Regular or Premium in my plumbing vans?

[Terry]

When I bought my vans, a G3500 Chevy Box van and a Ford E250 Econoline, I was running regular, just like what it said to use in the manual. And yes, the Ford would ping going up hills, but that was how it ran. Then my mechanic told me that I should be using at least the mid grade. I tried it, and the pinging went away.

Both vans on regular get 10 MGP
On Mid grade, 11 MPG
On Premium, 12 MPG, for a 20% improvement in fuel economy over regular.
No pinging, and way faster. I find that other cars get a bit annoyed with me, not expecting me to accelerate so quickly, they're used to the other vans on the road.

Cost to drive 1,000 miles, regular = $380.00
Cost to drive 1,000 miles, premium = $341.67

My savings on my plumbing vans by buying premium is 11%, and they're more fun to drive.
But don't tell anyone, they might start charging more for premium. I don't know why people would pay more money overall for less performance when it's cheaper on many vehicles to run premium.

Based my 2/24/2022 Washington State Costco gas prices of
Regular $3.80
Premium $4.10

 

[WorthFlorida]

All vehicles have a knock sensor and when knock is detected, the timing is retarded to reduce or eliminate harmful knock. Of course that reduces power and increases fuel consumption. I read an E-250 owners manual and it does recommend 87 (but as a minimum). The owners manual stated that if the engine pings or knocks, "see your service advisor"

My Camaro, Recommends Premium (right there on the gas cap) but not Required. High performance engines Require Premium. Tricky wording. The first generation Nissan Murano's required Premium and resulted in complaints. So for the second generation, de-tuned the engine for regular.

I've been buying EXXON/MOBIL for the last twenty-two years and this past month, using their gas credit card the discount increased to 10 cents a gallon from 6 cents at the pump price. 12 cents if you use premium. About a year ago they switch from billing credit on your charge account to instant credit at the pump. Today, the Exxon station went from $3.39 to $3.49 per gallon.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sylvan]

Terry, both my cars I use either 93 or 94 octane as .30 cents per gallon wont bust me

My Lexus 460 LAWD and my BMW 750 I (M) Sport both have 8 cylinder engines the BMW is twin turbo

I like the idea of placing my foot to the floor pad with no hesitation or any pinging and no matter how cold it it they both start right up. The engines are clean and do not need any service other then oil changing every 5,000 miles

Even my water Jetters I use 89 and never less

 

[Jeff H Young]

I'm thinking something wrong with the truck it should run properly on what they specified. I've always run the recommended and read from several sources that higher than recommended octane is not better , but I suppose there are exceptions. I used to Run premium in my Bug back in the day and advance the timing a bit thought I got a bit more power out of it

 

[WorthFlorida]

Terry, both my cars I use either 93 or 94 octane as .30 cents per gallon wont bust me

My Lexus 460 LAWD and my BMW 750 I (M) Sport both have 8 cylinder engines the BMW is twin turbo

I like the idea of placing my foot to the floor pad with no hesitation or any pinging and no matter how cold it it they both start right up. The engines are clean and do not need any service other then oil changing every 5,000 miles

Even my water Jetters I use 89 and never less

All 2 cycle engines for lawn equipment recommends 89 octane.

 

[Terry]

In 2016 my son Taylor was looking at buying a new car. We test drove the Mazda 3, and it was fun. The salesman told us over and over again that it takes "Regular" and we should use regular gas.

So Taylor believing the salesman, put regular in for his first tank of gas.
The car ran like crap.
Taylor then filled it with premium on the next tank, and wow! Now it's running like when he test drove it.
The car came with premium in the tank to get the sale, with the, what do I call it? The big lie? It takes regular buddy. It's a high compression engine that takes regular.

I questioned the salesman at the time, doesn't high compression need premium? On no, Mazda makes their high compression engines run on regular.

Needless to say, Taylor has been buying premium and enjoying the cost savings. Better mileage and more fun too.