Is it worth paying extra for premium unleaded petrol or does it make no difference to performance?

Question

Is it worth paying extra for premium unleaded petrol or does it make no difference to performance?

Answer 1

No it is not, some cars are not even suppose to use it.  

Answer 2

It is supposed to enhance slightly the performance of more highly tuned cars, personally I think it is a rip off.

Answer 3

The answer, according to experts who study fuel efficiency in detail, is both regular and premium gasoline. And it would be a waste of money to favor premium over regular, especially in these times when gasoline prices are high, according to the experts.

Virtually nothing is gained by filling up with a premium or more expensive grade of fuel than the vehicle manufacturer has recommended, the experts say. And many of the same experts explain that drivers may not lose much performance from their cars by using a lower grade of fuel than recommended by the car manufacturer.

There is little difference in energy content of regular versus premium gasoline. They both contain about 111,400 British Thermal Units of energy per gallon.

Answer 4

It will make no noticable performance unless you use the car on a track. you may use slightly less fuel but not enough to recoupe the extra cost.

Answer 5

no it does not matter which unleaded fuel you use, but i think that if you use premium then it might give you a small amount of added performance, but it would be too small for you to feel

Answer 6

Despite what all the professors on this thread says, there's only one answer to your question.

Refer to your instruction manual. That will tell you exactly what you need to know. It might even tell you by the fuel filler cap what fuel to run your car on.

All these home made advise will end up with someone trashing their engine.

Answer 7

Depends on whether it is specified for the vehicle, but in most cases not worth it. In my Jeep it will actually give less power and less MPG because of the engine design.

Answer 8

Makes no difference unless your car requires it or you manually adjust timing, change compression or implement forced induction on your car.

Answer 9

It depends on the car, a modern car with the all singing all dancing computer it will not make much difference. However in older cars it does as I have found when using it in my Sunbeam Rapier which is now giving 39.5 MPG. this is a difference of about 8 MPG from ordinary unleaded and thus well worth the extra.

Answer 10

Your car is tuned to run on one type of fuel, usually normal octane rating unleaded.

In nine out of ten vehicles, you'll get no improvement in performance or economy by using premium fuel.

Answer 11

My rally car won't run properly unless I use premium! So it must make a difference.

Answer 12

I have used this in my car and large motorcycle. I consider it a bit of a luxury as it gives gains in smoother engine running and a few more mpg. As someone has said though it probably isn't worth the extra money unless you have a highly tuned engine or do some track work with your motor