According to the manual it says 87 or better. There is a big difference in overall performance. Try this.....completely deplete your fuel tank (almost gas light) and fill with high test 91/95. Heres the thing for those who DON'T think it's worth it....completely deplete your fuel tank again (almost gas light). Fill again with high test 91/95. IMAO your computer needs one full tank cycle to read the higher octane. Big change in overall driving....well worth the 10 / 20 cents extra.

Peace

 

Thank you for your insight on this... I have tried Chevron, 76, Mobil and Shell and they all do the same thing! I live at about 1,000 ft. or less so altitude isn't an issue. I really don't know what could be wrong, did I maybe "spoil" the ECU by using 91 and it's going to have to knock a bit to re-retard the timing???? I won't use 87 again until I know it won't knock I know how bad it is for the engine

 

This is bad for your engine, no matter what fuel you use! But hey it's your car!

 

Bad for your engine? It's not enough to make a difference so I could care less. What's worse for your engine is being too cheap to fill it up with decent gas so that there isn't a possibility of it ever knocking. Living in Germany that's how you drive 99% of the time, in the highest gear possible with more throttle to save gas since it's 3.50 euros a liter! I did that with my Honda Civic there (7th generation) and it lasted over 250,000km, did not burn a drop of oil and still could pull 200KM/h on the Autobahn without a flutter.

 

I also have another comment to make about all of this. Alot of you people say "go by what Honda recommends" the manual clearly states 87 or BETTER. If you want to use the cheapest, minimum possible by all means go ahead. I have noticed as well as the knocking issue I get much better mileage on 91 as well. It could be because of the warm weather here in So Cal or our crappy gas though... but it definitely won't hurt it to use 91, I'm sure of that. If that were the case Honda would clearly state that in the manual.

 

I've used only 87 octane in my Fit for it's 25K miles, hasn't knocked once, but I don't abuse my engine like you do! On my many trips to Europe, I've never seen 3.5 Euro a litre petrol! Early this month when I was there it was 1.25 Euro a litre. I've never seen a European abuse their engine as you do either.

 

A: I will be the ass and tell you: you are an idiot. Stop lugging your engine. This is not some diesel making tons of torque at 2k, the reason you are pinging to hell is YOUR DRIVING STYLE. Flooring a poor 1.5 at 2k in 5th is just plain stupid.

B: You have NO clue about how fuel works, thats why you are accusing people of being cheap. Stop projecting YOUR bad driving habbits as the "best thing". If driven properly, and not abused, the lower octane, more POWERFUL gas is more than appropriate for our cars, please stop furthering your ignorant agenda.

Hm, lets see, 85 octane, never a ping, and averaging 36 mpg in the city...yeah, it must be me being cheap...yep. :roll eyes:

 

No, but keep it up and there will be!

 

Yes you are wrong. Chevron is a Top Tier Gasoline . Chevron certifies all of their grades meet these standards, not just premium.

 

Slamming on the gas in 5th gear at 35mph is one of the worst things you can do to your engine and transmission - it puts a ton of stress on both.

 

The intent of that statement is so you don't go out and stick in some off-spec 70 octane fuel or something. The "OR BETTER" is just a nice clean way to cover their butts.

Ok, I wasn't going to say anything, but I have no idea why you engine would be knocking, IMO new cars should not knock. If mine knocked I would take it back to the dealer. Now with that said, If for some reason your engine block is so hot your fuel is detonating prematurely I would highly reccomend you look into ways to cool it more efficently. A good place to start would be putting some Royal Purple Ice radiator additive in, Royal Purple Purple Ice Radiator Super Coolant Additive. This stuff really works, I highly reccomend it to anybody running above normal engine temps for whatever reason.
Putting in higher octane fuel to remedy this is like a band-aid solution (an expensive one too). If you are running your engine that hot all the time it is probably reducing the life of your engine.

Also, not to get on your case by I really don't buy the "crappy gas" theory. The octane levels & quality of fuel are strictly federally controlled. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions, so I will keep an open mind; what makes So Cal fuel so crappy?

 

Well I figured instead of arguing about it with everybody on here I just called Honda Corporate and asked them. They said, and I quote "You may use anything greater than 87 octane and it is actually recommended by Honda for the any Honda engine to use 91 octane". If you don't believe me please call them for yourself. The representative also said that in some warmer climates the engine will knock momentarily on 87 octane until the knock sensor mic hears the knock and retards the timing, which thus reduces performance. He said "if you have the means, use the best you can afford".

 

Oh and one more thing, as far as "hurting" the motor... he said that held no truth to it whatsoever as most of their motors are built for the Japanese market (the L15 especially) and their lowest octane gas is equivalent to about 90 octane or so in the USA. Just trying to help out guys

 

I know this is a stale subject however, my very first fill up I did the math and got 32 MPG on my US model Sport MT I was impressed. I wasn't sure so I filled it up with 89. Later that evening I looked in the manual and it asks for 87. Whatever Honda suggests I use I think I'm going to use. They produced the vehicle not me. I am still at the break-in period so I will continue to "take it easy".

As for RPM, if you drive below 2k RPM you ARE bogging your engine and I think you are misunderstanding the user manual's statements about keeping the RPM low.
Haven't you noticed there isn't much power that low?

 

I know this is a stale subject however, my very first fill up I did the math and got 32 MPG on my US model Sport MT I was impressed. I wasn't sure so I filled it up with 89. Later that evening I looked in the manual and it asks for 87. Whatever Honda suggests I use I think I'm going to use. They produced the vehicle not me. I am still at the break-in period so I will continue to "take it easy".

.................................................. .................................................. .
This subject is never stale! Alot of debate into which rating will perform overall "BEST"...... engine running smooth, better MPG and added performance.
32 MPG seems like a good average! The manual clearly states....87 or better. Yes Honda's starting octane standard is 87, to be honest that's almost every car made....economy wise. Other sport models, etc might require a higher rating but overall 87..is the stanadard.
We are talking about nickels and dimes per gallon of gas here...right?! With that being said it comes out to about...
Example..FYI "California 91 Max"
Regular 87.....2.89
Mid 89.....3.02
High 91.....3.14

Our gas tanks are 10.8 US gallons TIMES 3.14 High Test 91 = $33.91
" "2.89 Regular 87 = $31.21

33.91
31.21
........
2.70 Savings "52 weeks in a year...TIMES...2.70 = $140.40

In ending filling once a week you are saving only around 140 / 150 bucks a YEAR in using 87! Is your 17 thousand dollar investment worth those kind of savings? My thoughs.

GD3blaze07'

 

I agree, with the world's problems with oil, and seems to be getting worse, MPG will *NEVER* be a stale subject.

 

I am still so thrilled at the huge difference in gas mileage over my old car. This is my 3rd Honda and it is my 1st official new car.

 

To dispel the thought that I'm ruining my engine... I was just doing it for purposes of figuring out why it should do that. Lugging the engine shouldn't hurt it that much as long as it isn't knocking, i only did it once to see what the sound was. It's not like i drive like that all the time, my god... I grew up with mechanics my entire life and most of them worked on Hondas. I normally leave it in D and step on the gas just a bit while cruising (which keeps it in 5th gear and in theory "lugs" the motor a little)... it did it on 87, in D, and at full throttle after about 4,000 RPMs... odd i know but it did. Granted, this was in the summer and I do live in SoCal so that probably played a huge role.. but nevertheless I'm never using that CRAP again in my tank. After finding this information from Honda, I ran my tank as dry as I could (without running out of gas, cuz thats stupid and bad for your fuel pump, injectors and engine in general).. and filled up with Shell V-Power. Man it's so much better. It's worth the 150 or so bucks a year... flame me all you want i'm just trying to help out.

 

Nice write up man! It is nice to see some of this debating working out for the better. I wouldn't use 87 in a RENTAL ...well maybe ONLY in this case!!! LOL.



Peace,

GD3blaze07'

 

hi this is my firrst post
I am thinking about buying a fit

but in reading this thread I am disappointed with the conversation.
sorry but I have to speak my mind here.

1 mpg -miles per gallon- so write down the odometer reading with full tank
2 drive car for several tanks and only note the amount of fuel put in
3 decide when to calculate (actually if you always keep your receipts you will get a better average)
4 note the odometer reading-and fill tank
5 subtract the final odometer reading from the initial-save for calculation
6 add up all the gas put in the tank after the initial step
8 divide miles traveled by gallons used=mpg
9if using calculator enter miles then hit divide symbol then gallons and enter