Premium gas vs. regular: Which is Better?

:idea: It's a bit of a lengthy video but, certainly informative.

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Picture of loadrunner54 achievements

+7 1. loadrunner commented 9 years ago

The minimum octane rating in the Netherlands is 95 the premium is 98 . Or is the octane number different outside Europe ?
Picture of joeman74 achievements

+7 2. joeman commented 9 years ago

The oil companies surely know that premium fuel
is no better than regular for 99% of all cars.
The love of money is the root of all evil...
Picture of Tehnol36 achievements

+2 3. Tehnol commented 9 years ago

#1 Here is Australia our regular is 91 and premium is 98 RON. I think it's just the US that uses lower grades of fuel.

Also, I run my car on premium (98 RON) and I KNOW it makes a difference, runs better and gets better mileage. But that's with an old car with no computers to compensate
Picture of PownMeister27 achievements

+5 4. PownMeister commented 9 years ago

I was driving my car today listening to the radio when there was an add for shell v-power. I was instantly thinking that the only reason for why it sells is because nobody properly test the oil companies "myths", lies and sales tricks. Funny thing that this video should pop up here today after I was thinking about it :D
Picture of Gringo_el_Diablo45 achievements

+2 5. Gringo_el_Diablo commented 9 years ago

My grandfather always said all the gas that's delivered only comes from one truck! He's right again. O:)
Picture of NotFirst33 achievements

+6 6. NotFirst commented 9 years ago

(i) OK, here's the low-down.
The gas that we use has Octane and Heptane in it. (ignoring all the other stuff in it for now)
Octane is an 8-Carbon molecule and the Heptane only has 7-Carbon atoms. Both molecules are made during the refining process. The higher % of gas means that there is a higher % of Octane in it...not that it's cleaner...that's rubbish. Here's why this is important: Octane is a much more stable molecule than the Heptane. (i) This means that the Octane will not release its Hydrogen and Carbon atoms (energy ie: burn) until it is at a specific temperature and pressure. The Octane has to be forced to "blow up". The Heptane, however, will burn much more willingly because it is not as stable.

What this means for your (regular) car/truck: By having more strong Octane molecules, means not all of it gets burned (used) by your engine. Hence, more **carbon emissions**. -Of course we do need Octane...we want our fuel to be stable...don't need to explain that one.

**I should note here: These "Carbon Emissions" are not the ones that go up into the atmosphere. These emissions are carbon molecules that are heavy and do not go up and ruin our environment. Those are due to other molecules that will not be discussed here....Just enjoy the dang video! :squirrel:

Oh yeah, There are high performance engines that do run on higher octane fuel...they absolutely have to have that increased stability because the engines run so hot and fast!
Picture of Thanny37 achievements

+7 7. Thanny commented 9 years ago

There are quite a few problems with this. First and foremost, they obviously went into filming with an expected answer, which is going to color what they decide to show.

They did not test horsepower. Put the car through a series of 0-60mph (or 0-100kph) tests with each gasoline, or use the dynamometer to actually measure the car's maximum horsepower and torque with the different fuels (which they manifestly did not do).

They did not test mileage properly. Run the engine dry with a fixed quantity of fuel at a fixed throttle several times with each fuel.

They misreported the emissions data. You can see clearly that the regular fuel had a 6.0 value with the hydrocarbon emissions, while the premium fluctuated between 6.0 and 6.1. That's a variance less than half as large as the variance in the mileage test they did do.

They also only tested a single model of car. Why not a car that actually recommends premium fuel as well? Or several different cars?

There's no data here, just one big anecdote.

And as for regular fuel octane in the US, it's actually much lower in parts of the west where elevations are a few thousand feet above sea level. You don't need as high an octane rating in the thinner air, and you also get a lot better mileage (on the order of 20% higher when I did a lot of driving out there in 2011).

I don't think the differences between grades in a normal car justify the price premiums, but I also dislike half-assed reporting. And there was a lot of the latter here.
Picture of Limberg43 achievements

+4 8. Limberg commented 9 years ago

#1, #3 EU and US/CA seem to have different scales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Because of the 8 to 12 octane number difference between RON and MON noted above, the AKI shown in Canada and the United States is 4 to 6 octane numbers lower than elsewhere in the world for the same fuel. This difference between RON and MON is known as the fuel's Sensitivity,[4] and is not typically published for those countries that use the Anti-Knock Index labelling system.
Picture of thundersnow58 achievements

+2 9. thundersnow commented 9 years ago

This guy is really annoying, constantly saying that we, the consumers, should choose the gas that makes our car perform better..how the heck would you be able to tell, if you don't have means to measure performance, like those guys did. :S
Picture of fjwjr62 achievements

+3 10. fjwjr commented 9 years ago

I bought a new car last year and I've noticed a large difference in fuel mileage between Regular and Premium. Premium gets me up to 7 MPG more than Regular. The only question is if the price per mile makes Premium a better buy and with the volatility of gas prices combined with the variation in prices from one station to another that's almost impossible to answer. I'd spend all my time sitting at the pumps doing calculations......
Picture of sunnydaze4me31 achievements

+5 11. sunnydaze4me commented 9 years ago

#10 Is your new car a high-performance model that requires higher octane fuel? The primary purpose for using high octane is to avoid detonation in high compression engines. More octane actually slows down the burn in the cylinder to prevent spark knock damage. Modern computer controlled ignition/fuel systems in vehicles has mostly eliminated that problem.
Picture of Judge-Jake53 achievements

+1 12. Judge-Jake commented 9 years ago

#10 I would be interested to know exactly how you tested the extra 7 mpg figure, how many times you tested it and if you always drive the exact same piece of road at exactly the same speed in exactly the same gears in exactly the same weather conditions with exactly the same traffic on the road.

The mistake all Americans make is putting Gas in their cars! If they were to simply put petrol in instead life would be much simpler and it costs around the same per gallon, simples! :|
:squirrel:
Picture of thundersnow58 achievements

+3 13. thundersnow commented 9 years ago

Cool...guys up there, you know your stuff <3 :D...they don't sell petrol here #12... >:) <3
Picture of Judge-Jake53 achievements

0 14. Judge-Jake commented 9 years ago

#13 Are you quite sure?
Picture of thundersnow58 achievements

+3 15. thundersnow commented 9 years ago

Always wondered why they call it petrol there and gasoline here...yeah, yeah, I know I can google that and I will.. >:) <3
Picture of snotraddict45 achievements

+2 16. snotraddict commented 9 years ago

Love when the green weenies get taken for their foolish beliefs. Additionally, only a psychopath can stand there with someone who has data and still tell them it's better (but he does weasel out a bit and state - if the consumer "feels" it's better). Where do they get these people?
Picture of fjwjr62 achievements

+1 17. fjwjr commented 9 years ago

#11 #12 I've been driving it enough to make that statement with 100% confidence. The difference was something I noticed right away and so I was taking measures to try and increase my mileage with regular gas with very little positive impact. (no, it's not a high performance car) However, I did notice the difference was a lot less when going from summer blend to winter blend. (that whole arrangement I'll never understand)Gas mileage with both dropped with the winter blend, but even more so with the premium.
Picture of thundersnow58 achievements

+1 18. thundersnow commented 9 years ago

What about ethanol free gasoline?
Picture of NotFirst33 achievements

+2 19. NotFirst commented 9 years ago

#18 Ethanol is made primarily from corn.(also cane, and grasses and such)
Picture of thundersnow58 achievements

+1 20. thundersnow commented 9 years ago

It doesn't clog your engine, I was informed. Thx #19 :)