Premium gas = more power

Let me start out by saying that I thought the premium gas/ regular debate was a joke. Anyway after reading threads concerning this I decided to run 93 octane for awhile. Thought it felt like it had a little more pep, but was convinced that it was just placebo, not unlike how much faster my truck is after I wash it. Anyway I tow a boat on a hilly stretch of i95 on a regular basis, always at 70 mph. While running the 93 I always just left it in 5th gear and was able to maintain speed. For the past 6 weeks I had been running 87 octane and when towing the boat at the same speed on the same road, was unable to maintain 70mph in 5th. had to downshift. Switched back to 93 and 70mph in 5th was do-able again. I know this has been a longwinded debate, and I can't say I think it makes much of a difference for everyday driving, but my results have been 100% consistant (15+ roundtrips on both octanes) and definetely support a few extra ponies out of the premium fuel. just a little fyi i thought i'd share.

 

At least try a little to make it unbiased...

have your SO fill it up, and tell her/him to put either 93 or 87, their choice, but not tell you which.

Do that the next 4 fill ups, both of you keep a record of it, your impressions of how it drove with each fillup and what you think your driving.

Then tell us how well it turns out.

 

i run 91 all the time! (ding...ding...ding...let the hating begain)

 

Even for us 4-bangers??

 

some people dont run higher octane b/c the cost...in reality it only adds about about 5 bucks per tank...if you think it makes it run better then why not, right?!

Ive ran higher octane before and didnt notice anything so i just use 87...but I also dont tow anything

 

here is acceleration on 91.....and some other stuff...

Clearly 91 makes more power

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkh793PwnMk

 

93 does make a noticable difference in the ability to hold higher gears, mostly because the extra power is down low.
I agree with the O.P.

 

I dynod this when I first got the truck last August (2009).. I made a run with 87 and 91. It sounded better which I figured might have meant a little more performance. The two torque and HP curves ended up being nearly identical. In fact, there was no HP gain. Torque went up 1 with 91.

Me... I run 87 in my truck. Never had any issues.

 

Chris made me look in the manual. Here is what mine said:

My 2009 my manual states:

page 479 (Specifications - Fuel Information)

 

Shell's 93 is the best stuff. The difference between their 93 and lets say mobile's 93 is like the difference between 89 and 93.

 

Hasn't it been established that the higher Octane fuel has more or longer hydrocarbon molecules which burn slower and therefore provide more power? So in theory, a gas-tank with a higher octane rating fuel would last longer than the lower octane fuel...

Without doing any reading on the subject that's how I understand it.

 

Yeaa who needs a stinkin supercharger!

 

So, I guess it's time for me to chime in; I don't do this very often so here it goes. I have a 2007 Tacoma Prerunner with theTRD package. I changed my air filter to AFE Pro Dry S I believe it's called and the muffler to a 14" straight flow similar to the Wicked Flow just didn't cost as much. Anways lately I have been using 91 octane or better and I have consistently got on average 22 mpg or better. Just my two cents.

 

I use 91 in mine. No dyno results to post, but definitely feels stronger. 87 causes pinging under hard acceleration. I also see almost 2MPG increase in around town driving (kinda have a lead foot). The increase in MPG pays for the cost of the high octane in my case.

 

also, like it has been said before, on 87 the timing is retarded a bit to prevent knocking. on 91 or higher the knock sensors do not sense the knocking because the fuel has better anti knock value. this makes the computer advance the timing. a further advanced timing makes for more power. So even if it has nothing to do with how the fuel burns, advanced timing will add power