[Frank ZZR]

Just to add to the debate....
For those of you that have N/A engines.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/featu...ths.html#myth3

FWIW.. I have used regular in my 328 since new. No issues what so ever and no difference in economy or perceived performance than using premium.

[dday]

So the other side here, why would BMW tell you to use premium if there was no benefit? If they could tell people to use regular that would be a good sales pitch.

[listerone]

IIRC the manual says that 89 is *required* and 91 is strongly recommended.

[Romanian nightmare]

I've always wondered as well....so has anyone put regular gar, religiously, in an e90 and had any issues? I live is the south, where gas is a little cheaper, but it's still quite a big difference between regular and premium, about $0.25 per gallon. My dealer told me that i can use medium grade sometimes, but never put regular.

More thoughts?

[968tomr]

Any modern cars (and I include my 92 Porsche 968 in this) have knock sensors that change the cars timing to accommodate fuel quality. So mainly, you just get a minor difference in performance for your savings of $1.50 to $3.00 (based upon $.10 more for mid grade and $.20 more for premium) per fill up.

The higher your compression ratio, the higher the required octane. Personally - I think it is worth the added $3.00 a fill up to me (Which equates to almost $100 annual), but have a turbo. If you prefer to save the money - more power to you.

Just my $.02 -Tom

[dday]

So let's put this into real numbers, if you drive 12K miles/year and get an avg of 23mpg you'd save $11/month by using regular vs premium if you assume that premium is $.25 more per gallon.

If you can't afford $11/month you shouldn't be driving a BMW. That why every gas thread drives me nuts on here. An extra MPG or a few cents at the pump has little to no real effect on your wallet.

Just put in good gas and drive it like it was meant to be driven.

[rocco]

Originally Posted by dday

So let's put this into real numbers, if you drive 12K miles/year and get an avg of 23mpg you'd save $11/month by using regular vs premium if you assume that premium is $.25 more per gallon.

If you can't afford $11/month you shouldn't be driving a BMW. That why every gas thread drives me nuts on here. An extra MPG or a few cents at the pump has little to no real effect on your wallet.

Just put in good gas and drive it like it was meant to be driven.

$11/mo x 12 mo x 5 years = $792 ...

Don't take this as an attack, but looking at it as just $11/mo is foolish. I put 91 or 93 in every fill-up, but wouldn't criticize anyone who always goes for 87.

Did you get every single feature offered when you bought/ordered your car? Every single feature you even remotely desired? If no, why not? I'm sure there was at least one nominally attractive feature offered for $500 that you left off your car... You may have decided that the benefit just wasn't worth the extra dough.

The small bump in performance or engine life you might get from 91/93 vs 87 just might not be worth it to some people.

[Verbiage]

I only put Shell 91 in it. It just makes me feel better about myself

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by rocco

$11/mo x 12 mo x 5 years = $792 ...

Don't take this as an attack, but looking at it as just $11/mo is foolish. I put 91 or 93 in every fill-up, but wouldn't criticize anyone who always goes for 87.

Did you get every single feature offered when you bought/ordered your car? Every single feature you even remotely desired? If no, why not? I'm sure there was at least one nominally attractive feature offered for $500 that you left off your car... You may have decided that the benefit just wasn't worth the extra dough.

The small bump in performance or engine life you might get from 91/93 vs 87 just might not be worth it to some people.

I am sure more people are wasting money buying starbucks every day then putting in the proper octane fuel for their cars.......

[dday]

Originally Posted by rocco

$11/mo x 12 mo x 5 years = $792 ...

Don't take this as an attack, but looking at it as just $11/mo is foolish. I put 91 or 93 in every fill-up, but wouldn't criticize anyone who always goes for 87.

Did you get every single feature offered when you bought/ordered your car? Every single feature you even remotely desired? If no, why not? I'm sure there was at least one nominally attractive feature offered for $500 that you left off your car... You may have decided that the benefit just wasn't worth the extra dough.

The small bump in performance or engine life you might get from 91/93 vs 87 just might not be worth it to some people.

yes, I did order every option I remotely desired when I ordered my car. And since I paid for the car I'm going to get the best performance out of it. My same comment would stand for the options, if you are buying a car where $10/month makes or breaks your budget then you can't afford your car.

and I can multiply by lots of months too but the monthly number is a lot more real. $11/month should not impact any BMW owners monthly budget in any tangible way, so why not give your car what BMW says it needs?

[LorenzoTij]

Originally Posted by 335coupe2007

my take on this whole thing... BMW's are one of the more expensive cars out there so most people who drive them are assumed to have money..even if u have a newer 328.. If BMW recommends premium gas for their engines ( which they do) why in the world would someone put regular gas in the car?? As someone else said- If it was a sales thing--wouldnt they recommend regular gas to attract more buyers??? Its clearly NOT a sales thing. In driving a BMW with an engine like ours, wouldnt u want the best available performance u can get out of the engine?? If putting premium gas in ur car gives u the best performance why wouldnt u do it? ESPECIALLY since its a recommendation from BMW BASED on THEIR test on the engine for performance wise??
I hope people dont put regular gas just bc of the $$$ in savings. If youre that cheap then u shouldnt buy a BMW. Why buy a car if u cant afford to put the quality gas thats recommended to get the best available performance???..Its like a dude buying a ferrari and complaining about gas prices...???

Anyway-- my opinion. To each is own..WHATEVER lol.

Very well put, I agree!

[Frank ZZR]

Premium in Canada is 13 cents more per litre. 4.5 x 13 = 58.5 per gallon. About $8 per tank. I would gladly pay the extra cash if it made ANY difference in fuel economy or performance. I have tried several different test to see if Premuim would effect either of these. It did not. NO difference whatsoever! So why then would I use premium? I agree however, each to their own. Numerours articles written regarding this issue but folks still seem to refer to premium as the "best" fuel for their car. "I only use the best for my baby" The oil corps love you.

Please remember that I'm only referring to N/A engines. Turbo's are another matter.

[TheRox]

Riddle me this folks:

Lexus recommends premium in the IS350, GS350, ES350 etc

Don't these cars have basically the same V6 as the V6 Toyota Camry which does not require premium?


They tell you to use premium, so you feel like you have a special car that needs exclusive gas.

Some cars like Porsche or AMG may need it.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Frank ZZR

FWIW.. I have used regular in my 328 since new. No issues what so ever and no difference in economy or perceived performance than using premium.

If you've used regular since new, how would you know there's no difference in economy or perceived performance?

By the way, the way the knock sensor works, is by RETARDING the spark advance if it sense knock. So that means, if you use a lower octane gas that requires the knock sensor to retard spark advance, not only are you LOSING performance, you'll be suffering in fuel economy as well.

And this topic has been discussed ad nauseum so I won't go into details, but the KEY in the discussion is if by using lower grade fuel your engine will knock. That, by definition, will depend a lot on your driving habits and conditions. If you never go past 1/4 throttle and drives mainly on flat land and NEVER ever go past 2,500 rpm on a commute made up mostly of freeway use? It is unlikely you'll see a dramatic difference in fuel economy nor "performance" of the engine since it's rarely under any load.

By comparison, I once ran a tank of 87 octane by mistake, then ran it again for one more fill up just to check my math, and the difference in fuel economy was at least 1.5 mpg which completely negates the savings in per gallon price between the two grades.

[968tomr]

Originally Posted by Frank ZZR

Premium in Canada is 13 cents more per litre. 4.5 x 13 = 58.5 per gallon. About $8 per tank. I would gladly pay the extra cash if it made ANY difference in fuel economy or performance. I have tried several different test to see if Premuim would effect either of these. It did not. NO difference whatsoever! So why then would I use premium? I agree however, each to their own. Numerours articles written regarding this issue but folks still seem to refer to premium as the "best" fuel for their car. "I only use the best for my baby" The oil corps love you.

Please remember that I'm only referring to N/A engines. Turbo's are another matter.

<smarttass>Isn't Canadian money play money anyway? I mean I would just man-up and use that monopoly money to buy a solar powered M3.</smartass>

-Tom

[shockin330i]

Lol, When they explain why its a myth they totally contradict themselves..

I will void my warranty if my owner's manual calls for premium and I use regular unleaded. MYTH

You might, but we don't think so.

"Premium has special or extra detergents in it that are worth the added cost."
Myth!

"It's true that premium gas does contain special or extra detergents, but in our opinion they're of no additional benefit. "

Waste of an article...

[Frank ZZR]

Originally Posted by TheRox

Riddle me this folks:

Lexus recommends premium in the IS350, GS350, ES350 etc

Don't these cars have basically the same V6 as the V6 Toyota Camry which does not require premium?


They tell you to use premium, so you feel like you have a special car that needs exclusive gas.

Some cars like Porsche or AMG may need it.

Because it gives folks the warm fuzzies putiing premium fuel in their premium cars even though there is no need for it.

[shockin330i]

Originally Posted by Frank ZZR

Because it gives folks the warm fuzzies putiing premium fuel in their premium cars even though there is no need for it.

Your car will pull timing with a lower octane.

[Frank ZZR]

Originally Posted by 968tomr

<smarttass>Isn't Canadian money play money anyway? I mean I would just man-up and use that monopoly money to buy a solar powered M3.</smartass>

-Tom

Last time I checked my dollar was worth more than yours

[Romanian nightmare]

Originally Posted by dday

yes, I did order every option I remotely desired when I ordered my car. And since I paid for the car I'm going to get the best performance out of it. My same comment would stand for the options, if you are buying a car where $10/month makes or breaks your budget then you can't afford your car.

and I can multiply by lots of months too but the monthly number is a lot more real. $11/month should not impact any BMW owners monthly budget in any tangible way, so why not give your car what BMW says it needs?

I agree with this statement, the $10 making or breaking you, but at the end of it all, aren't most of us anal enough about being efficient in every sense? So i think most of us are just trying to figure out the best gas to use for the best performance of our cars and yes, for the best price.

so here is another "myth" i've heard.... "Using ethanol free gas give you more mpg and is better for your engine"....

So how true is that? Oh....and i'm not even going to mention the price for premium ethanol gas......

[shockin330i]

Originally Posted by Frank ZZR

Last time I checked my dollar was worth more than yours

lol, try using the looney around the world. I doubt anyone other than a bank would accept it.

[Romanian nightmare]

Let's not get off topic here....

1.00 USD = 0.995966 CAD

This is as of today, but as a Canadian living in the States, i also remember when the Canadian $ was like Monopoly money, 8-9 years ago.....

So you're both right...