Hey guys,

I just bought a new '03 Maxima SE. And I was just wondering, what will the differences be if I buy regular gas, plus, or premium?

If I don't need tip top performance, it'll still be good w/ regular and I won't ruin anything correct? I wouldn't get more mileage with any certain type of gas neither right?

Thanks

 

It's always best to use whatever octane is recommended. Your car has a knock sensor which will prevent it from knocking with low octane fuel. Keep in mind knocking is really bad, especially when breaking in a new engine. Using low (lower than recommended) octane fuel, the knock sensor will detect a knock, retard the timing (to avoid the knock) which will cut your performance as well as gas milage. In my opinion, you paid good $$$ for a nice premium car, give it what it deserves

 

To put it in simple terms, just use 91. If you total up how much more its gonna cost you to use 91 rather then 87 through the years its not that much more. Your car will run stronger and give less problems in the long run, just stick with 91, 92 or 93 whatever you got in your area.

 

Ditto what those guys said. Its not worth possible problems down the line by using an octane less than recommended. Your engine is higher compression, and needs higher octane.

 

You will lose the savings in the difference between the two octanes with gas mileage. It will actually cost you more money to use lower octane fuel, especially when your car starts giving you problems because of it. Someone dynoed the difference between 87 and 93 octane and lost between 7-10hp.

 

Ditto. I'll never understand why people spend 25-30k on a beautiful 6 cylinder car and then seem shocked at the thought of spending an extra 8 to 10 cents on a gallon of premium gas.

 

The lower the octane the less it can be compressed before igniting. The higher the compression the higher the octane needed to prevent knocking. Our compression ratio is 10.1 with a 3.76 x 3.21 bore & stroke. My 5.3L Chevy 1500 has a compression ratio of 9.5 with a bore & stroke of 3.78 x 3.62 it can run on 87, we can't.

 

Thanks guys for the help. Still got 1/2 a tank left since I brought it home from the dealer. But I will keep my baby full of 91 octane gas.

Although I was confused because the manual says it recommends 87 octane, but 91 for improved performance.

thanks

 

I'll have to read the manual again. I was almost certain that it said that 87 would be ok for occassional use.

 

FUEL RECOMMENDATION
Use unleaded regular gasoline with an oc-
tane rating of at least 87 AKI (Anti- Knock
Index) number (Research octane number
91).
For improved vehicle performance,
NISSAN recommends the use of unleaded
premium gasoline with an octane rating of
at least 91 AKI number (Research octane
number 96).

 

Hmmm ... looks like something changed with the 02/03 models. For the 2001 Maxima, this is what the manual says...

----
FUEL RECOMMENDATION
Unleaded premium gasoline with an octane
rating of at least 91 AKI (Anti-Knock Index)
number (Research octane number 96)

If unleaded premium gasoline is not available,
unleaded regular gasoline with an
octane rating of at least 87 AKI (Research
octane number 91) can be used.
However, for maximum vehicle performance,
the use of unleaded premium gasoline
is recommended.

----

Maybe Nissan tried tweaking the 3.5 engine to operate on regualr gas

 

Yeah I noticed the difference in the book from my 2k to my 2k3. It just looks like they changed the wording around a little bit. Both say 87 is technically OK, but recommend at least 91.

 

Right - but for the 2K/2K1, it says use 87 only if you can't get 91.

For the 2K3, it does say that for "normal" use, you can put in 87.
But, yeah - I guess its all a word game - they don't want the casual buyer to turn away just 'coz it needs 91+ gas.

Like they have shown time and again, they could give crap about the "enthusiast" driver - they want the Honduh and Toyota folks to switch over to Nissan !!

 

With the search feature off, it's not your fault as a new member that you've posted a thread with a question that appears over and over again on a weekly basis now. What I don't understand is why org members who've been around for awhile keep responding.

I would prefer that we bring back the search feature, scold a newbie for not using it, and delete these worthless threads.

 

I totally agree! And would have suggested this myself but all I would have heard is 'stop being negative', etc.

 

I agree. I haven't been around too long (and as such I am the source of some of these re-posts) but without a search feature we're left with no choice. It kinda sucks, because I know there is probably so much more information about any topic I can think of already in the archives. But we have no way of getting to it short of scrolling back day-by-day. I plan on donating once the new server is up so I can search again. I figure it's a small price to pay for the amount of information that is here.

 

yeah I bet it says 87 so Nissan dealers don't get sued when customers complain as to why they filled their cars up with 87 upon delivery.....


its all about COVERING UR A$$!

 

If you use 93 your still not putting in whats recommended.

 

atleast 91 AKI