New here: What gas should I use?
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93 or 95....whatever premium is where you are. Treat the car right with good gas!
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Yes but very little. I think a few extra ponies but nothing really noticeable.
Apparently, there's about a 10 HP difference between 87 and 93. I have noticed a little better gas mileage with as well, but only like a 3-4% difference at best.
Honestly the difference in cost for me using 93 octane vs 87 octane is only about 2 or 3 bucks at the most. 93 gets better MPG and the car runs better...so the extra 2 or 3 dollars at the most per fillup is worth it 100% to me for the health of my car.
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Please don't equate octane with gas quality. It is a huge misconception. I would rather put a quality brand of 87 in my car before I put "joes discount peewater" 93 in my car.
Equating octane with gas quality is like saying a lemon is better than an orange in quality because it contains more citrus.
This car is designed to run 87 to 93 gas. The factory "tune" for lack of a better word will note the octane in the gas and adjust the timing to retard the ignition to prevent pre-ignition in the car. This results in a loss of net 9 HP and slightly worse fuel economy. That's it, period. And during my daily drive to the office, I can afford to lose the 9 HP and possibly 1 to 2 MPG. And when I am interested in more spirited driving, or on a road trip then I can put in a tank of 93 and regain the 9 ponies. That's why I like the factory tune. It fits in the "practical" sports car motif.
In my city, the price difference between 87 and 93 is not insignificant. It is 60 cents a gallon which equates to 6 bucks a tank which equates to over $300 a year for an extra 9 HP.
If you are interested in putting "quality" gas in your car, then look at "top teir" gas. That is a better indicator of gasoline quality than octane. (Home | Top Tier Gas)
I almost never put in "non-top tier" gas in my tank, and it's at most .02 a gallon more than Jerry's Pisswater Discount Gas. And again, I'd put Mobil 87 in my car before I put in Jerry's Pisswater 93.
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I've switched back and forth many times and have not noticed any significant difference, let alone enough to justify the extra 6 bucks per fillup. At that rate it's almost more economical to get octane booster.
But your preference is your preference.
Will your care perform better at 93? Absolutely. Will running 87 damage your car with stock tune? Absolutely NOT. Is Octane an indicator on how quality the gasoline is? NOPE.
Put in your car, what you want. But my hackles get raised when people conflate Octane with Gas Quality. And even worse when they imply that someone is abusing their car by putting in a quality 87. These toe heads are usually the same ones who abuse their car with their driving habits, and then have the nerve to tell someone who is running 87 that they are misusing their car....laughable.
I hope that my response earlier wasn't perceived this way when I used the word "health" because I for one was definitely not meaning it in the sense of 87 causing damage.
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Ford says you can run 87 octane but the car makes a bit more maximum power running 93 octane. My seat-of-the-pants experience is that in cooler weather you cannot tell the difference between 87 octane versus a higher grade. But in hot weather the car runs much better on premium. With regular you can really feel it pulling back on the power under boost in hot weather. I live in Dallas and run regular from October through May and premium from June until the weather cools off in September.
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I encourage you to be testing this all yourself, and come up with an answer.
We'll wait. *que elevator music*
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Good gas is very important in this car, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend $.70 more a gallon on premium. More important than the octane is getting "good" gas, meaning go to a top notch gas station that seems to have a lot of traffic. You don't want gas that has been sitting for a long time accumulating pollutants and water. Also, don't fill up from a gas station if you see the gas truck there. When they fill those tanks it stirs everything up and any dirt or anything that usually settles at the bottom gets mixed up and ends up in your tank, and is not good for the fuel system.
I think it's safe to say most people put premium in their STs, I personally won't run anything but 93, but it's not going to hurt your engine to use 87. Like was said earlier though, you get a bit more power and a bit better gas mileage from premium, so the choice is yours.
I think it's safe to say most people put premium in their STs, I personally won't run anything but 93, but it's not going to hurt your engine to use 87. Like was said earlier though, you get a bit more power and a bit better gas mileage from premium, so the choice is yours.
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I fully agree with most of your points, and I was by no means arguing anything you said. Just sharing a personal experience. My power increases could just as easily have been related to engine break-in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I was not calling out anyone in particular.
Like others have said on this thread. Octane is Octane, and Quality is Quality. When someone implies that 93 is somehow "better for your car" it implies that high octane is better quality fuel, and that's simply false.
Octane is simply an additive which prevents knocking of an engine at high compression ratios which were required in high performance cars to prevent knocking which is nothing more than compression ignition. High compression engines are more susceptible to compression ignition and lots of it is really bad, like blow up your engine bad...So in the past, you had to run high octane fuel to avoid engine damage..
Over the years, high octane fuels have been associated with high performance automobiles, and the myth has been generated through clever marketing that high octane fuel or "premium" fuel is somehow "better" than lower octane fuel.
This is marketing BS and has led to literally millions of dollars to be thrown into the oil companies pockets through ignorance of the gas buyer.
On to the Focus ST, with it's Stock Tune, it DOES perform it's best with a higher octane fuel. Our little turbo charged pocket rockets definitely can be classified as having a "high compression" engine.
So why is it OK to run 87? Because our car is tuned to sense 87 and retard it's timing. Something that couldn't be done with just a timing chain. The retardation of the spark prevents the possibility of compression ignition and allows the ST to perform safely with lower octane fuel. This retardation causes the car to lose a bit of power since the spark is not occurring at the optimum piston location for the most power. Also, because of this, the car is not getting the most energy it can from each compression stroke which leads to slightly lower gas mileage.
The net result is a 4% reduction in maximum power, and a theoretical proportional reduction in MPG. So in cases where you might get 30 mpg, you would only get 28.9. In cases where you are getting 25 mpg, you get 24.1.
There has been a fairly entertaining debate smoldering here for some time, and it's pretty evident where I stand on it.
I say, if you want the extra ponies and fuel efficiency go for it. But just don't tell someone that you are doing so for the "health" of your car, and don't characterize those who don't follow your lead as someone who is somehow abusing or potentially causing damage. That's all I ask.
In regards to the last sentence, I already clarified my meaning, so you don't have to "ask" anything. You essentially quoted two people who didn't say what you're saying you don't want people to say. Go ahead and calm yourself down a little.
As said before by just about everyone except for the ONE person who referenced 93 as good gas (which isn't technically accurate) put whatever gas you want in your car (87-93), just get it from a good station. /thread
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My ***** only drinks Shell VPower
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