Whats up all.... I'm sure this question has already come up but I didnt see it in the search so here it is. I have a 2000 SSEi and wanted to know how important it is to keep the premium gas in it? I know it says "Premium Only" and I always have in the past, but with the high gas prices, I wanted to get your guys' inputs.... Does it really make a difference with our SSEi'* and would it be bad for the car to put regular gas in it?

Well... the short answer is not immediately, no. But the long drawn out answer is: Yes. The higher octane is needed for the supercharged engine because of increased temperatures and pressures in the combustion chamber. If you didn't already know, the higher the octance the slower is burns and the higher the temperature needs to be to ignite it. If you use low octane gas, which burns quickly and needs a lower temperature to ignite, it can cause detonation, which is the air/fuel mix ignition before the spark plug ignites it. This is very bad, and can cause piston and spark plug damage. Now, your car DOES have means of counter-acting detonation (or knock) by electronically adjusting timing until it senses that the knowck has been relieved. The downfall of this is that you lose power. No one wants that. So the best way to go is plunk down the extra .05 to .15 cents and get the good stuff.

The car will run just fine on 89 octane[DO NOT suggest 87 octane however],..I fill up with it most all of the time,....unless you drag-thrash your car up and down a dragstrip on a routine basis[...like who does?!?]you won't be able to tell the difference in performance,and you Won't be hearing Any detonation/pinging/piston slapping in the engine.

I run a steady diet of 91 Octane most of the time, however when prices got up there for a bit, it was getting batty to fill up, and I put 89 in. Not alot of noticble difference, but gas milage is is different as the motor doesnt run as smooth, hense your overall total milage on a tank of gas will decrease with lower octane.

isn't it cheaper to spend an extra $1 per tank for premium than to maybe need to buy a new engine in a few years for over $3,000? Premium isn't that much more expensive than regular, plus, you get better gas mileage with it anyways so you spend about the same and keep your engine safe. If you were looking for excellent gas mileage on 87 octane you bought the wrong car.

Ditto. If you want decent performance out of your car at WOT, then you basically have to run premium. The computer is set up for premium gas with the timing and fuel tables so at any amount of throttle the computer won't be right, and you get better gas mileage with the 91+ octane anyways because it burns slower. If you add it up it probably doesn't cost you any more to run it due to the better mileage. With a full tank of gas it cost you what, $2 more for a whole tank, just spend it. Or in a few years when you take it into the shop and they tell you you have a piston with a chunck missing out of it and thats why the engine is smoking and running funny you can spend a few thousand to fix it. Please run premium, especially if you ever plan on modding your car, most of you in this post have pullies or it sounds like you are planning on getting a pulley, if you have a smaller pulley and your running regular or 89 octane, then you're just asking for trouble. Yes, but the computer will pull timing to get rid of knock if it senses any, so I should be fine you might say, however for the computer to pull timing it has to hear knock first, so the knock has to occur therefore having a chance to ruin your engine before the computer does something about it. The manufacturer wouldn't require it if it wasn't necessary.

Shawn

I agree completely...... the manual calls for 91 octane..... so that'* what she gets.

Usign lower octane is what'* called Penny Wise, Pound Foolish. You're asking for an expensive repair eventually.

blah... my SSEi gets nothing but the best. i can't afford it at times but atleast i know i won't have to fill up again that week...

-adam