safe to use lower octane levels?

[mapleglen porsche]

with the price of gas, how safe is the lower octane gasoline with 2004 boxster. I've used 87 on occasion when 93 octane wasn't available and I did not notice any dramatic problems. Anyone have any feed back?

Not Safe.

The right gas will cost about $100 more per year over the "cheap" stuff.

[Quickurt]

In an emeergency, okay.
We've been through the rest of it already. You are more than likely not saving any money as you will save less than 3% on money and lose about 10% on fuel consumption.
I haven't tried it in my boxster, but I did a good back to back in my Mazda Turbo and lost over 12% in gas mileage while gaining less than 3% in dollar savings.

[Quickurt]

I guess an emeergency is when there's nothing but regular or mid-grade available.

An eemergency is when you click the post button before reading over what you typed.

An emergency is when I actually sit at a keyboard!!

[pbanders]

We have 87, 89, and 91 RON here in AZ. I ran 89 for about 6 months in my M3, and while I didn't really notice any performance difference (as judged by the unreliable "seat of your pants" dyno), the idle became rougher over time. I switched back to 91 and within a few tanks the idle was perfect again. My Box has only seen 91, and my 914 won't run on (knocks) if I use anything other than 91, and actually works best on 93 (I can slightly advance the timing and get a bit more power).

[KevinH1990]

I've seen some evidence that it will run well on regular, but I am cautious about switching.

A fellow I worked with until a couple of weeks ago uses regular in his 04 non-S. He e-mailed me the other day and said he was getting 31 mpg with no noticeable decline in performance. He did tell me he was trying to coast up to traffic signals and not drive as fast as he would like.

I'm cautious because I don't know anyone who has used regular for a long period of time. I just completed the process of sorting out some problems with my fuel system. My car is running fine now, so I'm staying with 93 octane fuel. I don't want to disturb my cars equilibrium, and I won't switch until I see some really hard data and not just anecdotal evidence. The savings is about 20 cents a gallon in my area, so that is less than a penny a mile when driving on the highway.

[SoCalKen]

They don't even sell 93 around here so all I can get is 91 cost me $4.48 per gal today. I don't drive her very often so the $.50 a gal more than the 87 stuff isn't as much of an issue for me as I would rather be safe than sorry. If I drove her every day with one fill of the tank per week that still is only $8 per week. I think I would still go for the 91. A few years ago I figured I was spending a similar amount of money on tires as gas (the roads here have a lot of curves) .
Ken

[Jaxonalden]

The difference in burning 87 over 93 is performance. The engines have knock sensors and when you burn 87 and the engine starts predetonation (knock, because the fuel isn't stable enough not to in a high compression engine) the knock sensors will retard the timing until it stops. That retarding of the timing will decrease performance. Thats it.

[Brucelee]

It seems to be safe. I think the pinging would be obvious if it were not so.

I am going to try a tank of mid-grade next go round to see if I notice any change.

[lucky_topher]

if the difference in price is $0.10/gal
and you get 20mpg
and you drive 12,000 miles/yr

that means you're using 600 gal of gas a year

if you're saving $0.10 a gal by cheaping out to lower-than-recommended grade, that means you save $60.00 a year, or $5.00 a month

not worth it...

even if the difference is $0.20/gal, you're still only saving $10/month...

one less lapdance every other month and you can still put in the good stuff

And the engine could detonate!

[Brucelee]

one less lapdance every other month and you can still put in the good stuff

You ask too much!

[Jaxonalden]

I burn the good stuff and still have enough money for the "workin'" girls

Lucky, where you gettin' lap dances for $10? Or are they bargin basement girls?

[insite]

i read a study awhile back that showed w/ cars like ours, you COULD switch to lower octane fuel, but you'd do so at reduced fuel economy. the study said it was actually more economical to use the super unleaded. i'll try to find the study.

[Benny986]

If I were on a deserted road, and there was only 1 gas station within the next hundred miles, and I was nearly out of gas, and they had no 91+, then yeah, I'd get whatever they had.

and then, I would hope that it was cold out, and I would drive the car really softly. the car can retard timing on its own, but only so much.

as soon as possible, I would get the highest octane, and still not drive hard. I would then get an octane booster, then drive normal again.

for example, I have a chip, with a 100oct program, and lets say I love the 100oct feel, but not the 100oct price. so i put in 91, but leave it on the 100oct program, well, if I try to drive the car hard, the car will retard, it will pull timing, be slower, and if I'm lucky, it will be within the threshold of pullability. if not, then it will detonate and detonate badly. I will probably need engine work afterwards. But then again, it was my fault, cause I was an idiot.

so if you are going to be driving in the winter, and you are going to drive the car easily, and short shift at 3K, feel free to run 87, it shouldn't do anything bad to your car (YMMV, literally).

But then again, you bought a Porsche, not a commuter.

[smagerstein]

Hi,


We have a gas station chain called OMV (in Slovenia), cheap gas is 95 octain and 100 octain is premium. It cost 2 cents more (1.2% more than regular gas) so this is all I use now.

Since Ive been using only this the car feels a bit..peppier....?? but not so noticable.

Fuel milage seems the same. I get about 450 k (280-290 miles) per fill, which is poor I think. But who cares, its a porsche.

Steven.

[Perfectlap]

^ Smagerstein how much (in dollars) does it cost to fill up your tank?
I think I'm moving with my Boxster to Venezuela, cheap gas and beautiful women..win win.



My car is a virgin to 87 and 91 octane.

I once put a few gallons of some weird brand that was rated 92?? One of those weird Russian brands I think.

93 is 4.22 now....That's gotta be the fastest 30 cent jump I've ever seen.

I'm sticking to 93 and just driving slower. Much slower.
Put the top down, turn up the music and keep the RPMs low.
Welcome to the golden age of the oil industry.

[CP711]

Less than 93 dont be silly! Watch out for the ethonal gas to! Here in Nashville, Tn the news said that there is alot of cars coming in with water in the tank. The dealer said ethonal was ok to use. BUY 93 and hope the ethonal was made correctly or you will have water in your tank. ( In TN all gas has 10% ethonal mixed in) The Exxon by the Titans stadium is the only one left that sales 100 % gas for you local guys :-)

[racer_d]

Hard to believe only 1 station in town doesn't have an ethanol mix. Maybe they just don't have their stickers on the pumps yet. Especially if all the other Exxons in town DO have the sticker. I don't think 1 station in town gets a "special blend" to sell.

Can you use 87. yes. But why. May as well get some Sears Roadhandlers and cheap ass brake pads too. Might as well not use a full synthetic oil like Mobil 1 too. Hopefully you note the heavy sarcasm. Do what's right. Treat the car like it should be or sell it. No point ruining another Porsche

[Kirk]

Yes, if you put in 87 octane the engine might knock or ping in which case the DME will then pull timing. Only performance will suffer. HOWEVER, is not the performance of the car related to your fuel economy? I think what some others have tried to say is that even if you run the cheap gas the car may not run as well with the pulled timing and in the end your fuel economy may suffer. It may actually end up costing you MORE to run the lower octane because of this.