[Duckybill]

I have a 4 cyl, A6 2010 LTZ with less than 5000 miles on it. I just pumped some Shell 89 octane in it today. Thought I'd give it a try to see if I can tell any difference in MPG or performance. What do you folks like?

 

[Yefeng]

I'd say the best to use is 91 octane. As the 4cyl is not a high performance vehicle 91 is sufficent. whatever u do though, never run on 87 octane or lower as that will cause problems for your fuel filter and it will misfire, and drive like crap. Thats from my experience

 

[86lxjunker]

whatever u do though, never run on 87 octane or lower as that will cause problems for your fuel filter and it will misfire, and drive like crap. Thats from my experience

Dont know about that.....maybe you got a batch of bad gas from either filling up while the truck was there or just after they left or the tank was just about empty ????

I run 87 in my V6 all the time - I throw in 93 every once in awhile - just because, but it really wont do anything for our cars.

Now - if I was going to load up my car with 4 passengers and a load of luggage - then I would switch to 89 or 93 - Or if I was going to take it to the dragstrip to run some time trials - then I would run 93....but for everyday driving - 87 should be sufficient.

 

[Macleod52]

Use 87 octane. You will not be gaining any performance by using a higher octane, that is of course unless you've heavily modified your car.

You will not net better MPG, more performance, etc. by using a higher octane. You're just throwing your money away.

Oh, and Yefeng, I've been running 87 octane on all my vehicles for the past 12 years. Never had a problem. Stick with a top tier gas like: Shell, BP, Mobil, ect. and you won't have any problems. Go with mom and pops and you could get a batch of bad gas, which in turn would make your car run like crap.

 

[Malo83]

Agree, Top tier 87 is all you need anymore, but on my 3.6 LTZ Shell 89 is all I use just gives me a warm and fuzzy inside

 

[Silver LTZ]

Normally if a car recommends regular there is nothing to gain by using a higher octane. BUT, when it comes the 3.6 a higher octane will let the computer raise the timing a little. It talks about this in the owners manual and has been discussed in here before too. I used to run 87, now I always run 89. I notice it runs better and some members have commented on a high rpm "ping", the higher octane will stop this too. So if you have a 3.6 I would recommend at least 89. It only costs like $3 more a tank....

 

[jeepgrady]

I had both a 300C and a Grand Cherokee with Hemi engines. Both ran fine with 87 octane. If those engines are OK with 87, surely both of the Malibus engines would be fine running the same.

 

[MALIBUJOHNNY]

We use 87 in our 3.6 and have 21,000 miles on it and never had a ping or a problem. always runs fantastic and gets great gas milage.

 

[Duckybill]

Thanks folks!

 

[Macleod52]

Also, I've never heard of a car with a "ping." and I think it's a very rare occurance anymore. It was probably more prevalent in the 70's and 80's but not so much nowadays. And, for those claiming they have an engine "ping", I wonder how many truely due. It could very well be normal engine noise.

 

[NewBu]

I run 87 octane. Never had an issue. I have the 4 cylinder with 35,000 miles. I do run non-ethanol gas though. Here in Oklahoma you can find ethanol and non-ethanol "Real gas" as most stations call it. The car does run much better on the non-ethanol "Real gas" and the mileage is better as well.

 

[redhorse]

Around here, higher octane gas has less ethanol, thus giving better gas mileage.

 

[Macleod52]

Around here, higher octane gas has less ethanol, thus giving better gas mileage.

The gains will be marginal. The only time I would use a higher octane is if it contained 10% ethanol and was cheaper than 87 w/out ethanol.

 

[08LTZ]

We've used Shell 87 99.9% of the time since new and we are just under 55,000 miles with no issues. I have filled up with 93 octane a couple times and noticed no difference at all.

Our 05 Silverado has 117,000 miles and I've noticed that it 'pings' at high RPMs on 87 but doesn't on 89 or 93. So I've moved up to 89 on it which runs about $2-$3 more per fill-up.

 

[BuVille09]

I run 87 octane. Never had an issue. I have the 4 cylinder with 35,000 miles. I do run non-ethanol gas though. Here in Oklahoma you can find ethanol and non-ethanol "Real gas" as most stations call it. The car does run much better on the non-ethanol "Real gas" and the mileage is better as well.

I have to disagree with you on the better mileage with non-ethanol gas. I use ethanol gas all the time and I get on average 35 MPG. Also the 4 banger runs just fine on ethanol.

 

[bballr4567]

I have to disagree with you on the better mileage with non-ethanol gas. I use ethanol gas all the time and I get on average 35 MPG. Also the 4 banger runs just fine on ethanol.

35 MPG?? At what speeds?

 

[NewBu]

I have to disagree with you on the better mileage with non-ethanol gas. I use ethanol gas all the time and I get on average 35 MPG. Also the 4 banger runs just fine on ethanol.

So you disagree that my car runs better on the non-ethanol gas? Have you been driving my car??? If so.....then you owe me gas money.

 

[BuVille09]

So you disagree that my car runs better on the non-ethanol gas? Have you been driving my car??? If so.....then you owe me gas money.

Well maybe I do....but not likely. After all we are only about 80 miles apart.

 

[Macleod52]

So you disagree that my car runs better on the non-ethanol gas? Have you been driving my car??? If so.....then you owe me gas money.

If you're using 10% ethanol the car should run no different. If it does, then something else is wrong with your car. As far as gas mileage, it is true that you may get a little worse mileage, but if you do it's only about 1%. There are too many variables to make that a solid case though. One tank of regular you may get 31mpg, and onther w/ethanol you may get 33. Different driving conditions are going to affect the mileage more than running an ethanol blend.

Now, if you're running e85, that's a whole different story.'

Also, with ethanol, you don't have to run a gas deicer solution since those contain 1% alcohol and, well, 10% ethanol blend contains 10% alcohol.

 

[nealb]

I have to disagree with you on the better mileage with non-ethanol gas. I use ethanol gas all the time and I get on average 35 MPG. Also the 4 banger runs just fine on ethanol.

10% ethanol gas has 92% of the energy (BTUs) of 100% gas

google it and do the math -- ethanol has about 78,000 BTU per gallon and gasoline is about 115,000 BTU per gallon

hard to see how come the mileage would be the same with a lot less energy per gallon

my experience in a former car (2007 Civic) was that 100% gas gave 38 hwy mpg and 90% gas gave 35mpg

that's driving the exact same 150 mile round trip that was mostly highway and filling up at one of two stations a mile apart -- one that had real gas and one with 10% ethanol gas