Gas regular or premium???

[Midnightsun]

My bad, all along I assumed you had a sedan R spec like me with a real engine. Just noticed you are driving the coupe 3.8 which is tuned for premium and in fact is the only recommended fuel. My comments were to people running the 3.8 sedan which recommends regular however some don't even believe the manufacturer because they have yet to understand marketing. In my 5.0 R spec, both fuels are recommended and I can tell you the slight increase in performance is not noticeable at all. On a race track, just the humidity/temp difference would negate 7hp on any given day. Even if it does get slightly better milage on higher octane it will never be the most cost effective gasoline in my car. I hope you forgive me as I really do not want to burn in hell doused in ethanol.

The way I see it is only the Tau that I know of recommends both fuels. This means they have no issue regarding longevity or warranty by using either which may not be the case in cars run on a fuel which is not the recommended.

 

[zielritter]

Did you mean to say "solely"? No car I know of is designed to run solely on the lowest grade. But yes, at a particular brand's pump, the premium is going to be better than the regular. The mid-grade is a mix of the two. Although, maybe "better" is a very small difference to some engines and to many drivers who wouldn't take notice. Also, the brand's best additive mixes are usually in the premium, not in the regular, and mixed partly in the mid-grade.

The point I was trying to get across here that I guess wasn't clear is that the 3.8 sedan is tuned to run on regular only. It will run on premium but can't take advantage of it power wise, according to Hyundai, like the V8 can. I don't know how to more succinctly describe what I'm trying to say, but that's the point I wanted to make.

My last two cents: I think the brand of gas you use will have more of an impact on engine performance and longevity than the octane grade if the vehicle meets the criterion in the point I'm making above. I remember an an article a little while ago that said budget gas stops like Pilot use 1/3 of the additives that your Shells, Exxons, BPs, etc use, but Pilot still meets the minimum government requirements in this department.

Knowing this, I would content that the advantages of using regular Shell vs their V-power are marginal at best if the car can't take advantage of the extra octane. Therefore, I vote my pocket book .

 

[Top Gear]

Don't take this the wrong way, as I'm speaking generally and not personally toward you, but I really think you and others are driving luxury-oriented cars and/or with a granny foot and then trying to argue nobody with any other vehicle could ever notice the differences performance drivers uniformily notice - differences I've noticed very clearly. You can't argue that because you can't feel the difference there is none, and you also can't deny someone else's direct experiences feeling such differences, since you're whole point is rooted in personal experience.

When my car was sputtering and not starting smoothly on a lesser brand recently, and when it cleared up immediately upon running that tank out and changing to a Top Tier gas with no other changes, it wasn't a radical leap in reasoning to conclude there's a palpable difference in fuels, here. This was on top of decades of similar experiences with many different vehicles, some less sensitive, some more sensitive to various gas. Why would space rockets, airplanes, race vehicles, and the lion's share of car enthusiasts around the world all run the best quality fuels they can find if it's just a marketing myth and doesn't matter? Are you saying engineers from NASA to NASCAR to Nürburgring are simply idiots fooled by television commercials??

Some people don't care about performance, small mileage or longevity improvements, and it's certainly true that the way some people drive, they wouldn't see much difference, anyway. That's fine, of course. However, it's total nonsense to keep repeating this internet meme that there is no difference between various gas brands, grades and blends, or that the differences don't matter. Mash that pedal on the right once in a while with some top-quality gas and you'll feel what we're talking about

 

[marty5marty]

There are many reasons, detailed in this and several other threads, and across many forums like this one. Minimum standards are possibly good enough, depending on the brand you run, to get you down the road unawares, but don't you want the best for your car?? Do you wash it? Wax it? Why would you bother with all that, or your "premium tech" package and lighted door sills, since none of it is specifically recommended in the manual?? In short, why put so much love into your car and then say there's no reason to put decent gas in it?

WORD! i just put 91 on my 3.8 regardless....i even did on my last car and wasn't a race car at all!

 

[zielritter]

Don't take this the wrong way, as I'm speaking generally and not personally toward you, but I really think you and others are driving luxury-oriented cars and/or with a granny foot and then trying to argue nobody with any other vehicle could ever notice the differences performance drivers uniformily notice - differences I've noticed very clearly. You can't argue that because you can't feel the difference there is none, and you also can't deny someone else's direct experiences feeling such differences, since you're whole point is rooted in personal experience.

When my car was sputtering and not starting smoothly on a lesser brand recently, and when it cleared up immediately upon running that tank out and changing to a Top Tier gas with no other changes, it wasn't a radical leap in reasoning to conclude there's a palpable difference in fuels, here. This was on top of decades of similar experiences with many different vehicles, some less sensitive, some more sensitive to various gas. Why would space rockets, airplanes, race vehicles, and the lion's share of car enthusiasts around the world all run the best quality fuels they can find if it's just a marketing myth and doesn't matter? Are you saying engineers from NASA to NASCAR to Nürburgring are simply idiots fooled by television commercials??

Some people don't care about performance, small mileage or longevity improvements, and it's certainly true that the way some people drive, they wouldn't see much difference, anyway. That's fine, of course. However, it's total nonsense to keep repeating this internet meme that there is no difference between various gas brands, grades and blends, or that the differences don't matter. Mash that pedal on the right once in a while with some top-quality gas and you'll feel what we're talking about

I think we're on the same page - I said previously that there definitely are differences between brands. Pilot for example is garbage imo and will never be put in my vehicle. I just don't think there is an appreciable difference between grades of a top tier brand if the car isn't tuned to take advantage of additional octane. I use Shell and only Shell.

And hey, I'm 28 and definitely don't granny foot my cars. My previous Hyundai had full header-back exhaust, intake, tune, pulley, etc. I know full and well how to put my vehicles through the ringer and do so frequently .

To your NASCAR point, yes those cars use 100+ octane racing fuel otherwise they would detonate and die on the first lap. They don't care about the detergent additives though as they break down, clean, and rebuild each race.

 

[Top Gear]

Word

I'm glad we're on the same page. I don't run 87 very often, and almost never run mid-grade, but I can't say the difference between a brand's grades is huge, either. The huge swings I've seen are going from BP & Exxon to Hess and then to Shell, all premium, generally, and from E10 to E0. I want to try Chevron/Texaco, but it's nowhere to be found around my area. I used to run Amoco Premium religiously in a muscle car and in a sport bike, when Amoco was still a separate company, and the engines just ran so much better on it. Thus, I migrated to BP in recent years (due to the merger creating BP Amoco). However, even in my previous car, I noticed the quality just wasn't there anymore in recent years as the Amoco stuff was phased out, it seems. I've tried Pilot, Hess, Sunoco, Marathon and a few others when in a pinch out on the interstate, but yeah, some are no better than lawnmower-grade fuels.

In fact, I've been debating with myself recently on what I'd do on my next regional trip and faced with getting ethanol-free 87 no-name vs something like Shell V-Power E10. Still not sure, but probably should try each. Trips are great that way, as you're almost forced to try different things sometimes.

 

[Potty_Pants]

Don't take this the wrong way, as I'm speaking generally and not personally toward you, but I really think you and others are driving luxury-oriented cars and/or with a granny foot and then trying to argue nobody with any other vehicle could ever notice the differences performance drivers uniformily notice - differences I've noticed very clearly. You can't argue that because you can't feel the difference there is none, and you also can't deny someone else's direct experiences feeling such differences, since you're whole point is rooted in personal experience.

When my car was sputtering and not starting smoothly on a lesser brand recently, and when it cleared up immediately upon running that tank out and changing to a Top Tier gas with no other changes, it wasn't a radical leap in reasoning to conclude there's a palpable difference in fuels, here. This was on top of decades of similar experiences with many different vehicles, some less sensitive, some more sensitive to various gas. Why would space rockets, airplanes, race vehicles, and the lion's share of car enthusiasts around the world all run the best quality fuels they can find if it's just a marketing myth and doesn't matter? Are you saying engineers from NASA to NASCAR to Nürburgring are simply idiots fooled by television commercials??

Some people don't care about performance, small mileage or longevity improvements, and it's certainly true that the way some people drive, they wouldn't see much difference, anyway. That's fine, of course. However, it's total nonsense to keep repeating this internet meme that there is no difference between various gas brands, grades and blends, or that the differences don't matter. Mash that pedal on the right once in a while with some top-quality gas and you'll feel what we're talking about

Dont agree... but hey it's America we dont have to !

ppp

 

[Top Gear]

Ha! Rock On It's great to actually have an intelligent discussion, instead of the troll haven's insult-fest which is the larger Coupe forum across the internet You make a point over there, and 20 guys make cracks about you and jack the thread for pages, then blame you if you fight back. Very tedious. But here, it's all good

 

[Johnboy2k10]

I found this very interesting.

I've gone back and forth between putting regular and premium in my car. I definitley don't notice a difference in milage, but there's at least a "placebo" effect that I get better acceleration with higher octane fuel.

After watching the video below, I am convinced that I am not causing undue wear on my engine by filling up with regular from time to time.

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/2012/11/pumpfiction.html

I found this very interesting. Hope it works for you folks in the US.

Cheers!

 

[Midnightsun]

I found this very interesting.

I've gone back and forth between putting regular and premium in my car. I definitley don't notice a difference in milage, but there's at least a "placebo" effect that I get better acceleration with higher octane fuel.

After watching the video below, I am convinced that I am not causing undue wear on my engine by filling up with regular from time to time.

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/2012/11/pumpfiction.html

I found this very interesting. Hope it works for you folks in the US.

Cheers!

Great review however we all know this was setup. None of this is true. The government is lying to you and all that info was a scam. We all know marketplace is run by a couple of heroine addicts looking to make an extra buck don't we? Like the honest, all knowing pump technician guy said, Premium is 91% clean and it is the best.

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