[SteveinArizona]

Recently I have read some car reviews where they put 93 premium fuel into the car and then produced results. I live in the western part of the country where we can't get 93 octane gasoline--only 91. Considering how many of us can't get 93, why the heck does a magazine test using gasoline not available to a huge portion of the country?

[smrtypants44]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

Recently I have read some car reviews where they put 93 premium fuel into the car and then produced results. I live in the western part of the country where we can't get 93 octane gasoline--only 91. Considering how many of us can't get 93, why the heck does a magazine test using gasoline not available to a huge portion of the country?

Because the availability is normally 91 or 93 not both. So if the test drive happens in a part of the country where 93 is available they probably don't have access to 91.

I'm sure the carmakers make sure the tests happen in 93 areas to maximize the reviews on the higher octane for better performance.

[Flacht3]

Not directly an answer to your question, but in our 91 OCT states (California in my case) you can always load up on some 100 OCT and top off your 91 with a mix to get closer to 93 and keep an extra gas-can of 100 OCT to manage fill-ups.

If you're looking for an occasional performance boost or only drive moderate mileage, it's not the most outrageous idea and I know quite a few folks here in CA that do it.

[Red Bread]

Also unrelated, but our N54 135i ran great on CA 91 octane and promptly puked numerous HPFP's when we moved to 93 octane TX. I actually blame it more on unavoidable 10% Ethanol here, but still.

[Never_Enough]

Toss some BOOSTane in

[RABAUKE]

We have 94 Octane at some stations which is what I use when I can, other than that the normal high octane is 91. I don't really notice any difference to be honest, I stick with the 94 because the manufacture recommends 93 if that makes any sense at all.

[aaaaah]

We will either have 93 only or 91 and 93 here at the pumps. 93 is only 5c more than the 91 at the pump too.

Most of the rest of the developed world, 93 is the minimum for their premium.

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by aaaaah

We will either have 93 only or 91 and 93 here at the pumps. 93 is only 5c more than the 91 at the pump too.

Most of the rest of the developed world, 93 is the minimum for their premium.

Do you enjoy being wrong? Find me a country outside of Western Europe that has 93 or higher. Pretty well all of Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, the Western US, and Australia have 91 or lower, sometimes wildly lower. So let's be generous and say 20% of the world gets 93 or higher. Thats only "most of the world" to the Art of the Deal set.

[smrtypants44]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

Do you enjoy being wrong? Find me a country outside of Western Europe that has 93 or higher. Pretty well all of Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, the Western US, and Australia have 91 or lower, sometimes wildly lower. So let's be generous and say 20% of the world gets 93 or higher. Thats only "most of the world" to the Art of the Deal set.

Also, euro octane rating is a different measurement than us.
US 91 octane = Euro 95 octane

http://www.pencilgeek.org/2009/05/oc...nversions.html

[KingOfJericho]

Wow, look at Mr.Smartypant- oh.

[Fender150]

I dont know about “most” of the country but ive
Lived in MI and PA and there is almost always
91 and 93, heck there are also stations carrying
Race gas here and there

[Soterios]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

Recently I have read some car reviews where they put 93 premium fuel into the car and then produced results. I live in the western part of the country where we can't get 93 octane gasoline--only 91. Considering how many of us can't get 93, why the heck does a magazine test using gasoline not available to a huge portion of the country?

For the same reason they dyno vehicles in ideal conditions. They want the car to appear as awesome as possible. Haha

[David70]

If the car manufacturers recommend Premium fuel they buy Premium fuel locally (93 or 91) and for a large part of the U.S. this is 93 octane. Running all tests on both locally purchased 93 and some mix for 91 octane would really be a waste of time and money, and this also would be off because of the change in variables between when the tests were made, like weather.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by David70

If the car manufacturers recommend Premium fuel they buy Premium fuel locally (93 or 91) and for a large part of the U.S. this is 93 octane. Running all tests on both locally purchased 93 and some mix for 91 octane would really be a waste of time and money, and this also would be off because of the change in variables between when the tests were made, like weather.

True but testing with the 91 gas would make it a meaningful review for the whole country; testing with 93 gas does not do that.

[Soterios]

Now I'm super curious as to what the power/torque curves look like on 91 vs 93 octane. I bet it's not that crazy. Factory maps are pretty conservative to begin with, so I doubt the engine is going to work itself that much harder to 93. Probably just take the safety net and let it be.

[David70]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

True but testing with the 91 gas would make it a meaningful review for the whole country; testing with 93 gas does not do that.

Not following why the 93 octane test for the 91 octane state is any less meaningful than the 91 octane test in the 93 octane state. I live in a 93 octane test and if they test with 91 it will show some small amount less power than I will actually get, opposite will show some small amount more power than you will actually get.

Anytime you test with something other than what is normally used the test will be off some amount regardless of what you do. Also believe the larger part of the population lives in states where Premium is 93 and mostly lower octane is in the West.

[aaaaah]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

Do you enjoy being wrong? Find me a country outside of Western Europe that has 93 or higher. Pretty well all of Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, the Western US, and Australia have 91 or lower, sometimes wildly lower. So let's be generous and say 20% of the world gets 93 or higher. Thats only "most of the world" to the Art of the Deal set.

I did say developed world. Obviously all of the below is converted to US standards as a sample.

Australia the is 89/91/94 for the three tiers.
Japan is 89/93
Chile is 89/91/93
Finland is 91/94
Germany is 91/94
Italy is 91/95
UK is 91/94

But sure. You do you.

[brad850csi]

I understood the 91/95/98 available in AU and NZ is more like 86/90/93?

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

True but testing with the 91 gas would make it a meaningful review for the whole country; testing with 93 gas does not do that.

lol what? Why would I care how your crappy 91 octane performs when us on the east side use the much better 93?

Btw I think more states have 93 available than 91...

[Emilime75]

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

Because the availability is normally 91 or 93 not both.

Really? Gas stations only offer one grade of fuel? Where do you live?

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by Emilime75

Really? Gas stations only offer one grade of fuel? Where do you live?

They offer 87, 89 and either 91 or 93. Most states in the west have only 91, while most of the Midwest and east have 93.

The bigger concern for me is actually finding Ethanol free gas, currently impossible in DFW. I'd rather have 91 without the corn than 93 with corn.

[Tyresian]

Less and less states have 93. Wisconsin almost doesn't have it at all except for a few race stations and maybe in Milwaukee. Most Shells used to have it but they dropped 93 for 91 at all Wisconsin Shells in 2014 or 2015.