2young2retire

Almost the same engine, '09 Max = 10.6:1 compression ratio vs. '08 Altima = 9.6:1.

lightonthehill

Absolutely. 10.6:1 is premium gas territory. That is about the same as the compression on my '66 Olds Delta 88, and that car would just sit there and knock on regular; wouldn't even idle.

lightonthehill

Responses to the first few dozen threads here asking about the use of premium in this '09 always quoted the cap/fuel door and insisted that the 'asker' use only premium. But I guess we have gotten lazy with answering this question every week or two. I simply quoted it as Nissan saying 'use premium fuel' Period. Since leaded gas is not available for passenger cars, my wording was esentially paraphrasing the same thing the fuel cap says.

To my knowledge, there is NOBODY among the posters on Maxima.org who has actually tried to use regular gas in their '09 Maxima. We let them know that is bad.

TBA

Somebody should inform Nissan dealers that the Maxima required premium.

On one of my test drives, the test vehicle needed gas. The sales guy pulled into the station and filled up with REGULAR. Of course, I already knew the manual calls for premium, so as I asked to guy, does the car need premium gas?

His reply: no, of course not. The Maxima runs just fine on regular, no problem.

So good to see he knows so little about his own product - or was lying to get a sale. I didn't buy from that dealership.

My area has only three grades of gas: 87, 89, and 93. Since Nissan says 91 is the minimum I've been putting in 93.

Nightshifter

My average time went down ~ .2 secs with premium 93 Octane. The ECU will sense that the car has 87 Octane and this will hurt your performance, although you can still run 87 ECU, nissan doesn't recommend full throttle... The stealership gave you 87 Octane when you drove the car off the lot

MaxLoverAz

iTrader: (1)

What makes you think that the dealership put in 87? My dealership put in 91 and warned me about the ramifications of not using 91 except in special cases. Not every dealership has poor customer service and trying to rip people off.

lightonthehill

I'm sure there are many dealers who put nothing but regular in all their vehicles. But my sales person took me by the gas station during our test drive. She told me to pull in at the BP station, and told me to fill it with premium only. And we did it with her dealer's card. Yes, I have bought Maximas from her before. She is a straight shooter.

I'm sure this car will get us down the highway using regular, but I'm just as sure the car will run far more efficiently on the fuel it was designed for. I'm still open to the possibility we might do some harm to the engine/fuel system by using regular continuously and driving very aggressively.

I would have little problem using mid-grade temporarily if I couldn't obtain premium, but I would have to be in a true emergency before I put regular in this car.

albo

sorry to tell yea but most of them do the same... as in putting the regular gas,
lets be honest u really think an dealer is gonna spend more money then they have to ... once the car is out of there hands they dont care they just got the sale.

but again ....

just put what u think your car deserves. shes ur maxi after all.

TBA

Yes, I have no idea if my dealer filled up with premium or not.

But at least the dealer from which I did purchase didn't give me patently false information regarding a critical aspect of owning and operating the vehicle according the manufacturer specifications. It wasn't the only reason I chose another dealer, by the way.

NissanGoddess

I put 91 octane in mine I always have in all my cars..

Per

Since the owner's manual for an 09 Maxima states to use premium, why would you use regular?:

"Use 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 87 AKI (Anti-Knock Index) number (Research
octane number 91) can be used, but only under
the following precautions:

●

●

However, for maximum vehicle performance,
the use of unleaded premium gasoline
is recommended."

The 06 Maxima owner's manual on the other hand says to use regular, unless you want extra performance.

Following the owner's manual is generally a good thing!

TBA

Cost, or ignorance. In my neck of the woods, premium (93) broke the $3 mark over the weekend. 91 isn't available and regular is still ~$2.75.

M. Allen

mine says premiun recommended but not required

bk2k3max

Premium is only required to get the best/optimum performance out of our cars but that doesn't mean that I'm going to start using Regular.

If you check some of the links I posted on the previous page regarding this Premium vs Regular gas issue then you'll find that our systems have knock sensors that can retard and adjust to 87 so even though it is allowed it is not recommended but 91 is.

Per

I'm sorry, if you bought a $35,000 car and can't afford to put premium in it, you bought the wrong car!

Per

I had a 96 Maxima that I always put premium fuel in. A friend of mine who has the same car insists on using regular. He used to fly P-51 Mustangs in WWII. I tease him about whether he used regular in his P-51 also.

Mreim769

So what you are saying then is that you would rather save a few bucks a tank because you know that your car is infact knocking. But that is ok because your engine, while have knocked a couple times possibly creating quarter sized dents in your pistons before the knock sensor picks it up, is now in retard mode limiting the performance of your engine.

TBA

I'm not saying I use regular fuel. My reply was to the question of why someone would use regular vs. premium.

Not everyone takes into account the additional cost of premium fuel, or realizes it is a manufacturer requirement for the current model.

Or they listened to their sales person who erroneously told them the car runs just fine on regular. I'm not really reveling in the fact that gas prices have shot up recently and putting premium in my Maxima is costing considerably more than my '01 Altima. But I knew the recommended fuel requirements going in.

iannkt

We have 93 around here so that is what I have put in so far. Only 2 fill-ups so far, only ~540 miles on or new Maxima.

Per

The comment wasn't directed at you personally. I'm glad you treat your new Maxima right. Enjoy it--we would have bought a 2009 if it came with a manual transmission.

Nightshifter

I put in 94 Octane Sunoco

lightonthehill

This '09 does indeed 'adjust' for regular, but with this new higher compression ratio (10.6), the adjustment for regular is more involved than on the lower compression 6th gen. I measured the same MPG on both premium and regular on all my Maximas up through the 6th gen, but I would not even consider putting regular in this '09, as it is not running normally or efficiently when it is running on regular.

The price difference between regular and premium around where I live is exactly 40 cents per gallon. Last summer, that difference was 48 cents per gallon. But that is the price for driving a very spirited, near-luxury, very sporty car, and I will pay it.

made in china

iTrader: (7)

jeez guys, I can't even afford a new Maxima, but at least I can keep 91 octane in my old Maxima.

worst case scenario:
$0.48 difference between 87 and 91, a 16gal tank of 91 would only cost $7.68 more than 87. At $2.60/gal for 87, if your car got 23 MPG you'd get 368 miles on a tank, and that tank would cost you $41.60.
At $3.08/gal for 91, if your car got 26 MPG you'd get 416 miles on a tank for $49.28.
The 87 tank would cost $0.113/mile.
The 91 tank would cost $0.118/mile.

Here in WA state we see about $0.20 difference between 87 and 91, making it even less "beneficial" to downgrade fuel.

My car running a 5.5 gen drivetrain can easily get 30MPG on 91, but I can't do better than 25MPG on 87, with a noticeable hit to performance.

With the 7 gen Max, I would be pretty sure it'd be way more beneficial to stick with premium. My old max is cheaper per mile on 91, and even in my example above, worst case scenario it is not much difference per mile to downgrade to 87 and take the performance hit too.

Per

I have to disagree with you! I don't think the Maxima is a near-luxury car at all. With the equipment you can get on a Maxima, it's every bit a luxury car!

lightonthehill

I am very happy to concede this argument to the enlightened and astute Per. In thinking about Per's comment, my '09 Maxima with Premium and Tech packages actually has MORE goodies than some base models of several 'luxury' brands.

bk2k3max

Whoa!! Not me Bro, if you noticed in my post I said:


<<<reply from Per

To Per: Please see my response to Mreim for the answer to that statement you made.

I went to the pump the other day and it only has 91, now 91 is fine but all I ever used was 93 in all my cars and occasionally I get lucky and find a 94 pump every now and again (when I was in NC), so what did I do?

I went to the autostore and bought me some Octane Booster, I just like having high octane in my car and 91 is great and recommended I still want more-I'm happier with 93-so I boost a little to try and be close to there or slightly above.

You'll never catch me using less than 91 in my Max or any car I drive for that matter.

Mreim769

I know man. It wasn't really directed at you. I was just trying to get my point across to the general "Regular is alright with me" crowd

bk2k3max

Oh, it looked like it was directed at me-cool.

This car responds so well to high octane, it's like the higher you use the better it performs.

Go buy some Octane Booster and give you car a shot and see how quickly it picks up and how every little tap on the paddle just jolts the car whether you're in D or DS mode-it makes you smirk a little.

Nightshifter

Oh hell no, puting regular in any moter with a Comp. ratio of 10:1 or higher should be a crime (write you a ticket at the gas pump.. haha).. my car runs ~ .3 secs slower on regular unleaded.. if not .4 secs seriously!
A high compression ratio is desirable because it allows an engine to extract more mechanical energy from a given mass of air-fuel mixture due to its higher thermal efficiency. High ratios place the available oxygen and fuel molecules into a reduced space along with the adiabatic heat of compression - causing better mixing and evaporation of the fuel droplets. Thus they allow increased power at the moment of ignition and the extraction of more useful work from that power by expanding the hot gas to a greater degree.
Higher compression ratios will however make gasoline engines subject to knockers , also known as detonation and this can reduce an engine's efficiency or even physically damage it!

lightonthehill

Instead of 'hell no', I'm sure you meant ''hell yes', agreeing with my premise that. although this high compression engine can adjust to limp along on regular, it only operates properly and efficiently with the fuel it is designed for - premium.

TooTawl

I use premium gas. I talked to a friend who builds race cars. He said that bad things... very bad things... will happen to the engine in the long run. There is a good reason why they put things like "use premium gas" in the user's guide.

JAMAICANLOVRBOY

iTrader: (3)

i used to use 89, but now i have to use 93. i have wondered though, is there a difference between shell 93 octane, and a gas station like lowest price, 7eleven, or wawa

Nightshifter

I tried Sunoco 100 Octane Race Gas @ 5.15 a Gallon ! Wow!
My car went blitzkrieg! 0 - 60 4 seconds

You can always Mix 89 & 93 (50:50) to keep it @ the 91 recommendation... might save you some $$$ year after year