Regular to premium price difference

[ktp1598]

It's 60 cents more in KY. One station is only 30 cents more but there's rumors of water in their gas. My manual says that 87 is recommended but that it may run a bit better in hot weather or during heavy use on 93. Still debating if it's worth the extra cost..

Sponsored

 

[Interceptor]

Last three tanks I have used regular, all my driving is at 70 mph, can not tell much difference. Drive a min. of 600 miles .a week. Looking for better priced fuel

 

[Ebm]

Last three tanks I have used regular, all my driving is at 70 mph, can not tell much difference. Drive a min. of 600 miles .a week. Looking for better priced fuel

You won't see much of a difference in power because this engine isn't turbocharged like most everything is these days.

Between 87 and 93, there is less than a 10 hp gain.

 

[CrashOverride]

Supply and demand, and scales of economy. Out here in CA, the price difference between 87 and 91 (91 is our premium) is between $0.20 and $0.30. Why? Because just about every Lexus made requires premium, and we have a lot of Lexii (?) here. Add in the German cars and, well, we consume a lot of 91 octane. So we are good at making large quantities of it.

The "right" answer is for their to be a national gas recipe. There are dozens of recipes just for 87 octane. It's why we in CA can't get gas from Houston when our refineries take a dump. It's poor business practices and actually a vulnerability.

If there was a single octane rating, say 95 (RON + MON, not the RON or MON only like our European friends use) then car companies could tweak the calibrations better...Better driveability, more power, better fuel economy - and spend less research dollars on multiple calibrations. Plus, higher octane makes more efficient power (*when the engine takes advantage of it). It is exactly why the first gen Chevy Volt used premium - they ran more spark and higher compression to eek out every kW of power generated from every C8H18 chain.

I am all for it. Yes, it won't help older cars that aren't tweaked/tuned for it...But for those of us that are willing to, or when we purchase our next vehicle, it will make more efficient power.

 

[Interceptor]

Been shopping gas prices, instead of going to same store over and over. That is part of my pricing problem. I have found regular from 2.39 to 2.69, high octane from 2.84 to 3.15. Funny thing is that store with highest priced regular had lowest priced high octane?
Never liked buying gas from different stores, guess I'm gonna need to get over that.

Sponsored