bco2jco

Hey all,
I have found a nice 2013 Allroad Premium Plus with 73k miles that I am thinking about buying. I have never owned an Audi before and this would definitely be a luxury car by my standards.
My questions are about gas. The Allroad says "premium fuel recommended". But it is not "required".
From a practical standpoint, will i need to use premium gas in the Allroad all the time?
Will it drive ok on regular 87 octane (10% ethanol), or will it have drivability issues?
Will it decrease the performance so much that I wont enjoy driving it. I am not looking for a all out sports car, just a nice AWD family sedan.
Have any others with a similar Audi used only 87 octane gas successfully and without issues?
The answers here will probably determine if I buy the car or not. I dont really want to pay for premium gas for the life of the car.
Thanks for your help.

Irish1004

My wife has a Q5 with the same engine and you definitely shouldn’t run this engine on 87 octane. Because of the turbo and a slightly higher compression ratio you’re just looking for trouble running it on 87. The recommendation for premium fuel is not just on a whim and any savings on fuel cost will be offset by the inevitable repair cost. We regularly run BP or Shell 93 and have not had any issues. On several road trips where 93 wasn’t available we were forced to use 91 octane and there was a noticeable loss of performance. Don’t listen to uninformed folks that make claims such as “ premium fuel really isn’t necessary in your car”. The engineers at Audi specified 93 for a reason.

Kneale Brownson

Lower octane fuel will give you lower gas mileage and reduced performance. Engine will operate, but not as efficiently as with higher octane.

bco2jco

Thanks for your replies to my questions. I asked only because Audi gives a "recommendation" rather than a "requirement" as some vehicles do.
I wanted to know your experience in real world driving. I do realize that the car will run on 87, but a "noticable loss of performance" and the risk of less reliability is not worth it to me. So this car is just not for me.

I have owned a lot of motorcycles, including high performance ones. My fellow cyclists would always insist on premium fuel whereas I could not tell any difference using low octane in those machines.
Thanks again.