How to Choose the Right Fuel for Your Car

By eHow Cars Editor

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A number of fuel grades, octanes and additives are now available at most gas stations. Which ones are right for you?

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Owner's Manuals

Step1

Check your owner's manual to find out what fuel is recommended. Regular unleaded's 87 octane rating is fine for most modern cars.

Step2

Save your money and stick with regular unleaded unless another grade is suggested.

Step3

Use high octane fuel in motorcycles, luxury and high performance vehicles, which usually require premium grades. Check your owners manual for specific recommendations.

Step4

High octane fuel is not only used for high performance cars, but also for cars with smaller engines that generate more horsepower through high compression. These engines require high octane fuel so that predetonation doesn't occur, which can permanently destroy the pistons.

Tips & Warnings

Basically, the higher the octane content (regular is only 87, as mentioned above), the higher the performance. Indeed, there are three "grades" of fuel for passenger cars, unleaded, super unleaded and premium unleaded.
Fill your tank completely at busy gas stations, where the fuel supply is frequntly replenished. This can prevent you from getting a bad tank of gas.
The type of fuel that is recommended for a car is calculated into the way the engine is designed and should therefore not be substituted for a gasoline with a lower grade.
Using a lower grade fuel than required will most likely void any warranty on the car.

Comments

MetroWestBoston said

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on 1/4/2008 I like the comment about NOT getting fuel while the station is refueling. It's true! I've seen the junk in some cars filler neck where it can take a second or two for the last bit to get past the restrictor for unleaded nozzles only. Here, Sunoco once universally used water separating fuel filters at the pumps that would about stop flowing when clogged and were routinely replaced. That should be mandatory at all fueling stations. It solved that problem.

Anonymous said

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on 12/9/2005 Get fuel as early in the morning as possible. Fuel expands, and the warmer it is, the thinner the liquid fuel is because the heat will create more vapors. By fueling when it is coolest during the day, you will get more liquid fuel than vapors.