87 & 91 octane?
 

I am going to be getting a Cobalt SS soon. Did anyone feel a difference when putting in 91 octane as opposed to 87? I know the car calls for regular gas, but is it worth putting in the better grade of fuel? Thanks!:cool:

I would put at least 89 in it. 87 causes the computer to retard the timing to compensate for detonation and it will adversely affect milage. I only have a LT but I still noticed a difference from 87 to 89. The SS/SCs need 89 as a minimum.

can anyone else comment please

Since gas has gone down I just put in 92 as opposed to 89. daily driven and punched it a few times. I have SS/NA and auto and I cannot feel any difference in performance. However, I'll bet it may be different for SS/SC if that's what you're going to get.

the manual actually calls for at least 91, the car will go on less but you may expierence engine knock or something like that...i dont remember. i run sunoco 94 all the time. if i cant get to a sunoco i get exxon or bp 93

edit: as far as a difference in performance i couldnt tell you, never ran less than 93. my old car, which was turbo, i could feel the difference between 87 and 94...especially sheetz gas compared to sunoco

yea i'm pretty sure the SS's call for 91 at least the SC, other than that, no there are no gains going to a higher octane unless your increasing compression or increasing boost.

I run 93 all the time. The first tank from the dealer was crappy 87. The car knocked like hell and I told them off about it. Ended up getting a free tank of gas and oil change. In the book the SS/SC calls for at least 91. It also says you can run 89 but you could hear knocking. Basicly the higher octane you run the smoother and cleaner your engine will burn. In the long run your engine will last much longer with a good quilty mid-high grade octane. Now that I run 93 all the time I notice much smoother driving and performance increase.

94 always for me.

the recommended fuel is premieum (91) octane fuel prefereably top tier stations only. The car "can" run on 87 however, as mentioned in the owners booklet the car will have a noticably slugish feel and large loss of power (can you notice it in daily driving ... YES immediately.) If you have any upgrades that increase mechanical power you will NEED to run at least 91 again top tier only if possible.

http://toptiergas.com/

TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:

QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Texaco

you can run 87 in the ss/sc. i have. and yes there is a performance drop. there was no knocking at all, just sluggish performance. it takes about half a tank of 93 for the computer to remember/ adjust for the new fuel, but once it does it feels a lot more peppy. i only put in high octane now. but when my dad fills it up he only puts in regular...dangit.

12 psi + 6500 rpms + supercharged = premium fuel.

That said, the timing curve on the non-staged SS/SC is not the most agressive in the world.. I could feel the difference in my RL with 87 vs 93 though. When you go staged, it's imperative that you run premium.

As far as knock goes, I've recorded some pretty decent knock that I never felt, so don't think you'll feel it before you hole a piston.

wow there are NO top tier companies near my house.

Import some.

Can't comment on 87, car has never seen below 92 (first tank dealer filled for me). Since then I have only put 93 or 94 in her.

sunaco isn't top tier but the gas is race proven even down here in phoenix where not even one station serves it, only the track places have it here so you should be good if you can find a sunaco.

I always make the extra trip for ultra 94.

You said cobalt ss but you didn't say whether it was the Cobalt SS/SC or the Cobalt SS/NA. I can only comment on the SS/SC cause thats what i have, so heres a few points.

1) Its an accepted fact that if you run anything less than premium in the 2.0, you will have a noticable loss in acceleration.

2) You will also probably experience knocking (aka detonation) Detonation is not just an inconvenience, its a serious problem that can eventually critically damage your engine.

So why in the F would you sacrifice performance and engine-life in order to save about about $1.15 per fill up?????

I'm a poor college kid and even i ALWAYS fill up with premium

When i put 87 in my car,it started to ping on take off.I dont know if anyone else has noticed that,but i did.When i put the higher octane in,it went away.So yeah,id stay away from 87 if i were you.

If you buy this car, you better put 93 in it, or whatever your highest test is, otherwise go buy a normal car. There are certian things you HAVE to do when you buy a performance car, like buying high test gas and using synthetic oil. Just cuz the car can "handle" it doesnt mean it should. Use 93 and use synthetic or guy buy a Geo.

ive put mid-grade in a couple times and there is practically no difference in acceleration...I am also a poor college kid and usually put in premium but when it sometimes breaks 3 bucks a gallon, its psychological thing to not buy the most expensive crap. Plus I don't need constant top notch performance always since i dont go around driving it hard as hell and racing anything with 4 wheels.

like everyone else said, u should put in premium

this is my opinon.. i too am a poor college student who pays for his car. IF YOU ARE BUYING A $24000 PERFORMANCE CAR, ARE YOU REALLY GONNA SKIP OUT ON THE EXTRA $1.30 (13 GALLONS X $.10 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREMIUM AND MID-GRADE) OR $2.60 (DIFFERENCE B/T PREMIUM AND REGULAR). IF SO THAT IS PATHETIC AND YOU NEED A DIFFERENT CAR.

sorry for the yelling haha but that bugs the crap outta me

ive always ran 87 stock and i didnt notice any difference really to be honest. but now that i have a smaller pulley i notice the difference. from the 2 grades of gas.

Down the road your valves and pistons will thank you for the better gas. ;)

USe premium only. I barely beat an '06 si when i had 87 in my tank

On a supercharged car, the powerband is so smooth that sometimes its hard to recognize an acceleration difference. But when even the friggan manual says that your losing power, your losing power. And there refering to a bone stock ss/sc!!

Imagine the potential lost in a staged vehicle or even one with just bolt-ons? This shouldn't really be an argument. If you can afford a $20000+ performance vehicle, you can afford to put the top notch stuff in it. Dont ruin your cars potential and the cobalts reputation just to save a 1 dollar.