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Is 90+ octane really required?

28K views 27 replies 16 participants last post by  NoobGhibli 
#1 ·
The Ghibli is my first leased car. Since I'm basically just borrowing it for a few years, I wonder if I need to put higher octane gas in the tank. Here in CA, we have 87, 89 and 91; I've been using 91, but I'm wondering if I should just save a few bucks and use 87 since I'm not keeping the car longterm. Is there really a difference in performance? Health of the engine?
 
#2 ·
You can find posts on the site where guys have done that and the engine sputters and gives them trouble........you just bought a Maserati with a hand built Ferrari engine!!! really a racing engine.......what would Earnhardt do!!! not save a few bucks!!! go find savings elsewhere not worth it........oh and do not forget manual sports mode!!! I am getting 12 MPH and proud of it..........Want to save money on gas get a Prius......just my 2 cents ........now what are you waiting for go burn some gas!!!!!
 
#3 ·
I live in LA too where gas is about 15 cents more for 91 vs. 87. How much do you save on a tank? 15 gals at 15 cents per or a little over $2 per fill up? How often do you buy gas? Once a week? Twice?

So over the life of a 3 year lease you could potentially save $300 to maybe $4-500 (around 3 cents a day) while you compromise performance and potentially your engine.
 
#5 · (Edited)
@Etodd31856 -" I am getting 12 MPH and proud of it" - the best line in quite a while! :D ****, yeah! \m/>:D \m/
But DaveinLA brought an interesting topic - I wondered many times who much difference there really is between 87 and 93 - and how much oil moguls want us to believe there is :D
At this point you are in 10th level of inferno - those who use 87 fuel and those who took Ghibli to an automatic car wash :D:

 
#6 ·
I exclusively use 93 Octane. 91 is hard to find in my area, so stations that carry it cost more than 93.

Our engine is tuned for the higher octane, so using a lower octane will contribute to lower performance, sputtering and/or check engine light as others can attest.

We did a little test on my sons Mustang since he is using 30 gallons of gas a week going back and forth to work on highway. There is $0.30 spread on premium vs regular. He re-tuned for regular gas and it ran fine with no loss in MPG. Using the regular gas with the premium performance factory tune contributed to a noticeable poor performance.

Last caveat ... not all gas (octane rating) is of equal quality so octane alone should not be a pure judge of performance.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Last caveat ... not all gas (octane rating) is of equal quality so octane alone should not be a pure judge of performance.
Exactly, good point. For the records, I use 93 Shell. I wonder if there is a comprehensive comparison of different fuels out there.

Another caveat - getting premium grade gas at a middle-of-nowhere gas station, where it is probably sitting since 1990s.

Interesting article: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/regular-or-premium

"The results were more dramatic with the test cars that require premium fuel. The turbocharged Saab's sophisticated Trionic engine-control system dialed the power back 9.8 percent on regular gas, and performance dropped 10.1 percent at the track. Burning regular in our BMW M3 diminished track performance by 6.6 percent, but neither the BMW nor the Saab suffered any drivability problems while burning regular unleaded fuel. Unfortunately, the M3's sophisticated electronics made it impossible to test the car on the dyno (see caption at top).
Our tests confirm that for most cars there is no compelling reason to buy more expensive fuel than the factory recommends, as any performance gain realized will surely be far less than the percentage hike in price. Cheapskates burning regular in cars designed to run on premium fuel can expect to trim performance by about the same percent they save at the pump. If the car is sufficiently new and sophisticated, it may not suffer any ill effects, but all such skinflints should be ready to switch back to premium at the first sign of knock or other drivability woes."
 
#8 ·
#9 ·
Been using 89 octane (plus) for 9,000 miles. More power than I need and highway mileage is 26-28 with no problems. Lately been putting in 91 octane sometimes since it's so cheap but no noticeable difference in performance. I think 93 is simply a waste of money with no benefits. But use whatever you think works and be happy!
 
#16 ·
suggest you read the article re premiunm vs regular and you will learn why you should use premium..........and you will learn the science and chemistry vs the oil exec creating myths to sell more premium gas!! A wise man once told me "you get what you pay for" and I have never found that to be wrong......
 
#11 ·
This bugs me...why buy a high performance/expensive car and then skimp on something as silly as a couple bucks?? The manufacturer says to use 91+...what do you think they are in bed with the oil companies?? give me a break...car is tuned for higher octane gas. Cars can be tuned for 103 octane gas..is that a fluke too?
While you are at it, just go and get the lowest grade non-synthetic oil for your next change..let us know how that works out for you. Probably save $40 or so..
 
#12 ·
Agreed... i use.. 93 no matter what.. myth or no myth. You get a high performance car paid top dollar for it and then you want to put in corolla fuel in that... that is just insane... no matter what i am putting in 93... and i think i feel the car more alive.. Burn it like there is no tomorrow.. lolz...
 
#15 ·
As another NE based owner (LI), 91 octane availability is un-common for me; with the price of gas these days it would seem to be a no brainer to use 93 and never 87.


In the past on non-exotics, I have 'blended' 87 and 93, but that will NOT be the case with the Ghibli.


The only caveat I would add is that there were some posts on the engine check light thread pointing to issues (circumstantial) with Shell gasoline; I use Gulf, Hess or sometimes Mobil gas stations, none of which have 91.
 
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#17 ·
i drive all over the place and prefer the name stations but no matter what always been using 93 octane on all my cars.. in all honesty i cant even believe this is even a topic at maserati.. its just sad . seriously !!! its a god **** maserati even if it is the " $600 per month one "
i used to be surprised when people would consider this on bmw's and im still surprised for anyone willing to use less than 91 on any luxury car.
go back to honda if you want to use 87 on benz, bmw, lexus, infiniti, acura, volvo, caddy, porsche... this shouldnt even be a discussion !
 
#24 ·
You have be careful, in that UK and most of Europe use RON octane ratings, while in US and Canada to name a few they use the (R+M)/2 which provides a lower reported octane rating. Not a perfect conversion, but gives a relative example of difference when we speak in terms of octane.
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#25 ·
Holy thread revival, I remember reading this when I bought my Ghibli new in '14 and face palming at someone buying an expensive car and then trying to save pennies on petro. All nice cars are 91+ and have been for over a decade at least. This is nothing new and certainly not specific to our cars.

I guess the only thing I want to add is a comment I heard from a Ferrari tech which was that our engines have the same knock sensors that Ferrari uses and they are known to be less sensitive to light knock. He said that a Honda could adjust timing faster than a Ferrari/Maserati. This came up while we were talking about tuning and he said something about being careful about getting too aggressive at WOT since the gas I can get here in AZ is only 91.

When I had my car tuned, I had it tuned for 93 which I can't buy, so now I run with Torco to raise my octane to 93-95. Costs me an extra $10 each tank fill up.

Bottom line, if you never floor the pedal and you drive like a grandma on a Sunday, you're probably safe with 87 because your timing is never going to advance enough to get you in trouble. But if you like to enjoy your car and mash the pedal here and there and take it to redline, do the right thing, don't be cheap and just put the best gas you can get into her.
 
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