- Bargaineering - http://www.bargaineering.com/articles -

Regular Gas in Premium Gas Cars Won’t Save Much Money

With gas prices on the rise (something that always seems happens as the weather gets warmer), everyone is trying to find ways to cut down on the cost of filling up each week. If you’re one of the many “premium” car owners, you’ve probably considered putting regular unleaded in your tank instead of the more expensive premium fuel – don’t.

You know how premium gasoline in a car that only needs regular gasoline will see no benefit? (it’s known as the high octane gas myth [3] – premium fuel doesn’t correspond with a higher miles per gallon) Regular gasoline in a premium engine is less efficient and you don’t save as much money as you’d think. Your miles per gallon with a premium fuel in a premium engine is higher than with regular fuel in that same engine.

Autoglance [4] did scoured the web for some self-reported figures and discovered that across eight luxury vehicles, the cost per mile saves was less than one cent per mile. The MPG with premium gasoline (91 or 93 octane), which on average cost $3.75 per gallon, was obviously higher than with regular (87 octane), average cost of $3.47 per gallon, but it was higher by a large enough margin that the cost savings per mile shrank to about half a cent. This wasn’t a scientific study and ultimately the best answer is to do the test yourself but the results show that chances are you won’t come out a winner (and it’s not a large enough difference to even warrant a test).

The lesson from this isn’t new, that you should use the fuel your car tells you to use, but it is confirmation.

Have you done any similar tests? I would give it a try except I don’t have a car that takes premium fuel (and we already know premium fuel in a regular car is meaningless).

(Photo: somegeekintn [5])