What octane do you put in your tank?

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riivaaja

riivaaja

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Minneapolis, Minnesota
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riivaaja
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riivaaja
I used to only put 91 octane Chevron petrol in my car, but now that I have moved where Chevron's don't exist, I'm torn between Shell's Nitrogen 91 octane and British Petroleum's Invigorate 93-94 octane. Yes, gasoline could just be gasoline for some, but the octane in my precious car is important to me, especially after dropping 4,000 feet in elevation and seemingly gaining a lot more horsepower.

So then, what's your poison?
 
93 from either Shell or BP, the car does something odd when I put lower grade fuel in (time adjustment?) and I get awful mileage. I can put 92 or 94 in too and it doesn't really do anything, I just don't drop to 89 or 87.

And really just put whatever octane is recommended into your car, it's recommended for a reason.
 
The poll options are a bit limited, mainly because octane ratings differ depending on where you are in the world. Pumps in the States quote the Motor Octane Number (MON) or Pump Octane Number (PON), or possibly a number based on AKI (Anti-Knock Index). The last one I think is the correct one. In the UK and elsewhere, we use RON (Research Octane Number), which is measured in a different way and therefore works on a different scale.

"Regular" in the UK is 95 RON, and super is usually 97/98 RON. BP Ultimate, Shell V-Power and the like are 99 RON. I seem to remember Avgas is about 103 RON.

I run my car on regular, 95 RON. I think regular in the UK is still a higher RON than Regular in the states, but Premium is similar for both. They're all frickin' expensive.
 
Regular, I think it's 89 around here. Doesn't hurt my car any, it hasn't any serious compression. I usually get Mobil, though - guaranteed not to have water in it, and the price is usually competitive.

If I toy around with the timing, I might get a higher grade.
 
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Regular 87. I have an old school carbureted I6, so I just go for the cheapest octane. I also have no preference to the station, so I just pick whatever is closer or whatever is cheapest, depending where I am.
 
homeforsummer
The poll options are a bit limited, mainly because octane ratings differ depending on where you are in the world. Pumps in the States quote the Motor Octane Number (MON) or Pump Octane Number (PON), or possibly a number based on AKI (Anti-Knock Index). The last one I think is the correct one. In the UK and elsewhere, we use RON (Research Octane Number), which is measured in a different way and therefore works on a different scale.

"Regular" in the UK is 95 RON, and super is usually 97/98 RON. BP Ultimate, Shell V-Power and the like are 99 RON. I seem to remember Avgas is about 103 RON.

I run my car on regular, 95 RON. I think regular in the UK is still a higher RON than Regular in the states, but Premium is similar for both. They're all frickin' expensive.
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What he said ^


I've been tempted to try mine on the likes of V-Power and Ultimate, but any research I've read has proved inconclusive when it comes to performance benefits (or the benefits are so small that they might be down to the decreased weight in the driver's wallet). That combined with the fact that I'm a lowly student means I don't bother.

Also I don't think it'd make any difference in the first place - my car's engine was designed to perform on Brazilian petrol, so I don't suppose it cares whether it's being fed 99RON or Tesco Value Vodka.
 
The G35 gets 91 as recommended in the owners manual (it would get it anyways, but thats the main point I told my girlfriend) and the Vibe gets regular 87.
 
SRV2LOW4ME
The G35 gets 91 as recommended in the owners manual (it would get it anyways, but thats the main point I told my girlfriend) and the Vibe gets regular 87.
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You guys seem to have crap fuel in Canada or at least at the Esso I went to when I was there. I got 91 octane and I then managed to drop 5 mpg from my average for US fill ups. Maybe the car just wasn't tuned to run on it, I don't know.
 
Hmmm depends on my mood... quite literally... I run 87 octane usually but if I want to spoil the ZX2.. I will put some V-Power 93 in him. :) -- Randy
 
Gonna vote 93, because when I can that's what I use. I only use Shell V-power, the car hasn't had anything else from about a month after I got it (the salesman gave me a full tank of regular from BP after the purchase :sick:). Usually the car gets 91 octane though because the Shell on my way to college only has that level of V-power. Going the other way I can get 93. I can't notice a difference either way, and I've forgotten at the moment exactly which grade of premium it does require.

Edit: I think I'm going to experiment a little once it warms up and the stations switch back from winter gas to try out BP and see if my mileage is any different. My usual tanks are above 27mpg, almost always 30 or 31mpg if I keep my foot out of it and don't drive around any extra. Then my record on a highway trip was 37mpg. Not bad for a car rated at 29mpg highway.
 
My parents put V Power I think it is in, or what they call 98 over here. The fuel that you are supposed to use with powerful cars (our Subaru Legacy needs it).
 
Jondot
Also I don't think it'd make any difference in the first place - my car's engine was designed to perform on Brazilian petrol, so I don't suppose it cares whether it's being fed 99RON or Tesco Value Vodka.
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Hooked up to a pump and a spray nozzle in the intake, Tesco Value Vodka makes an excellent octane booster.

-

I only use 95-97 RON because my car has been tuned for it... but the vagaries of E10-enriched gasoline and fuel prices are making me think it's time to detune and suck up the low octane.

For stock cars? It doesn't really matter. Some people see a tiny bit of savings in going high octane (depending on the engine), but there's no real point to using something besides what the manual recommends.
 
Try to use V-power, but get a sudden reduction in mileage. No idea why. Usually stick with 89, or whatever is the cheapest, and usually add injector clean to the tank.
 
I use exclusively shell v-power 93 octane in the Prelude. I get noticeably better mileage with shell gas than BP. I havent owned a car in like 5 years that hasnt required premium gas.
 
I try to get 98 Octane, but there's only 2 places in town that stock it, so it usually cops 95 Octane.
 
The Talon feeds exclusively on Chevron 94 (and a bit of water/methyl hydrate mix atomized into the intake).

The bike feeds on whatever's available - Typically 89 or 91.
 
opendriver
Try to use V-power, but get a sudden reduction in mileage. No idea why. Usually stick with 89, or whatever is the cheapest, and usually add injector clean to the tank.
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You should give that another shot now that you've replaced your spark plugs and whatever else. I don't get why that would've happened.
 
homeforsummer
The poll options are a bit limited, mainly because octane ratings differ depending on where you are in the world. Pumps in the States quote the Motor Octane Number (MON) or Pump Octane Number (PON), or possibly a number based on AKI (Anti-Knock Index). The last one I think is the correct one. In the UK and elsewhere, we use RON (Research Octane Number), which is measured in a different way and therefore works on a different scale.

"Regular" in the UK is 95 RON, and super is usually 97/98 RON. BP Ultimate, Shell V-Power and the like are 99 RON. I seem to remember Avgas is about 103 RON.

I run my car on regular, 95 RON. I think regular in the UK is still a higher RON than Regular in the states, but Premium is similar for both. They're all frickin' expensive.
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I've amended the poll with the rough approximations of RON values to US "octane" ones. It's not quite exact - in fact there's no reason at all why 95 RON petrol couldn't be the same as 81 octane gasoline - but generally PON is 8 higher than MON, and RON (which is [PON+MON]/2) comes out about 4 higher.

And I generally mix it up. 95 most of the time with the odd flush through of 98 because it contains cleaning additives you don't get in 95 and keeps the fuel economy where it ought to be (with no noticeable power improvements, which I wouldn't expect anyway as, even though the car has knock sensors and can advance/retard the spark accordingly, it's a really low compression engine).
 
87 for all my cars, The Rx7 would be no bit of difference from premium and the Buick has the 3800 so its good, then the eclipse...well nobody cares.
 
Flerbizky
What a racist poll, leaving all us diesel heads out in the cold (-:
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You could create a thread asking everyone what cetane they're running, but I doubt anybody knows.

I run 107 RON on propane. That's when I actually have propane in the tank. Switching between propane and gas plays hell with my tuning. :lol:
 

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