“I put the middle grade octane in my car because I can’t afford the premium and I don’t want to put cheap gas in my car.”

Sound familiar?  I think 95% of people that I talk to have the same thought process regarding what kind of gas to use.  Would you like to know what kind of gas you should really be putting in your car?  Ask M.O.M. (Manufactures’ Owners Manual / more about MOM later) what grade octane to use.

Basically, each engine is designed to burn a certain octane grade of fuel (i.e. 87 / 89 / 91-93) which is determined by the car’s engineers.  It is important to use the octane MOM specifies in order to obtain maximum fuel efficiency, performance, and engine life.

You may ask, “Why do they label each octane grade as Premium, Super, Regular, etc?”  The answer is plain and simple - marketing.  It doesn’t hurt your engine to use the wrong octane; it simply will not achieve maximum performance.  Because people feel better by putting Super gas in their car and because higher prices typically mean better quality, gas companies give us consumers a moral dilemma which asks us how well we want to take care of our car.  I’m surprised they haven’t labeled the grades as “Crap”, “Alright”, and “Super Premium anything else is BAD” Octane.

My advice is to ask MOM what grade octane to use in your car and put that grade in your car.  It will simplify your decision making at the pump so that you can tackle the next moral dilemma: do I or don’t I wash my car.