Ok, really dumb car question here, about gasoline?

Right.

“girl-type” car question? That’s a little annoying.

Thank god, I started filling up and wondering what the hell was with the sixty cent increase and then it dawned on me. I hit the wrong button. It’s somehting I never thought about until then so it occurred to me I might have a minor lapse in information. I could care less about cars so… eh. :P

@DrasticDreamer: Sorry if it annoyed you dearie, it’s just how I talk. :) I don’t believe it and I don’t think most people do nowadays. Normally, it irks people when someone is sincerely mocking women.

@As: Try reading the manuel (the big fat one in your glove compartment. Not the little cheat sheet. How about just asking the question (which is very reasonable) and leave out the ”“dumb girl-type” label?

There, all better and now no one else need feel like I’ve done injustice to our gender. :)

My car didn’t come with one…it’s been passed through a few owners in it’s time. Thus, Fluther.

I alternate between regular and premium when filling up my car.

@Scamp: Any particular reason? Does that do something special?

“regular gas drinking car” LOL

I like to think it drinks it. :-p

@asmonet: The octane number is simply the proportion of isooctane to heptane in a fuel. But in leyman’s terms is how much energy it takes to ignite that fuel. The higher the octane number, the more energy it takes to ignite the gas. Your car will likely not see any sort of performance improvement using a higher octane. There are 2 reasons that you would put a higher octane in your particular car (I’m assuming you don’t have a high performance car). The first reason would be if your engine is knocking. Higher octane will help reduce engine knocking. Second, many higher octane fuels contain engine additives that help reduce engine build up “gook” you see on very old valves. I would recommend once a month putting about $20 of high octane gas in your car for this particular reason. Other than that you are just wasting your money.

The Car Talk guys disapprove.

“Use the grade of gas you need and nothing higher.

Does your owner’s manual say “Premium Unleaded Only”? No? Then don’t ever use premium fuel. There. We just saved you 40 cents a gallon… or $8 on a 20-gallon fill up. If your engine is designed to run on regular gas, there’s absolutely no benefit to putting in “high test.” It pollutes more, it costs more, and doesn’t give you any benefit in performance or fuel system cleanliness.”

With gas prices as high as they are, why would you want to pay more?

@Adina: Tired, wasn’t paying attention, hit the wrong button. :’’’(

i used to put in premium every so often, for the benfits it’s supposed to give your car. not so much anymore.

@asmonet it’s what my Dad always did, and it’s cheaper than using only premioum. I’d use regular only, but New Jersey doesn’t put additives in gas, so my car runs really crappy on it. (so I’ve been told)

@scamp ive heard similar