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2008 and Premium Gas
I am considering purchasing a 2008 miata. O have a 1997 and love it. I
noticed the 2008 miata required premium gas. Is this true. The dealer said it does not really require it. I will have a hard time purchasing a car that required premium gas these days. any thoughts the group has would be appreciated. |
#2
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2008 and Premium Gas
On Feb 17, 9:55 am, socamb > wrote:
> I am considering purchasing a 2008 miata. O have a 1997 and love it. I > noticed the 2008 miata required premium gas. Is this true. The dealer > said it does not really require it. > > I will have a hard time purchasing a car that required premium gas > these days. > > any thoughts the group has would be appreciated. I often listen to Bill Wattenburg (berg>>LOL) on KGO radio, here in the San Francisco Bay area, 810AM, and I believe that you can get it online kgo.com (the radio, not TV side). Anyway, he is on weekends, at 10PM. He is a well known scientist, nuclear physicist (I believe). Anyway, he has often said that using Premium gasoline is a complete RIP OFF. Unless maybe your car is such a high performance vehicle and will definitely ping badly using regular unleaded. But nearly most of the time is unneeded. |
#3
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2008 and Premium Gas
In article >,
Jazz_Azz > writes: > On Feb 17, 9:55 am, socamb > wrote: >> I am considering purchasing a 2008 miata. O have a 1997 and love it. I >> noticed the 2008 miata required premium gas. Is this true. The dealer >> said it does not really require it. >> >> I will have a hard time purchasing a car that required premium gas >> these days. >> >> any thoughts the group has would be appreciated. > > I often listen to Bill Wattenburg (berg>>LOL) on KGO radio, here in > the San Francisco Bay area, 810AM, and I believe that you can get it > online kgo.com (the radio, not TV side). Anyway, he is on weekends, at > 10PM. He is a well known scientist, nuclear physicist (I believe). > Anyway, he has often said that using Premium gasoline is a complete > RIP OFF. Unless maybe your car is such a high performance vehicle and > will definitely ping badly using regular unleaded. But nearly most of > the time is unneeded. I can vouch for the fact that it isn't true for my motorcycle. Performance on lower octane fuel is noticably worse and running it on the highway with regular is downright dangerous. bill -- Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. University of Scranton | Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h> |
#4
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2008 and Premium Gas
socamb wrote:
> I am considering purchasing a 2008 miata. O have a 1997 and love it. I > noticed the 2008 miata required premium gas. Is this true. The dealer > said it does not really require it. > > I will have a hard time purchasing a car that required premium gas > these days. > > any thoughts the group has would be appreciated. A modern showroom-stock vehicle with computer-controlled fuel injection is quite capable of operating on a lower-octane fuel than the manufacturer calls for. The only drawback is that under the highest demand the engine will be detuned enough that the rated horsepower will never be reached. I routinely drive my 2006, which also calls for premium fuel, on "plus" grade around town. And when I know that I'll be burning up the entire tank driving at constant interstate speed on a long cruise-controlled trip regular grade serves just as well -- when I get to the other end I fill up with plus grade again. I suspect that having tire pressure 2 pounds low will rob the car of more performance than switching down a grade from premium (as well as making it less safe). John McGaw [Knoxville, TN, USA] http://johnmcgaw.com |
#5
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2008 and Premium Gas
"socamb" > wrote in message ... >I am considering purchasing a 2008 miata. O have a 1997 and love it. I > noticed the 2008 miata required premium gas. Is this true. The dealer > said it does not really require it. > > I will have a hard time purchasing a car that required premium gas > these days. > > any thoughts the group has would be appreciated. My 1996 BMW 328 conv. requires premium fuel. The engine computer will adjust the engine so that it runs on regular gas. When I tested this, the fuel mileage for a similar trip was reduced somewhat with regular gas. Years ago, a car that required premium meant 49 cents per gallon instead of 29 cents - that was a considerable percentage extra charge. With today's fuel price here, regular is $3.04 and premium is $3.24 - much less of a percentage difference. At any rate, I figure that my vehicle runs most economically using premium. YMMV. Jim |
#6
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2008 and Premium Gas
In article
>, socamb > wrote: > I am considering purchasing a 2008 miata. O have a 1997 and love it. I > noticed the 2008 miata required premium gas. Is this true. The dealer > said it does not really require it. On regular, the computer will retard the ignition timing significantly, to prevent burning holes in the pistons. The result will be a loss of power, which may not bother you if you're a gentle driver. You'd also have a drop in fuel mileage, no matter how you drive, probably wiping out any cost savings from buying regular instead of premium. I would only use regular if I needed fuel desperately and premium were not available, and I would only buy enough to limp to the next gas station with a better choice. -- Lanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C |
#7
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2008 and Premium Gas
Lanny Chambers > wrote:
> In article > > > , > socamb > wrote: > >> I am considering purchasing a 2008 miata. O have a 1997 and love >> it. I noticed the 2008 miata required premium gas. Is this true. >> The dealer said it does not really require it. > > On regular, the computer will retard the ignition timing > significantly, to prevent burning holes in the pistons. Only if the knock sensor detects "pinging", otherwise the timing will remain the same as it would with premium gasoline. Of course, since the engine isn't allowed to ping the driver will probably never know if the timing is retarded or not, so unless you're driving to win an economy championship you'll probably be driving around with retarded timing. > The result will be a loss of power, which may not bother you if > you're a gentle driver. You'd also have a drop in fuel mileage, no > matter how you drive Er, no. A couple of problems here, no loss of power OR fuel mileage if you can drive gently enough to avoid retarding the ignition and, more importantly, are there gentle drivers in Miatas and, if so, WHY? ;-) > I would only use regular if I needed fuel desperately and premium > were not available, and I would only buy enough to limp to the > next gas station with a better choice. Agreed. It makes no sense to not have the power and economy that is available just to save a penny. If you want to run regular get a car that doesn't recommend premium. FWIW, I used to own a car that absolutely had to have premium but that was when gas was cheaper, I'm glad I don't have it today. That's something I check and if a vehicle recommends premium I'll go look elsewhere, it's not worth it to me. -- XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org |
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2008 and Premium Gas
In article > ,
XS11E > wrote: > Only if the knock sensor detects "pinging", otherwise the timing > will remain the same as it would with premium gasoline. I'm not sure exactly how the NC's knock sensor functions, but such devices typically retard timing FAR more than necessary at the first ping, and don't recover quickly. It's not an efficient way to control the ignition on a routine basis, it's an emergency safeguard to prevent engine damage. I wonder if it throws an OBDII code? -- Lanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C |
#9
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2008 and Premium Gas
Lanny Chambers > wrote:
> I wonder if it throws an OBDII code? I don't think it does, it's probably considered as normal operation. -- XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org |
#10
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2008 and Premium Gas
On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:46:09 +0000, Lanny Chambers wrote:
> In article > , > XS11E > wrote: > >> Only if the knock sensor detects "pinging", otherwise the timing will >> remain the same as it would with premium gasoline. > > I'm not sure exactly how the NC's knock sensor functions, I would assume it listens for the characteristic sound frequencies like others? > but such > devices typically retard timing FAR more than necessary at the first > ping, and don't recover quickly. I do not know about that. The point is that if you discover unacceptable knock, you already have red-hot carbon deposits on your solid surfaces. The device *must* retard the ignition much more than would be needed if it was advanced earlier to prevent knock and the resulting red-hot deposits in the first place. And the device must stick to retarding large amounts until they are cooled down enough. > It's not an efficient way to control > the ignition on a routine basis, it's an emergency safeguard to prevent > engine damage. I would agree completely there. But I would think designing optimized controls against knock is complicated by the fact that these devices have no clue about how big carbon build-ups are in the engine. And how bad their geometry is. And the equation is further complicated by the fact that a moderate amount of knock is perfectly acceptable. I would guess Mazda would take the conservative view and assume that people may have squeezed a piece of coal in their cylinders. > I wonder if it throws an OBDII code? I would hope it would at least make a note if the maximum retard did not manage to get knock within acceptable parameters, but I do not know. Leon -- Leon Bess Bozo .) |
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