If you've ever bought an absurdly overpriced car (or somehow landed one in accidential via fourth-hand-me-downism) you'll surely wonder what the heck that "Premium Gasoline Only" thing means. Do you really need to buy premium gasoline or is good enough, good enough in this case?Gas prices are so high, it's a topic on everyone's mind these days. Surely you can't fill 'er up at the pump and not sweat a pail or two of bullets. Aw, them zillions of bullets. Good times.
But do you really need to buy premium grade gasoline?
The short answer is "no", but the long answer is, "hell no".
No, it's not just that, it's a resounding "hell no".
I've had just those cars. I had a Mercedes E-190, a BMW 325ci, and even a Viper... yes, I once had a showroom new Viper. The regular gas just makes performance motors ping a bit, but doesn't actually impact the engine otherwise.
Kill the killer gas, all you do is suffer a tad of lackluster performance for the day. All you need to do to rectify the matter is throw in $3 of carb cleaner to a tank of gas and a couple tanks of premium and it will run like new. Better still, though it will run better with high-octane all along the way, if it costs 10% more but runs 2% not-as-good, you're still way ahead of the game with the cheapest gas on the market... take it as you must, but if you still want premium gas, re-read the above article, and be serious.
If you still want to buy premium gas, go for it. That's got the fattest profit margin, and that's no joke, so be real about it and decide what's important, and if it's affording the rest of us cheaper gas, so be it, baby, and all day at that.