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Save Money and Stop Buying Premium Gas


In the face of rising gas prices, you can typically switch to a lower fuel grade without hurting your car's engine. Here's why premium gas isn't a must.
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You can save more by just driving smarter, or less. Fuel your car with what it was designed to be fueled with.
In many gas stations, the difference between regular and premium exceeds 30 cents. At least half of this can be recovered by using mid-grade or blending. Yes, I'll keep the $1.50 per tank difference. Engine performance and mileage probably doesn't suffer at all.
1) Drive 50 in the fast lane, slow and steady saves fuel!! Just dont get run over!
2) Take corners as fast as possible to minimize the need for acceleration
3) Coast through red lights, eliminating more acceleration
Seriously edmunds.. youre better than this
My car gets 8% better gas mileage on premium versus mid grade and 12% better than low grade.
Gas cost $4.15 low grade and $4.35 premium in S.Cal
4.15 times 1.12 is 4.65.
So I use premium AND SAVE MONEY, !!!! I save $4.80 a tank and the car runs better.
E-85 gets 30% less mpg than gasoline. The price of E-85 (where you can buy it) is $4.65. The gas equivalent price is over $6.00 a gallon. The futures price of ethanol is available in most newspapers. That is what drive the price of E-85
engine 2.5
Use the octane that your manufacturer RECOMMENDS. Why would you listen to anyone else other than the people who engineered your engine?
Example: Dodge recommends 89 but you can use 87. When you use 87 it reduces timing which hurts performance and MPG. So using 89 and in some areas 91 if the gas quality is low, will actually give you higher MPG which ends up saving you more money then using 87.
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Article does warn to check manual, but I think the list is not accruate.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
I stand corrected!
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
Clear as biodiesel straight from algae now, right?
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
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premium gas is merely recommended or it's required?
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Sounds fine and dandy. My eleven year old high mileage V6 RAV4 runs so much better on premium that it's worth it. Most articles written about what fuel to use seem to neglect talking about the benefits, or not, of using varying fuels in older vehicles.
my car on regular (87 octane) only gets 24 MPG and on premium (93 octane) gets 33 MPG. Almost 10 MPG better! That being said my engine has 293K miles on it so probably a reason for that. But the savings in economy balance out for me atleast the additional cost so it’s worth it for me to use premium as probably better cleaning agents and [non-permissible content removed] in premium fuel blends I do notice a small bump in power too.
I also tested 100 octane race fuel (made sure was same 10% ethanol blend as the pumps) out of curiosity and only bumped up to 34.5 MPG from 33 MPG of 93 octane premium and can’t say I felt any more power vs premium so seems at the peak of this engine’s efficiency with premium fuel..
Absolutely I have a 2011 XC70 with T6 engine as well and 293K miles and I see an extra 9 MPG using premium. Also a small but noticeable bump in power..