87 or 91+ Octane? MPG/Performance

[Dmallen2010]

All,

Are you running 87 or 91+ fuel in your truck?
What MPG are you seeing with your choice?
If you've ran both have you seen a significant difference?

This video was just posted yesterday, looks like the Tremor pulls down around 19.5 MPG with mainly HWY driving on 87 octane.

 

[UpsideDownIn]

Here in Memphis, our options are 87, 91, 93. We don't drive it enough to see any marginal savings with 87, so 93 is what we put in it, and plus the engine can take advantage of it from my understanding. My MPG is 17.6 for mostly city like driving.

On my old 2008 Nissan Pathfinder, it was the same setup and there was a noticeable 2MPG increase using 93 on the highway.

 

[RotorHead695]

Car and Driver did a test, it's about a 20 HP difference. And your engine will be cleaner in the long run with premium. For me it's only a $400/year difference, so I only run the 92 in our area. Also only use premium in my quads and tools.

 

[bug892]

I am 2.5 36 gallon tanks in so far, and have only done 87. Worst I've gotten was 18.5. I'm sitting at 19.7 on this current tank. These are computer calculations, and not calculating at fill-up. I'm curious if 93 will equal > MPG as well...

 

[Robb1]

I have a about 3.5k on my truck now and with a few longer trips under its belt. Given the size of the tank that’s still a limited sample size, but here are my observations:
-With 93 I see at minimum a 1.5 mpg bump over 87 (city & highway)
-The computer mpg meter in my truck is 0.5 mpg higher than actual
-The butt dyno says the truck is a bit more snappy on higher octane. Everything seems just a little smoother and more responsive. Not earth shattering, but just a little.
-The mpg has improved slightly in general as everything breaks in. Currently I can hit both EPA estimates in normal, w/ start stop disabled, and without trying to be a Al Gore driving school approved, green, eco driver. This is with 93 octane. For those with more fuel efficient driving habits I could easily see beating those numbers or getting there on 87.

If I fill up at Costco or somewhere else where premium is ~40-60 cents more, the increase in mpg almost offsets the additional cost.

Would I drive out of my way just for premium: No
Would I take a second mortgage or sell a kidney for premium: No
Do I believe there is a measurable mpg and perceived performance benefit: Yes

I plan to continue using premium at this point.

 

[P0H0]

I run 87 octane - a little under 1500 miles around around town primarily. Very little freeway. 15.2 MPG.

 

[trip20]

I only run 91 instead of 87 since in my area 91 is labeled "recreational fuel" and it has zero ethanol.

Recent 1.5 hour round trip to the in-laws this past Saturday, with a mixture of highway (68-72mph) and county road (58-62mph) resulted in 18.2 mpg. That's in Wisconsin using winter fuel. Not bad at all.

My 2015 3.5L ecoboost consistently hovered between 16.5-17.5 mpg throughout the winter. So I was quite surprised when I saw my Tremor getting a bit better mpg.

 

[Jstonk]

Car and Driver did a test, it's about a 20 HP difference. And your engine will be cleaner in the long run with premium. For me it's only a $400/year difference, so I only run the 92 in our area. Also only use premium in my quads and tools.

This is the correct answer, I also run premium in my 2 stroke tools and vehicles. If you've ever worked on an engine that ran low grade vs premium it's a very noticeable difference.

 

[FTLBS]

I've see this topic debated in some other threads. Here's a page right out of the 2022 F-150 owners manual (see photo). It states that 87 octane is the minimum octane requirement, but premium fuel with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended. For this reason (and because I love my Tremor), I will continue running 91 in mine.

 

[FaKtor34]

I found in my previous 17 fx4 with the 5.0 I averaged 1.4 mpg better with premium fuel . The truck also ran much smoother when running premium, so that's all I run.

 

[TucciEd]

lol geez you people got me to buy lots of accessories and now premium gas..? fine! lol - yeah looks like an extra $10 - $20 per fill up here.. Tremor is worth it!

 

[Bannerman]

I pay north of $4 a gallon for E-0 for the boat and tools so 50 cents extra for 93 for the Tremor doesn't sound so bad I guess.

 

[FaKtor34]

I pay north of $4 a gallon for E-0 for the boat and tools so 50 cents extra for 93 for the Tremor doesn't sound so bad I guess.

It's 4.49 a gallon on the lake to fill up my boat so I feel ya, hopefully the price doesn't go up anymore, in 2019 I could fill up at 3.69 a gallon, same gas and dock, then we cancel the pipeline, stop oil production in the US almost completely, inflation at an all time high..... Oh well maybe someday the dollar may be worth something again

 

[TucciEd]

It's 4.49 a gallon on the lake to fill up my boat so I feel ya, hopefully the price doesn't go up anymore, in 2019 I could fill up at 3.69 a gallon, same gas and dock, then we cancel the pipeline, stop oil production in the US almost completely, inflation at an all time high..... Oh well maybe someday the dollar may be worth something again

Without getting political.. we are on the same page.

 

[FaKtor34]

Without getting political.. we are on the same page.

Yeah I wasn't trying to be political, it just came out, I had to fill the truck up this morning, I know our gas here is cheaper than many places, 3.59 per gal, but $92 to fill up the tank....

 

[TucciEd]

Yeah I wasn't trying to be political, it just came out, I had to fill the truck up this morning, I know our gas here is cheaper than many places, 3.59 per gal, but $92 to fill up the tank....

yeah here in NJ $3.35 regular.. $3.89 premium - I usually fill when half a tank since there's a $100 cutoff here (not sure if that's universal)
Of course now I will be using premium because of this thread!

 

[FaKtor34]

yeah here in NJ $3.35 regular.. $3.89 premium - I usually fill when half a tank since there's a $100 cutoff here (not sure if that's universal)
Of course now I will be using premium because of this thread!

Sorry about the upgrade to premium but with my other truck I tested the theory by only using 87 octane for an entire oil change and then only running 92-93 octane for an entire oil change, 5k miles with each, the truck ran better and got better mileage with the 92-93 octane.

 

[Bannerman]

It's 4.49 a gallon on the lake to fill up my boat so I feel ya, hopefully the price doesn't go up anymore, in 2019 I could fill up at 3.69 a gallon, same gas and dock, then we cancel the pipeline, stop oil production in the US almost completely, inflation at an all time high..... Oh well maybe someday the dollar may be worth something again

We are blessed to live on the lake, so we are running through about 20 gallons a week most of the summer. So those increases sting. Love to see prices go back down but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Jstonk]

Yeah I wasn't trying to be political, it just came out, I had to fill the truck up this morning, I know our gas here is cheaper than many places, 3.59 per gal, but $92 to fill up the tank....

Wow I wish ours was that cheap here!! I'm in the Texas of the north and we're at around 5.11 per gal if I convert it to the U.S French measurement

 

[FaKtor34]

Ou

Wow I wish ours was that cheap here!! I'm in the Texas of the north and we're at around 5.11 per gal if I convert it to the U.S French measurement

Ouch! Sadly that's what happens when we let countries that hate North America control the prices...