acruxksa

The original poster asked if they could use mid-grade gasoline. Provided they use a quality gasoline, the unequivocal answer is yes. Not yes but you risk damaging your engine every time you accellerate or yes but your engine will last longer with 91 octane or yes but 91 is better for your engine.

I'm just making it crystal clear without any of the couching and innuendo.

Provided both octane levels are top tier, the only difference between 87 and 91 besides cost is 91 offers slightly better engine performance.

*added* - I will also add that this slight increase/decrease in engine performance might have a correspondingly slight increase/decrease in mpg's depending on your driving conditions/style.

tadd

I will be taking delivery (i hope) of A4 Premium Plus by end of month !! Can't Wait

As to the fuel I currently use in our cars.

Been driving 2007 BMW 3 series for 10 years. Recommended fuel Premium. I would say in 10 years I have put premium fuel in about 10 times and I have 165,000 miles on the car. I have used the low grade fuel in almost all instances. Never have I had any problems with the engine, pinging etc. Car gets typical gas mileage as noted by manufacturer. Car still drives great and the throttle response is excellent.

My wife has been driving various Buick Regals (4 cylinder turbo's) for the last 7 years. Same situation. Never really use premium although it is recommended. Cars drive great, extremely responsive and no engine issues !!!

I suspect there are vehicles that would perform better with premium but i am guessing they are cars I can't afford

So far from an expert but in my cases putting premium fuel in would be a total waste of money.
I will reevaluate with the new car when it arrives.

airb320

Todays engine electronics take great care of varying conditions, fuel, altitude etc. No need to freak out about it...😉...
Remember the cars, pre-hight tech electronics, that were tuned for High Altitude locations, like Denver etc... those were the days...😀... nowadays all that is taken care off by mass sensors, knock sensors, fuel sensors etc.

the_duke

Both my 2004 A6 and my 2013 A8 produce noticeably less power and have poorer fuel economy with anything but premium. Throw direct injection into the mix and I would't be willing to save a little money on gas and then spend a lot of money later to have a carbon cleaning performed. But we American's are free to do as we wish.

BiscuitEmbryo

How will you do that? Do you drive for a period of time with premium and then switch for an equal amount of time on regular and compare? I guess the only hard number you could compare would be fuel economy, but even that would be influenced by outside forces (e.g. weather). Or do you just use regular all the time and see if you have any issues after x number of miles?

yvantheterrible

Those who write that "Yes" you can use 87 and "No" it won't hurt your engine, what do you use? No one seems to be actually using 87 with their A4. Some have said that they have used 87 with other manufacturer etc., I may have missed reading someone, but who actually uses 87 all the time in their A4 B9?

tadd

Since I have never had an issue with 87 octane in previous vehicles will probably start with that
Use it for a month or two; check gas mileage; subjectively evaluate performance
Then do the same thing with premium fuel
Not real scientific but if I can't tell the difference why Not save 40 to 50 cents a gallon on probably 500 gallons a year or more
For now just waiting for the new baby to arrive

farmerjones

I can't even buy fuel above 89 octane locally. I literally have to drive 20 miles out of my way to find higher octane blends. That said, almost all cars here are running 87 or 89 with ethanol exclusively. As you can imagine, all of the cars run just fine. A slight degradation in power and fuel economy is possible, but probably not noticeable in the real world for the average driver. Those people that say they can tell the difference in performance based off of what station they fill up at with a certain octane.....I'm highly skeptical of you. I'm a pretty big gear head, and the last 5 cars have had turbos (and some very high-performance) and I never could tell one ounce of power difference when running 87 or 93 and never any noticeable change in fuel economy. A million factors might dictate this, but it's safe to say the "average driver" would be hard pressed to tell the difference. Some motors are clearly more sensitive to this, but I don't think that VWs run of the mill 2.0T cares two hoots whats in it.

kurtatx

it's easy to tell the difference because the efficiency declines when you feed your car lower octane fuel.

farmerjones

You say it's easy but over tens of thousands of miles I can tell no difference regardless of how many times I track fuel economy. I'm a pretty big car nut, and I'm ultra-perforamcne oriented. Does it decline? I'm sure it does.....to a degree so minute it makes zero difference. I've had both 89 and 93 in my TT....same fuel economy, same performance....where same is defined as "so similar it can not be felt or documented without electronic test gear." It's just my opinion based on years of turbocharged cars, but others have different stories to tell. I'm just sharing mine.