So the price of gas is getting crazy as hell and still going up supreme (93 grade) is just buck expensive. I am thinking about switching to regular (87 grade) even though the manual recommends a 93 octane rating.
Anyone have any FACTUAL information regarding this? Will switching to the lower grade have a detrimental effect?

 

Maybe it's time for a Civic if you can't afford the premium fuel.

 

Can you not buy 91 octane? Don't run 87 octane as it will adversely affect fuel economy and performance. The manual does not recommend 93 octane.

 

If you cant afford Premium gas then you should seriously consider changing cars. The maxima is recommended to use 91octane or higher, and yes you will have negative effects if you use lower.

 

most places around here only run 87, 89, or 93..that is probably why he does not even mention it..I was suprised when I saw a little crappy racetrack's premium was 91 instead of the normal 93 when I was filling the gf's car a while back.

 

CNN new reports said there may be a break in prices between just after labor day and mid October so if you really can't afford it, just use 87 or 91...your car will not blow up or have any long term damage as a result of it. It may knock or ping espeically because it's been so hot outside but using lower octane for a few months and then switching back will be fine. Everybody on this site is car enthusiasts bc its that type of website so obviously you're going to get responses above about don't get a maxima if you can't afford it. It comes down to the point where its ridiculous like you said and it's just not worth it. I personally will continue to use premium and just make my own lunch 3 days a week and save $15 which more than makes up for the extra increase in gas prices, but deal with it whatever way you want. It's your money and your car. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful answer.
There are so many crackheads around here who think the Max is somekinda damn Maserait they cant even think straight for 5 secs...get a freaking clue as to where you are in the food chain. Dont get me wrong I love the car...I have one, my wife does, my dad does and my brother in-law. None of have had any problems w/ it so far.
And for the record, the manual (I am looking at it right now) actually says 91 octane is recommended for maximum performance but 87 can be used. Furthermore, it even adds (on pg 10-4 in the 2000 manual) you can even use unleaded gas w/ an octane rating as low as 85 (I dont know there even make that) in high altitude areas.
The difference in using supreme ($2.70 * 15 gallons =$40.05) and regular ($2.49 * 15 gallons =$37.35) is a whopping $3.15!!!!!!!!! THankfully in my current financial state thats not a big deal so for me it doesnt really have to do w/ money but just the feel of paying so damn much fo gas.

 

True My thoughts exactly.

 

wow... really, the difference is $3.15 for a tank, and if premium is a pinch, then mid-grade will be too. maybe you guys should consider riding the bus... ill be driving my high compression, big cam V8 around in the meantime...

 

I have been using Plus(89) lately and it has been running fine. My gas mileage hasnt been affected too much. Im still getting around 360 miles per tank. I really hope the gas prices drop. Prices in my area has just went up agin............................

 

even in my financially broken state, i can afford to spend a measley $3.15/tank extra to save my car in the long run...in my case, that's $3.15 every 1 1/2 - 2 weeks...now i only get about $300 a paycheck (every two weeks) $300 of which goes to my car insurance...that's an entire paycheck and i'm left with about another $300 by the end of the month...about $50/month of that goes to gas...i highly doubt that if i were to change to 87o that i would be in any better shape financially than i am now..i would save, what? 6 to 8 bucks?
the point i'm trying to get at here is that even though i don't have money pouring out my @$$ i still manage to pay the little bit extra for 93o for the good of my car's future...

 

JUst keep running your car with the gas you can afford. If 87 is good for you, use it. Don't listen to anybody.. what comes to end is your wallet. I have to tell you the car runs better with 91+....just don't go crazy driving with 87 in your car. What I did, is basically stop the car and use a smaller car until PAPA Bush, stop banging us .. but until he can think of anything other than IRAK and other crap we have to deal with this situation. So be patient the gas is going to go over $3.00 avg for regular really soon.... after that who knows......

 

i drive about 500 miles a week. i feel the pain

 

I to have noticed the pain. prem (93 octane) is currently around $2.70 a gallon, with 87 octane being around 20 cents a gallon cheaper. I tried this last week out of curiosity. I fill up with 87 octane, and added a can of octane booster from the local parts store, didn't save any money, because the ocatane booster cost more than what was saved from the cost difference in the fill up. The cars performance was the same as running the prem fuel, and the fuel economy sufferfed a little bit. So for me , I'll continue paying the price for prem. and will and the octane booster when I want more performance.

 

If your car doesn't ping with 87 octane then there is no reason to run a higher octane gas. You will not gain any power. The octane rating is a guide on how fast the gas will detonate. 87 will detonate faster then 93 and perhaps your car will retard the timing a bit to accomodate the lower octane. I've run 91 and 87 and have no pinging or adverse effects so go ahead and buy the cheaper gas. Oh yeah there was a news report that showed most gas stations sell 87 as premium anyway.

 

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you can use gasoline with octane rating of 89 or higher. You have to use 91 or higher to get maximum performance.

 

i want to see how many of us guys are going to drive any where except work and back when premium is 3.25 or so

 

I stopped caring after the $2.30 mark. Need gas for car to function. Car likes 93 octane. Nuff said.

 

I use premium, and I suffer for it. I also drive my car pretty hard, and I suffer for that too. Just ask my transmission and wheel bearings. I'm probably going to keep driving hard, and I'm definitely going to keep using premium. But that's cuz I'm so far gone already, a little extra expense and a little less food won't really make a difference.

Seriously, our engines want premium. They'll run better, make more power, and give you better mileage. They can also use 87 octane in a pinch, and they're designed not to break if you use that. Not having money means you're in a pinch, so if that's your deal, feel free to use the cheap stuff.

Despite what anyone says, 87 octane won't actually break your car unless you beat the hell out of it ALL the time -- and even then, the difference in wear and tear won't be huge. Your mileage will be significantly worse (but not Hummer-kinda worse) and your engine will be slightly on the weak side, but you may not even notice the difference.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

 

i just put plus in two times in a row, last time it was at 89 octane and i have seen a difference in performance. Never again, only did it cause it was cheap gas to get somewhere real quick and didnt want to waste too much on gas i didnt even want in the car in the first place....

 

ive had my car 3 years and ive used 87 intell about last year when i put headers and exhaust on it and advanced the timing. i havent seen anychange in mpg i still get about 38 to 40 on hhwy and 18 to 22 on city. i live in ny so city is always bumper to bumper i dont think that a gradma or a mom is going to use 93 i bet the majority use 87. i dont drive my max that much anymore so i put 93 or higher in it. i evan have a friend that runs 87 in his 04 zo6 vet and his car runs fine. so if a high performance car like that has no problems i dont know y ours will. nothing will happen its gas it just depends on what u want out of ure car. just remember if u get less mpg with 87 by 3 to 5 miles remember u paid less money do the math and see whats best for ure driving habets.

 

You can always mix octanes and come close to 91. At half a tank add 89 or 87. Then next half tank add 93 again.

 

OMG you guys are soooo lucky! Here in rip you off cuz the climate is Ok--- california the price for premium is $2.99!!!! hahahaha and if you go to the gas stations right off the 405 parking lot you'll hit $3.09

$2.70 is the price for regular here

 

We all are getting robbed with these gas prices but you guys in Cali have it the worst. I agree with you Lontar1, when Bush stops blaming Iraq and China then I prices may go down, the majority of our gas prices are in taxes. Most people don't realize that the Oil companies have been making billion dollar profits over the past year and that energy bill he signed last week gave them tax breaks. High demand + High supply = High prices, you figure it out.

 

Hehe, all you folks are lucky, here in Canada we are paying $3.20 for a gallon of regular and $3.70 for premium! I have been using 89 octane for last two fill ups paying $3.40 for it...

 

yeah, but 3.70 canadian is about $3.10 here.
your 3.40 is about 2.89 here.

 

No-no, I converted it to USD, so what you see is in USD :-) We pay CDN $1.04 for regular and $1.16 for premium per liter (1 gallon = 3.7854 liters)...

 

I jsut suck it up and put in premuim. The nissan recommends it and i plan on driving this car till the wheels fall off so i am gonna take care of it. It cost me 45.00 dollars to fill my tank and everytime i pay i feel like crying....Hey still better than those big fugly SUV. They are the ones getting screwed big time.

 

If these prices keep rising i'm just going to have to walk to work....LOL

 

Yea, well here in the NYC the gas prices are almost $3.00 for premium. There isn't that much difference between the regular, but when you are looking at it in the long run you are paying twice as much for gas as what you would pay for it 3 years ago. This is crazy!

My maxima is a great car and I love it... but isn't there supposed to be an advantage in newer cars that they should be able to use regular gas as well as premium gas without any problems?

 

Doesn't really matter whether newer or not, it dpends on the engine itself. Keep in mind if you read the owern's manual, premium is recommended, but not required. I've just personally observed my car runs like poop without premium.

 

i never really complained

but our premium jumped like 30 cents per gallon from 2.73 to 3.03 in ONE WEEK

thats is certainly a noticable difference about 5 bucks more per tank or so

 

It's all relative. Premium is about .20 more than regular by me. When regular was $2.28 a gal, premium was $2.48. Now reg is about $2.75 a gal and premium is $2.95. Yes gas is expensive and you're paying more out of your pocket, but switching from premium to regular will not save you any more money(unless in your area, premium has a bigger jump in price).

 

yea, it is better to you premium, just as the manual recommends it, but I am still hoping that those gas prices will go down.

 

..if the manual says it's ok then a new thread is really unnecessary. all it does is contribute to more confusion. simple answer the car will run on 87 and up, but will only get advertised HP with premium.

and yes...

 

aaaahahaha.... OPEC sets the price for a barrel of oil, not 'papa bush'. weve got gas cheaper than any other non-oil producing country in the world with a major population... i wasnt whining when it hit $1.00, $2.00 and i wont be when it hits $3.00.


you mean low supply?

 

you beat me to it... math is so much fun isn't it...

seriously, unless you go to a shell service station(the difference between premium and regular are known to be 20-30 cents sometimes here in miami), the difference between regular fuel and premium is but $2-4 dollars on average per tank...

gas is a huge hit when you consider it rose $0.60 cents within the last two months... just keep using premium, we'll get a break soon... if you seriously cannot afford to gas up with premium, or just gas in general (since its so high) i strongly suggest you pick up a corolla, sentra, civic, etc...

for the most part, driving leasurely has become a luxury... my father is going to get rid of the 1993 max pretty soon and replace it with a more efficent vehicle due to the amount of miles he drives daily...

 

Put the 87 octane in and listen to your engine when it has a load on it like going up a slight hill in high gear just before the trans downshifts, if you hear it ping or knock then you need a higher octane but if the engine is quiet then continue to use the lower octane because spending money on higher octane won't do anything for your cars power or gas mileage.