Wat octane do u guys drive on. here on long island we have 87, 89, and 93. i used 89 once and 93 twice since i got my car 2.5 weeks ago which do u prefer jus for like cruisin, not rele racin. and is there any difference in MPG between octanes? thanx again

 

aaah another long islander.... gotta come out to the meets man.
but anyway, run 89 or 93 . if your still stock it won't make that much a difference with 93

 

What engine do you have? 2.2/2.4 or 2.0? If you have a 2.2 or 2.4 you should stick to 87, if you have an SS/SC you can use higher octane
nvm i guess SS/NA uses 93 too

 

my friends got a 06 ss/sc and always goes to cabtree (i think its that) but right now i jus bought it stock wit rims and tires on the car but ill see if i can one day before work.

i got a 2.4 liter, so 87 and 89 arent a big difference? or is it jus not worth it and stick wit 87?

 

I use 94 from Sunoco over here in NJ. Actually, just up the road on rt 46 theres a Sunoco with 100 oct. Havn't hit that up yet cuz I donno how it would hurt my car but its like $8.00 a gallon for that. But I usually go Sunoco 94 oct.

edit: I have an SS S/C

 

if you have a 2.4 or a 2.0, the manual says to use 89 but recommends 91.. sooo i'd probably stick to that if i were you.. i put in 91 on my 2.4L ion, and i usually get better MPG than 89 less I'm on the throttle alot.. I got 30MPG with a highway city mix and with the A/C on about 80-90% of the time

 

93 only for me since day 1.

 

i only use 93 from sunoco, i put 92 in it once from wawa and it just felt like i was getting horrible gas mileage, maybe it was just me though.

 

93 from shell, nothing else has ever been in my girl

 

89 from shell here

didn't see a difference with 91 v-power other than the hole in my pocket

 

93 fo shizzle...

 

Love that Sunoco 94 special, just makes me feel good..

HOWEVER you don't NEED it with the normally aspirated engine, the manual says 87 is *fine*. I've never run it.

If you do any tuning, like a vector reflash, or use hptuners.. or go turbo .. you'll want to up to 93/94..

 

I heard from somewhere that the make up of 87 is actually better for your car (except for the lower octane rating). Wondering if anyone has tried 87 with octane booster...

 

Octane booster is about as useful as those eBay air ram systems imo.

There is no $5 bottle to magically make your car awesome.. now there are some $100 bottles that go with $500 kits that can...

My understanding is that running higher octane provides no benefit but will not damage your vehicle. Keep in mind I'm talking abotu the 2.4l, s/c guys have to run 91+ I believe.. There is a general misconception that just because gas has a higher octane, it has more power - this is totally false..

With that said, I do religiously run 94 (or 93..) for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Mental thing I guess.

 

I love how people dont use it....or think it does nothing....because you cant feel, or see, a difference.

your not going to feel anything. unless you are TUNED for higher octane..
the higher octane fuel is suggested so your engine doesnt knock.
knock over a long period of time is bad for your engine.

if your running a 2.4 or especially 2.0...and MOST especially if your modded...
stop cheaping out and give your car what it needs.

Octane boosters DO make a difference.
I have seen the evidence first hand.
My car will show knock if i use 91 octane.
it will show 0 knock if i use 94 octane.
if i use 91 octane with a good quality octane booster? guess what. 0 knock.

call it snake oil all you want. ive seen the proof from my engine first hand.

you may not "feel a difference" you may not "get more power" of "get more mileage"
but you will ruin your engine.


and heres the question I like to ask people in these octane threads.
You spent the extra $$$ every single month in payments to get the faster, higher HP engine.....
so why are you trying to save $2 at the pump and treat it like dirt?

Maybe you should have bought the 2.2 so you can run the cheapo gas safely.

 

I have always run my vehicles on 91 octane (chevron). Running 87 octane with octane booster is actually more expensive than just filling up with 91. The reason I asked is because a budy of mine told me that he heard from Dr Bill Wattenberg (sp?) that 87 octane is better for your car in a lot of ways, unless your car needs the extra octane. So I am kinda looking for the best of both worlds.

 

with an ss/sc get 93/94 especially if you are S2.
91 should be ok stock.

 

Yea, I was just doing some research and I think I will stick to the highest octane rating i can find. I am in Cali, though. Where would I find 93/94 octane? We only go to 91. Will octane booster really get the extra couple of octane?

 

whoever uses octane booster in the cobalt is just ruining there car. all that crap is garbage. and please for the car sake use 93 or higher. or you can read the manual thats what its there for gosh lazy asses.

ryan.

 

^^ Totally agree, read the manual. And I wish people would keep in mind when posting that this guy posted in the 2.4 thread, and was probably asking about the 2.4.. not some Stage IV S/C monster which would obviously have different needs..

I think it's important to remember that even though the 2.4 pus out a lot of power for the size of our car, it is mechanically no different that its incarnation as the 'base' engine in the G6 or Malibu.. surely GM didn't expect value-conscience 4 cyl. family car buyers to fill up with the premium stuff every time.

Point is - any fuel is fine, so long as it's 87+.

 

Actually, I have a ss/sc. I just posted to the wrong section.

Keeping that in mind, I did read the manual. It recomends premium. I asked about the octane booster to try to get the octane higher than regular pump gas can get me. I hear people tell me to use at least 93 octane, so I will ask again - Where in Nor Cal can I even FIND 93? If I can find it, I will buy it.

Sorry again for posting in the wrong section.

 

2.2 its ok to use 87. 2.4 and 2.0 it requires 91, thats what is says in the owners manual. and i used 91 in my 2.4 since day one.

 

You don't have to put 93, 91 works just fine, just don't go lower then that, ESPECIALLY if you have or plan to have any performance mods done..

 

Thanks. Yea, mods are coming. I got the car with stage 2. Cat back is next, followed by a "stiffy", hp tuners, 2.9, coil overs, meth...

Just wanted to make sure I am not going to ping and knoch and sqeek and stuff.

 

Quick Q. The sunoco up the road offers 100 oct. I wanted to use some, like 1/4 of a tank being its like $8 a gal. but would I burn up my cat or anything? Just wanted to play with it for like i said, 1/4 of a tank. What u guys think?