Regular or Premium Gas...Does It Matter?

I was driving home from work tonight and as I do from time to time, I checked my gas level, and it looked low. I briefly thought about the cost of gas and how much it would suck to have to spend any money on gas, especially when my car is a broken down 1994 Toyota Tercel, with smashed in doors, broken locks, and a nearly dead engine. Has anyone noticed that the prices for premium gas have been disappearing from gas station signs? Well that's besides the point. My real point is, when I head to the pump, should I even consider using the premium super special crazy good gas, or should I just fill up with regular? My car is definitely on its last legs, so would the supposedly better gas help at all?



The fact of the matter is, premium gas costs more. It averages out to be between 20 and 40 cents more for premium gas, according to an article published by the Consumer Energy Center. This fact alone is usually enough to give the nod to regular, but could I possible be doing some good for my car if I dish out the extra money? By all accounts, the answer is a resounding no. According to a USA Today story, even car maker experts at all major car companies say that premium gas does little to no good for an engine. The lone benefit to premium gas is a slight increase in engine performance, but this increase is too small for the average driver to even notice.

So what's the point of premium gas anyways? Well for high performance vehicles like Mustangs and Vipers, and high-class vehicles like luxury cars, the premium gas might be recommended by the manufacturer for its turbo-charged engine, but this is not a command according to the USA Today article. The sciency facts say that premium gas's original purpose was to prevent a condition within the engine known as knock. For a sciency explanation of knock, check out this article at The Straight Dope. But the condition known as knock is no longer a problem in newer engines, where computers prevent this problem all together by controlling the problem before it starts using any level of gas. According to an article at edmunds.com, cars built after 1990 usually have this built-in protection.

So my investigation has determined that premium gas pretty much serves no purpose other than to cost extra money. I for one will continue to fill up with good ol' regular gas, and use that 20 cents a gallon towards large bags of candy and jumbo sodas inside the gas station convenience store.