Originally Posted by luckyman_apd
You people are all nuts. First off, it is not REQUIRED, it is RECOMMENDED you use 91 octane. Premium is usually 92 or 93 depending on where you get it. The higher the octane, the more stable the gas, the HARDER it is to get a full burn. So NEVER use premium if your car recommends less, you will actually make your car less efficient. Now, when you have a Maxima or infiniti with a 10:1 compression ratio, your are RECOMMENDED to use 91. That does not mean you have to. The car has a knock sensor that will kick back your timing slightly if it detects a knock, so it won't knock again. This does NOT mean it will ruin the knock sensor.
Ok, next. Just because your check light has the code for a knock sensor, doesn't mean it is bad. Sometimes other problems trigger this code. I have a 96 maxima with 165,000 miles that has used BOTH grades of gas over it's life span. The light came on three times over the years for knock sensor. Two times when the O2 sensors went (each time a sensor went it triggered the knock sensor code) The third time happened when I developed a hole in the rubber insulator at the end of the coil attached to one of the plugs. The engine misfired and triggered the knock sensor code. I HAVE NEVER REPLACED THE KNOCK SENSOR. When the other problems were fixed, the light never came back on. I check monthly with my code reader since not all codes trigger the light and it has yet to come back. It costs too much and is a ***** to replace unless it is truly gone bad.
Now, the reason to use Premium is that you will get better performance from a higher octane in a higher compression engine. But if you don't floor it constantly, or need a fast 0-60 time, you won't notice a difference. I have never seen a difference with mine and it purrs like a kitten and still has power in reserve.
20 cents a gallon would be a good price difference. Unfortunately where I live right now (where gas prices are among the LOWEST in the country) it runs 35 to 50 cents more. That's about $5 more per fill up, and at one fill up a week, and about 50 weeks a year, that's $250 bucks I'd rather keep in my pocket.
If your concerned about the price, slow down to 65 or 70 on the highway instead of 85. You'll increase your gas milage by 3 or 4 MPG and you won't need to pay the extra for premium to race up to your higher speed! If everyone slowed down 5 to 10 MPH, that would save enough gas to bring demand down, in turn bringing supplies up, in turn bringing prices down. But that won't happen because we americans know it all, do what we feel like it when we want, and as long as we can, we will.
If you can't afford premium, regular will not hurt your car. Just don't slam the gas at every start. Second, if it's the gas prices you complain about, do something about your consumption, besides complaining.
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