Probably a stupid question but here we go. I got a 98 GST Spyder and i have to use premium gas. Now how important is it? There is this Premium Only gas station that offers 91 octain for the price of regular (87 occtain i think). Cuz that would save me a bunch of money in the long run. My sister has a 2002 Spyder GT "premium only" and the dealer guy said she could fill up regular gas once in a while like as much as 1 time for every 3 fill ups. Its not really that big of deal I can go on payin what I pay because it doesnt hurt that much. And i could care less if you think im cheap or whatever. Anything i can do to save some money will just go into mods for my car anyways.
Thanks,
Mike

keep your boost stock.. do not go above 50% of the throtle and then you can use 87 or the "premiun" you are talking about and you will also save money on parts/fuel....

_E

Its like this... Higher octane = more safety when boosting
You dont "have" to run premium, but I would not do a whole lot of boosting if you are going to run 87. You have a much better chance of pinging or detenation with a lower grade of gas.

I am sure someone will elaborate, but you get the idea.

I would definately stay away from any station that offers "Premium" gas at the price of regular. Gas stations make next to nothing on the gas they sell. That's why there is always a convenience store or service center attached to it. Otherwise they wouldn't make too much money.

I know there have been some gas stations that have been busted for watering down their gas. I try to stick to either Mobil or Amoco for my gas.

I wish I lived further away from the cities so I could run non-oxygenated premium instead of ethanol mixed premium.

Don't be fucking retarded. If you don't want to pay for a quality premium fuel, then sell your turbo car and get a Honda; it is that simple.

Its really not that big of a deal.As long as you aren't running crazy boost, go ahead and run 87, your ECU will protect the car.You may noticed less power from ECU pulling timing, but other than that, you should have no problems or damage.

but then, what fun would it be to drive your car then?

91 was the premium octane on the West Coast. I think you'd be fine. And I definately agree that if you don't race around a lot then you'd be ok with lower grade fuel. I hardly ever race around on the streets so I wasn't concerned at all with using 91.

The way I see our turbo cars react to different gas, I am going to run the best shit out of the pump that I can find. Shit if the 111 octane gas from the Mobile by my house wasn't 3.50 gal I would run that gas all the time.

Our cars are so octane picky I don't know why someone would own one and try to cheap out and put some garbage gas in it. I mean shit if you have a 10 gallon tank and 87 octane is 1.70 and 92-93 octane is 1.90 you are paying $2.00 more for a tank of gas. It isn't that much of a difference.

Eric is right though, you cars ECU will protect it to some extent but constant knocking/detonation will kill your car eventually even if it pulls timing to protect it. The cars asks for premium for a reason, its not a pich to make you think that if you do it your car will be faster, its just for safety of the motor. Our cars were initially setup pretty aggressive from the factory to begin with. That is the reason that they require premium fuel. Now if they were setup to run 5lbs of boost from the factory and not so aggressive timing maps and lower compression it would be a different story.

And I don't know if its been proven but I would be willing to bet that your fuel economy would be a lot better with a more efficient gas/burn.

But hey if you saved $2.00 a gallon and you filled your car up once a week, shit in 20 weeks or six months you could buy a Joe P boost controller with the money you saved, if your car lasted that long....WTF :lol:

CRAIG

Also on my 2G, it said Premium only on the gas gauge, and also on the inside of the gas lid. On my 1g, no where have i seen Premium Only written. Am I just blind or what?

I was just talking about putting in the 91 octane for the 92 that im puting in now. But some of you say it cant be trusted so ill just stick to what im doing now.

Brandon, 1G's didn't start having the premium gas stickers all over them until 1992, but if you read the owner's manuals it still recomends to run at least 91-octane in the 90-91's. 91-octane is fine for a stock turbo DSM at stock boost levels.

Ahhh, I don't have an owners manual so that explains it!

My point was not that 91 octane is bad. It's just that I would not trust any 91 octane called "Premium" at a station that sells it for the same price as 87 octane elsewhere. I have run 91 octane without batting an eye before, but it came from a reputable station. Hell, I'd take 89 from Amoco (or BP as they are called now) before I'd run 93 from Holiday just because it's a better gas.

Everything I have ever heard before was as long as you run 91 or higher, you will be fine. I'm with Craig though, I try to use the best stuff I can find just for the issue of longevity of the engine. I just flipped 153,000 miles and am still running strong.

Just remember, you get what you pay for.

damn straight

92 octane is the way to go even 93 is better!!!

but if you want to pay for it in the long run but 87 or 89!!!!

93 is fine as long as you get quality 93 and not Holiday 93. Sure the car will run fine on Holiday 93, but you will sacrifice gas mileage.

Ughh whats wrong with Holiday? I use it 90% of the time and its great. Holiday and Amaco have the best gas IMO.

I see about a 4-5mpg difference between Holiday and Amoco. Plus it doesn't quite have the get up and go when I continue to run Holiday tank after tank.

Hmm strange... I average about 23-26 mpg depending on how I drive. Ill have to get some amoco and see if theres any difference.

Back when mine was stock, I was getting 17-19mpg combined. Under the same driving circumstances, after I switched to Amoco, I was easily getting at least 21+mpg. Right now I am getting more than 22mpg with bad plug wires and a dirty air filter. I have to do a tune up this next week. When I did my last tune up I was at about 25-26mpg.

My best mileage is 29.1mpg (all highway). I got it last October when I went to Michigan for the Lake Superior PRORally. I drove from Houghton, MI to North Branch, MN before I had to fill up.