When drivers buy a new car or consider making changes to their car maintenance, one of the most common questions is, “Does it really matter what kind of gas I get?” Gas stations tend to have at least several different gas options, but it’s not exactly clear what the difference is – or what your car actually needs, outside of manufacture recommendations, which aren’t always helpful. To help out, we’re going to break down the differences between the three most popular types of gas and which is actually recommended. Let’s start with what regular gas really is.
Regular Gas
Regular gas refers to a standard octane rating. This rating shows fuel stability, or how easy it is for the fuel to combust in the car’s engine. It’s an average of two very specific, scientific ratings that run the fuel through tests to determine its overall octane rating. The higher the octane number, the more stable the fuel is – or the more difficult it is to combust.
Regular gas almost always has an octane rating of 87, and since this is the standard, it’s what most consumer-oriented car engines are designed for. Inside the engine, fuel is mixed with air and then compressed inside piston cylinders before being ignited with a spark. Higher octane numbers prevent the fuel from being ignited before the proper time. Premature ignition is very problematic for engines, because fuel combustion happens so quickly, and engines are carefully tuned to deal with a certain combustion rhythm. When fuel is ignited too early, it’s called engine knocking (creating an easily identifiable noise) and can create a variety of problems, including engine damage.
Again, your vehicle manual should include information about which octane rating is best for your engine, or you can always look up your car model online and see if there is further information available.
Regular-plus Gas
So, what about gas that’s labeled “regular plus” or “plus”? This is gas that has a slightly higher-octane rating than regular gas. Usually, gas with a rating of 89 is given the “plus” label. That means that it’s more difficult to ignite.
Why would a car engine want gas that’s more difficult to ignite? It’s all about performance. Some engines are designed to compress the fuel-air mixture a little more than usual, so that when ignited, it provides a bigger kick for the engine – but the fuel will have to be even more stable for this to work. That’s when a higher-octane rating is necessary. Because this type of gasoline requires more effort in production, the price is also higher.
Premium Gas
Now, it probably won’t come as a surprise that premium gas has the highest-octane rating of all – and the highest prices. Premium gas typically has an octane rating around 92 or 93. This gas is made for very specific types of engines that are designed to push combustion as far as a consumer-friendly car can. You usually only find these supercharged engines on sports cars or luxury models intended for high performance. These models don’t necessarily require high-octane fuel, but they can perform better with it. Using this type of gas in a standard vehicle is not somehow better, despite the name. In fact, it can cause serious damage to an engine made for regular fuel.
There are a lot of myths about premium fuel out there, including the belief that it provides better gas mileage or that it has extra additives to protect the engine. None of these are true. It’s all about the octane rating.
While regular, plus, and premium are common terms used for different octane ratings, this can vary from location to location or between companies. Labels such as “super” and “super premium” also refer to octane rating. So if a gas station uses other terms, you can always look them up to check their octane numbers and decide which is right for your vehicle. For more information, contact Valley Automall at 702-570-2257 today!