Unleaded for my Accord?
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Asked by Winston McLeod
I drive a Honda Accord V6L that uses standard unleaded fuel, but some cars, I know, also run on premium unleaded. I have been told that premium unleaded, although a fair bit more expensive, returns superior economy, which more than makes up for the price difference. I have been told also it is better for your car's engine. Is this true? Why is there such a price difference and why can't all car engines be standardized to run on either fuels?
Answered by CarsGuide
26 Aug 2010Most engines are optimized to run on one fuel or another, and that's the fuel they run best on and deliver the best fuel economy, but they also have 'knock' sensors that detect pre-ignition and adjust the ignition timing to avoid it. That means that while they have been optimized to run on one fuel they can also run on another, lower quality one. Generally your car will run better on premium unleaded than they will on regular unleaded. But we were let in on a little secret and that is that the regular unleaded we are buying is no different to the premium on sale. It seems it's more economical for oil companies to produce one type of fuel instead of two. What they do is guarantee the minimum octane rating of the fuel they produce, in the case of regular unleaded that's 91 whereas premium is a minimum of 95, they don't talk about the maximum octane rating. In that case we are wasting our money buying premium when regular is the same fuel. That was last week, what they will do next week is anybody's guess. Why do we pay more for premium? Simple, clever marketing by the oil companies that has convinced us it's better.
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