Is 89 octane really OK? Get real list.

["R. Shayne Pavlic'" <bcpi@arias.net>]

READ THIS.


The list is great, but how off can some of the posts get???



There are a few things that I question in every owners manual.  Octane
rating of the fuel you use is not one of them.  

I have read list owners give all the reason to and not to use it.  Well, it
has been a proven fact that a car will last longer and run better overtime
with the highest octane available.  Olders cars also need more octane. 
Also, most gas companies add more cleaning agents to higher octane fuel,
thus a cleaner fuel system over time.  

If I were an Audi engineer I would be insulted to think that according to
some posts, conversions may have been screwed up from the "German" octane
translations to to the "American" conversions.  Come on people, this is a
Scientific/Math formula.  Octane conversions don't get screwed up. 
Especially not by a German engineer.  These guys are not only scientist, but
most of the them are fluent in several languages, English being one of them.
 Becides, I bet that the books are written by Americans.

There also was a post about weening a car off of the high octane, come on it
is not a dog.  You don't ween a car off of octane.

I guarantee one thing, you may not notice poor results on the first several
tanks of low octane fuel, but if you have the same car both taken care of
except one was run on low octane fuel and the other not,at 100k miles, the
one that ran the premium juice will run much better.  


I have 7 vehicles, 2 of which have 50K, the other of which have 100k-237k. 
Not all require high octane fuel, but get it anyway.  I have never had any
problems with any automotive systems that involve gas or combustion.  In
fact my Mercedes (hey I have to park the Audis once in a while) with with
237k miles was driven over 1300 miles in about 12 hours.  That is right I
averaged over 108 MPH,  I had one other passenger and the AC on full, and
not one problem.  Then I did the same thing comming the 1300+ miles home
again.  That just goes to show that doing proper maintenance, which includes
using the right fuel can lead to an incredibly long life.

After all, even though you may not do any immediate damage to your car would
you run straight water in you cooling system or put 4 different size tires
on it just becuase it they were cheep?


Unless an alternative solution has been proven better (like flatbedding a Q
versus towing) then listed in the owners manual, DO WHAT IT SAYS.  Afterall,
the stuff is printed in there to be read and followed.



Shayne.


BTW:  If I am not mistaken, one of my 3 Q's manuals says 89 (or 87?) octane
can be used in on emergency basis only and should not be used for prolonged
time periods.