shut it, Canuck! It is $10 a gallon in the UK.



I love Canada.

mrstak

iTrader: (1)

awesome first post. so informative glitchies. please stay and post more. we love you.

Mercedes>BMW

Premium is another .20 cents, why do people bitch? If you can't afford premium go get a prius. Premium is better for the car and it will end up costing the same as regular.

ceb

Premium certainly isn't "just 20 cents more" in the DC area. Currently, regular is in the $3.60 range, mid is $3.80 and premium is a hair over $4. Diesel is $3.95.

Accordingly, premium is priced at 40 cents over regular - a difference of over $7 per tank.

That isn't a reason to use regular but don't downplay the price differences.

01Blacuras

Eh.. i used premium on my old cl... UGH HATED GAS PRICES But now i just throw in a tank of regular on my tsx

ceb

It is false economy to feed your car cheaper fuel based on gas prices but depending on your driving style you may not need all 201 horses anyway.

WheelMcCoy

Gotta' agree. 20 cents more will just get me mid-grade in the NYC area. It takes an additional 40 to 50 cents to get to premium.

But one benefit of NYC area is that we have mass transit nearby. We drive about 7500 miles per year -- half the national average -- so we feed our wagon premium.

Acura_Dude

JEEZ! I didn't know there could be a 40-50cent difference between regular/premium. Here it's 20-24 cents difference. I'm used to seeing a 10-12 cents change betweent reg, mid, and premium.

Simba91102

Gas prices (like the additive package) tend to be regional (as evidenced by the posts above), so comparing the going rate is tough. One thing that does seem to have changed pretty universally though, is the price spread between grades. Those of us that have been buying gas since, well, forever (it seems...), remember the 10 cent increment between regular and premium (for instance), and then, when a mid grade was added, the same 10 cent difference between grades seemed to hold (for awhile). Regular, being the price leader, now seems to be mostly priced at 20 cents or more below even the mid grade. The spread between the mid grade and premium can vary quite a bit too, though most (here in the MA-CT region) often stick with a 10 cent difference. All that said, as I've commented before, even with the more common wider spread between regular and premium (which is mainly 93 in New England), on a percentage basis, the price difference is peanuts (in my opinion). For those that concern themselves with these peanuts, try sacrificing a Starbucks or two per week, and you can feed your car the good stuff (as recommended by Honda).

gitchies

Had to chime in on this....Americans will always complain of gas, booze and cigarettes..
Canada, not long ago we were paying 1.52 perl litre, 4 litres to a gallon...yes 6 a gallon....
24 pack of bud, or any domestic beer....48
A pack of cigarettes...11.25

I get why people in canada would complain of gas prices, but in America? For what. My mdx costs me a good 95 to fill...when I'm in Detroit, a mere 67....

gitchies

I'd like to see where people stand about this after the fact and a year down the road....

urbanstereo

i pump 91 all the time. if a few dollars sway you to pump one way or another, maybe a premium car isn't for you

redpoint

This is an ignorant comment, as well as most of the comments in this tread...

If a few dollars isn't much, then why don't you give it to me? The answer to that question is the reason why people would choose regular gas over premium. A few dollars matter, regardless of income. It all adds up.

My frugality in all areas of living has allowed me to live a much higher standard of living than others with my income. On a $39k income, I managed to own a TSX, a Dodge Ram diesel, a sport bike, a $250,000 home, and 4 rental units in Oklahoma.

I have used regular (87 pump octane) gas for the past 5 years with no loss in fuel economy, minimal loss in torque, and zero harm to the engine. It's about 20 cents per gallon cheaper here, which saves $3 each fill. It's not much, but then again I rarely want the extra torque.

That said, I sometimes fill with a mix of regular and premium (92 octane) fuel when I want the extra torque. I don't notice any difference in torque between 89 and 92 octane, but can barely tell when the tank has 87. The ignition timing retards with 87 octane.

ceb

Does a few dollars matter every fill up matter? It depends - but - psychologically it is an important one. If it weren't, then those grocery store "gas off" points wouldn't have the big draw that they have.

Spending $100 on groceries gets you a dime off - a whole $1.50 or so per tank. That saves less than using 87 octane but has a much bigger draw.

I think it is clear that there is a performance difference between 87 and 91. If you need that performance difference is the question.

nj2pa2nc

owned my tsx 8 years now-170k+problem free miles-regular gas.

gitchies

I agree with you. It's not about people being cheap. To each it's own. I just think these car companies have been overwhelmed by big gas companies...
"Premium recommended"..... Why run premium?
"Premium required".... That I get....
At the end of the day, it's a tsx. I was looking to get one as a beater/commuter car rather then using the mdx as a commuter car.

iCrap

I wouldn't go as far as to say the tsx is a "beater" but yea it's nothing special obviously.

This is such a stupid thread though. If you don't want to put premium in your car, then don't.

redpoint

I expect to see more and more vehicles recommend or require premium fuel because there are advantages. You can run higher compression with higher octane fuel, and that increases both torque and thermal efficiency.

While I'm opposed to subsidies and mandates for ethanol in our fuel, it could be that higher percentages E will become commonplace, and manufacturers will engineer cars to run on the higher octane. This in turn will improve thermal efficiency (although MPG will still go down since ethanol only contains 2/3 of the energy of gasoline).

It's not the higher octane that improves fuel economy, but instead the engine that is built to operate on the higher octane fuels that is capable of running more efficiently.

FYI- For those of you that have mid-grade fuel; the pump achieves this by mixing regular and premium fuel together at the pump. There is no separate storage for mid-grade fuel. In Oregon and Washington, mid-grade (89 octane) is achieved by mixing 60% regular with 40% premium. It's actually slightly cheaper to mix the fuel yourself by first pumping part of the tank with premium, and then filling the rest with regular.

anlog

Just got a 4cyl TSX Wagon and the Acura dealership salesman told me to use premium or midgrade, but interestingly "do not use over 91 octane!" No specific reasoning was given.

rawger

Uhh. I've been using 93 every time I've filled up so far.

2012wagon

Forget regular vs premium.


Instead I would like financial advise from you. With that kind of success, I could run 100 octane in my TSX

xtcnrice

What about unreported income?

VR1

Wtf? They don't sell 91 where I live, only 93 so I've been using that since day 1.

2012wagon

Further proof, salesman have IQ lower than guys flipping burgers.

ceb

Absolutely correct. Your car will explode if you use 93 octane.

Truth is, using an octane rating higher than the rating the car was designed one will bring zero benefits but will also cause zero harm.

Since 91 is recommended, then it is the correct gas to use. 91 may not be available everywhere so you can either use 93 or save a bit of money by using about 3/4 93 and top off with regular.

At high altitudes (Colorado for example), 89 octane will work just like 91 octane.

rawger

Holy shit, almost gave me a heart attack after I read the first sentence. LOL