What I meant to say is that only fill up half a tank with 87. Then fill up with 91 again when tank goes empty (a little wordy )

The fact that I live next to a BJ Wholesaler Gas station - the 93 octane tends to be much much cheaper than Exxon's midgrade.

 

I live near Costco, gas is cheap but contains 10% ethanol, which I'm not happy about.

 

The book says to use premium in my 09. I use what the book recommends.

 

The book in both the '09 and the '11 recommend to use 91 at a minimum. Since most pumps around my way only do 87/89/93, I put 93 in unless I am traveling and find a station that has 91.

 

Veeeeeee Powerrrrrrr!

 

10% Ethanol is everywhere I travel these days....

 

Incorrect... I know because when the 2010 came out it created some controversy on the org...

2009 Maxima manual clearly states "Use 91 AKI"



2010/11/12 clearly states "Recommend 91 AKI"

 

Yeah AZ it's kind of prevalent. But here gas without ethanol can be found in the name brand stations for a few cents more.

 

Premium. Always.
Why?
My wife says so.

 

what's that? I hear a whip crackling on your back lol

 

I stand corrected, haha...Never even noticed that they were quoted different. I guess since I knew that I always put at least 91 in both of them that it I figured it read the same thing.

I only check something like that when I first get the car, and since I got the first '09 back in July '08, I never opened the book again until this past August when I got the '11. Either way, I only do and will only ever put 91 at a minimum in this car. Like others have said, it is only a $3-$5 difference at the pump.

 

I have had my max for 1.5 yrs now. I find if I use less than 91 for more than a fill up, the engine does not sound as smooth. Could be in my head?? Find I cheat a lot less these days. Never use below 89 now.

FYI - never noticed an improvement in gas mpg's using premium . . .

 

You noticed correctly. the car will get the same MPG on 89, 91 or 93 octane. The only reason it usually gets a lower MPG on 87 octane is because the fuel system is set for 91 octane, and 87 is just a little too far below 91 for the fuel system to operate at its most efficient level.

I use 91/93 octane the first 18 months of each new Maxima, then switch to 89. I have never noticed any change in the way the car ran, and I am rather **** about the sound of my engine.

 

on the topic of octane levels, i just moved to dubai and am on the verge of buying my 1st Max (dont wanna jinx it). At the pump,the minimum octane here is 95 & you get 98 too. how insane is that. oh and also somebody fills gas for you while you sit inside ur car. all this for less than $2/gallon.

 

Is this RON or AKI?

87 AKI = 91 RON
91 AKI = 96 RON

Having been in several parts of the globe (USA-Italy-Saudi Arabia-Philippines) - there are variations on what the number actually is. In the USA - AKI is the common number used (at least it NJ-NY) while RON is used in the Philippines.

If I'm not mistaken, RON is used pretty much elsewhere outside of North America (go figure!)

 

I seem to recall we had a poster here several years back that said RON was used in the United Arab Emirates. We have also had posters here recently from Jiddah (west coast of Saudia Arabia, west of Mecca) and Khubar (east coast of Saudia Arabia near Bahrain). If one of them sees this, maybe they can pipe in here. I suspect Dubai uses RON.

 

Nice read on the Ron/AKI topic

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

 

Excellent read, Monte.

A key part for me:

'A common misconception is that power output or fuel efficiency can be improved by burning fuel of higher octane than that specified by the engine manufacturer. The power output of an engine depends in part on the energy density of the fuel being burnt. Fuels of different octane ratings may have similar densities, but because switching to a higher octane fuel does not add more hydrocarbon content or oxygen, the engine cannot develop more power.'


That tells me that, even if we could find 100 octane gasoline for this Maxima, it would not get any better fuel eficiency (MPG) than we are getting running fuels with octanes within one or two of 91 (the recommended octane).

But then automotive engineers have been telling us this since the 1960s. The problem is that urban legends and our emotional desires always trump scientific research.

Thanks for the reference, Monte. Great read.

 

premium fuel only people

 

For the record, I use Premium.

But, I thought I read on this thread where someone stated that the mid-grade and premium gas was stored in the same underground tank? If that's true, why pay more for premium if you can by an "upgraded" midgrade? The octane levels should even out with the mixture and essentially, the 89 mid-grade is actually a 91?

I'm just thinking out loud. I gassed up yesterday and had this thought while I was standing there..

 

interesting

 

When I accelerate, it gets a lil groggy at low RPMs, like 1200-1400, then when I give it a little more, totally fine....I just got the car and believe the dealer used unleaded. Could that be because of not using premium?

 

I use mid grade and get 28 to 29 on the open road.

 

Actually, there are two tanks, one for regular and one for premium. Mid-grade is the combination of both, i.e. when you select midgrade fuel, it pumps from both regular and premium tanks at the same time.

 

Thank you for the clarification

 

RayFan is absolutely correct.

As information, the 7th gen Maxima runs beautifully on midgrade, and octane is not directly connected to fuel efficiency, so the octane drop does not affect MPG.

We would expect similar performance with midgrade and premium, since the fuel system of the 7th gen Maxima is set up for 91 octane, and so the 89 octane of midgrade is very close to that specified 91.

But regular (87 octane) is another matter. A few here have been able to run with 87 octane, although Nissan specifically tells us in the Owner's Manual to not do any aggressive driving if we find ourselves in a situation where we have to use 87 octane, and to switch to a higher octane at the first opportunity. Several here who tried regular (some by accident) found their car missed and stuttered on regular.

I have always switched from premium to midgrade after 18 months in every Maxima I have ever owned (at least one in every generation except the first), and never had any change in performance or MPG. I don't do this to save money, although the difference between midgrade and premium is usually around 20 cents per gallon where I live. I switch because my car does not need 93 octane to perform perfectly.

 

Mom had an rx330, recommended 91. She put in 89, car stuttered and missed, didn't work well on 89. Performance was perfect on 91. YMMV.

 

Yeah Lexus's are real sensitive to that matter, I once put 89 in my fathers GS450 by accident and it knocked a bit and did not perform the same. He drove it later and asked what kinda gas did i put in it I said ooopps...lol.

 

Wow! I am surprised Toyota can't do better than that. Especially in what is supposedly their upscale brand. All seven generations of the Maxima run perfectly well on premium or midgrade. We have had examples here on the ORG of a few 7th gen Maximas that ran decently on regular. I hate to think how bad a Lexus would run on regular.

 

NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT B 4 BUT SINCE IM READING THAT U CAN FEEL THE DIFFERENCE IM GONNA WAIT TILL NEXT FILL UP AND USE PREMIUM ANYONE KNOW HOW TO CHEAT THE CHIP WITHOUT VOIDING THE WARRANTY SINCE MY MAX TOPS OUT AT 134 MPH

 

i know there is a kit to give u an extra 110 hp but there goes my 7yr 100000 mile warranty right out the door

 

Just for the record, filled up on regular the other day (3/4 tank) for the first time... wow what a difference. I will never do that again. It totally lost its snap. Very laggy. Major difference.

 

Most 7th gens run poorly (or very poorly) on regular.

Midgrade works perfectly. I can easily afford premium, but careful comparison showed me that, for my driving, the car performs the same on midgrade or premium, and gets the same MPG on either. So, for me, premium is a waste of money, especially since I live in an area where premium is 20 cents a gallon more than midgrade.

If I were racing the car, or making elapsed time runs, then I would automatically use premium.

 

I use 93 from BJs and it seems to work fine. I assume it's probably not the highest quality fuel since it's significantly cheaper than surrounding stations, but there aren't a lot of local options with 91.

 

While its still new to me I tend to drive it a bit more aggressive. I am sure with time my driving style will lend me ot the mid grade switch. I do remember in my 02 GLE, regular actually cost me more money to due horrible fuel mileage. Premium gave me consistently 4 mpg more and after doing the math stayed with premium.

 

I have an '02 i35 and I use premium. I've read various articles that quote execs at GM, Toyota, and other companies saying it usually doesn't matter for the driving that we do day to day but I tend to get myself in turning situations that I really should have waited for So those milliseconds count at times like that. Damage wise, I don't see it doing much damage since it's designed to adapt to regular. On my '02 I don't care if regular damages it. If I bought a '12 I'd put premium in it. Preferences vs Priorities i guess

 

I have a 09. Has 14k on it now and I've only used 87 in it from day one. Never had any issues . I only lost 1-2 mpg when I did tranny flash from dealer

 

1-2 MPG can be a lot when you add it up. I get like 20 MPG as it is but i'm all city. What do you average?

 

My 02 used to ping alot with 87 under hard acceleration especially in the summer with the A/C on

 

I get 20 mpg now sometimes 21, before tranny flash I was getting 22-23 always city