In fact I have... I stayed in Billings and Helena and I think I had to stop in Norris as well, I just do not recall seeing anything lower than 87.. But I also stop at Big name gas stations, like Sinclair, Shell, Mobil, Chevron, BP etc.

Where would one find less than 87oct?

 

good call. I'm sure thats what it is. except at the crappy gas stations anyways.

 

California gasoline has less ethanol and benzenes which means lower octane but a better fuel in general for mpg. California Reformulated Gasoline Program

 

Further reading E10 is under development in California at least they wont have E15.

2010 Public Meetings and Documents Regarding Reformulated Gasoline and Related Issues

 

I must report that when switching over to Shell 93 I did get a bump in mpg from the usual 31-33 mpg to 36.5 mpg but this is with mixed driving. Once I got out on the freeway though, the best I could muster was 39 mpg and this was using the cruize most of the time and going 70 most of the time. I will see what I get when I go back to Detroit one more time before winter. I know its getting colder here and the air is more dense, but we'll see how it goes.

I do have the K&N typhoo intake on the car but honestly, I saw no loss in mpg and infact, went up a bit, but just a bit, so not sure if the intake will help or hurt when the air is thinner

In closing it does seem to me that the trans shifts firmer when using the Shell 93 and honestly, while on the Dragon run, I used nothing but premium in the Fit and it ran great out there!

 

I filled up with Shell 93 and my mpg dropped 5-10 percent compared to last tank of Bp, I noticed on the scan gauge that I use a lot more gas during acceleration but mpg is a little higher at cruise, but still averages lower than Bp. Dont know if theirs more ethanol in Shell or BP uses something else. I hate winter but as long as I average higher than highway mpg of the car, I will be happy. My wife is happy getting 26 mpg same type of car. My car runs great on either Shell or BP premium, just better mpg with BP.

 

My gas mileage went down with Shell this week. Chevron and Union 76 are the best around here for my car. I'm kind of bummed about Shell doing this but I guess it is happening to other people too. I live out in the boonies and it is a drive to get to Chevron.

 

I like changing brands every once in a while, I was at a speed shop down the street was a Shell gas station and I figured the premium gas would be summer gas because it was out in the boonies and less sales, I guess I was wrong they must of drained the tank to put in semi winter fuel so back to BP.

 

Shell is very inconsistent, sometimes the stuff really sucks.... The fuel I have had turn on the CEL on numerous vehicles in the last 15 years is Conoco... It took 40 miles of driving after filling up with their premium before the CEL on my Fit lit up.

 

It runs great but I need the best mpg, if I was racing I would use Shell and BP mix. There is a BP and Shell farm in the area so I would think it would be good stuff. I notice BP also is inconsistent but mpg is closer and might have a lazy throttle response, Regular is way worse and is more inconsistent than premium.

 

I put in 76 regular and my gas mileage went up from 28 mpg with Shell to 33 mpg with 76 regular.

 

My mpg Dropped for 39-40 Bp to 34.5 mpg and falling with Shell and its not that cold yet. I am now running tank down as far as possible and going back to BP. If mpg doesn't go up its the oil Honda used on free oil change.

 

I was wondering if your car is a manual or an automatic? 39-40 is great I wish there was a BP here. I am getting 33 today driving on the freeway and on country roads but I have an automatic.
I paid extra when I used my free oil change with Honda. I paid 35 dollars for synthetic oil and the labor was free. My husband only likes synthetic oil so I follow what he says.

 

here's a quick Q... my fit is a stop and go car doing 20mpg avg. which octane level most benefit me?

 

I had a 2008 fit sport manual that I got 38-39 summer and 35 average 2 Chicago winters the last winter I average 32-34 so I traded it in mpg dropped below 35 and I didn't want to figure it out, I averaged 36-37 lifetime with a best of 47mpg. I ran Mobil1 in that car. I was able to get a civic lx with auto and all summer I average 39-40. I just got my free oil change done and was told by dealer it was Honda oil what ever that is. I ran BP mostly but was at dyno days last Saturday and had to work Sunday so I fill up with Shell so I didn't have to go out of way. Lesson learned go out of way, money save by a cleaner gasoline. Shell carbon up my car and mpg dropped and its not cold yet. I drive the same route so mpg should be similar.

 

I use BP most of time. I know lots of people that had Fits but got low mpg and got rid of their Fits. I use Premium for many reasons, one being better mpg. Ive tried 87 and got 10 percent low than premium. I also like the throttle response and is faster on take off.

 

Stop and go is bad stuff. You could try premium for a few tanks and see what happens, but I'm guessing (and I could be wrong) that you won't notice a difference in efficiency.

That said, stop and go in high temperatures is even worse. The whole engine bay gets extra hot, which promotes knocking. You will probably notice a loss of power. In this situation, 93 octane fuel would probably be better for the engine.

 

Stop and go is bad but not because of heat, engine cools off and doesn't have the heat to vaporize the gas properly so the emission system overheats. Extra fuel goes into crankcase and dilutes oil and overtime causes problems with carbon. Premium gas is more efficient and will clean the carbon because it has lower c9-c15 than regular.

I though you were on record saying premium made your car work better and I thought you understood how the ecu works.

 

I got 33 mpg and it had lots of ethanol in the gas, I filled up with Bp today and mpg is up 10 percent and idles better and I should get 36-37 which is what I expect with the lights,heater and colder temps.

 

When he was talking about stop-and-go, he's talking about bumper-to-bumper traffic where the engine is running all the time, but the car is not moving very much. As I'm sure you know, the obvious benefits of premium are only seen during medium to hard acceleration, which is impossible in that kind of traffic. That's why I said he probably wouldn't *notice* the difference.

If you noticed my second paragraph, I noted that stop-and-go in hot weather changes things. It heats up the engine and the engine bay so much that the computer starts pulling timing even during normal acceleration. You *will* notice the difference with 93 under these circumstances.

I don't claim to know anything about *quality* differences of 93, 89, 87, etc. I leave that to those who do know.

However, you are right. I have gone on record as saying that there are benefits to using 93 in Fits, and I continue to be of that opinion. I'm just saying that some people are not likely to notice it during their commute. My mantra has been, and is still:

Try it for a few tanks, and see for yourself.