'Premium Gas, Worthwhile or Ripoff?'

Premium Gas, Worthwhile or Ripoff?

By Brian White at 05/28/07 09:29

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.

Just wanted you to know this is an absurdly wreckless statement. I would really be intersted in knowing your qualifications. If you want to know the truth . . .listen up

If you drive a high end vehicle expecially one with a turbo charger such as Audi 1.8T, 2.7T you NEED premium gas. These cars are chamebered differently. You major components will break down faster . .I guarantee it. If you have a non turbo high end car, Audi 3.0 etc, will regular gas work??? yes, BUT this is only possible because the computers on these cars are sophisticated enough to retard the timing and performance. Draining your car of power. Also because the timing has been altered your regular gas will get a lot less mileage than premium gas. Multiple studies reveal you loose 300km-500km per tank.

Take this as fact. If you are putting low grade, low octane gas into your high end car you are making a mistake. Even low end gas like Citgo has been proven to clog fuel injectors more rapidly that slightly more expensive gas like Shell. I know how it is where you live but premium is only $0.11 more per gallon. Thats less than $2 per tank more to use the proper gas. If you cant afford $2 sell you BMW and buy a Chevy.

Brian. I'm almost speechless as to how stupid that comment was but I'm getting over it and it was pretty dumb. I'm totally with Rob on this the only reason that your POS viper didn't die on you was because the computer (even though it was made by dodge) was technologically advanced enough to have knock sensors in it so that it picked up all the knocks that your engine was about to make and retarded the sparks.

Basically this is the short answer to the regular

I've been toiling over quite sometime about what to do with these ridiculous fuel price spikes which seem to take place every week or even daily now. I can't sell my car, since it's how I make my living, so I took a chance and purchased a water kit for my car online from Water4Fuel.info

My mpg's have gone from 26mpg up to 39mpg and it took me about 45 minutes to install it in my car. So far, so good...I'm only visiting the gas station two times per month now!

My cousin's engine has already been replaced on the 2006 used Audi he bought, as a result of the former owner having used all regular gas instead of premium. Maybe Germans are more precise in their requirements.

Rediculously oversimplified statement. Yes you can burn regular, it is up to you. Regular gas is not as stable, therefore burning prematurely causing the pinging and knocking as mentioned. Therefore, the sensors on your car WILL changed the timing so it doesn't damage the engine. However, this does make the engine less efficient. How much less? depends on the car. If you lose 30 miles or less per tank due to this....probably worth buying regular. But my 96 Maxima with 160,000 miles gets about 50 to 60 miles less per tank on regular. With Gas prices going up, the percentage difference I pay for premium actually goes down! so it's now worth saving the $3 at most to fill up. I'll save it in the end buying the premium because I at 20 miles to the gallon, I get 60 more miles = 3 gallons saved at $3 to $4 bucks a gallon at it's peak would cost me 9 to 12 bucks more. Not worth it. Premium is a profit maker for oil companies though as it only costs 5 cents more to make a gallon and they charge 30 to 50 cents more a gallon for it here in NJ. I get lucky sometimes and fined a place that only charges 20 cents more.

Before you guys chop this poor guy's head off, Read the following article. http://www.nextautos.com/running-on-regular-do-premium-vehicles-really-need-premium-gasoline

That should clear up the atmosphere..

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