Throwing money away? You’ll save about 10 cents a litre should you stop pumping premium and switch to regular grade. But is there a catch, and how safe is it to your Ford vehicle engine? The easiest way to know is by checking your Ford owners manual. It will tell you whether premium gasoline is simply recommended or if it’s required. There’s more you need to know!
Throwing Money Away By Buying Premium?
Did you read your owners manual? If you have, then you’ll know that the majority of Ford vehicle engines do not require premium grade fuel, even an EcoBoost engine. While it may be merely recommended in some circumstances, your Ford uses advanced engine technology that runs on regular fuel without any issue or damage to the engine. Your vehicle’s performance may degrade ever so slightly, but chances are you won’t miss the extra half-second gain from zero to 60! So, when to use premium and pay more? Ford recommends higher octane for improved performance when the vehicle is used for severe duty usage such as trailer tow!
Many years ago, government regulations were less stringent and gasoline companies weren’t required to help curb emissions. Some drivers would fill up with a tank of premium grade from time to time to clean out the engine of carbon deposits because premium fuel contained more detergents and additives. Today’s modern engines are cleaner burning and regulations now dictate all grades of gas have plenty of additives to protect engines and reduce pollution.
The reason premium grade fuels are more expensive is the higher octane. High-performance engines have higher piston compression that may ignite lower grade fuels before the spark plug even fires, causing knocking or pinging and potential damage to the engine over time. Higher-octane fuels prevent the gas from exploding prematurely. Engines typically don’t make as much power with lower-octane fuels resulting in less performance in vehicles for which premium is recommended. Turbo charged engines, like Ecoboost, benefit with improved performance when you fill up with the higher grade fuel. But again, Ford, in the owners manual of a majority of its vehicles, recommends REGULAR GRADE fuel for everyday driving. If circumstances dictate otherwise, fill with premium.
While some are “recommend premium” Ford vehicles, driving without your foot all the way into the pedal for heavy acceleration, you likely won’t be able to tell the difference using regular or premium gasoline.
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Edmunds.com has a handy reference of all vehicles that require premium or simply recommend based on use.
Now then, let’s throw a curve ball into the mix and mention that Ford also offers vehicles with engines referred to as Flex-Fuel capable. E-85 ethanol is used in engines modified to accept higher concentrations of ethanol. Such flexible-fuel vehicles (FFV) are designed to run on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol with up to 85% ethanol by volume. E85 has an octane rating higher than that of regular gasoline’s typical rating of 87, or premium gasoline’s 91-93. This allows it to be used in higher-compression engines, which tend to produce more power per unit of displacement than their gasoline counterparts. Read more about Flex-Fuel vehicles here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible-fuel_vehicle and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85
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Have you saved or thrown money away by buying premium gas? Tell us your story in the comments below, DM us or Snapchat sherwoodford.
