Is premium gas really worth $208.00 more per year? Do you get better mileage or fuel economy with premium? Does premium gas make your car run better?

It will cost you $208.00 annually if you fill your car with premium gas instead of regular. The difference between regular fuel and premium fuel is about twenty cents per gallon. Therefore it will cost you $4.00 more per tank if you use premium gasoline instead of regular gasoline. This assumes you have a 20 gallon tank and you fill up about once per week.

Looking at the higher octane question of increased fuel economy, does it help? The bottom line answer is emphatically no!! High octane premium gas does not increase fuel economy one bit. The octane rating is a number that has nothing to do with how efficient it is in creating energy to run your engine.

The octane rating is a measurement of the proportion of isooctane to heptane in fuel. In non technical terms it is a rating that grades how much energy it takes to ignite that fuel. The rating has nothing to do with how much energy the gas puts out.It has absolutely nothing to do with fuel economy.

The next question, does premium gas make your car gain performance, does it run better? The answer is the same as the fuel economy answer, no!! It has been shown that there is no significant difference in the way your car runs if you use premium gasoline.

That said, I must throw in this one caveat, your car might perform with slightly more horsepower with premium than with regular but you would be hard pressed to notice the difference. Premium just allows car makers an extra advertising ploy.

Automakers can market their cars with a higher horsepower statistics by designing and optimizing their engines to take advantage of higher octane fuel anti-knock properties. Engineers generally agree that if you use regular gas in an engine designed for premium, the horsepower loss is so small, that it is almost impossible to detect.

What if your car manufacturer recommends that you use premium? In this case burning regular instead of premium won't void the warranty, nor damage the engine, most automakers say.

When you next stop at the gas station, try regular gasoline instead of premium. Your immediate benefit will be saving $4.00 right away on that tank of gas. Pay attention to how your car runs with regular octane gasoline. If it seems to run fine, if you cannot feel any difference and if you do not hear your engine knocking, then continue to purchase lower octane regular gas. You will see a savings of over $200.00 per year!