Octane and S60's

I have put premium gas in my S60 since new.
I have heard that some folks are using regular.
What do you all think should be used.
In my area the price of premium gas is about $2.14 per gallon and it
would be nice to save a buck or two.

Thanks

 

Ed -

I use 87 octane. The manual says that 87 is ok, so I use 87. I had a Ford
Explorer in 1998 and I was putting premium in it (I was younger and dumber
back then). I went through 3 oxygen sensors. When the mechanic finally
asked me what kind of gas I was using and I told him, he said that the gas
was the problem.

Other than a Corvette or a Dodge Viper, I don't know any cars on the market
today where premium is recommended.

My $0.02
Charlie

 

Premium has been required in both of my BMW 540's and in our current
530.

 

The manual in our 960 states "A minimum octane of 91 is recommended for
optimum performance"

BMW, Mercedes, many other brands need premium fuel. Our old 740 GLE 16V
recommended 89 octane.

 

using lower grades has not seemed to have any effect on my
performance, we are talking volvos, not MBs or any other car

 

One poster stated other then the Viper and Corvette he does not know of any
other car that needs premium fuel... Well I am correcting him with more cars
that need it.

We had to put 87 Octane in a bone dry tank of our 960 once, while towing the
tent trailer... there were performance differences, and mileage suffered.

 

that could be true, but I've had my xc70 over a year and I use 87
octane, get about 24 mpg and am happy with the performance, buy
expensive fuel if it makes you feel better, but it doesn't do anything
for me.

 

You might not notice it if its all you have ever used, if you never really
drive the car hard, or if you never tow anything with it.

We can see a difference with our 960, it could be because the engine is far
more sensitive to fuel type, it is also very high compression: 10.7:1 ratio,
so without the premium it might knock (knock sensor would kick in and retard
timing).

With our old VW Golf you could feel a slight difference with 94 octane (only
availible at a few gas stations like Sunoco and Pioneer) vs 87 octane....
but not worth the money, there was no detectable difference with 91 octane
(premium).

When we asked about the regular vs premium issue to our dealer he said the
engine will adapt to the lesser fuel quite a bit better then the older
engine management systems (like in our 960).

 

Yeah it really depends, some engines will work fine on cheap gas, others
will ping. My turbo running higher than stock boost pings easily on cheap
gas but runs fine at 16 psi on premium.

 

Yeah it really depends, some engines will work fine on cheap gas, others

It's not that simple. My 2000 S80 T-6 runs fine on 87 but thats because it
has an engine knock sensor that retards the timing if it detects
pre-ignition. For best performance I run 91-92 and get better economy to
boot. The manual recommends 91 octane and says I will get better performance
with it but that 87 will not hurt the engine.

Mike

 

Yeah you've got a much more sophisticated control system, the 240 lacks a
knock sensor so you've gotta be real careful running too much boost with
insufficient octane, particularly in warm weather.