Is higher octane gas worth the $208.00 increase in gas costs per year? Does the higher octane premium gas result in better mileage? Is better fuel economy attained by using premium gas? Does higher octane gas enable your car run better?
If you fill your car on the average of once per week buying premium gas instead of regular, it will cost you $208.00 more per year. Generally the price difference between regular gasoline and premium gasoline is about twenty cents per gallon. That means it will cost $4.00 more per fill up if you use premium gas instead of regular gas. This assumes you have a 20 gallon tank.
Let's address the fuel economy question first. The simple answer is no, premium gas does not increase fuel economy at all.
Octane rating is a number that represents the amount of isooctane in the fuel opposed to the amount of heptane in the fuel. In simpler words it is a measurement that represents how much energy it takes to burn that gas. The octane number has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of energy the gas puts out, which would effect fuel economy. So the final answer is octane rating has absolutely nothing to do with increased fuel economy.
The next question, does premium gas make your car gain performance, does it run better? The answer is the same as the fuel economy answer, no!! It has been shown that there is no significant difference in the way your car runs if you use premium gasoline.
That said, I must throw in this one caveat, your car might perform with slightly more horsepower with premium than with regular but you would be hard pressed to notice the difference. Premium just allows car makers an extra advertising ploy.
By designing and tuning engines to take advantage of premium's anti-knock properties, it allows automakers to market their cars with a few more horsepower. Auto engineers generally agree that if you use regular in a premium engine, the power loss is so slight, that it is very hard to detect.
What if your car manufacturer recommends that you use premium? In this case burning regular instead of premium won't void the warranty, nor damage the engine, most automakers say.
Next time you go to fill up try regular instead of premium. You will immediately save $4.00. See how your car performs with the regular. If it runs fine and you don't hear any knocking continue to use regular. You could save $200.00 per year!
Article Source: http://www.orbitaloc.com/
Scott Siegel has written a 143 page book of industry insider secrets on saving gas and money at the pump. Visit us to discover how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.
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