Yep, it's like any other internet hoax. But I doubt it will ever go away, not on this forum at least.

The sensible thing to do is to look at the owners manual--if it says 87 octane, then putting anything higher will be of no benefit to the vehicle. In the case of the Maxima, it says 91. Only Sunoco has lowered their premium to 91. Most other cos. have 89 plus and 93 super. Since 89 < 91, then the next logical choice is to go to 93 > 91. That's for predetonation, or to avoid it.

You're right, since the Maxima can benefit from 91, using something higher than 87 does benefit performance.

108 Octane. Avgas for spirited driving.

I put 91 because that's the highest grade around here. If I could put 93 or higher I would in a blink.

I can't believe that much peoples put regular in there cars

When you have a faster car for fun, and your maxima is a paid-off daily beater, it makes no sense to spend more on it than necessary.

Dave

bastard lol

what's the "faster car for fun"?

94 RX-7.

Now that car NEEDS premium. That car may as well have no knock sensor - just one ping of detonation and your motor can blow. Sunoco 94 FTW.

Dave

Another reason why the search function should be available to everyone. Atleast for a few weeks to all the newcomers. This thread is dejavue...

Super, baby, all the way, no matter what the price is!

WTF? This thread is stupid IMO. People, just fill up with whatever you like or you are willing to pay and drive the speed and rpm you like because it's your car and its your problem. As of me, I always put 91 or higher even when it was like $4 for premium even though I am a college student. It just doesnt make that much diff a year. For example, I drive 15k miles a year with an average of 23 mpg. So the annual gas that my car burns is 652 gallons. If I pay .25cents more than regular, it comes up I pay $163 more annually-whoo hoo!
That makes 45 cents a day. LOL I would rather save on other things. personally, I pay few bucks more at the pump rather than being f&&ed up in traffic or when I'm passing on freeway. So whatever you put in your max, it is your choise and have fun!

is Nissan calls for premium, I put premium. Regular on my other cars.

Sunoco C-16 (116 octane) FTMFW.



(I've owned SEVERAL RX-7's... probably more than most people have SEEN in their lifetime... it's the better part of 30+)

I don't even bother trying regular or plus. My engine was designed for 91+ octane, so that's what I give it. I understand the engineering behind it, and I don't see the point of cheaping out a few bucks a week for gas that might cause premature wear on my engine.

As far as I understand, "premium" (high octane) doesn't give your engine MORE power -- rather "regular" (low octane) robs your engine of power because your engine was designed for high octane due to high compression. Sure your ECU can alter timing to reduce knock, but why would you want it to do that?

Like running a fast computer with 256 megs of RAM. Sure it'll work, but it'll never perform as it was designed to.

couldn't agree more

Apparently you DON'T understand the engineering. Running lower octane won't hurt the engine, if the knock sensor is functioning properly.

Most people don't drive the car very hard. Since mine is a daily driver, I would say I barely put 30s of 80%+ throttle per week. I run 89 octane and I have seen no loss in fuel economy, never heard any pinging, no knock sensor codes, and if it's lost a little power I don't miss it.

Is it for all people? No. But it is sensible for most.



Try another analogy. Like putting 2G of ram in a computer that is only used to check email. Kinda like putting in 93 octane when 89 will do fine.

Dave

my previous car was a 97 crown vic. (V8) so regardless this max saves me a ****load in gas money. premium or not

My brother works for Nissan Motor Co. and he said that never use less than 93 for maxima. He has a skyline, and believe me he knows what he's talking about.

I fill with regular gas, not premium, but you guys have convinced me otherwise, so I will start filling up with premium.

I have to be honest - that means nothing. I helped design a part of the space suit, but I know enough to not call myself astronaut.

If you're trying to get all of the performance out of the car, use 93. If you're a manufacturer and you have to cover your ***, you'll say 93.

But still I have seen no reason that justifies using 93 octane in a daily driver when 89 is causing no problems and no loss of mileage.

I guess if I were being extremely cheap the next step would be to run 87 and see how that does, but around here the big price break is going from 93 to 89.

Dave

I usually put in regular, but now that gas is 2.15 I'm gonna start getting premium

Use whatever the hell you want...nobody should tell you what to use. If you dont have the money for premium all the time then get the best that you can. It won't kill your car to run on regular.

It's all about detonation and knock. The car needs a certain grade of gas to prevent knock.

[soapbox]This may come as a surprise to people who put less than 90 in their tanks but knock is bad. Just so you know. But everyone decides to be cheap somehow. Personnally I can see spending hundreds on suspension and that other crap and then putting 87 in your car.[/soapbox]

I follow Saab's recommendation of Jet A.



...born from jets and all that, ya know?

only 93 for my Max. The best for the best...

sigh..somebody lock this already. For everyone that shouts impending doom of using 87 in their car there are many others that have ALWAYS used it and their cars are running fine. My car has 256,000 miles on the original engine and 96% of that time has been on regular, AND the knock sensor hasn't worked in well over TWO years (I'll be replacing it next week hopefully).

Here's another question. How many are putting premium fuel in but yet their knock sensor is crapped out? Is there any benefit then? Doesn't it make sense that if you're gonna spend $$ for premuim that you make sure the dang sensor works too?

Can we let this go already??? Sheesh...

Edited



I don't know (Farley) "Jack Squat" but if the fuel door says "for best performance use premium unleaded" then I'm not going to put anything less in my baby. I don't care what anyone else thinks.

i put mid grade in my baby thats what the guy at the dealer told me to put in it when i bought her

Premium BP or amaco in this 98 se

and oh yeah... 125000 running bad recently and smokes black just a puff on startup and hard to start... knock sensor....or leaky injector

V-power sucks, too many additives, your post should show octane levels also no just regular, plus, premium, because they differ,
there have been a lot of dumba$$ replies to this.
The engine was MADE for 91 Octane, PUT 91 IN IT. simple as that.
Oh and fellas, if you're stock, 93 IS A WASTE OF MONEY it will make NO difference.
another side note.... because no one is putting higher octane fuel in their carsdue to gas prices, EXCPECIALLY not 93+, the gas is just sitting in the stations tanks, LOSING OCTANE LEVELS!!! Unless you hit them up right after they deliver the premium, you never really know.
GRRRRR!!!!!

I usually mix 110 and diesel

Chevron Techtron or Shell V-power.

(premium)

plus for me, i can't afford premium

i was using 93 when gas was at $3.93 - $4.01 a gal here in NYC earlier this year...

so i dont plan on using anything else...you can feel the diff between gas grades... and call me crazy but never use independant small stations. they water down more often.

also i notice diff. beween mobile/exxon premium and say... sunoco.

but thats just me... luckyly i have the mobile near my house with the lowest gas price from manhattan to Long Island.

Wimp. Real men fill 2/3 with toluene and **** in it until it tops off.

Sunoco C-16 and Toulene FTMFW! (btw, not recommended if you EVER have to pass emissions, inspections, warranty, etc. But it's fun as hell driving around with 120-126 octane gas!)

rofl...i just spit pop at my desk

94 for me

and 91 if I dont make it to my normal station.

what is toluene? will damage the car?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toluene

and we were kidding about the 110 and diesel and toluene....

Toluene is a highly refined form of petroleum that is frequently used as a solvent. It will burn your skin and eyes and brain cells, which is why it's often found in brake and carb cleaner. It's also an effective octane booster. (Well as effective as octane boosters really are)

If you drink enough liquor, the **** might actually have some octane too.

Dave