Premium vs Regular... With some science this time!

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av8roc

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Yeah if anything those numbers would push me to use regular.. I was planning on using Premium but doesn't look like its worth it.
 

xxaarraa

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Good video. Confirms what we knew for a long time. In everyday unloaded daily driver use, regular is same as premium. When towing, run premium.

In the previous thread on this topic, someone posted that effects are noticeable over 4000 rpm. Which agrees with this test where the biggest differences are in 4 & 6 % grades.
 

MGD

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This just shows the computer is recognizing the different octane and adjusts power level accordingly, right? It’s not that you are making *more* than factory power.
 

av8roc

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This just shows the computer is recognizing the different octane and adjusts power level accordingly, right? It’s not that you are making *more* than factory power.

Not about making more than factory, it's about making the same power using less fuel. In other words, more efficient.
 

davidl81

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Yeah, looks like for normal driving the small MPG bump in no way can cover the 15-20% increase in fuel price from Reg to Premium gas. I wonder if the HO EB would have more improvements than the standard EB engine, I feel as though it most likely the results will be the same.
 

allenfrx

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This is no suprise at all in a truck.

Run a dyno on a tuned sports car (any thing with high compression, forced induction or that has a very high redline) and you will see vastly different results between Reg and Premium. This includes everything from your basic mustang GT Camaro SS all the way into your luxury performance sedans like the S5,M4,RCF and of course modded cars with 93 oct tunes.

For average Joe sedan snore-mobile or the milenial hates-cars shitbox on the road however regular is what you should run and always was, nothing has changed.

The reasons are largely for the horsepower improvements in performance cars you get under load. No one buys a 662hp GT500 and keeps it under 3,000rpms all day.

To my knowledge there are no naturally aspirated v6 or v8 truck engines that see much of a benifit of premium. Truck engines are tuned very differently from the factory. That can change if you dont run a stock tune of course.

Forced induction changes the game, If i was running an ecoboost i would ABSOLUTELY run premium.....at the very least you should run premium when the temps get above 80 degrees or if you are hauling or towing.....being these are still trucks...they are still detuned justa bit for safety so the margin of error is better than with sports cars. For that reason you might get away with running regular in your 17 raptor between october and march. I still wouldn'tdo it from april to september.

The 5.4, 5.8, and 6.2 Liter atmospheric engines are fine. The most extreme example of towing a heavy load up black mountain on a 100 degree day would make me run premium but thats about it.



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ogdobber

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That's not a good reference for the tt raptor. The raptor makes 17% more power than the 150, where do you think they are getting that power from? Certainly more boost and timing, so then the raptor is going to benefit more from premium fuel than the standard f150.
Also premium does not cost 20% more, it's about 10%
So for instance, in my 6.2 (yes unlike most of the bench players chiming in i try to back it up) i see an 8% gain in fuel economy with premium vs regular (for a net 2% loss) HOWEVER with the 6.2 the power on premium is 411 vs 400 on reg so really there's my 2% that "I'm paying for" not to mention, premium fuels are just that. Premium. Meaning less carbon buildup among other things.



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