How does your GT run on regular gas?

[MotoMike]

Lessee, say 4000 mi per yr/18 mpg=222 gallons x .27 cents diff between 87 and 93 = $60.

I'll stick with 93 thank you! I personally did the fill up on the dealer's dime when I picked up my GT in JAN and it got 93 QuickTrip, been running COSTCO 93 since(advertised as 6x the cleaner required to be top tier).

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[Schwerin]

Lessee, say 4000 mi per yr/18 mpg=222 gallons x .27 cents diff between 87 and 93 = $60.

I'll stick with 93 thank you! I personally did the fill up on the dealer's dime when I picked up my GT in JAN and it got 93 QuickTrip, been running COSTCO 93 since(advertised as 6x the cleaner required to be top tier).

0.27c? your lucky, the difference in 87 and 91 is almost 80C here in PA and it's even more if i wanna run 93. The difference is nearly 12-15$ per tank.

Hell most places here .27 is smaller than the 87-89 price difference.

 

[MotoMike]

0.27c? your lucky, the difference in 87 and 91 is almost 80C here in PA and it's even more if i wanna run 93. The difference is nearly 12-15$ per tank.

Hell most places here .27 is smaller than the 87-89 price difference.

Right! Things might be(probably would be) different if the difference was greater! Other stations in my area have a greater difference between 87 and 93 but as it is, with COSTCO, I typically get 93 for much less than the corner convenience store TEXACO charges for 87. I'm not professionally associated with either gas brand in any way by the way.

 

[Schwerin]

This is incorrect unless the manufacturer indicated that 91 gas will give you better performance. Like our Mustangs. Otherwise it makes zero difference. Money down the drain.

Not always true. For years I drove a 2014 Altima from Philly to Jersey City for work. I logged every mile so I could expense it and tracked the Price per Mile. Randomly I decided to start running 89 instead of 87jjust for the sake of seeing if there was any change over 89. When I did so the MPG I got went up enough that it was CHEAPER for me to run 89oct than 87. I then later went to 93 to test that and after many tanks had a VERY small MPG increase. Not enough to offset the cost though. After that I ran nothing but 89 until the prices for Mid-grade increased to the point it was just more economical to go back to 87.

So, to me anyone that says it's "just money down the drain" has no idea what they are talking about as it 100% depends on the car, their driving habits (mostly HW or mostly city) and the price difference in the fuel.

It's like the people that would say a set of performance plug wires were totally pointless. Get in a 1998-2003 Escort ZX2 and feel it vibrate your balls off when sitting at idle. Then swap those wires with the Ford Racing ones. The car would literally get so smooth it would sometimes feel like it was turned off at idle. And this was not due to some "old worn out wires vs new ones". This was on 2-3 year old cars, using the EXACT same plugs, only changing the wires. Its why it was one of the most popular first QOL modifications done to the car by owners. Helped the idle, smoothed out the acceleration and helped MPG. Watching the Knock sensor logs before and after was laughable with how much false knock the car would detect before.

 

[Bikeman315]

Not always true. For years I drove a 2014 Altima from Philly to Jersey City for work. I logged every mile so I could expense it and tracked the Price per Mile. Randomly I decided to start running 89 instead of 87jjust for the sake of seeing if there was any change over 89. When I did so the MPG I got went up enough that it was CHEAPER for me to run 89oct than 87. I then later went to 93 to test that and after many tanks had a VERY small MPG increase. Not enough to offset the cost though. After that I ran nothing but 89 until the prices for Mid-grade increased to the point it was just more economical to go back to 87.

So, to me anyone that says it's "just money down the drain" has no idea what they are talking about as it 100% depends on the car, their driving habits (mostly HW or mostly city) and the price difference in the fuel.

It's like the people that would say a set of performance plug wires were totally pointless. Get in a 1998-2003 Escort ZX2 and feel it vibrate your balls off when sitting at idle. Then swap those wires with the Ford Racing ones. The car would literally get so smooth it would sometimes feel like it was turned off at idle. And this was not due to some "old worn out wires vs new ones". This was on 2-3 year old cars, using the EXACT same plugs, only changing the wires. Its why it was one of the most popular first QOL modifications done to the car by owners. Helped the idle, smoothed out the acceleration and helped MPG. Watching the Knock sensor logs before and after was laughable with how much false knock the car would detect before.

Yep, you're right. I should have said "in many cases".

 

[Garfy]

On my 2020 GT it does make a difference in performance, but the car will run on 87 just fine (less power). I ran 87 during my break-in period (low miles) and did a 0-60 mph run with traction control enabled and it took 6.0 seconds to do it. I then ran the gas down and filled it with 93 twice to make sure I only had 93 in it. Did the same 0-60 mph run and it did it in 4.9 seconds. Clearly a performance difference but only if you're driving it aggressively. Other than that, running 87 was just fine if you are OK with the lower available performance. There's no danger to the engine as the 4 knock sensors will keep any possibility of detonation from occurring.

 

[Garfy]

To be fair, the Mustang doesn't call for premium either...yet it gains *some* benefit from 93 vs 91.

Most medium-high powered engines will gain some benefit from going up a few octane degrees as the ECUs are smart enough to add in timing if no knock is detected. On an econobox probably not, but a LT or Coyote or EB or Hemi truck engine will most certainly gain something from premium. Whether that's noticeable or worth it, that's another story.

Fortunately, it's easy for us Mustang owners to see a difference by using the built-in application on your dash. Lots of options from 0-60, 0-100, 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, etc. plus testing your braking performance as well. I kind of think the "christmas tree" mode is entertaining, but dumb. If you "red light" you get no stats (supposedly). The "tree" would be cool if it could link with another Mustang so you could have a real drag race...

 

[69mach1-395]

I would be more concerned about not using top tier fuel vs. high octane...

I just caught the octane episode of engine masters...87 and 116 were within a few hp of each other and both liked the same timing on what looked to be an LS engine. I tuned in late but only E85 was worth more than a few hp.

 

[LDHunter]

I started running Premium of what ever highest octane a station had for my 2019 Raptor Pickup after one of the techs at my Ford dealership said it was well known by his mechanic friends that it ran cleaner and produced a slight performance increase. I definitely noticed a performance difference but it was small. I did see a 2 mpg improvement too but it might have been a little less.

So when I got my 2020GT it's been premium since the first fill up. I won't venture to say that I'm absolutely certain that it's producing significant increases in performance or mileage because I don't know but I certainly am not taking any chances with my GT. If I was worried about the extra money I'd rather eat one less lunch out every week than take a chance on problems with my GT.

OK... Let's discuss something else about gas while we're at it. I know that everyone says it's all the same except for octane and that's simply not true. Do some research and you'll find that there are basically two differences in overall gas quality and that is mostly in the detergents added when the gas is put in the delivery truck. Basically, if you don't want to do the research, the big major gas companies have better gas than the little guys. Stick with the major players like Shell, Exxon, Texaco etc. Places like Raceway and Wally World have crappy gas. One exception is Costco. They have top tier gas at a very reasonable price and their premium isn't much more money.

Another tip is to get a credit card from someone like Shell who gives you $.30 off per gallon for the first 10 fill ups and then $.10 off per gallon after that if you use their card. Also look for a Shell that has lower prices than the others. I have one that is quite often $.10 to $.20 per gallon less the competition including many of the cut rate places.

 

[WildHorse]

87 and 116 were within a few hp of each other

LOL wut ?

1. Engine Masters must have the most incompetent tuners on the planet.
-------------------- or ------------------------
2. It was a pretty much bone stock LS (stock C/R, stock cam) that can't take advantage of the higher octane. Guessing its a LS cause I don't have the app.

Remember as well that LS don't have VVT to take advantage of dynamic compression ratios vs static. They need to change the cam for a tighter LSA.

 

[dpAtlanta]

LOL wut ?

1. Engine Masters must have the most incompetent tuners on the planet.
-------------------- or ------------------------
2. It was a pretty much bone stock LS (stock C/R, stock cam) that can't take advantage of the higher octane. Guessing its a LS cause I don't have the app.

Remember as well that LS don't have VVT to take advantage of dynamic compression ratios vs static. They need to change the cam for a tighter LSA.

You may want to watch the episode, then comment.
I watched it and I agree.
Virtually no difference,

 

[WildHorse]

ou may want to watch the episode, then comment.

Just said I can't watch it. So if YOU did, why not explain it to a dummy like me.

 

[Hack]

I just caught the octane episode of engine masters...87 and 116 were within a few hp of each other and both liked the same timing on what looked to be an LS engine. I tuned in late but only E85 was worth more than a few hp.

LOL wut ?

1. Engine Masters must have the most incompetent tuners on the planet.
-------------------- or ------------------------
2. It was a pretty much bone stock LS (stock C/R, stock cam) that can't take advantage of the higher octane. Guessing its a LS cause I don't have the app.

Remember as well that LS don't have VVT to take advantage of dynamic compression ratios vs static. They need to change the cam for a tighter LSA.

That episode of Engine Masters really bothered me. If you are planning to run 116 octane, the engine should be built for high octane - probably 15:1 compression, etc. You can make a lot of additional power if you design the engine for high octane. The Coyote is designed for 87, so it's a different situation.

Yes obviously if the engine doesn't knock on 87 you won't get a benefit from higher octane (all other things such as ignition and valve timing being equal). The Coyote will automatically retard the ignition timing and has the ability to change valve timing on the fly, so it's possible to derive a benefit from higher octane with the Coyote. The Coyote is designed to run well on 87 but can slightly benefit from higher octane. Completely different situation than considering how much power you can make from 116 octane race gas vs. 87.

The Engine Masters episode was just really lazy. They could have built a couple different engines with each optimized for that specific fuel. That would have shown the difference in power you can make with higher octane. But what they did was more like comparing 87 and 93 in a Coyote - you will get very small benefits if anything.

 

[velocityblue5.0]

see my entire thread war i started about putting regular in lmao…ive done 87 since day 1 in Nov 15, and i only recently started 89 from shell because i heard a slight knock after each shift when giving it gas

 

[Hack]

see my entire thread war i started about putting regular in lmao…ive done 87 since day 1 in Nov 15, and i only recently started 89 from shell because i heard a slight knock after each shift when giving it gas

Good conversation starter, right?

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