Is High Octane Premium Gas Worth an Extra $200 per Year?

Is it really worth $208.00 extra expense per year to use premium? Can you get better mileage with premium? Can you get better fuel economy with premium gas? Does your car run better with premium gas?

The cost difference between regular gas and premium is generally about twenty cents per gallon. That means filling up a 20 gallon tank will cost $4.00 more if you fill with premium instead of regular. If you fill your car once a week the premium will cost you $208.00 more than regular over the course of a year.

Looking at the higher octane question of increased fuel economy, does it help? The bottom line answer is emphatically no!! High octane premium gas does not increase fuel economy one bit. The octane rating is a number that has nothing to do with how efficient it is in creating energy to run your engine.

Octane rating is a number that represents the amount of isooctane in the fuel opposed to the amount of heptane in the fuel. In simpler words it is a measurement that represents how much energy it takes to burn that gas. The octane number has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of energy the gas puts out, which would effect fuel economy. So the final answer is octane rating has absolutely nothing to do with increased fuel economy.

The second question concerning premium gas making your car run better. Does it? The plain and simple answer once again is no, there is absolutely no significant difference in the performance of your car if you use premium gas.

I have to add this one caveat, in regards to performance gain, there is the possibility that your vehicle could show a little horsepower gain with premium gas as opposed to regular gas but it would be so small that it would be almost impossible to notice. This small increase in horsepower really only is there because it can give car makers a little extra marketing fodder by using a claim on horsepower as part of their advertising.

By designing and tuning engines to take advantage of premium's anti-knock properties, it allows automakers to market their cars with a few more horsepower. Auto engineers generally agree that if you use regular in a premium engine, the power loss is so slight, that it is very hard to detect.

Will you harm your car or void your warranty if your car manufacturer recommends that you use high octane gas? Most automakers say using regular gas even when your owner's guide says to use premium gas won't void the warranty. Most automakers also say that using regular will not damage the engine.

Next time you go to fill up try regular instead of premium. You will immediately save $4.00. See how your car performs with the regular. If it runs fine and you don't hear any knocking continue to use regular. You could save $200.00 per year!

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Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of automotive industry insider information on saving gas and money at the pump. Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.
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