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YACT: fuel question

Gooberlx2

Gooberlx2

Lifer
So my buddy just bought a very good condition 2001 Nissan Maxima SE with 46,000 miles on it, and was surprised to find that the manual recommends premium gasoline (91+ octane). Unfortunately he's poor, especially now that he bought the car, and would rather use regular gas (88 octane IIRC), and the manual also states that regular can be used if premium is unavailable.

My question (on his behalf):

Will the regular screw anything up? What can he expect (engine life/performance/gas mileage) if he uses regular vs. premium or vica versa? Granted, he should have researched this out before he bought the car, but it's a little late now.

I'd also like to know anyway since I'm still in the market for a new car and have been looking at a few that would probably also "recommend" premium.
 
Nope, won't hurt anything, but he'll get slightly less mpg/performance.
 
My mom's BMW recommends at least mid-grade. I put mid in mine since it's cheaper than the regular stuff. Gotta love ag. states and ethanol gas
 
If it starts to knock (he wont be able to tell really) the knock sensor will retart the timing and degrade engine preformance and result in fewer MPG as both Eli and d33pt have stated.
 
On a similar topic, does anyone have an opinion on fuel additives, like STP's gas treatment or fuel injector cleaner? Do they work well?
 
Originally posted by: HappyCracker
My mom's BMW recommends at least mid-grade. I put mid in mine since it's cheaper than the regular stuff. Gotta love ag. states and ethanol gas
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Dunno about you, but ethanol gives me crap milage...
 
Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
what's a knock sensor and what does it mean "to knock"?

please excuse my retardedness when it comes to cars.
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Knocking is when 2 flamefronts start in the gasoline vapor. the knock is when they slam together. basicly like hitting the piston with a hammer. if your engine knocks, you will know it most of the time

the knock sensor tells the computer that your engine is knocking. then the spark is retarded so that the knocking goes away, but you loose power and usually MPG with it.

premo is only 15 cents more than regular, or about 10%. Figure out your millege with 2 0r 3 thanks of both with roughly equivelent driving. with the potential for greater mpg, it may be worth the extra 15 cents.
 
As has been said..performance/mpg will be decreased..and with a decrease in mpg the cost will be offset, so he might as well use the expensive stuff.
 
I asked the same question when I got my 2000. Your friend is a big pimp for buying that car BTW and I mean that in a good way 🙂

But seriously he will suffer a performance loss. From what I could tell end of last year the performance loss will not be as bad as the benefit of saving money going from premium to the cheapy stuff BUT I know he partly bought that car for the performance and he will never have the full 222 (or 227 if anniversary edition) without the 91 octane. I don't know if knock sensors wear out or anything like that, but any money he saves will at least be somewhat offset by poorer performance AND poorer gas mileage.
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
I asked the same question when I got my 2000. Your friend is a big pimp for buying that car BTW and I mean that in a good way 🙂

But seriously he will suffer a performance loss. From what I could tell end of last year the performance loss will not be as bad as the benefit of saving money going from premium to the cheapy stuff BUT I know he partly bought that car for the performance and he will never have the full 222 (or 227 if anniversary edition) without the 91 octane. I don't know if knock sensors wear out or anything like that, but any money he saves will at least be somewhat offset by poorer performance AND poorer gas mileage.
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Heh, yeah it's a sweet car. He got it from another friend of ours who is a used import car dealer. By some stroke of luck/fate he also has the 20th Anniversary Edition of the exact same car, also with around 46,000 miles (only one owner, who treated it very well). I've been talking with my dad, who's helping me with payments and is also very impressed, and it seems the price is just right for this car. My buddy is going to give me a pretty sweet deal for it. We checked and it'd be $3100 lower than what kbb.com prices it for, less $500 for my crappy trade-in. It looks sweet, reviews say it's a very reliable car and is loaded with options. So we're thinking tomorrow might be the day. 😀

Thus the reason why I'm so curious about this question too. 😉
 
Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
Gas is so cheap anyways so a few extra cents won't make a huge difference.
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Up here in Wisconsin it's a difference of 15 cents/gallon. I guess it comes down to the fact that I'm a cheap bastard and so is my friend. 😛
 
Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
Gas is so cheap anyways so a few extra cents won't make a huge difference.
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Up here in Wisconsin it's a difference of 15 cents/gallon. I guess it comes down to the fact that I'm a cheap bastard and so is my friend. 😛
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Well, umm with 25mpg @15000 miles/year it is $90 difference = a quarter / day. You're not that poor are you?
😉

 
Originally posted by: Lithium381
is it okay to mix the fuel? like half midgrade half lowgrade?
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Yes, that will give you a weighted average octane rating.

I think you should do a little testing and see if this car really needs mid range fuel. A lot of manufacturers recommend the mid grade to make up for any poor quality gas you may get. If you buy name brand regular, it may have all the anti-knock qualities you need. It's hard to make good "seat of the pants" comparison on modern fuel injected, electronic engines, but if you honestly can't tell the difference, just save the money.

Back in old days when we had high compression engines and we set our own timing, it was well known that cars that needed premium fuel out of the factory often had little need for it when they had over 50,000 miles on the engine.

 
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