regular gasoline
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,188
Likes: 10
From: New Smyrna Beach Florida
If you do a search, there are threads that discuss this in detail. There are some good reasons for using higher octane fuel in the C5, I don't feel like repreating them right now.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,933
Likes: 30
From: San Rafael CA
There is no "danger" for street driving .... I wouldn't recommend regular if you took the car to the track, or engaged in "spirited" driving ....
The LSx engine has "knock" sensors in it. This means that if the fuel octane is low enough that detonation (knock) is starting to occur, then the PCM adjusts timing and other parameters to eliminate the knock. The bottom line is the engine produces less power to compensate for the lower octane.
There has been much arguement about which is "cheaper" .... the offset of better fuel mileage using premium against the lower price of regular .....
Quick story .... Jaguar made a big sedan back in the 1970's called the XJ6. It had an interesting feature which was it had two fuel tanks, and a switch on the dashboard below the fuel gauge that allowed the driver to select which of the two (approx) 14 gallon tanks the engine was running off. The 3.8 liter engine REQUIRED premium fuel ... with one exception.
What many owner's would do is fill one tank with premium and one with regular. As they drove around town (requiring acceleration) they would leave the switch on the premium tank. Once they were on a highway/freeway and up to cruise speed they would switch to the regular tank. With such a light load on the engine it would run quite happily on regular until it had consumed the entire tank. And that was the fun part, on a long trip you could literrally run the "regular" tank dry, and when the engine died, flip over to the premium tank .... and then at the first exit with a gas station, fill the regular tank up, top off the premium tank, and after using premium to get you back up to highway speed, switch back to that "cheap" regular" tank.
OK, so IMHO if the majority of your driving is either stop and go or "performance" driving .... premium is your best bet.
If you do a lot of "cruising" (especially where you set the cuise control) regular is not gonna "hurt" your engine, and you MIGHT save a small amount of money. Well, I say small, if you're driving 100,000 miles a year it may not be small .....
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,066
Likes: 9
From: Eddy Texas
I did a comparison on MPG and there wasn't much difference cost wise between lower octane/lower mpg, and higher octane/higher mpg. That being equal, I like the extra performance of premium, and not having to listen to it "clatter" on occasion.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,933
Likes: 30
From: San Rafael CA
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 17,786
Likes: 4
From: Redsox, Pats, Celts & Bruins !!! Redsox Nation !!!
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12
Also, Sometimes it is not the octane that causes ping. If you don't use a top tier fuel, you can get deposits and that will cause pinging also.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 22,025
Likes: 192
From: At the beach in little Rhody
I'm not sure why anyone would want to do this. The car is designed for premium, as are many cars out there today. There is some self protection just in case designed into the PCM so it won't damage the motor, but I wouldn't do it intentionally on a daily basis.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 992
Likes: 2
From: Granville Ohio
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16'17-'18-'19-'20-21
Top Tier Detergent Gasoline
TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline is the premier standard for gasoline performance. Six of the world's top automakers, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Audi recognize that the current EPA minimum detergent requirements do not go far enough to ensure optimal engine performance.
http://www.toptiergas.com/why.html
TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline Retailers
Gasoline retailers must meet the high TOP TIER standards with all grades of gasoline to be approved by the automakers as providing TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline.
In addition, all gasoline outlets carrying the brand of the approved retailer must meet the TOP TIER standards.
Additional gasoline retailers are added to the TOP TIER list as they meet the standards. The retailers known to be on the TOP TIER list are shown below.
TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Texaco
Petro-Canada
Sunoco-Canada
Notice Sunoco USA is not on the List
Last edited by OhioDave; Feb 23, 2008 at 09:55 AM.