Regular or Premium Gas.. Preferences??

03TB93

Original poster
Member
Mar 25, 2012
341
hey guys this may sound like an extreamly dumb question.. but do u guys know if putting premium in our trucks is any better than regular gas. I was really tempted to try premium the other day when i filled up to see if there was any difference, but with premium at 4$ a gallon and some change in my area, i dont want to put it in for nothing.. ive heard it is 1. better for your engine, and 2. will put out more MPG's.. but im skeptical. Also, i may take a roadtrip in the near future,, would it be good to use premiun than?? baisically om asking the pros and cons of premium.. lol thanks :smile:
 

jham

Member
Nov 20, 2011
1,334
03TB93 said:
hey guys this may sound like an extreamly dumb question.. but do u guys know if putting premium in our trucks is any better than regular gas. I was really tempted to try premium the other day when i filled up to see if there was any difference, but with premium at 4$ a gallon and some change in my area, i dont want to put it in for nothing.. ive heard it is 1. better for your engine, and 2. will put out more MPG's.. but im skeptical. Also, i may take a roadtrip in the near future,, would it be good to use premiun than?? baisically om asking the pros and cons of premium.. lol thanks :smile:

you could try it if you wanted to see but our engine are designed to run on 87 octane. Unless you got a tune and specified to run premium fuel. just my opinion
 

Voymom

Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
03TB93 said:
hey guys this may sound like an extreamly dumb question.. but do u guys know if putting premium in our trucks is any better than regular gas. I was really tempted to try premium the other day when i filled up to see if there was any difference, but with premium at 4$ a gallon and some change in my area, i dont want to put it in for nothing.. ive heard it is 1. better for your engine, and 2. will put out more MPG's.. but im skeptical. Also, i may take a roadtrip in the near future,, would it be good to use premiun than?? baisically om asking the pros and cons of premium.. lol thanks :smile:

Okay this is what I know for my state, not sure if it's the same elsewhere BUT. Mid-grade Silver or the Premium grade is cheaper per gallon because it has more Ethanol in it compared to regular gas. I don't care for the Ethanol mainly because to me it burns faster than regular fuel that has either no Ethanol or very little in it. I have also heard of Ethanol killing 02 sensors and doing a few other "not so great" things to vehicles whether they are flex fuel capable or not. I use regular even though it is more expensive, but I get better gas mileage compared to the mid-grade and premium. I heard that the Ethanol burns hotter, and that it's good to use every once in a while to "burn off" junk in your tank, but not to sure if that's true or not. Here lately though we have been running the mid grade because as gas prices rise it's just a little bit cheaper than regular gas.
 

03TB93

Original poster
Member
Mar 25, 2012
341
ya deffinitly makes sense. im glad i asked here before i filled all the way up with it. it probabaly woulda put me up around the $100 mark if i did a full tank of premium :eek: i may try regular though next time. i guess that cant hurt anything.. im pussing the 150,000 mile mark so i wanna keep her running as long as possible :thumbsup: and ya im not running anything special in my engine. completly stock lol. thanks for the feedback :biggrin:
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
03TB93 said:
...ive heard it is 1. better for your engine, and 2. will put out more MPG's.. but im skeptical. ...
You're right to be skeptical. Who's spouting this nonsense anyway? Somebody who owns an oil well? :rotfl:
 

03TB93

Original poster
Member
Mar 25, 2012
341
lol ya your exactly right.. bastards lol :hissyfit:
 

RayVoy

Member
Nov 20, 2011
939
As Tami said, you really need to look at the make up of the gas and the price spread.

Here, the 87 has up to 10% alcohol, the 91/93 does not.

Alcohol will reduce your mpg.

Theoretically, I should get better gas mileage by using the 91.

Our 91 is at least 40 cents per gal higher, would the higher mpg justify the increased cost?
 

03TB93

Original poster
Member
Mar 25, 2012
341
ya ray, thats exactly what im wondering. im kinda scared it will F up my engine though if i try it lol. if my TB was newer i would give it a try. im gonna try regular though next time and if that helps i may just have to test premuin and i will let you know. also alot of guys say that, that fuel mix does help. im tempted to try that as well... :undecided:
 

RayVoy

Member
Nov 20, 2011
939
Premium WILL NOT hurt your engine (maybe your pocket).

I bounce back and forth a little, the mileage is a little better (maybe), but not enough to justify the additional $ for me; my brother, with a lighter vehicle, claims it is cheaper for him to run premium (but he never was very good at math :crackup:).
 

STLtrailbSS

Member
Dec 4, 2011
1,617
I run 100% premium and still get about 11MPG....my life :no: :biggrin: I had the same thought as you In my 2002 TB and yeah its just a waste.
 

03TB93

Original poster
Member
Mar 25, 2012
341
ok good to know,, if my engine catches fire tho, im coming to you :rotfl: lol jk. and lol ya i guess it would make a difference with a lighter car.. if u were taking a road trip where your on i-95 90% of the time,, would u still run regular?
And STL thats so bad lol its nice to know that you have a big ass engine thatll kill 80% of people that wanna race you.. or cut you off :lipsrsealed: lol
 

RayVoy

Member
Nov 20, 2011
939
STLtrailbSS said:
I run 100% premium and still get about 11MPG....my life :no: :biggrin: I had the same thought as you In my 2002 TB and yeah its just a waste.
The SS trucks may be required to run premium :undecided:, if so, switching to regular would really hurt your mileage.

03TB93 said:
ok good to know,, if my engine catches fire tho, im coming to you :rotfl: lol
Come and get me :raspberry:

03TB93 said:
. if u were taking a road trip where your on i-95 90% of the time,, would u still run regular?
We run from NB to Ontario a couple of times a year, use I95 and I90, I used the I6 Envoy many times, the Avalanche a couple of times, and my wifes Saturn a few times; I have tried tanks of reg and tanks of prem, I have made the complete run on reg and I have made the complete run on prem; I have been very careful to stay away from the discount guys and only use the top tier guys.

The end result, no difference. I think the prem feels and runs a little better, but maybe I want it to feel better :undecided:

Part of the problem, is the weather, we might go in any month and we might see sun all the way, or it might rain for a bunch of hours (rain really kills the mpg), the test conditions can not be controlled.

And, people laugh at me when I say this, but it is uphill to Ont, so I should get better mileage coming home, but last trip it was exactly the same both ways (but, it did rain on the way home).

We are going next month, I'll probably take the truck and I'll probably try premium :deadhorse:
 

Voymom

Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
I get better mileage with regular than I do premium. The price is about the same if not more for the premium as it (for me anyways) burns a lot faster. I don't think MPG is really an issue with what fuel you run I think it's how it burns. If I had it my way, I would figure out how to drop a diesel engine in the voy...but then again diesel can get kind of pricey too. I think the ONLY way to really save enough money to make a difference in any vehicle is to not drive them :raspberry: I'm just glad that I don't have a 67 camaro SS as a DD I would HATE that gas bill!
 

STLtrailbSS

Member
Dec 4, 2011
1,617
RayVoy said:
The SS trucks may be required to run premium :undecided:, if so, switching to regular would really hurt your mileage

They Recommend premium for best performance its had nothing but since I have owned it.
 

JRTAHOE

Member
Nov 20, 2011
848
I use 87 Octane, 100% gas. It's only about $0.10 more then regular, standard 87 Octane with Ethanol in it. When I got my PCM tuned, I considered tuning for 91 but there's been a few times I've been out of state and for some reason I find gas stations with no premium so I didn't want to chance it.
 

03TB93

Original poster
Member
Mar 25, 2012
341
07 TB RIDER said:
I use 87 Octane, 100% gas. It's only about $0.10 more then regular, standard 87 Octane with Ethanol in it. When I got my PCM tuned, I considered tuning for 91 but there's been a few times I've been out of state and for some reason I find gas stations with no premium so I didn't want to chance it.

Ya very good point.. thatd be my luck, to need gas and not have any around at the nearest gas station lol :crazy:

RayVoy said:
The SS trucks may be required to run premium :undecided:, if so, switching to regular would really hurt your mileage.


Come and get me :raspberry:

We run from NB to Ontario a couple of times a year, use I95 and I90, I used the I6 Envoy many times, the Avalanche a couple of times, and my wifes Saturn a few times; I have tried tanks of reg and tanks of prem, I have made the complete run on reg and I have made the complete run on prem; I have been very careful to stay away from the discount guys and only use the top tier guys.

The end result, no difference. I think the prem feels and runs a little better, but maybe I want it to feel better :undecided:

Part of the problem, is the weather, we might go in any month and we might see sun all the way, or it might rain for a bunch of hours (rain really kills the mpg), the test conditions can not be controlled.

And, people laugh at me when I say this, but it is uphill to Ont, so I should get better mileage coming home, but last trip it was exactly the same both ways (but, it did rain on the way home).

We are going next month, I'll probably take the truck and I'll probably try premium :deadhorse:

Deffintly let me know if u find anything out if u do decide to use the different types.. thatd be awesome

Voymom said:
I get better mileage with regular than I do premium. The price is about the same if not more for the premium as it (for me anyways) burns a lot faster. I don't think MPG is really an issue with what fuel you run I think it's how it burns. If I had it my way, I would figure out how to drop a diesel engine in the voy...but then again diesel can get kind of pricey too. I think the ONLY way to really save enough money to make a difference in any vehicle is to not drive them :raspberry: I'm just glad that I don't have a 67 camaro SS as a DD I would HATE that gas bill!

lol a deisel trailvoy would be so bad ass tho!!!!! lol
 

DJones

Member
Jan 21, 2012
701
St. Petersburg, Florida
I always use 87 E10. Very few stations have both 89 and 91 (usually one or the other), but they all have 93. Each is a $0.10 - $0.12 change from its adjacent grade. The closest station with any E0 is 100+ miles away.

Hypermiling is the best way to gain MPG's and save money.
 

TexazReece

Member
Dec 4, 2011
1,341
For the first month I used reg gas and was getting 18mpg but after hearing about mid grade is better on engine I have used Mid-grade majority of time I've owned my TB. Now I get 18.5mpg but also mix a little of the additive in it. My wife questioned how I can fillup once a week and she has to fillup 2-3 times lol. I just shake my head :no:, Baby you have a supercharged grand prix and you drive alot faster than I do lol.
 

Envoy4Life

Member
Dec 4, 2011
461
I run 87 in the Envoy's at all times. Malibu gets 89 though. Really makes a difference with it.
 
I use regular 87 Octane in my TB with Octane Boost. Every other tank (or so) I use P.i. Performance Improver Gasoline Additive just to keep things clean. I drive about 26 miles one way to work 5 days a week and is mostly highway driving, with the very occasional times of sitting in a 5-6 mile back up at the local tunnel. I do see a marked improvement using the Octane boost of about 1-2 MPG average. It brings the 87 octane to 94 without putting a dent in your wallet like it would by filling up with the 93.

Steve
 

jimmyjam

Member
Nov 18, 2011
1,634
whether or not to run premium can be determined with a scanner. my $15 bluetooth scanner can do it. run cheap gas, watch knock retard, if that is >0 then you are getting knock, try premium gas and see if it goes away. if it stays 0 then keep running cheap gas.

those bt scanners are a great tool and really cheap and i'd recommend it to anyone. because you can't make informed decisions without information
 

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