Right? My previous car was designed to be flexible premium cost roughly the same with mpg boost and the car was more powerful. It’s really not that different I was a poor college kid at the time too.
Now if your car is premium only and you are putting regular in you are just looking to break something.
My understanding was the premium was just more stable, reducing predetonation with higher compression. Unless you are losing mpg or power to predetonation wouldn’t switching make no difference?
I ask out of curiosity, I’ll admit I know very little on fuel specifics.
Cars with electronicaly adjustable timing will detect if there is knock caused by pre-detonation/pre-ignition and advance or retard the timing to compensate. So cars that can do both octanes will have the timing more advanced when premium gas is present allowing for more power and efficiency. More timing with lower octane gas will explode earlier than expected causing pre-detonation/pre-ignition.
Engines that have premium requirements usually have higher compression, forced induction (turbo super, charger, ect) or even a more aggressive cam setup that advances timing where variable timing can’t compensate or it doesn’t have variable timing. So they need higher octane in order to ensure the engine isn’t igniting at the wrong time, which over time damages pistons, rings and other components.
Also if your car is not designed for both, you are just throwing money away getting premium if it requires regular. Best case no difference or in the case of my wife’s car would actually cause a check engine light.
Is it worth it?
I get a bump in mpg and power when using premium so I pay up.
Right? My previous car was designed to be flexible premium cost roughly the same with mpg boost and the car was more powerful. It’s really not that different I was a poor college kid at the time too.
Now if your car is premium only and you are putting regular in you are just looking to break something.
My understanding was the premium was just more stable, reducing predetonation with higher compression. Unless you are losing mpg or power to predetonation wouldn’t switching make no difference? I ask out of curiosity, I’ll admit I know very little on fuel specifics.
Cars with electronicaly adjustable timing will detect if there is knock caused by pre-detonation/pre-ignition and advance or retard the timing to compensate. So cars that can do both octanes will have the timing more advanced when premium gas is present allowing for more power and efficiency. More timing with lower octane gas will explode earlier than expected causing pre-detonation/pre-ignition.
Engines that have premium requirements usually have higher compression, forced induction (turbo super, charger, ect) or even a more aggressive cam setup that advances timing where variable timing can’t compensate or it doesn’t have variable timing. So they need higher octane in order to ensure the engine isn’t igniting at the wrong time, which over time damages pistons, rings and other components.
Also if your car is not designed for both, you are just throwing money away getting premium if it requires regular. Best case no difference or in the case of my wife’s car would actually cause a check engine light.