As some others have said, refer to the owner manual of your vehicle. It will tell you the gasoline you should use. Higher octanes are required for certain engines (usually high performance 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines). That’s the first thing I check when I am buying a car. If it doesn’t take regular gas, I look for another vehicle.
Gasoline is, well, complicated. For instance, ethanol has a high octane, but not much energy. That is why you get less mpg on ethanol blended fuels, but the engine would not “knock”, assuming you have a car that does not automatically adjust the timing to ensure no “knocking”.
There are dozens of specifications to gasoline in addition to the octane. Some minimum or maximum specifications are required by law, at different times of the year, in different states. Other specifications are internal to a company and therefore can vary by company. Different companies blend to all of their specifications simultaneously. There are also different additives by company.
Not likely. sonoco used to have different colors and mixed the octane at the pump. put some 93 in your prius and see if it doesn’t run better. I have burned 93 in my 97 f150 and i just now had to change the spark plugs.
That would be illegal
We’re now at least 47 posts into your thread and you’ve totally disappeared, no further comments. Not exactly an auspicious start, noob.
FWIW, you can visibly see the difference between regular and premium grade unleaded when it comes out of the refinery. The difference in evaporation rates is visible to the naked eye. There is also a noticeable difference in mileage and HP for engines with modern auto-tuning systems. My vehicle gets about 5% more running on premium, but I rarely buy it because the extra cost offsets the added mileage.
There is a difference in octane. Some newer cars’ computers will adjust the engines’ tune to take advantage of it. I know some late model Fords will, as I own one. This will result in better mileage and/or better performance. I also have a 2015 Toyota truck that gets better mileage on 89 than it does on 87. But, it’s not enough of a gain to offset the additional cost of the fuel.
I also have a 1997 Cessna airplane. It requires 100 octane low-lead aviation fuel or higher. But, don’t put this fuel in your late model automobile. It’s lead content will destroy your catalytic converter and O2 sensors.
The frustrating thing is that if you live in the mountains, you can use lower octane gas, here 87 is mid grade, and they charge the same as 89 octane in the next state over and 85 grade is priced the same as 87 in the next state.
Well, it is marketing, even though they are different octanes. The trick is that most cars are designed to use the lower octane gas, and if you put the higher octane stuff in, it can damage the engine. So the idiots that buy the “premium” stuff are probably screwing themselves.
Goodbye...
Oh.....littlebird..you are so little and naive.
I always thought the separate mail slots all go to same container too!
Trump will Make Gasoline Great Again.
The difference is the tendency toward preignition. High octane gas is harder to ignite than lower octane. The low octane wotks well in a lower compression engine because the low compression doesn’t raise the temperature of the fule air mixture to the point where it will ignite. As compression rises, the temperature of the fuel air mix rises, increasing the risk of preignition. Higher octane gas reduces that risk, making it far better fuel for high compression engines.
Any proof?
I have a 2002 f350 super duty that knocks VIOLENTLY if I don’t put in 93 octane. Gotta be 93. With lower octane the knocking becomes progressively worse. At 93 it is nonexistant.