NYT article Sun 8/3/08 "Premium Required? Not Necessarily"

[Bugalugs]

They can recommend any grade they want. Think about this scenario.
Youre cruising on a road trip in your STi and gas light comes on in
Inbred, Arkansas. You find a little gas station in the center of town
and there's only 87 octane. Do you honestly believe your engine will
destruct by using this gas? Not likely. It's all hype.

Sure the car is not going to fall apart right there in front of you in
the middle of the forecourt, but if you had any sense you'd only put in
half a tank to get you to get you to the next pump which had premium.

The designers of these things know a thing or three and if they designed
something to run on Premium then the Manual has the best advice as to
what to use. If you're going to believe a reporter who next week is
writing up how you should use wholemeal flower in your layer cake then
there's a a little town in Arkansas which only sells 87 octane where
you'll fit right in.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

This is very funny.
Here in germany, the regular gas (89 octane, I think, called "Normal")
almost disappeared, after it's price rose faster than that of
"Super" (95 octane) and finally the price for both sorts was equal.
Gas stations post notices that they ran out of "Normal" and people are
supposed to switch to "Super" as it's the same price anyway.

People explain this phenomenon by saying that the US is buying lots of
gas, especially regular gas, as their aged motor technology doesn't
need high octane fuels.
If this is true and people are switching from premium to regular,
regular will get even more expensive, and you'll soon have the same
situation: regular and premium cost the same.

It sounds like they're feeding you an excuse for a pricing structure
that's gone awry. Over here, for the most part regular and super-grade
gases are made at the same time in the same refineries. They add a few
additives into the higher-octane gases and add an extra cost to it.
There's usually a standard price delta between the grades (e.g.
mid-grade might be $0.08 more than regular, while super-grade is $0.12).
So mid-grade is always more expensive than regular, and super is always
more expensive than mid-grade by a standard amount.

Personally, I don't think those octane boosters are really worth as much
as the price delta indicates. It's probably a bit of additional profit
margin for the stations.

As far as the "aged motor technology" of the US. A high-horsepower
engine will always require higher octane gas, no matter if it uses
American "aged motor technology" or European "immature motor
technology". So the requirement for higher octane is the same on both
sides of the Atlantic.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Yousuf Khan]

It's hardly hype as there is a difference. What I don't understand is why
pay extra for a high performance engine and then not put in premium fuel to
get the performance that you paid for? If you don't care about performance
don't get a car that 'requires' premium fuel.

One thing not mentioned here so far, is that if you have a rated for
regular engine, then you won't get any better gas mileage or power using
a higher octane gas.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Yousuf Khan]

There is also a flaw in logic in "Fuzzy Logic"s argument (sic!).
Porsches don't break on regular precisely because they are high tech.
I love my Outback, but I doubt Subaru's motor technology is anywhere
near Porsche's.

Why not? Electronic engine management has been around since the 70's,
it's hardly new technology anymore. You might have expected a small
difference in the technology back in the 70's and 80's when you went to
a higher priced car, but not anymore. Basically, electronic engine
management is management of the fuel delivery timing and the spark
timing, and that's all there is to it. A Porsche computer won't be able
to do it any better than a Subaru computer.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Ingo Menger]

Why not? Electronic engine management has been around since the 70's,
it's hardly new technology anymore.

So is the 7-gear-automatic. Yet I have only 4 gears in my Outback.

If something has been "around" and whether a company is able and
willing to built it in their cars are 2 different matters.

You might have expected a small
difference in the technology back in the 70's and 80's when you went to
a higher priced car, but not anymore. Basically, electronic engine
management is management of the fuel delivery timing and the spark
timing, and that's all there is to it. A Porsche computer won't be able
to do it any better than a Subaru computer.

Obviously not, since one of them only recommends high octane fuel
while the other requires it.

 

[nobody >]

One thing not mentioned here so far, is that if you have a rated for
regular engine, then you won't get any better gas mileage or power using
a higher octane gas.

Yousuf Khan

I've found that my '00 Outback 2.5L (fullsize) gets about 1.5 - 2mpg
more on longer trips on mid-grade (89), but not in around-town driving.
If there's about 10 cents difference between 87 and 89, I go for it on
trips. That's only $1.60 difference for a fillup if the tank is almost
empty.

I'll admit to having a lead foot and usually run at least 10 mph over
posted speed, so I'm using more horsepower.

The compression ratio on the 2.5L is 10.0 to 1. In the old days, this
was usually a tipoff that premium was needed unless you retarded the
timing a few degrees from the "2 degrees under pinging".