Sunday, April 08, 2012

Gas prices from San Diego to Las Vegas

In Vegas it's $3.89 for the 87 octane,  which is all I buy for my Veloster.
In Primm Nevada, about 15 miles from Vegas it's $4.35
In San Diego its $4.29

There is no reason to pay for 89 or 91 unless you get someone to prove to you that the cheapest gas you can buy will damage your engine. If you have a Ferrari, congrats, and pay for the most expensive gas you can get someone to sell you. If you have a 13.5 to 1 compression racing hemi, yup, you'll need some 110 octane. For all the normal cars sold by the big 5 car makers, GM, Ford, VW, Toyota, Honda, you won't need to waste the money on 91 octane. If you know otherwise, feel free to inform me and the other readers, we would like to know how 87 will damage your engine, and 91 won't.

It turns out that a lot of people are impressed with the horsepower measurements their car can achieve on high octane... hell, my 426 runs strictly on 100 octane low lead avgas, and the hp numbers are cool as hell, but new cars with computers will automatically adjust the timing to keep it from pinging when you use less than the highest octane sold at gas pumps. You don't get the same hp, because the timing is backed off from the most performance settings level, but who needs an extra 20 hp at the grocery store parking lot? When you are driving on the freeway at near the speedlimit? You only need the highest performance abilities from your engine when racing, so stop wasting money on 91 octane. It's your income, waste it anyway you want. 

1 comment:

  1. Won't damage a modern engine as the electronics will retard the timing to avoid pre-ignition (knocking), HOWEVER, the resulting reduced performance may reduce your gas milage to the point where your savings evaporate. End result MIGHT be higher cost for reduced performance. Your choice.

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