Is super unleaded really necessary?

[05LR3AZ]

I run Premium, always. This question always comes up and then someone always says to quit being a cheap bastard and just run what is recommended. Then someone else says that they run regular all the time with no concern.

I was in BFE Nevada somewhere and the pump I was at only had regular so I used it. The vehicle just didn't run the same and felt weak and sluggish :ack: I didn't think it would be but it was noticeable enough for me to never want to run low octane fuel again. It just doesn't seem worth the $5 or so bucks...

 

[msggunny]

20 gal of 87 @ $3.15 = $63

20 gal of 91 @ $3.48 = $69
(price of gasoline in my area of Maine as of today)

difference of $6

Hmmmmmmmmm, doesn't brake the bank. If it does you may want to look at an alternative form of transportation or just make lunch at home and save the money you would have spent at Applebees for gas.


For shits and giggles i ran a few tanks of 87 a month ago, got shit gas mileage from running it, 15mpg vs 17mpg. So in the long run you are spending more by not having your engine run as efficiently as it should.

 

[macklow]

if you've got a '94 or '95, they run fine on whatever you put in them.

I've put hundreds of thousands of miles on my '95, and have tried all the fuel options from "top tier" premium (93 in canada) to 85 octane from no-name vendors in Utah/Colorado.

My '95 seems to run best on the lowest octane I can find. This is experience gleaned from 230,000+ miles behind the wheel. Believe me, for a time I was putting so many miles on it that I tried everything to weasel out a few more mpg.

turns out the only thing that helps is driving slower.

 

[p m]

There is no such thing as a 6% grade in Indiana. It's doubtful that Paul has ever driven a LR on a 6% grade ever.

yeah, I know, that's why I brought it up.

 

[wheelen disco]

I've noticed a slight increase in temps running 87 . 194? vs 190.4 on 91 , I can feel the power difference and see the MPG fall. Btw its a 2000

 

[ptschram]

There is no such thing as a 6% grade in Indiana. It's doubtful that Paul has ever driven a LR on a 6% grade ever.

It doesn't surprise me at all that Paul wouldn't use the recommended fuel. It would actually surprise me if he did.

Again, Mike I don't know what I did to offend you, but I have driven Mosquito Pass in Colorado, and Pendleton Pass in Oregon.

I believe that Mosquito Pass is the highest maintained road in the US, and Pendleton Pass in Oregon is, I have been told, the longest continuously climbing road in the US.

Do you have any more misguided insults for me?

 

[BenDronsick]

I don't get it. 2-3MPG decrease is at least 15%. At $50 per tank that's $7.50 wasted. So if you save $6 and waste $7.50 what do you have to show but slightly hotter aluminum warping slightly faster towards the next HG job. When gas hit $4/gal. I went to 87 too. Mileage was appreciably less, and the 4.6 felt like a 4.0. It's counter-intuitive, but the higher octane makes sense in the end.

 

[no694terry]

I studied the mpg in my 300m one summer when gas started to increase, i got 15% better gas mileage running premium plus all the extra benefits of power and cleaning burning, better for O2 sensors and cats, better for injectors, just all around better. And at $3 buck for regular, premium would break even at 3.45 a gallon. so your actually wasting more money running regular. I run premium in everything or atleast plus, some gas stations around here really mark up the premium then its not worth it in a 96 subaru with 200k on the clock

 

[capri_auto]

the math makes sense...

 

[fishEH]

Running Regular octane makes you instantly gay.

 

[JAKD-UP]

brett didnt we fill yours with coleman fuel in moab......just sayin...lol

 

[ptschram]

brett didnt we fill yours with coleman fuel in moab......just sayin...lol

LOL-BTDT, but not in a Rover.

 

[Mike_Rupp]

Paul, it's not that you've done anything offend me. It just seems that in the years of reading your posts, you recommend the cheap way. Countless people have reported mileage losses and poor performance with lower octane fuel, not to mention it's what is recommended fro the factory, but you still take the cheap way out.

 

[JohnB]

I believe that Mosquito Pass is the highest maintained road in the US, and Pendleton Pass in Oregon is, I have been told, the longest continuously climbing road in the US.

Isn't that Dead Man Pass. Been years since I traveled that route but I remember that hill. Seemed like almost 10 miles of solid climbing.

http://www.tripcheck.com/popups/Cam.asp?camera=623&curRegion=3



I run 89 in my D2 and can't really notice any increase in power if I run 91.
FYI 91 Super is $3.49 in Portland today.

 

[JAKD-UP]

LOL-BTDT, but not in a Rover.

i might have been drunk and wander'd to his campsite and did it...or i did it to tim scullys jeep....

 

[no694terry]

i believe 91 is what the book calls for. around here most gas stations carry 93 over 91, sunoco used to carry 94 until a couple years ago.

 

[p m]

Again, Mike I don't know what I did to offend you, but I have driven Mosquito Pass in Colorado, and Pendleton Pass in Oregon.

I believe that Mosquito Pass is the highest maintained road in the US, and Pendleton Pass in Oregon is, I have been told, the longest continuously climbing road in the US.

Do you have any more misguided insults for me?

Paul, not to intend it to be an insult - detonation is usually not an issue at high elevations.

 

[ptschram]

Paul, not to intend it to be an insult - detonation is usually not an issue at high elevations.

My response was directed toward the question of my having driven on steep hills, or at high elevations.

Just like those who question my driving on corduroy roads when the road in front of my house is a very rough corduroy road-that I have to drive every time I leave my home.

Merely trying to correct ignorance.

 

[Tugela]

Every time I go ice climbing up in British Columbia I stop at the "Super Duper" gas station on the US side of the border in Sumas. It's run by a Russian family and gas prices are way cheaper than they are in Canadia. Plus this gas station has the added bonus of selling 100 octane racing fuel. I've always been tempted to put that in the tank but at $8/gallon it's probably only used by the local kids who put it in their tuner cars with fart can exhausts.

 

[wheelen disco]

Every time I go ice climbing up in British Columbia I stop at the "Super Duper" gas station on the US side of the border in Sumas. It's run by a Russian family and gas prices are way cheaper than they are in Canadia. Plus this gas station has the added bonus of selling 100 octane racing fuel. I've always been tempted to put that in the tank but at $8/gallon it's probably only used by the local kids who put it in their tuner cars with fart can exhausts.

I don't live to far from a small airport, I buy fuel from there regularly for my dirt bike and snowmobile. Its only 3.40 right now, and its 110 low lead.