fuel mileage - performance -- reg. fuel vs premium fuel

[Orange Spyder Man]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPkPAbzwbU

interesting test ---- is it really necessary to run premium in a spyder ??? proven not necessary in a regular auto

osm

[Bob Denman]

On a 12:1 compression ratio engine: I'm happy to run the premium fuel.:thumbup:
On my 998 RT; I saw almost a 3 mpg gain with it.
If I had to drive what some of them were driving... :yikes:
It wouldn't matter if you poured kerosene into it; or onto it! :D

[Pampurrs]

Interesting video!

Made me get out the calculator:

Throughout the years, I've averaged around 15,000 miles per year on my motorcycles (now Spyder). With the Spyder, I'm averaging 35 mpg, which means I'm purchasing approximately 429 gallons of fuel per year. With a savings of $.40 per gallon by switching to regular, I'd save a whopping $171.60 per year.

I think I'll stick to Premium:thumbup:

Pam

[Bob Denman]

Pam,
Have you ever run any fuel economy tests between regular, and premium fuels? :dontknow:

[Pampurrs]

Pam,
Have you ever run any fuel economy tests between regular, and premium fuels? :dontknow:

No I haven't. I have always used premium in my fuel injected motorcycles, starting with the Goldwing. When I had my 1977 Honda 750 and my 2009 Honda Shadow (both carbed) I used regular. I can't provide any scientific reason why, I just did.

Pam

[Bob Denman]

With my 1330; I tried to test this early-on, and didn't get a whole lot of conclusive data... :opps:
Perhaps I'll have to give it another shot... :thumbup:

[Dustoff]

We pay close to $30,000 dollars for these machine and we are worried over a few cents in gas ! I don,t get it !!! Premium is the suggest fuel so why not use it !! Just saying !!

[Bob Denman]

While :agree: with you; it never hurts to just check things out with some testing. :thumbup:
But since "Peace of Mind" also has value; the call is yours to make! :D

[Pampurrs]

We pay close to $30,000 dollars for these machine and we are worried over a few cents in gas ! I don,t get it !!! Premium is the suggest fuel so why not use it !! Just saying !!

:agree::agree::agree::agree:

[pegasus1300]

My Yamaha V-4s (Ventures and Royal Stars) were all 10.5 to 1 engines and they were perfectly happy with 85/87 octane. The Goldwing was the samr tho it did like nonethanol 88 to the tune of 3 mpg better. My Spyder however does not like anything less then 91.

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: And your 998 is a 12.2:1 engine... even more squeeze to the slug! :thumbup:

[ingramwc]

I run 90 octane non-ethanol gas normally, it runs fine. I tend to twist the throttle hard so my gas mileage varies a bit. If I am not around home I will put premium in it and I will try to run that out ASAP to get the ethanol out of the tank. I do not like ethanol, it has dissolved the gas lines on all my 2 stroke engines on my yard equipment. But that is a different topic.
Y'all ride safe out there!!!:spyder:

[SpyderAnn01]

On the Alaska trip premium was not available at most stations. I noticed no difference in mileage or performance with regular

[ARtraveler]

I will chime in. I have used both flavors in my tanks over all five :spyder2::ani29:.

All gas in Alaska comes from one refinery. Tesoro in Nikiski AK. Down on the Kenai Peninsula. No ethanol flavored gas here.

I do not notice a sizeable difference in mpg from one to the other.

My :ani29::spyder2: seem a little less "peppy" with the 87 octane regular--it might be just me--but that is what I see. Our premium is 90 octane.

I have also been forced to use less than premium when riding in outlying areas, and was glad to get premium back in the tank when it was available.

Just the observations of one person. Warning, Warning, Warning--your results may be different. :roflblack::roflblack:

[Deer Slayer]

With 12.2 to one, nothing less than top grade. I have seen too many engines with knock damage :yikes: Spend the money, no pockets in a casket to take it with you. :cheers:

[DrewNJ]

Around here the cost difference is about $.20 a gallon from regular to premium. So it costs me about $1 more when I fill up. I think I can afford that and don't even give it a second thought. [emoji106]

[Chupaca]

:agree: but its also the additives that go into the premium fuels. So I always pay the extra buck...:thumbup:

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: I just realized something...


It was really nice to see an "Esso" station once again! :clap:

[bmccaffrey]

:shocked: I just realized something...


It was really nice to see an "Esso" station once again! :clap:


Bob,
I thought u were at spyderquest?

[BajaRon]

The 1st mistake he makes is getting fuel from a single hose dispenser. If the previous customer purchased regular, then he got a load of regular fuel before any premium was delivered. In a large fuel tank this isn't so bad, But he is getting no more than 5 gallons (if he fills that can).

Better to frequent a station that has a dedicated hose for each fuel grade. Especially when getting small amounts of fuel like in a Spyder or Motorcycle.

This video does have some good information. People tend to be the same with gasoline as they are with lubricants. A lot of opinions, but many times with almost no real understanding of what they are purchasing. Of course the manufacturers are much better at marketing than education. (1 makes them more money than the other).

It is interesting that they don't show you the numbers for Premium. They say it is 'worse', but if it were significantly worse, you'd think they would give you the number comparison. I get the gist, you're paying more for an inferior (in that car) product. But I'm thinking the difference was marginal.

But in the case of the Spyder, we are talking apples and oranges.

Of course your Spyder will run on regular. But if the ECU has to retard timing to keep the engine from knocking, you're losing power, efficiency and fuel mileage. You are less likely to need Premium in colder weather. More likely to need it in hotter weather.

[Orange Spyder Man]

I tried premium & regular in my 2002 & 2005 GoldWing... no difference in fuel mileage what so ever... both had over 80,000 miles when I got rid of them.. as far as power.. I think premium went a little faster...but I think it was because my wallet was a tad lighter... :shocked:

osm

[ingramwc]

When I switched to non-ethanol the mileage on both cages went up 3 m.p.g. At 90 octane it's almost premium, which is 93 octane here.

[garb55]

All there tests were done in a car that was made to run regular so it makes sense that the results would be this way
What about a car that is recommended to run premium gas
would the test on regular gas come out worse
Not a seat of the pants results but a real test as was done on the GM car in this video

[Peter Aawen]

It generally takes at least a few tanks full of different gas for the ECU to catch up with the changes in octane & re-calibrate itself to get the best from whatever gas you are running, so doing a 1 tankful comparison shouldn't show a massive difference (unless you drained the tank, the fuel lines, the injector system, AND re-calibrated the ECU at the same time as you refilled the tank!!) Besides, there's no denying these things were designed & made to run on Premium gas!! ;)

Me, I've found the difference between the Premium & Regular to be a fairly noticeable difference in range per tank of gas, & by reasonably accurately tracking how much gas I put in vs the distance travelled, I'm absolutely convinced that over time, running cheaper Regular gas actually costs me more than using Premium due to the greater range (& mpg) I get from sticking with Premium! And that's before taking into account any of the potential issues that forcing the engine to run 'de-tuned' all the time might bring on eventually.... :p

So by running Premium I get some useful additional range (which btw means the hip pocket hurts less, especially on our longer trips) :thumbup: AND I'm not forcing the ECU to de-tune the engine all the time so it can run on Regular at less than it's designed performance levels! But I'm happy if you want to do that to your Spyder or that 'the media' thinks it's doing the right thing by sensationalising something like this just to sell a story & win some airtime. ;)

[Bfromla]

fyi my most problem is keeping constant. Non aggresive throtle or only hightay speed no in town errands low rpm that kill a tank. I use gass cubby app that helps & does math for me as long as I remember & input info correctly. Here a pic of 3month infohttp://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=115852&stc=1 fyi keeps track of services & mutiple vehicles too. :firstplace: Hope this helps.

[CanAmIamDavid]

I too do premium
Why?
When I made a big $ investment like this
What sense is there in putting cheaper food in its stomach?
Translation I never go to eat at McDonalds...maybe coffee... ;)
My stomach needs better stuff and so doesn't my can am need better gas....
:+)

Interesting video!

Made me get out the calculator:

Throughout the years, I've averaged around 15,000 miles per year on my motorcycles (now Spyder). With the Spyder, I'm averaging 35 mpg, which means I'm purchasing approximately 429 gallons of fuel per year. With a savings of $.40 per gallon by switching to regular, I'd save a whopping $171.60 per year.

I think I'll stick to Premium:thumbup:

Pam

[Brian Kay]

Agreed! Why cheap out on the thing that matters the most. I don't think the $200 per year of savings is worth it enough for the piece of mind that you've done the right thing.

I've only been forced to use a lesser octane gas when traveling but it was ethanol free 89 octane and I was fine with that. MPG doesn't matter too much either... Since I drive a 10-12 mpg truck, and anything is better than that gas hog.

[latony007]

We pay close to $30,000 dollars for these machine and we are worried over a few cents in gas ! I don,t get it !!! Premium is the suggest fuel so why not use it !! Just saying !!

I totally agree on the cost difference, i have always run premium in my bikes and my spyder, its 20 cent difference usually here and with the amount of gallons in the tank its like 75 cents to a $1 a fill up. Someone else said they average 15,000 miles and it was 175$ of something for the year, im ok with that and i usually average about 10,000 between both my bikes.

HOWEVER i dont believe in doing anything ONLY because BRP suggests or recommends it. If so we would all be over paying for and running their crappy oil and kenda tires etc.

[bronzeflex42]

Got to agree on the premium gas. The people that made these high cost machines recommend premium gas, then that's what i put in my :spyder:. We only have 93 octane for our premium gas around here. 87 for regular and 89 for mid grade whatever that is. :dontknow:

[Fat Baxter]

Actually, the most useful nugget in all this discussion is, if you regularly use premium, and in an emergency are forced to tank up with regular (i.e., nothing else available), you won't lunch your engine. Just get premium at the next fill-up.

[rangerrick162]

In the last 10 years I have been riding anything from Yamaha, Honda, Harley, and now 2 different Can am Spyders rt-s . I also work in a small engine repair shop. Ethanol is the small engines mechanics best friend. Most of the repairs we do are from fuel/ethanol issues. If you run any brand fuel that has ethanol you are guaranteed to have problems after a time. I run non ethanol gas in any thing that has a carburetor. Fuel injected engines burn ethanol ok, but I have noticed that I get better performance out of running 87octanine non-ethanol with a little octane booster. There is a great app for finding gas stations with "real gas". Pure Fuel.

87octane booster..............35.3mpg
93octane 10% ethanol.......29.8mpg

like I said this is just my 2 cents worth....

[MikeinGA]

In the last 10 years I have been riding anything from Yamaha, Honda, Harley, and now 2 different Can am Spyders rt-s . I also work in a small engine repair shop. Ethanol is the small engines mechanics best friend. Most of the repairs we do are from fuel/ethanol issues. If you run any brand fuel that has ethanol you are guaranteed to have problems after a time. I run non ethanol gas in any thing that has a carburetor. Fuel injected engines burn ethanol ok, but I have noticed that I get better performance out of running 87octanine non-ethanol with a little octane booster. There is a great app for finding gas stations with "real gas". Pure Fuel.

87octane booster..............35.3mpg
93octane 10% ethanol.......29.8mpg

like I said this is just my 2 cents worth....

I use 87 octane and add 1/2oz of STA-BIL 22240 Marine Fuel Stabilizer and octane booster. The Spyders are high revving and high compression engines and need high octane gas. BUT, If you don't keep your rpms above 4,500 your mpg will be lower. That's IMHO.


Mike

[Tango]

I will also add my $.02 to the topic. I just got back from a trip to TN.. I had been running premium in my bike. Top Tier most of the time. While in TN., we were running 100 -200 miles per day. I decided to run reg as we were blowing through the gas everyday. On one trip, at 75 and bucking headwinds. Only 30 mpg.. On another day trip, back two lane roads, 42.5 mpg.. I normally get 42-43 on back roads using prem.. So to me it makes no difference, reg, or premium. :dontknow: Now pure gas is another story. I ran pure gas 90 octane for 3 straight fill ups. The Spyder definitely loves the stuff. Butt, not enough to justify the price for it. :lecturef_smilie: Tom :spyder:

[Dubliner]

When I lived in Europe you could "feel" the difference between certain brands over others. Sometimes it was engine tone and sometimes a roughness at certain speeds.. These days I prefer Chevron regular over Shell, why, the machine feels better using it in my opinion! I have tried a lot of different fuels in over forty years of riding. I worked in a gas station for a while, I found it interesting the the one tanker would fill all three tanks using the same hose, just changing the gauge on the pump. Now remember that if they fill the regular tank first with a thousand litres of fuel and then go to fill the medium grade that there will be at least 80 to a 100 litres of regular fuel in the hose filling the medium grade and so on into the premium tank!
Now another point for your consideration, here in Canada, Pennzoil is usually the oil of choice used in servicing cars in many of the service bays in the western part of the province anyway. The tankers who deliver 5w30 and 10w30 come from the same tanker obviously but the pipe is just moved over to the next tank and after resetting the gauges the oil pumped through so the 10w30 is short changed in that the tank gets the 100 or so litres of 5w30 before the 10w30 finally is pumped in. 20 weight oil is usually delivered in 40 gallon drums (208 litres). All in all it doesn't really matter, your oil is changed to fresh oil and that's what's important right?


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[ARtraveler]

When I lived in Europe you could "feel" the difference between certain brands over others. Sometimes it was engine tone and sometimes a roughness at certain speeds.. These days I prefer Chevron regular over Shell, why, the machine feels better using it in my opinion! I have tried a lot of different fuels in over forty years of riding. I worked in a gas station for a while, I found it interesting the the one tanker would fill all three tanks using the same hose, just changing the gauge on the pump. Now remember that if they fill the regular tank first with a thousand litres of fuel and then go to fill the medium grade that there will be at least 80 to a 100 litres of regular fuel in the hose filling the medium grade and so on into the premium tank!
Now another point for your consideration, here in Canada, Pennzoil is usually the oil of choice used in servicing cars in many of the service bays in the western part of the province anyway. The tankers who deliver 5w30 and 10w30 come from the same tanker obviously but the pipe is just moved over to the next tank and after resetting the gauges the oil pumped through so the 10w30 is short changed in that the tank gets the 100 or so litres of 5w30 before the 10w30 finally is pumped in. 20 weight oil is usually delivered in 40 gallon drums (208 litres). All in all it doesn't really matter, your oil is changed to fresh oil and that's what's important right?


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Interesting point on the comparo between Chevron and Shell. Both are supposed to contain the same additive "Techron."

I usually use one or the other here--depending where I am refueling. Shell is now charging 20 cents more than the other brands for their Premium version. All our gas comes from the same one refinery in Alaska. Shell lost out on hundreds of $ worth of gas sales from me this summer.

[Mazo EMS2]

I'll use premiium ONLY when there are separate hoses for each grade. Think about the person that just pumped before you at a pump with a single hose for all grades. They likely pumped 87 with ethanol. The same happened in the video. He pumped from a common hose that was probably last used to pump 87. Though he chose "Premium" he likely got at least a half gallon of "regular" before the premium started to flow in.
The grades don't bother me, the Ethanol on the other hand does. At the end of the year, I'll fill it up with non-ethanol fuel. When it's go time for the summer, I'll use regular, and I've seen no difference. I too was a sucker for the premium, but only for the ethanol, or lack there-of reasons. Interesting video indeed