Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 05-20-19 10:27 <=-

The sources I see indicate that unless you have an
older high-performance engine that you want to use in
a high-performance way, high octane is unnecessary.

Dunno about the sources, but empirically, we've found that for certain
cars that claim to require premium, there's some truth to the claim...

The sources I read (past tense) were some of the
mass-market car magazines and Consumer Reports.
I have no way of judging the accuracy of these,
but the claim is frequently made by sources that
sound reputable (I know that can easily be a pitfal).

I know that there was a time when premium was being touted for way more
cars than actually needed it... and it was somewhat a valid caution...
but there are cars whose performance really does suffer if the octane is
too low....

First my Shadow, and nore recently both Volvos, all with turbo-charged engines, have actually done better with the premium... and when we tried using regular gas, we got so much worse gas mileage that it was actually more expensive to be putting regular in the tank... and less expensive
to use premium... Richard's Volvo could use the mid-grade, but we can't
get that at BJ's, where the Premium is usually less than or equivalent
in price to the major brands' regular... The cars ran very badly on
regular as well...

When I was regularly paying for gas for a Volvo,
despite the manufacturer calling for high-test,
regular was fine (it was one of those distinctive
ugly moss-green station wagons that used to seem
ubiquitous, but that was probably because they
basically came in one color, and the models didn't
change much if at all from year to year.

What year was that Volvo..? the older ones didn't need the higher
octane, the difference seems to be that our engines are turbo-charged,
and do need at minimum the mid-grade.... :)

My favorite part of the Carolinas is the upland
inland area, such as Asheville. About the coast
I'm actually pretty unenthusiastic.

Asheville and Montreat are where my father spent a good bit of time when
he was growing up, as his mother's family had a summer home in
Montreat... That is a lovely area, not too hot in summer, and stays mild
in winter... I visited Daddy's aunts there one January... Daddy talked
about retiring there, but never did... :)

I found it a somewhat homelike place in a very
alien part of the country.

It is a very nice area.... :)

... Law of Cooking: Fancy gizmos don't work.

Generally so, but there are some that continue
to amuse for a long time.

True....

ttyl neb

... I finally found Mr. Right . . . his first name is Always!

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