[Tork]

Originally Posted by mahout

Around here this weekend regular is $2.49 and premium $2.69 per gallon.
Thats 8% increase in cost. In places its 30c per gallon more, or a 12% penalty. The difference between 32 and 34 mpg is 6%.
When you spend 8% more for gasoline to gain 6% in mpg, that isn't worth the money.

Agree 100% I know you tend to look at things on a purer cost benefit basis than I do (my sense of adventure is just too hard to resist sometimes, just for the plain old fun of trying it LOL)

Originally Posted by mahout

And true premium does burn slower, which is why static timing on premium fueled vehicles are more advanced than regular fuel specifications. But unless those premium fuel specified vehicles (BMW etc) are programmed to advance further unless spark knock is detected no advantage is gained but hp is. . Few cars specifying regular fuel have that programmed simply because the gain in hp isn't important..

Entirely logical perhaps 100% right. But I am whacked into being more open minded about this by trying it myself, coupled with the previously cited at the least somewhat credible timing advance noted with the scan gauge. Maybe the timing maps have more aggressive programming than I previously thought.
Again, agree not cost effective, just seems like a lot of fun for me to jack the MPG and performance even if it is incremental. And I have been wrong about this in previous threads, saying premium is a pure waste when in fact it does seemingly provide some value.