So I just noticed that I'm supposed to put premium in the 09 sv. Is there a problem if I put in regular?

 

your car will blow up

 

That sounds familiar

 

ask yourself how cheap you really are?

 

not to mention your MPG will decrease with regular...and pinging will likely occur

 

my 06 and 09 suffer from decreased power and increase fuel consumption with 87, run at least 89 mid grade if you don't want to use premium, the mid grade should not burn up so fast between fillups

 

What STARR posted is my advice also.

As long as the octane is within easy adjustment range of the fuel system, MPG will not change with octane changes. I alwys run premium the first 18 months of ownership of my Maximas, then switch to 89 (midgrade). Neither the performance nor MPG have changed with this move to 89 in any of the last six generations.

But the few times I used 87 (cheap dealer throws regular into every vehicle) in my 7th gen Maxima, I had hesitation and less spirited performance. 87 octane was asking the fuel system to make a larger adjustment than it could do EFFICIENTLY.

89 octane works exceptionally well in this car, because it is close to the 91 Nissan recommends, and which the system is expecting. Very little fuel system adjustment is needed.

87 is simply lower than we should be using in this car. If we insist on 87, I can recommend several Fords and Chevvies that run beautifully on 87.


EDIT - And I am not dropping to 89 to save money, which would only be 20 cents per gallon between midgrade and premium where I live (less than that in many areas of the country). I drop because auto experts have always said that using a higher octane than what is needed for your car to operate EFFICIENTLY is simply a waste.

 

well for one you will lose pull of the car... It will feel like its struggling to pull. Second your MPG will go down dramatically so the amount you'll be saving by not putting in premium will disappear with more frequent stops at the gas station. I once let my sister use my car cause she just sold hers to go to work and forgot to tell her what gas to put... well as you guessed by now she put a full tank of 87... man it felt like i was towing a tractor trailer behind me lol

 

I've been pumping ethanal free premium and it last bout 20 miles longer than 10% premium.

 

If you can't afford premium, you really shouldn't be driving a 7th gen.

 

im bout to get direct ethical injection.

 

Made up prices

Regular 3.73 x 18 gallons = 67.14
Premium 4.10 x 18 gallons = 73.80

Is it really that hard to use premium ?

 

these threads always get me. how do you buy a car without knowing what kind of fuel it takes first? #doresearch

 

It's really not much a difference really. The size of the gas tank and the not-so-best mpg are the real killers here.

Buy a Mazda 3 with Sky Active technology if you were concerned about gas. Gotta to play my 7th gen maxima brethren.

 

I meant to say "pay to play". My b.

Not so meaningful with the error. Lol.

 

Threads like this really make me want to

 

yo i was wonderin if i really gotta use oil in my engine. that ****s costing me like 25 bucks ever couple months. im so over it ugh.

 

The sign on the gas cover reads "For optimum Performance use Premium". Regular will work, it may take a few tank fulls to get the computer re-optimized. I would not switch back and forth on each fill up. You cannot hurt the car as it must work with regular gas - re Click and Clack who never recommend premium. The easiest is to try it for a few months to see if the performance agrees with you're driving. It been theory that you get better mileage with Premium, but no hard facts. Most likely the decreased performance forces you to drive more efficiently, while the neat sounding roar of stomping on it with premium is a lot more fun and who cares about the minuscule amount of extra gas and cost it takes. Try it both ways and give us a report of what happened.

 

I run 99 with premium nitrous..yeahhhh boy!!!

 

Most modern cars are set up to run on 2 or 3 grades, 87 being the lowest and premium 91/93 being the highest

I have informed a few people who are running regular strictly because of price, no common sense or even opening the owners manual, and not even googling the topic, but in the end after a few tanks of midgrade or premium with a noticeable improvement in performance and gas mileage they are believers

If your gonna be cheap be smart about it, filling up once every other day or once a week is bit different on the wallet but people can keep convincing themselves regular is better.

 

regular gas and cheap oil changes is all most do, look at used cars, they look and sound horrible

 

I would assume that stepping up in gasoline octane with this Maxima would have the same effect it does with most vehicles, in that going from 87 to 89 increases the HP by around 2%, and going from 89 to 91 increases the HP another 2%.

This increase in HP is not important to most folks, and has little effect on everyday driving. But it definitely does become important if we are going to make elapsed time runs, or otherwise test the limits of this car.

I still feel that folks who insist on running regular (87) in this car probably bought the wrong car.

 

isnt it more the opposite? using that gas just retards our timing which makes the HP less. youre not getting more from using premium, youre just getting the vehicle you bought, when you use it

 

I'm no technician. I simply read the text from the manufacturers when they release new vehicles, and they sometimes include the HP rating for each of the three normal grades of gas, and when they do, it always shows the highest octane getting the most HP. I am not familiar with the method they use to make this determination.

But that does fit in with the blatherings of auto technicians I have been reading for over 60 years - higher octane gives more spirited performance (more HP), but does not change the MPG.

 

youre missing my point.

 

with higher hp cars the owner is just feeding/filling it up more, the engine is designed to make 290hp, feed it less octane and the car will use more trying to achieve that hp, its the same logic with people, eat good food you eat less, eat fast food your still hungry looking for more to eat for energy you need.

 

I have a '04 Max, and a '12 Kawasaki Concours 14. Both say to use Premium, but I use Reg in both, and it does NOTHING to my performance or mileage.

 

Oh my gosh, regardless if I eat good food or fast food, I'll be still hungry looking for more. Hope my car don't do that.

 

I have a 99 max and about to buy a 12 max. I say just go with the premium. If you dont use premium, you could always try one of those octane boosters, dont know how good they are though.

 

Nissan recommends 91 Octane but gas station sell 87, 89 and 93. I go with 89 but I know of several people that go with 87 for years W/O problems. You need to experiment and decide what works for you. I would be very surprised iof you notice a difference.

 

Used the mid grade in all my Maxima's (6) and have decent mileage, this 2011 i got i used midgrade on my recent trip to the Smoky Mountains and it run close to 24 in the hills and curves and flat land run close to 27mpg.

 

I have an '01 Max and found no noticeable difference between regular and premium as far as MPG's, however it did seem a bit peppier with premium, however not enough to justify paying 20% more per fill up given I'm no racer and the cars response is more than adequate for my driving style. I've heard some say the lower octane will cause components to fail prematurely (O2 sensors, cats, whatever), yet I've had mine for 11 years and none of these components has failed, so either I'm lucky or these are old wives tales.

 

We have yet another example that, although octane is not tied to MPG, it IS ABSOLUTELY tied to POWER.

From Hyundai Motor Corp's release statement of their new Equus:

(QUOTE) - 'Under the hood of both models is a 5.0 liter V8 engine rated at 429 HP when using premium fuel, or 421 HP with regular gasoline. The torque rating is 376 pound-feet with premium, or 365 with regular.'

What this tells me:

If you want the full capability of your vehicle, premium (91 or higher octane) is needed. If your are simply using your car to get from one place to another, regular (87 octane) will get you there in MOST 7th gen Maximas, but not ALL. We have had several 7th gen owners here who found their Maxima sputtered and coughed with regular, and others who found they did not have as much power in acceleration or climbing steep hills when using regular.

I have been using premium the first 18 months, then midgrade (89 octane) from then on in my last three generations of Maximas with great success. Unlike when switching to regular (87 octane) fuel, the power dropoff with midgrade (89 octane) is not noticable to me, even in aggressive driving. For my style of driving, both premium and midgrade are perfect. Regular fuel? Not satisfactory for me.

 

I just put 91premium and dont worry about it. Love this car

 

How many times are we gonna make Lightonthehill explain this? Damn. Lol

 

It should be a sticky in a bold bright color for this in the 4th through 7th gen forums: None run optimally on 87, 89 most run great, 91/93 all run top notch.

 

As long as you run 89 or higher, you'll be fine.

 

Close thread?

 

 

I checked back, and found only several hundred times in only a few hundred fuel threads where I have attempted to explain this. I am very patient, so will not mind explaining it a few hundred more times. But it is nice when we can hold the starting of new fuel threads to only one or two an hour.

I know of no area concerning automotive topics where there are more opinions, questions, misunderstandings and urban myths than with fuel. We even have posters here who think MPG can be determined with one tankful.

Worse, we have those here who feel there is a connection between how far they can go on a tank and fuel efficiency. Fuel efficiency (MPG) is measured by miles per gallon, NOT miles per tankful.

Of course, in counting the fuel threads, I did not include the hundreds of times I tried to explain it on the 6th gen board. Or the 5th gen board. Or . . . but you get my drift.

I especially liked the 1st generation, because the only Maxima fuel question directed my way in the early 1980s was 'Gas or Diesel?' Yes, a diesel option was available with the 1st gen Maxima.