No one knows everything, but ACS=Acura's Client Services people come close.

From a recent letter I got from Acura's HQ.

"ACS has thoughts on ill-advised owner attempts to beat stratospheric

premium fuel prices by using regular unleaded instead. In a word: don't.

Your Acura is designed to operate on a minimum of 91 octane premium

gasoline. If your stranded and can't access premium, then 87 octane

regular unleaded will see you home, but don't make a habit of using regular

gasoline. You want the best possible performance from your Acura--and

peak performance DEMANDS the correct octane fuel-91-93 octane."

 

I agree, if you bought a sporty car, you can afford the right gas as well.

I remember, I once seen on a highway, a Hummer H2 with a license plate "INEEDGAS", I almost crashed from laughing.

 

Yeah, right. If they knew almost everything, they'd know that a lot of TL-S's are knocking with 93 Octane, so that bit about "designed to operate" is off just a tad.

Also, if they wanted to make a case, they'd explain WHY you use Premium and provide a simple Cost Analysis (i.e. ~$3 per tank more, but xx better MPG = $y over the course of a year).

Thanks for nothing Acura Client Services.

 

C O R R E C T

That's why I smile everytime I see a post ... my mileage sucks, what do I do to improve mileage? Does that mod increase mileage? How should I drive to increase mileage?

Jeez. I personally want to enjoy driving this fine piece of equipment and the price I have to pay is "premium gas". I'm totally comfortable with that.

If I wanted to save gas and have great mileage I would have bought a hydbrid.

 

The way I see it, I gave up rear wheel drive handling and a few inches of garage space over the Infiniti and BMW to get better mileage. Fuel economy isn't MORE important than sport stuff, but that doesn't mean it counts for nothing.

 

Bearcat94 brings up a very good point. My Acura dealer tech tells me the only way Acura could reach the plateau of ULEV rating was to raise the compression to the point of requiring premium fuel. There is a lot of marketing dollars to be gained by that strategy. If you look at the Toyota Camry, they achieve equivelant or better hp per cubic inch on regular fuel, but are not ULEV. This is with a DOHC engine and chain drive vs. our SOHC with belt drive. I looked into this pretty heavily when I bought my '07 TL-S because the cost of ownership was so much higher with Acura. Figure belt changes at 105K vs. no belt on the Camry almost swayed me. The Camry also gets better mpg (on regular).
Anyway, I decided upon Acura due to past experience and a better performance feel. This premium fuel thing though....I think there is more to it IMO.

 

No fair comparing TCO on a Camry to a TL. The Camry competes with the Accord, which runs on 87. The TL beats the Lexus ES350/superCamry (as well as the Infiniti G and BMW 3) on TCO.

 

Anyone that uses regular unleaded probably isnt even on this forum.

 

HAHAHAHAH i saw that hummer out on the LIE in nassau county... f'ing hilarious

i only use premium..

even in my first car, 92 explorer w/ 278,000 miles.... premium gas gives better mileage...

 

Question for the yanks, what's the typical price difference between regular and premium per gallon?

 

$0.15 per Gallon diff btwn 87 (Regular) and 93 (Premium) here.

Now-and-days, that's like $0.25 Canandian. lol.

Our choices are 87, 89, 93 Octane.

 

On the highway the TL gets better mileage than any other car in it's class. I very much enjoy getting 28-32 mpg when I trucking at 65-70 mph. If I have to pay twenty cents or so more for it, fine.

 

Actually that's like $0.17 CAD. anyways too my point We have 87,89,91, and one station has 94 Octane fuel. if 87 is at $1 per litre 91 will be $1.11, so $0.11/litre premium.

With 1 US gallon = 3.7854118 litres for easyness I'll round 1gal=4litres our price premium would be equivalent to $0.44 per gallon call it $0.40 to compensate for the previous rounding.

Now if people are too cheap to buy premium there they should try it here lol. If our pump price is $1.11/litre it would translate to $4.18/Gal. Boourns for reference $1/L is considered cheap nowadays.

Moral of the Story, if you can swing a $40,000 car you can afford a $0.15/gal premium on your fuel bill. It's only an extra $2.50/tank (17gal) or 1 less dunken donuts coffee+ donut/week. Where as North of the 49th it's a $7/tank(65L) premium or 1 less Starbucks Coffee + a Biscotti/week.

 

My TL-S never knocked, always ran perfect, but I used BP 93 since day 1.

 

about .20 cents here in these parts!