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Premium or Midgrade

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fordcupcar

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
Messages
132
Location
Wisconsin
What do you guys put in your car? The "Premium" (Octane 93) or "Midgrade" (Octane 91) gas? Contour manual says 92, but no where around here offers that. I tend to put midgrade in my car during the winter, because I know it is going to hog fuel when it idles to warm-up everyday. Even though I should probably put 93 in to give it a little bit of life in the winter. In summer I usually put 93 in every other time. I just don't see the point in spending sometimes an extra 10cents for 93. What about you guys?
 
the higher the octane the more difficult it is for the gas to vaporize, so i definitely use 87 octane in the winter and most of the time in '95 v6, it's getting around 24-25 mpg in mixed driving and runs beautifully

some think that higher than needed octane causes excess carbon deposits search around; with all the mentions of carbon problems in contour.org it might be something to consider

mike
 
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Well since they only offer up to 91 grade here, that is what I put in. But I have been running a nonethenol blend the past couple weeks and my CEL went way after being on for about 7 months.
 
fordcupcar said:
What do you guys put in your car? The "Premium" (Octane 93) or "Midgrade" (Octane 91) gas? Contour manual says 92, but no where around here offers that. I tend to put midgrade in my car during the winter, because I know it is going to hog fuel when it idles to warm-up everyday. Even though I should probably put 93 in to give it a little bit of life in the winter. In summer I usually put 93 in every other time. I just don't see the point in spending sometimes an extra 10cents for 93. What about you guys?
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Do what it says then.

mrutkaus said:
the higher the octane the more difficult it is for the gas to vaporize, so i definitely use 87 octane in the winter and most of the time in '95 v6, it's getting around 24-25 mpg in mixed driving and runs beautifully

some think that higher than needed octane causes excess carbon deposits search around; with all the mentions of carbon problems in contour.org it might be something to consider

mike
Click to expand...

Since you're using a 95 V6 as an example, we obviously aren't talking about an SVT. SVT's require premium. Sure the manual says that it can run lower octane with "degraded performance" but where's the fun in that? Around Flint, premium is generally only about 10-15 cents a gallon more than regular (as opposed to my other home in Texas where some A**HOLES think that it's neat to charge 40 cents more the regular). Spend the extra buck. That's like $.50/week for me...

elraido said:
Well since they only offer up to 91 grade here, that is what I put in. But I have been running a nonethenol blend the past couple weeks and my CEL went way after being on for about 7 months.
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I F'N HATE ETHANOL! Stupidest thing ever! (unless you're from Iowa) :mad: Great idea- Lets replace 10% of gasoline volume with corn. Results- 10% reduction in fuel mileage (hmmmmm:nonono:), increased cost for this worse performing blend, and milk hits $4 a gallon because farmers can't afford to feed their damn cows. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: Oh, but it's so much better for the environment...:rolleyes:
 
premium only for me. if you have a car that doesnt require it,run the lowest possible grade your car wont ping/detonate on. my old 96 didnt like 87,i had to run 89 and sometimes 91 depending on the outside temp.
 
I use premium all the time in the SVT, 92 or higher usually only from BP. The cougar I usually use 89 from a station down the road where it's always the same price.

TX00SVT said:
Results- 10% reduction in fuel mileage (hmmmmm:nonono:), increased cost for this worse performing blend
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Ethanol fuel isn't so bad.

E85 is considerably cheaper than 87 octane w/10% ethanol here :) Though it does get worse gas mileage, it is a way higher octane rating (like > 110). Can make more power with that than regular pump gas :cool:
 
91 octane is not midgrade under any circumstances; it is premium, as are fuels with ratings higher than that. 89 is midgrade, and 87 is regular. You're not likely to see a difference running 93 versus 91, though you will pay extra for it unnecessarily.

In high altitude areas, you'll often see 91, 88, and 85.5.
 
my98SVTturbo said:
93 and some times i can find 94 at some sunocos
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I generally 90%+ of the time use Shell Premium, or Sunoco. I've never tried the 94. I really don't see the point of 93 vs. 94 when the price difference is usually at least $.15/gal, and the difference between regular and 93 is only $.15 :shrug:
 
i just so happen to have my book next to my computer
fuel recommendation:
91 octane or higher

Regular fuel can be used in the SVT Contour without damaging engine components. The knock sensor will adjust the engine calibaration to accomodate regualr unleaded fuel. This may result in a degradation of engine performance.
 
i use to put 100 octane in my old car sometimes, have not tried in the SVT, maybe when it gets a little warmer..
 
mrutkaus said:
the higher the octane the more difficult it is for the gas to vaporize, so i definitely use 87 octane in the winter and most of the time in '95 v6, it's getting around 24-25 mpg in mixed driving and runs beautifully

some think that higher than needed octane causes excess carbon deposits search around; with all the mentions of carbon problems in contour.org it might be something to consider

mike
Click to expand...

Ummm Octane is a measurement a fuel's resistance to detonation.
 
We only have 87, 89, and 93 around here. We used to have 91, but I never noticed it went away since I always put 87 in my Contour. Now my Mazdaspeed3 calls for 91 and we don't have it, so I put 93 in it. Sorta expensive, about $3.25 per gallon.
 
I only use Amaco Ultimate(93). It is the only one that my csvt doen't stumble on. Of course it wouldn't stumble on the other kinds if I gave it a tune up but it's kinda cool that it runs a lot better on one kind.

As far as ethanol goes, if I ever had a car that couldn't handle it, I would get rid of it. Of couse I would never put E85 in without doing major work to the car. I would love it if my cars could run completely off of corn! :drool: (I even put 10% ethanol in my bike!)
 
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