I'm pretty sure there's an open thread on this topic already...but i couldn't find any...so far lol.

anyway titles speaks for itself, I know the car manual recommends 87+ and my dealer says 87 is fine. but i'm wondering whats the difference between getting 87 and 91 premium. i just filled my first tank with premium. hope someone could shed some light on my dilemma.

i've heard from people that using premium MAY increase MPG/MPTank..but they've always used premium all their life.

-JazzdatfiT

 

Seeeeeaaaarrrrcccchhhhh!

http://bit.ly/waHPFh

 

10 cents a gallon.

 

Ohhhh noooooo, here we go again.... Reason is this is also a forum dilemna... Enjoy reading, then draw your own conclusions.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/gene...35-37-mpg.html

 

bwahahahahahahhahaha.

If it makes you happy, do it.

 

The owners manual does not recommend using 87 octane fuel but says not to use fuel with less than 87 octane.... The best way to see if there is a difference is to tank up with with higher octane fuel and see for yourself.... Your driving style may be better suited for using 93 or it may not be... You won't know for sure if you don't have 1st hand experience with both choices.

 

JAZZdatFIT Welcome to the freakworld!

Like Coyote says, try it out. I'm gonna say, though, that having just got your Fit you're really not going to be able to notice much, if any thing.
I would suggest putting a few Kmiles on it first to be able to understand how it performs OEM. Then start tinkering with things like fuel grade.

I played with 97 after about 15K miles of driving and could feel my butt dyno telling me something was up.
But that was only after my butt got accustom to how my FIT was doing on regular fuel.
As far as mpg goes it's been a hot topic around here for sure.
Personally I saw little to no change and am now running regular.

Good mpg out of a Fit boils down to how and where you drive it.
To start off I would suggest bumping the tire pressure to 36psi all around and keep an eye on that mpg display.

K_C_

 

Thanks krimson. And everyone for the input guys. I'll take your advice krimson, put some miles into it then see how things go.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ HA HA HA. My thoughts exactly.

 

One of the biggest reasons why I bought the Fit was so I wouldn't have to pay for the required premium fuel in my other car. The compression ratio in the Fit probably wouldn't take advantage of the higher octane -(perhaps if you were boosted). Any increase in performance would probably be so small that it wouldn't offset the extra cost for premium.

That's also why I didn't bother with a hybrid or diesel car. They might get more mpgs, but the extra cost of that tech plus higher diesel prices would negate any fuel savings for many many years...

 

I have enough miles on mine now that I have gone WFO on a few occasions, and have heard no pre-ignition whatsoever with Chevron Regular, I may run a tank of Premium just to see what happens? From what I can tell so far, Premo is not req with a bone stock Fit.

 

I'm afraid the Fitinisti find the compression ratio (10:1) to be a reason for using premium fuel in an economy car. They point to the high octane requirement for cars with similar ratios in the 1960s as proof. And they can feel the difference!

Well actually they have their scan-guages that tell them there's a difference.

I think it does help a bit at full throttle by maintaining greater spark advance, but so far no one's measured any difference.

MPG doesn't seem to care, but if your focus is on MPG, then you're not spending a lot of time at WOT.

 

In the 60's advancing the timing to the point of a slight ping under full throttle was the norm, it was first pick your fuel grade then time by ear.

 

no scientifically acceptable evidence, but in my experience, you'll probably see 0 mpg difference as the computer's going to adjust everything for you;

but you may be able to eek out maybe a few more horsepowers/torques to climb the hills. And when i mean a few I really mean a few 0-5). But that's about 1-3% of the car's total power, which is what you'd expect from just the relatively small adjustment of octane and price difference.
If you aren't in the habit of driving on the edge where the engine is working at it's max, and it's not giving you any more acceleration when you depress the pedal (edge of needing to downshift), I don't think you'll see any difference at all.

 

When my car was completely stock I was getting 500 miles out of a tank of gas driving at 80+ MPH.. I do fill to the top of the fill tube because it is the only way to accurately compute your mileage... 38 to 39.5 was the norm with it dropping down to between 37 and 37.5 when using the A/C continuously or really flogging it... The increase in torque is more noticeable than horsepower which is the way power should be judged.. With an improvement in low range torque you can accelerate and go up hills with less throttle or the need to be downshifting as often and revving higher... If you live in an area where there is very little traffic, hills,or need for an A/C you can actually get better fuel mileage with lower octane fuel, that has been accepted knowledge for decades.. The L15A engine has the ability to adjust to a range of different octane ratings and driving conditions and driving styles as most cars built since the OB2 engine management systems have become the industry standard.. It should be obvious that the Fit and its engine appeal to automotive enthusiast or the engine would not have a SCCA Formula racing class built around it and there wouldn't be people on forums like this one.... The Model T Ford wasn't built to be a high performance car yet for decades the engines were powering race cars in racing events everywhere including the Indianapolis 500... If the economical Austin Mini hadn't have been effective on the race track BMW wouldn't have rights to the Mini name... The U.S. Marine Force Recon teams and Navy SEALs both have air cooled VW engine powered light assault vehicles and like the Fit there was a formula racing class based on it.... You can justify your need to call your car an economy car and pretend that 10.4:1 compression ratio is low compression but because of the ability of the ECU to adjust to octane content of fuel, driving styles and conditions you can do what ever you want with it... If you can not justify the cost of higher priced fuel that is cool with me but don't try to blow smoke up this old mans ass and tell me that there is no difference in performance if you are so close minded that you have never seen for yourself by running a couple of tanks of 93 octane through it and driving the hell out of it, it isn't like you can blow it up by doing it. ... People that have built engines and driven modified cars boats or motorcycles know what they are talking about.. People that lack a passion for these things and look at a vehicle as nothing more than transportation or an appliance and have to trust the opinion of so called authorities instead of thinking for themselves based on their own experiences really don't have an opinion of their own.. It's is nice to know that a person with a stock Fit will not burn a hole in a piston or blow a head gasket by using 87 octane fuel just as it is nice to know that the same ECU function that is responsible for it having that capability is also the reason it can take advantage of the rather high compression and make more power with better fuel... There would be no reason for changes in air/fuel ratios and timing if that wasn't the case....You wouldn't believe how much fun these little cars can be with 10PSI boost and tune on them.

 

500 miles out of a fits gas tank?!? That's like a little less than 50 mpg...

 

It's just under 39 if you fill to the top of the fill tube... You can put over 13 gallons in the tank and tube to it... I fill it completely to the top to get accurate fuel mileage figures when I refill.

 

I've pumped in over 13 gal before. I have done so at least half a dozen times. So, if he went 500 miles, and used up something like 13.32 gals, then he could have gotten something like 37.5 mpg.

I've gone over 500 miles, using 13.8 gallons.

 

I only 27,000 miles on my Fit but I have tried higher grades of gasoline and I can say that the Fit likes regular over premium or supreme - it just seems to run much better on the regular.

 

Back when I first started driving, gas was at ~50 cents for regular and thus high octane was ~70 cents. For the higher octane to be worth it, it had to be 40% "better" than regular to justify getting it (with better being some measure of fuel economy, performance, etc). Unless the car need high octane to run right, that 40% improvement was hard to come by.

With gas right now at $3.50 and high octane at $3.70, my car only needs to perform 6% better. I dunno if premium actually gives an extra 6% improvement, but it's plausible I guess.

The point is, ironically, as gas becomes more expensive the improvement necessary for high octane to be worth it becomes less and less.