Is mid-octane even worth it?

What grade fuel do you buy?


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silverrascal

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Here in Texas, we have:

Regular - 87 octane
Mid - 89 octane
Premium - 93 octane

Occasionally, I'll put in some premium. My butt-dyno says there's a difference. This last time, I went ahead and put in the mid-grade. Butt-dyno was like WTH? Can't really say there's any difference. Why do they even make a mid-grade unless to sucker people into spending a few more bucks? Most the time, I'll just fill up with regular and my ride happily goes along.
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xRiCeBoYx

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Read an article once. Said mid grade has the highest profit margins and that it's literally a mix of regular and premium, since gas stations have a tank of each.

I never confirmed, but seemed plausible.
 

jred721

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Thats interesting, here in VA we have 87, 89, 91 and 93 octane. Since my car is tuned I run 93 octane, but since i'm assuming you're stock, theres really no point in running premium in your car unless you tune it. Maybe mid-grade might perk up the engine a bit but otherwise, you're engine's ECU is not optimized for the higher octane so you'll really just be wasting money. If you want to run higher octane and increase power, consider a tune.
 

justasimpleman

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since I bought my truck (RIP) new in 2005, I’ve used at least mid-grade in my vehicles. My 2.0 sport that I had for a year, mid-grade... since I got my hatch, I’ve always used premium, not sure why, or if it makes any difference, I’ve just done it. Maybe I’ll start using mid-grade and see if I see any difference.
 

Zodd

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i only use best gas i can get (always premium) it has more additives in to combat carbon problems later down the road
 


Seth_FC3

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I've heard a lot of people don't even use that gas so it just sits in the tanks. I wouldn't recommend using mid octane
 

Icebear

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Read an article once. Said mid grade has the highest profit margins and that it's literally a mix of regular and premium, since gas stations have a tank of each.

I never confirmed, but seemed plausible.
This absolutely correct. They are blended.
 

Gruber

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Since the midgrade is a blend of premium and regular, it contains all the more fancy additives that the regular might not have, only in a lower concentration.
I'm quite sure many people buy midgrade, both those wanting to upgrade from regular and those downgrading from premium.
Most people like compromises, women a bit more than men, because they are more reasonable. I bet midgrade is sold at a volume that's not negligible compared to premium.
Of course, anyone can make their own blend with the desired octane number at a cost of a bit more time spent at he pump.
 


jred721

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Owners manual says “premium recommended” so that’s what I use.
That's only for the Hatch sport. All the other hatch trims just need regular.
 

PhilF

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I run 87 as per the owners manual in my Touring, tried 93 for 2500 miles, minor differences in smoothness, actually less mpg. Certainly not worth paying 60 cents a gallon more. I run only Toptier rated fuel, Shell, ExxonMobil, Sunoco.
On the other hand, my mower shop reccomends mid-grade in my Honda lawnmower.
 

charleswrivers

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I run 93 in the Civic (TSP Stage 1) and 93 in the Z, which is far from stock. Van and pickup get 87. For my small engines that sit for months (generator), I use ethanol free with stabil and if I go through a hurricane season with fuel left over, I siphon and refill with fresh fuel annually. Things that get used often where I know the fuel won’t sit for more than a couple months (mower) gets E10 87. I’ve never used 89 that I can recall. I guess if we’re encountering slight knock on an older vehicle it could make the difference... but on a modern vehicle I would either 1) correct the issue causing knock or 2) just use 93 if it were tuned for it.
 

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We seem to have a good/better/best mindset as consumers.
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