pdub34

As I stated before if your complaining about $2-$5 every fill up, buy a 4 cylinder car use your 87 octane fuel.

I would assume if you guys bought a GTR you wouldn't put premium gas in it either?!! Lol

Jig9798

e85

bigdnno98

^^haha. This!

pdub34

Lmfao e85

trailer54

I only use 91!

Jig9798

I'm serious about e85 in a gtr. Stuff is 'go juice' in a properly (minimally) modified gtr.

t84a

Ok, take this for what its worth. My buddy heads up the service department at my Nissan dealer and has been in the business all his life. He told me that the only reason 91 is recommended is because Nissan advertises 300 HP and to get that, you need to run at least 91. That's pretty much it.

Maximam

Nissan does not advertise 300hp, but 290hp.

To commingle advertising with the correct fuel to use with a particular engine is odd but I understand his point. My question is why would anyone design and tune an engine to run on 91 then advertise how it runs on a lower octane? Of Course Nissan advertises the horsepower output with the correct fuel.

Boslax6123

Let's remember that Nissans recommendation is for 'optimal performance'. It's obvious horsepower is one of those factors that contribute to that statement.

t84a

There is no proof (actually there have been several articles refuting) that higher octane = higher mileage. I really don't see where this thread is going other than that octane choice is basically personal preference. Our cars will run minimally better and will not get better gas mileage if you use 91 over 87. Do a search.

lightonthehill

Actually, my 'simpler language' is not 'opinion', but is based on 19 years of carefully measuring my MPG in Maximas using both midgrade and premium fuel. At no time with any of my Maximas of every generation did I get improved fuel efficiency by using premium instead of midgrade.

And Nissan recommends premium because premium may make a very tiny difference in elapsed time at the track when the motor mags test the new Maximas (very important to Nissan), but I have never been able to detect the difference in paying close attention while driving. Not that it matters in most cases, because few here compete at the track with their Maximas.

Also, when we pay the difference between midgrade and premium these days (usually 30 to 56 cents around where I live), even if premium were to miraculously improve MPG by a whole mile per gallon (which it will not), that would not come anywhere near offsetting the difference in cost.

As to the Caddy turbo implosion, premium fuel was REQUIRED, but not used. Nissan backed off the early 'required' monition on the 7th gen, and says 'recommended.'

I have driven several Maximas over 200K miles with not a whisper of engine problems, then sold them locally and seen them cruising around town years later. Midgrade fuel will never harm these Maxima engines. Folks even run these Maximas with regular 87 octane, although I would never do that.

Racerbox77

The 7th gen has 10.6:1 compression. The reason regular fuel "works" is because of the computer adjusting timing and other functions so the engine doesn't detonate.

If you never beat on, or floor your car then thanks to technology you don't have to spend the extra 50 cents per gallon.

But if you have a lead foot and truly enjoy driving anything with a little power, treat your engine with care and spend the extra pennies at the pump.

KGMtech

Nissan is, like all other OEM's, focused on having the highest possible CAFE ratings. All OEM's submit their cars for testing using the fuels and engine oils that maximize (pun intended) the fuel economy.

Hence the Nissan Ester oils = super slippery with the Diamond Like Coatings (DLC) on key engine friction surfaces. For the octane rating, this is a function of engine design and control.

The higher the octane, the more resistant the fuel to pre-ignition from hot spots in the combustion chamber. The ignition from the spark plug is orders of magnitude hotter than any 'hot spot' to allow complete burn of all air fuel mix. Compression ratio is key to power, all things being equal, the best operation of an engine is achieved with octane sufficient to prevent pre-ignition of mix, waiting for the crank to bring the piston to the optimum height in the stroke to release as much power from the air fuel mix. Knock sensors prevent damage to the engine by retarding (firing sooner) the timing (firing of spark plug), but you lose efficiency.

I am not an engine designer, but I would suspect that these people would hedge the risk of engine knock by telling the owners to use the highest generally available octane for the engine, but not tell them that there is a safety factor within the design of the engine. Tell the owners 91 but design the engine to work well with 89 - 94 octane, below 89 and the knock sensor acts to prevent damage. Why? well alot of fuel stations share hoses for their gas pumps. Mrs Soccer Mom in front of you fills her Sentra with 87 and drives off, you pull up in your Maxima and select 91 octane, but you only want 3 gallons because you are doing 1/4 mile runs and the lowest weight car will be slightly quicker than a full tank...right? but that fuel hose has a slug of 87 octane inside from that last customer...so your 3 gallons now has some dilution of the premium you selected. See what I'm suggesting? The designers at Nissan err on the side of caution, and as I mentioned in my earlier response to this thread, the fuel refiners will err on the side of caution (octane ratings at the pump are minimums!) so the two factors suggest that you should not have a problem with using 89 octane (mixed 50/50 from both tanks 87 and 91 in the gas pump) for an engine advertised and recommended for 91 octane.

Or you can rest easy, spend the extra $5 per fill and use the 91. Your milage may vary )

LSExplorer22

I can't say which one is better or not, but i can just tell you my experience thus far. I purchased my Maxima used and the MPG on our dashboard screen read 22.2 MPG. I think that the previous owner used only 87 gasoline. I know that our Maximas require 87 but recommended 91. I've driven the car now for 5 weeks and have only used at least 91 premium gasoline. In the 5 weeks i've put on 4600 miles already. It has been all highway driving. My MPG according to my dashboard screen now says 23.7. I don't know whether it is because of all my highway driving or the switch to premium gas, but my MPG has improved. I am going to use premium throughout the winter and then try 89 to see if i feel and/or see a difference in performance and/or MPG in the spring. I use all brands of gasoline as i feel they are all relatively the same.

Racerbox77

Ten and a half to one compression. Use good gas. End thread.

donncat1

Well gang, I'm on my 4th 3.5 in a row and ran 89 for the first 3. I now run 87, just turned 100,000 on my 2011 Max, lots of miles and no change I can decipher when I switched. 24MPG combined day in and day out. If I reset on a trip at 78 miles per hour it taps 28 mpg while on cruise control for 1000 miles. Bottom line, can't see a discernible difference on 87.

lightonthehill

I can't argue with results, although everyone knows the dash readout on MPG is not accurate. I'm sure you are doing exactly what you say. But I think you may be 'flying close to the sun.'

Not all 7th gen Maximas behave exactly the same. We have had many posters here on this board who put regular in their tank, either to just try it, or by accident, or because someone else was putting the fuel in for them, and some had trouble getting their car to run smoothly. Returning to a higher octane fuel cured the problem.

I remain with the opinion that Nissan has the fuel system on these 7th gen Maximas set up in a way that handles octanes between 89 and 93 with very little 'adjustment' on the part of the fuel system. But I'm sure this fuel system does attempt to make adjustments for 87 octane, but some of these 7th gens have trouble making that great an adjustment, while some seem to be able to do so.

I know I will always stick to octanes between 89 and 93.

WiSeGuY187

I am so sick of these threads.
You spend 40k on a brand new car and debate between the extra $5-$10 bucks extra to fill it up.
Stop being cheap and put the **** they recommend.

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

Agreed 100%.

I'm not sure that Nissan North America is so in bed with big oil that they require their more profitable formulation just keep their bed buddies happier(er).

Your octane rating has nothing to due with your fuel system. It's all about your compression and timing. The slower rate of combustion is required for a reason.

If your brand new car requires 0W20 are you gonna use 20W50 on accounta it's cheaper? ... hope not.

See where I'm goin with this?

lightonthehill

Actually, as several have mentioned in these admittedly endless and redundant threads on fuel, Nissan does NOT require premium fuel for the Maxima. This car runs perfectly efficiently on 89 octane. A few 7th gens seem to run fine on regular.

The primary reason Nissan recommends premium is not so much the compression ratio as it is the government testing and magazine reviews, and to discourage folks from trying to use regular, which is obviously not the best choice for this car.

Nissan wants the testing to show the absolute best the car can do, and although the difference between 89 and 91 octane is (despite urban rumors) not detectable from the driver's seat, electronic timing at the track will show a very tiny tad of increased power and a very tiny edge in elapsed time runs with premium.

Nissan understandably wants that edge in testing.

Like you, I do wish these new fuel threads would stop popping up every week or so. A search of old threads on fuel here would bring up more posts and data than anyone could ever read in a lifetime.

What makes this worse is that there are 1000 different opinions on this board about the subject of fuel, and very few posters are going to change their mind on fuel based on a message board.

LtLeary

I believe the dichotomy lies with the label on the fuel door on the 09. This label states "premium fuel only" whilst the verbiage in the manual specifies "recommended" but to only run regular in emergencies and then mixed half and half with a further sidebar to note that you do so at your peril as warranty may not apply (or words to that effect.) I seem to recall the label on the fuel door was changed in 2010 but, alas, I can not verify that.

koreanthunda

No the label on my 2011 sv says premium fuel recommended .

Racerbox77

My 2014 SV Sport.

13Maximasv

Forget the MPG , I want a list of people who will pay $40K for a Maxima, lol

Maximam

Hahaha!

LtLeary

So we have validation the label changed by 2011...so it may indeed have only been the 09 label that said required.

i8acobra

If you live someplace with ambient temps over 85 degrees in the summer, just have a tuner monitor your knock retard at full throttle on 87, 89 and 91. Then you'll know why 91 is recommended.

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

Yeah 09 was the only year of any Maxima since 1995 that they said "Prem. required", they caught that mistake and it was changed back to the "premium recommended for max performance" promptly in 10.

Richard66

Mistake or not, I've used only use 91 octane since day one with my 09 SV sport with great performance and milage and don't mind paying the extra 3 bucks for a tank of gas. Heck if I shifted to midgrade (89) I could save a whole buck and a half.

Maximam

Exactly!!!

jeffislouie

<sigh> It seems that these sort of arguments occur on every car forum in existence.

Will running regular instead of the recommended premium damage your car?
- probably not, but there is a chance you will get some knock and ping if you put a higher load on the vehicle while running regular, and your horsepower (and very probably your mpg) will be reduced.

Will using regular instead of premium affect my MPG?
- possibly. I've spoken with at least two people who ran their own tests over six months. For three months they used premium and three months they used regular (vehicle manufacturer "recommends" premium fuel for their respective cars). They saw a decrease of 3-5 mpg using regular instead of premium over their tests. On the other hand, I haven't seen any "studies" that bear this out OR contradict it.

Won't I save a ton of money buying regular over premium?
- Not a ton of money. Not by a long shot. The difference in price where I get gas is $.30. My average fill up is around 17 gallons per stop. That works out to around $5 per tank to put the fuel recommended by the manufacturer (which is what all the experts recommend people use - what the manufacturer designed, built, and tested their motors with the best results). The sticker on my car was right around $42k. $5 a tank to get the most out of my motor is not going to keep me from being a millionaire or retiring early (neither of which seems likely regardless of the $5 a tank). Now, I drive a lot (around 18k per year). So at my average MPG, I'm looking at around spending an extra $245 or so per year to use premium, or $798 over the life of my lease. If saving $245 a year makes a big difference in your life, it might be smarter to go grab a very efficient 4 cylinder car and actually save significant money in both operating and purchasing/leasing costs.

So does it come down to personal preference?
- sort of. In the end, you aren't likely to hurt you max if you use regular instead of premium. Be aware that because of retarded spark, you won't get full power, you may reduce your mpg, and you shouldn't put too much load on the engine. If you putter around in your Max all the time, then sure. If you drive it spirited, I wouldn't recommend regular.

In the end, my take is simple. You purchased a car that carries an MSRP in the $32k-$45k range. You might as well get the most out of that car. It seems to me to be a silly argument at the end of the day. If the car wasn't a Maxima but instead was a BMW or used Porsche that recommended premium, wouldn't you use premium? Put another way, if you wanted a car you could put the cheapest fluids in, why buy a semi-premium entry level luxury sport sedan with a powerful six cylinder engine over, say, a frugal four cylinder, nicely appointed vehicle? Altima's run great on regular. So do Accord's, Malibu's, Fusions, and Camry's.

Of course, it's YOUR car and YOUR money you are spending. Do whatever you want.

boney

unless i missed it noone mentioned top tier gas... the quality of the gas is more important than the price. i used to use cheap gas like gulf/cumberland farms and hess/speedway. since i now only use a top tier brand i've definitely noticed the car runs better.

The intention of the TOP TIER™ Detergent Gasoline standards is to create a winning situation for gasoline retailers, auto manufacturers and drivers. Currently, many gasoline retailers provide fuels with lower-quality additive packages that can build up deposits on fuel injectors and on intake valves. Others can build up deposits in combustion chambers and may lead to intake valve sticking. These lower levels of additives can have negative impacts on engine performance and vehicle responsiveness.

http://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/