Premium Gas – Worth it?

unit731 · October 16, 2013

If the original poster thinks that he is ahead as far as cost goes - then stick with it.

I don't buy it. I'd like to see a scientific study. Or other sources that claim such.

GMC-AT · October 16, 2013

I'm not claiming nothing... was just asking.

kstruckcountry · October 16, 2013

I like to buy 89 at the shell here, as 89 here is 100% GAS. It's worth paying a few more cents for me to get ethanol free. The mileage is a wash, if anything it costs more per gallon, but I hate ethanol.

Ron.s · October 16, 2013

I like to buy 89 at the shell here, as 89 here is 100% GAS. It's worth paying a few more cents for me to get ethanol free. The mileage is a wash, if anything it costs more per gallon, but I hate ethanol.

You should get better mileage with non ethanol because there's 5%+ more energy per gallon. That makes more sense than getting better mileage with Premium....More power but not much better economy.

kstruckcountry · October 16, 2013

Yes but I think the highest ethanol content around here is E10. With it being that small of a percentage I don't think it has much effect. FWIW, I didn't see a gain in mileage from 87 to 91. So I just run the pure 89.

crushNchowda · October 17, 2013

I can tell you it seems like my 5.3 w/ 3.42s is getting 1-1.5mpg better on the same long routes (300 mile round trip) compared to 87

It's a solid 1 that's for sure.

I have a total of 1550 miles now too fwiw

'01LS1 · October 17, 2013

This should make things more interesting...

The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/gasoline3.htm

BringTheRain403 · October 17, 2013

OK so at 1 MPG over a tank of gas that's 27 miles additional per tank of premium.

Now lets say you average 19 MPG with regular and 20 MPG with premium. This means you would get approximately 513 miles to a tank on regular and 540 miles to a tank on premium. It would take another 1.42 gallons of regular gas to travel the same distance that you traveled on the premium gas

Right now at my local Sunoco regular is $3.26/gal and premium is $3.59/gal.

a full tank of regular gas would cost $88.02 and a full tank of premium gas would cost $96.93. The extra 1.42 gallons of regular would cost you $4.63.

So to travel 540 miles on regular averaging 19MPG it would cost you $92.65 and to travel 540 miles on premium it would cost you $96.93.

In my opinion 1 MPG difference only ends up costing you money. You would need a solid 2 -2.5 MPG to break even or even have it make sense to run premium.

Just my thoughts...

crushNchowda · October 17, 2013

Oh I don't care what is more economical, I'm just stating the fact that my experience is the truck gets better gas mileage and runs better on 93, it's not surprising - it's an LS-esque small block V8 w/ DI.

Ill run 93 just for the simple fact the motor seems to run better w/ it, will be even better after a tune

2014 Sporty Shorty · October 17, 2013

Ethanol is great in newer vehicles that have been designed to run on it if your after more power and don't want to fill your tank with c12. Up here in Canada, the petro stations have 94 at the pump which is just 91 but more ethanol. The Petro rep I was talking too said that it's 17 percent ethanol which explains the octane bump (ethanol has a higher octane rating). Now that I have 94 in my tank I can honestly say that the truck loves it. It runs more timing from 2000 on (I monitored it) and gives a noticeable amount of more bottom end torque and high end hp. Lingenfelter has already confirmed now that the new 5.3 makes 383hp and 416lbft with a e47 blend in the tank so there's your proof. The draw backs to it is it loves water and goes bad fast. I use to run this stuff called k100 in my cobalt ss when I was on e85 and it really helped with keeping the water out of the gas and helped it last longer. The other one is you will lose mileage and it will be pretty noticeable, I lost 8mpg on my cobalt. That being said, if you want more power and have access to it, run it. It's great stuff and it's dirt cheap.

joshw1303 · October 17, 2013

What's the fuel injector cleaner GM uses? I run 89 octane and definitely runs better.

Badass69 · October 17, 2013

94 from Husky and Petro Canada is just ethanol free 91 with 10% ethanol in it. All 91 octane fuel sold in Alberta and likely Canada wide is ethanol free. 87 octane is 10% as per mandate from the government. Making the refinery base stock roughly 84 octane. Most load outs have only 2 inputs for gasoline.... regular and premium base stock. Anything like ethanol, tactrol, dye or whatever is blended at the load rack as it goes into the fuel truck.

Yes I have worked at Suncors loadout locally to see this....

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Super 8 · October 17, 2013

94 from Husky and Petro Canada is just ethanol free 91 with 10% ethanol in it. All 91 octane fuel sold in Alberta and likely Canada wide is ethanol free. 87 octane is 10% as per mandate from the government. Making the refinery base stock roughly 84 octane. Most load outs have only 2 inputs for gasoline.... regular and premium base stock. Anything like ethanol, tactrol, dye or whatever is blended at the load rack as it goes into the fuel truck.

Yes I have worked at Suncors loadout locally to see this....

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When blended at the load rack, does the 10% ethanol vary or can it be more or less? Example; 11, 12, 13% etc.

Badass69 · October 17, 2013

Yes lol. Very much so. It is a fairly precise system with reasonable repeatability but things happen. As an example a dye solenoid stuck open while loading a dyed gas truck.... they ended up with about 200 times the normal amount of dye in the fuel. When working correctly it will be a 10% blend based on volume.

I am an instrument tech by trade so I have to ensure this stuff works as it should. I have since moved on job wise but have a close friend who is still a loadout/tank farm maintenance guy lol.

I worked at Shell as well but they blended for less small companies. Suncor was blending for their own(petro can), husky, fas gas, race trac gas, UFA, co-op, etc.

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joshw1303 · October 18, 2013

Yes lol. Very much so. It is a fairly precise system with reasonable repeatability but things happen. As an example a dye solenoid stuck open while loading a dyed gas truck.... they ended up with about 200 times the normal amount of dye in the fuel. When working correctly it will be a 10% blend based on volume.

I am an instrument tech by trade so I have to ensure this stuff works as it should. I have since moved on job wise but have a close friend who is still a loadout/tank farm maintenance guy lol.

I worked at Shell as well but they blended for less small companies. Suncor was blending for their own(petro can), husky, fas gas, race trac gas, UFA, co-op, etc.

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What is 89 octane at shell and Petro? Ethanol rating?