Regular versus premium fuel in your tow vehicle

[tcesni]

I am sure this topic has been discussed numerous times but finding real data is difficult. The July issue of Car and Driver includes an article where they road and dyno tested a Honda CRV (turbo), BMW M5 Competition (turbo), F-150 (3.5EB turbo) and Charger R/T (hemi). The hemi made an additional 14 hp and 23 ft. lb. torque on premium but only gained 0.1 sec. in the 1/4 mile. Going with the 93 octane made no performance difference in the CRV or the BMW but in the F-150 EB it added 20 hp and knocked off 0.6 seconds in the 0-60 and averaged 17.6 mpg versus 17.0 mpg in a 200 mile road test at 75 mph. The BMW made an insane 600+ rear-wheel horsepower on the dyno and hit 130 mph in the 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds.

[BMCD]

The engine and computer has a lot to do with it. If the engine can adjust timing it could benefit from it. I believe the verados make more HP with premium fuel because the computer adjusts for it.

[Landar]

My F-150 EB ran much better on premium.

[mean_dean]

Picked up a 2017 Expedition back in January with the 3.5 EB, been experimenting with different gas octane levels. MGP went up going from 87 to 89 by 1.7 mpg doing my normal driving of mostly in traffic with occasional shorter trips on the highway. Getting around 16 in town and 20 on highway. Still testing 93 (nobody seems to carry 91 around here) and not noticing a difference in MPG versus 89 in town but a recent highway trip was getting 21.4. Does seem a lot peppier running the 93, have to be careful to keep my foot out of the boost. Looking at putting a 5-Star tune in it next, have an 89 towing tune and a 93 performance tune.

[BigFishSteve]

5 vehicles plus 98 carbed boat motor all run fine on 87. I"m good.

[JoshKeller]

My ram 5.7 runs best on 88 e15 oddly enough

[ECobb91]

Not a tow vehicle but my Honda Civic gets better mpg with 87/e10 than with higher octanes. I’ve tested it and with 87 I can average around 34mpg in the winter and 41mpg In the summer. All other octanes were either at or below those numbers and just couldn’t justify spending an extra $1 on high octane fuel when the benefits aren’t there

[Finlander]

Diesel only comes in one veriety!

But no, rarely if ever ran anything other than 87 in my trucks. Did I see a MPG improvement...Not enough to justify the premium upcharge.

[200xp]

My F-150 EB performs noticeably better with 93 vs 87 octane. Non towing, hand calculated I get 0.9 MPG more with the 93. But as stated, the performance difference is what I notice.

[Iowa Bass Hunter]

My 97 Silverado preferred premium when towing. It pinged when you didn't run it. Bought it used. Always figured it was chipped. Never noticed a difference on anything else I've owned.

[tcesni]

My F-150 EB performs noticeably better with 93 vs 87 octane. Non towing, hand calculated I get 0.9 MPG more with the 93. But as stated, the performance difference is what I notice.

Car and Driver reported that you could really tell a "seat of the pants" difference driving around town with the F-150EB when using the premium fuel. With the other vehicles none of their drivers could tell any difference and all of course, have sophisticated computers. But that doesn't mean the vehicles are necessarily tuned to take advantage of higher octane.

[Milehibird]

My Hemi ram runs better with 2 fuels. 87 E0 and 91 E10 it runs about the same. The E0 is a bit smoother, but power/economy are the same. Regular 87 (E10) I get about 1mpg less.

[Bassin Bob71]

I run 93 E10 or 91 E0 in my 2015 Silverado 6.2. I think the 93 feels a bit stronger than the 91 but both run good.

[db220]

Not a tow vehicle but my Honda Civic gets better mpg with 87/e10 than with higher octanes. I’ve tested it and with 87 I can average around 34mpg in the winter and 41mpg In the summer. All other octanes were either at or below those numbers and just couldn’t justify spending an extra $1 on high octane fuel when the benefits aren’t there

I've wondered about this. I only use premium in my Civic and it averages 26mpg.

[Jeff Hahn]

Back when gasoline had no ethanol in it, I would run premium in my '93 Suburban when towing my Rangers. It had noticeably more power and got better mileage. But, if the premium was more than 10 cents more than regular, then the better mileage advantage was lost, but I still had the extra power. Now that I have a smaller Lund, I run regular. I don't need the power and premium is often more than 10 cents a gallon more than regular.

[avidbasser]

I've read and seen it in the owners manual for my 2016 F150 3.5 ECO that 91+ octane is recommended for best towing performance.

I've tested this myself and can attest that I get better performance with 91+ and better mileage as well.

I'm a firm believer that anything with forced induction should run nothing less than 90+ octane.

[RFSims]

Tow a 8,000lb travel trailer with my 2016 GMC 5.3. 87 is all I run.

[Fishysam]

my hemis did better with 91 over 89 pulling the boat anyways, less ping/detonation

[Joe Genovese]

It's going to depend on compression of the engine. If your engine isn't pinging, you're more or less wasting your money. There is tons of tests and facts online. I raced for years and had several conversations with the guys at VP fuels about this very subject.

[bshort]

Diesel only comes in one veriety!

Some stations out here carry bio-blends of diesel up to 20% while others a regular ulsd.