What brand of gas do you use?

[Kevfra]

OK Adam - how are figuring your lower octane makes your car happier? That is flying the face of what Porsche says to do of course, which I'm sure you know. The engine will compensate to a degree for lower octane but that limit is around 96 octane. Are you checking your spark plugs, studying your emissions on a hydrocarbon reader...? Obviously we'd all like to run lower octane and save some money, but if that puppy is pinging it means significant damage to the engine is happening. One of the easiest ways to begin such a process is to look at your plugs running premium and see if they are wet and carbonized.

[xxxalexxxx]

I go to any gas station thats convenient
gas is become so expensive i remember a few yrs ago i was able to fill up a tank of gas for 20 bucks...now not so much...hah oh well i guess we dont have it as bad as the guys in Europe

[edevlin]

"Anyone try 100 octane and notice a difference? I know it's available at my local Delta Sonic ... but at $5+/gal I'm not quite that interested."

I tried some 100+ octane racing fuel once and it sure seemed to make the car quicker. Of course I realize that is a completely subjective assessment. As I recall, the ECU tuning that I had done to my car was optimized for 91-93 octane, and I think the tuner said that any higher octane fuel should not make any difference, but my little Boxster sure seemed to hum with the high octane fuel.

Ed

[turbo23dog]

I hit the $50 to fill up mark last week after running the tank lower than usual. I had been running at about $45 previously.

[Brucelee]

In CA Costco sells gas for about 25cent less than stations like Chevron etc.

[Ray]

The Boxster engine is designed to take a higher octane ... it has a higher compression. I use Sunoco 94

[Gary in BR]

I use Chevron or Shell.
I prefer Chevron but there are more Shells around here.

[986Porsche986]

Here in Phoenix the highest Octane we can get is 91. A few stations sell some 105 racing, but I have read many forums that say to stay away from that stuff for the Boxster. I use Chevron Premium about 80 percent of the time and QT the other
18% (2% of the time is from Costco or some other station only when I am forced to)
When I first bought the Boxster, I asked my service tech at Porsche what she would recommend for fuel. she pretty much said 93 octane Chevron is ideal, but because we can get only get 91 max octane here in Arizona, that it what I use. She is also
the one who told me about a study of all the big German motor companies, Porsche,
BMW, Mercedes who tested different fuels for their consistency and performance and QT was right up there with Chevron. Nice thing about QT is that their prices are close to Costco prices.

The other thing, someone once told me to avoid filling up at a station that is
getting their new gas pumped into their storage tanks because it causes any sediment in the storage tanks to get stirred up and possibly can shorten the
life of your fuel filter. Not sure how true this is, I would think that the stations
have several filters in place, but if I do pull into a station and they are getting
fresh fuel pumped in, I drive right out and go to another or I wait and come back the next day. I never let my boxster get below 1/4 tank.

[Kirk]

I believe a lot of the race gas is leaded, which is why you want to stay away from it. The lead will definitely screw up your O2 sensors and I believe your cats too.

I just buy what's cheap. Once in a while I run my tank low and then fill up with Shell V-Power California 91 Octane Piss Water Gas. I figure with all the fancy detergents and injector cleaners in the expensive gas a tankful now and then will help keep me humming along. Never used Chevron around here as it's the most expensive...

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Kevfra

OK Adam - how are figuring your lower octane makes your car happier? That is flying the face of what Porsche says to do of course, which I'm sure you know. The engine will compensate to a degree for lower octane but that limit is around 96 octane. Are you checking your spark plugs, studying your emissions on a hydrocarbon reader...? Obviously we'd all like to run lower octane and save some money, but if that puppy is pinging it means significant damage to the engine is happening. One of the easiest ways to begin such a process is to look at your plugs running premium and see if they are wet and carbonized.

I was just kidding. I use nothing but 93 octane for my baby. My mazda 3 on the other hand gets the the cheapest gas I can find.

[CJ_Boxster]

Chevron, Mobile or 76, 91 (best we got) octane in that order.

[Perfectlap]

I luck out. The HESS station three blocks from home has the lowest prices within an hour's drive. I haven't paid more than $3.20 for 93 ever.
I can't believe that's supposed to be a good thing.


Which reminds me time to buy some more stocks in those companies sitting on a five year high of supply yet them prices aint coming down!
I guess they make more money at higher prices on lower volume than higher volume at lower prices.
Great for them bad for the overall economy as the price to ship food, jeans and toilet paper brings on inflation.

p.s.
And in 50K miles me BoxsterS has never once tasted anything less than 93.