My dealer says that mid-grade is fine but I can't help
to think I'm missing something by not using premium?
I would welcome opinions. Thanks.

 

well, someone else will have a more detailed reply. but here's what i've seen.
92+ = good
89 = clicking/knocking sound
87 = clicking/knocking sound
92 at an old station = clicking/knocking sound
92 at a cheap station = clicking/knocking sound
92 at an old station + $8 Techron = okay

stick with premium.

 

If you live at high altitude then you won't need 92 octane. If you go easy on the throttle you can get by with less than premium, but if you floor it then the max has to downshift twice to get you the power to pass someone. With better gas, I find that the Maxima doesn't go from 4th to 2nd as much. I didn't hear any knocking with the lower grade gas though.

There was also a recent thread that said that premium gas gave better mileage.

Serin, how hard were you driving to get the knocking and clicking?

 

my sales guy told me the same thing so i was using 89/87 at first. put on about 8000/9000 miles before i noticed the knocking. now it's there reliably if i even think of using cheap gas. didn't drive too hard until i found this web site. plus i live in oc/los angeles area, so too much traffic to go very fast. just lots of tight turns.

 

Hmmmm. Sounds like a coil problem to me.

My wife has been running 89 octane in her 2K GXE since the day she bought it. She buys nothing but Arco and Unocal 76, two "no-no" gasoline brands. She has almost 30,000 miles on her Maxima. It runs great and accelerates beautifully. Her gas mileage is fine. And it's never knocked . . . not even once.

My car, on the other hand . . .

 

I started using 89 Octane in my 00 Max SE. Texaco, Sunoco or Mobil. Then I found that at about 10k miles on my Max, that it started to making that knocking or pre-ignition sound, especially when using the Mobil gas. I then read Y2kevSE posts about his coil problem( I think it was him), and thought to myself, "damn, now i have to go to the f*c*in dealership and try to get them to replace this stuff." I decided to try different gas before I went there. I started to put in 93 Octane Texaco, or 93 or 94 Sunoco, and it runs great no sounds or anything. Stick with premium, it definately does make a difference. I have 19K miles on my car now. Runs great.

 

Nope. It was me.

If switching gasoline brands and running a higher octane works for you, then do it. No reason to beat your head against the Nissan wall if you don't absolutely have to.

 

Octane dictates how much a fuel can be compressed before igniting on it's own. The higher the number, the lower the amount of carbon and the more it can be compressed. The max's engine is considered high performance so the compression is higher and needs high octane. However if you DON'T DRIVE IT HARD you can safely use below 91 octane without engine knock. You also have to watch out for stations that water down their gas. If you notice you put in the same type of gas but the engine "feels heavy". It was probaly watered down. We have a big problem with this NE New Jersey. I've found the most reliable gas for your money is (in this order): Hess (cheap and good!), Texaco (more expensive but very good), Sunoco(if you can't find either).

 

Nothing but Chevron Supreme with Techron for me. My wife, on the other hand, could probably run kerosene and her damn car wouldn't knock. And she's anything but lightfooted.

 

I used both regular and plus gasoline in my car a few times when sufficient funds were lacking, and I definitely noticed a big difference in performane.. a lot more lag, and a lot rougher ride than when using premium gas