High Gas Prices Fuel an Octane Rebellion 1993

Now this is the ultimate stupidity. These people would rather shatter their pistons with detonation-pre-ignition than take the bus to work.

Of course, here's where the peanut gallery chimes in with that tired old line about "knock sensors." Get a grip: the powertrain control module can only retard the timing so much; you can and will experience detonation-pre-ignition in a high compression engine. Case in point: the day I bought my 2001 Cobra, the moron lot boy at the dealership filled it up with regular gas (they don't stock premium, and he was either too ignorant or too lazy to take it down to the gas station and fill it up with premium). It knocked and pinged like a diesel truck.

Fine by me - maybe this will bring down the price of premium fuel.

That's midleading. Most vehicles don't say "premium fuel ONLY" on their gas caps, on their fuel guages, and in their owner's manuals.

Say, Peter, how much money do you make repairing engines that have been damaged by detonation? Damage that, of course, is not covered under the Mercedes-Benz warranty? Maybe you're trying to drum up a little business, eh?

More power to 'em - it will drive down the price of Corvette fuel (and make auto mechanics rich). ;)

Well, sure - when you drive like a Sloth, barely revving the engine above idle speed, you probably wouldn't notice the difference.

Sure - within limits.

Replace "average" with "sloth" and you have a true statement.

OTOH, if you run your "premium fuel ONLY" engine on regular gas, and suffer engine damage because of it, you'll void your warranty and have to foot the bill for a new engine out of your own pocket. Is the risk worth saving a piddly $2-tank?

Let's examine that statement more closely.

Here in SoCal, gas prices always follow the same pattern: If the price of 87 octane regular gas is $X, then the price of mid-grade 89 octane is $X + $0.10, and the price of premium is $X + $0.20. This has been true for many years. What's odd is that this pattern holds true no matter the value of X. When regular gas was $1.50-gallon, premium was $1.70; When regular is $2.50, premium is $2.70 - i.e. when the price of regular rises by 67%, the price of premium only rises by 59%. In short, the profit margin for premium grade fuel actually goes DOWN as the price of gas rises. If I were selling fuel, I'd want to sell more regular, not more premium. If I could, maybe I'd even plant a clever propaganda piece in the newspaper to convince people to make the switch, making myself and my mechanic buddies rich. ;)