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Premium or regular fuel?


tsarty17
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I have always used regular for my fusion. However I heard the volts use premium and was wondering if anyone got better mileage using premium?

Take a look at the owner manual and do what it recommends.

 

Some engines are made to provide more HP with premium (my Honda Odyssey was that way), but I don't think Ford ever does this. In the case of my Honda, it wasn't enough of an increase to justify the price anyway.

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Take a look at the owner manual and do what it recommends.

 

Some engines are made to provide more HP with premium (my Honda Odyssey was that way), but I don't think Ford ever does this. In the case of my Honda, it wasn't enough of an increase to justify the price anyway.

 

The Ford Mustang and the 2.0 Ecoboost (Fusion and others) both will give added power on premium  The 2.0 Ecoboost runs at 232HP on regular unleaded.

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The car will change ICE behavior based on the octane of the fuel, see this thread from this post on for more info. We earn fuel discounts from a local grocery store. Since we use so little gas we usually share with my parents to get close to the 20 gallon maximum with the discount. When we fill up the Energi & their Murano we buy 89 octane because the Murano is designed for 89 and will ping on 87. I don't notice any fuel economy change with 89 octane, but there is a difference in ICE behavior as documented in the posts linked above.

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One reason the Volt uses premium gas is because many Volt owners rarely use gas, and premium doesn't go stale as quickly (according to GM). It also uses premium because the engine is designed to use premium. Circular logic, yes, but that's the reason. Using premium in a car designed for regular (like the Ford Fusion Energi) doesn't accomplish anything aside from enabling one to waste his/her money.

 

http://gm-volt.com/2010/07/30/why-the-volt-requires-premium-gasoline/

 

http://www.cartalk.com/content/premium-vs-regular-0

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  • 1 month later...

When I drove to Colorado and back last week, Regular there was 85 or 86 octane.  My FFE did fine on 85 octane.  Engines with higher compression ratios need higher octane. The knocking in high performance engines using too low of an octane rating is because the fuel will spontaneously combust under the higher air pressure (ie. before the spark).  Higher octane can be compressed more before they auto-ignite.

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When I drove to Colorado and back last week, Regular there was 85 or 86 octane.  My FFE did fine on 85 octane.  Engines with higher compression ratios need higher octane. The knocking in high performance engines using too low of an octane rating is because the fuel will spontaneously combust under the higher air pressure (ie. before the spark).  Higher octane can be compressed more before they auto-ignite.

Does your owner manual state 87 or higher? I always fill up with the mid grade in New Mexico, which is 89, if I recall.

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