Do I have to put premium (93) in a supercharged 3.8? Can I put in mid-grade (89)? I'm looking at a '93 SSEi right now for only $3k, with 107k miles on the tach and a brand new supercharger, but I'm worried about fuel costs, being that I'm going off to a four-year college this summer after two relatively easy years going to the the local community college and living at home. Also, what'* reliability like with all those gadgets and gizmos the SSEs and SSEis have? Worried about that, too, given my predictedly paltry college budget :? My SE is vanilla, as I've said before, so it'* unknown territory for me. Also, general opinions and comments about the car are welcome, concerning anything, but especially reliability and practicality. Thanks again, guys

91 or better. A few of my local stations have 91 as midgrade. Look for stations like that.

if you get the car, the dash board will ALSO remind you of this..


PREMIUM UNLEADED FUEL ONLY!!!

They get good highway milage and decent city milage. As long as you keep your foot off the pedal, it wont be too bad. Id also say that most of the gadgets are pretty reliable and parts arent too expensive either. I think the most common gadget malfunction is when the connections in the gauge cluster become oxidized and you have to take it out to clean them.

Anything else?

Trust me I'd LOVE to run Regular in my Bonneville, but I cant, it just doesnt work that way. Gas here is around 3.90/gallon for premium, so you can only imagine paying 65 dollars to fill up my car. Im driving it like grandma now, I can get 250-275 miles to a tank in town usage. On the highway i can go about 430 miles to a tank...pretty decent IMO,
Things that would help me, better spark plugs..mine havent been gapped , and a new 02 sensor, who knows how old it is.
Also keep the tires properly inflated, always. I mean, if you were REALLY concearned about gas, you would drive a Honda Civic or something efficent like that

Running lower octane will actually cost you more at the pump. The PCM will pull timing, and the car will run very inefficiently.

I get 29 mpg on the highway, about 18-20 around town in the bonneville.
You don't want to know what my Honda Civic gets

We just have 85, 87 and 91 in western regions (at least at 3,000 feet).



85 is 1.87....87 is 1.97 and 91 is 2.07.......

lets see if you drive 12,000 miles a year which is probably average for a lot of students that is lets say at average of 24mpg for combined city highway you are going to buy 500 gallons of gas.

500 gallons of gas at 1.97 (87 octane) will cost you $985

Now lets say premium is 15 cents more than 87 if you dont have the 85 octane option.

So premium (91 octane) costs $2.12 a gallon

That means that it would cost you $1060 for gas (for the same 500 gallons)




The difference is $75 which is at most 1 or 2 days of working even if you are part time worker and full time in college like I am.


so please shut up now about fuel costs.

Also look into insurance costs with the L67...will be A BIT HIGHER than n/a depending on the insurance company.

BTW that is a VERY good price for a 93 ssei if it is in good condition.

our prices are 1.87 regular, 1.97 mid, and 2.05 premium, and my modil station has 6¢ off premium on mondays and thursdays, so just fill up thos days and im only paying 2¢ more for premium, look aorund for a gas station with premium sales, i know mobil and shell station often have them, so i assume others might as well

Thanks to everyone, I really appreciate the comments I guess it won't be THAT bad, having to put premium in instead of regular. Although premium around here is in the neighborhood of $0.20-$0.25 a gallon more than regular, it still shouldn't be that big of a hit, all things being equal. And... sheesh, I guess I can baby it if I have to lol...

And Hans, don't take this the wrong way, but do NOT tell me to shut up again. That'* one of my buttons, and you weren't saying it in jest...

Thanks again, guys