Auto makers and Gas companies really like it when they are able to convince you to buy premium gasoline. They like it so much they continue to perpetuate half truths about premium gasoline. Half truths such as premium gasoline will provide better fuel economy. Half truths like premium gasoline can increase your engine's performance. Actually these aren't even half truths they are full blown myths. Gasoline refiners and retailers like premium gas because it's a lot more profitable for them than regular gas. You pay 20 cents more for premium gas while the retailer only pays about 8 cents more for that same gallon. That means the retailer makes an extra 12 cents on every gallon of premium gas he sells. The oil refineries make a few cents per gallon more on premium gasoline over what they make on regular when selling it to distributors. The small extra profit per gallon is multiplied by the tens of thousand of gallons of gas that refineries sell, and ends up adding thousands and thousands of dollars to their profit. The gas refineries and retailers are not the only ones that make more money from premium gas. Auto makers use premium gas to add to their profits too. One way they do that is by creating a higher perceived value for their cars. If a car has to have premium gas it must have a more expensive engine therefore the car must cost more. Using that logic the car companies can get higher prices on some models by recommending only premium gas can be used in those models. This adds credibility to their contention that the car is worth more money. Another way that vehicle manufacturers capitalize on high octane fuel is by designing engines to be specially tuned to take advantage of the anti-knock properties of high octane fuel. By doing that they can create "high octane engines" that actually do get a little more horsepower out of high octane fuel then they do from regular fuel. Since there is some horsepower gain it allows the car makers to advertise higher horsepower ratings for their engines. Again, higher horsepower ratings means more expensive car which means more profit for the auto makers. The optimized for premium engines do perform with a small increase in horsepower running on premium gas. Most engineers and car experts seem to agree that you can use regular in a premium engine and you probably can't tell the difference. Since low octane regular fuel can be used in a "high octane engine" without any noticeable change in performance and high octane fuel does not improve fuel economy why do you need to use premium gas? It all comes down to profit! Making you believe you need to use high octane fuel, the oil companies and auto makers put more money in their pockets and as a result you have less money in yours.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
