https://www.autoblog.com/2024/07/30/...duty-vehicles/

 

I abstain from giving an opinion on octane

 

This article is misleading. Direct-Injection and other factors allow many of today's small turbos to in fact run on 87 Octane.

In fact, here is the official recommendation for the small turbo engine in my Encore GX.....from page 201 of the Owner's Manual.


Driving and Operating 201

Recommended Fuel

Regular unleaded gasoline meeting ASTM specification D4814 with a posted octane rating (R+M)/2 of 87 or greater is recommended. Do not use gasoline with a posted octane rating of less than 87, as this will result in reduced performance and driveability. If heavy knocking is heard when using gasoline rated at 87 or greater, the engine needs service.

GM recommends the use of TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline to keep the engine clean, reduce engine deposits, and maintain optimal vehicle performance. Look for the TOP TIER Logo or see www.toptiergas.com for a list of TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline marketers and applicable countries.

 

Should be obvious really, I honestly think if 93 was the baseline and we had 95 and 101 as the mid/high grade we could have substantially more advanced engines with higher CR/DCR so we can have even more power and more MPG. Back in the day 85 and lower was a thing with older engines and high altitudes etc, newer stuff should force the standards higher and if E85 wasn't so energy deficient it would be awesome since it also burns extremely cleanly. Irony is it is almost solely used as cheap race fuel

 

It's not really misleading, it's talking about premium being the recommended fuel, not the required fuel. It also states in the article that you can indeed run a lower than recommended grade, but that you would run the risk of lower economy and/or a performance hit.

 

It would probably cost too much for the oil companies to mass-refine 95+ Octane on a large scale without the long-banned lead additives....most customers would not want to pay for it.

 

LOL. In Car Chat, NOBODY abstains from Octane-talk.

 

Yes sir!

How can anyone call themselves a car forum member without posting in an octane thread now and then.

Never happened. Haha 🤓

 

Economy of scale, same argument was used when 87 was high octane and if nothing else we can just do what we do with E85. That stuff is only cheap because of .Gov interference, it's much more annoying to transport and store on top of it all as well.

 

E85 is popular and affordable in the Midwest (and probably in your part of Ohio) because it is made from abundant cheap corn grown locally. But the grade used for E85 not the same grade of corn you would want to put on your dinner table.....it is barely fit for farm animals.

E85 also gives poor gas mileage, because the corn-derived alcohol used to distill it only has about 50-60% of the energy contained in an equivalent volume of pure gasoline....and you have to use more of it to produce the same HP level.

 

🌽⛽️ can produce globs more power than pump. Sometimes almost +200hp. Smiles per gallon 😁

 

Farmers actually are required to grow certain amounts of cheap corn for the .gov programs and subsidy packages they game to the max. They will and do opt to grow useless fuel corn other than food purely because it give them better kickbacks and actually have to grow some to qualify.

My close friend is a vet who works with farmers and he brought me/explained all the incentive programs and they are hilarious. You get paid more to produce less useful items for the population at large

 

This has been the case for about ten years. Article is quite late.
Maybe perhaps in the next ten years, things will lower and balance out. In the advent of more hybrids coming, they may not need the extra boost of higher octane gas.