In Canada, we are warned about the price of gas hitting $1 per litre (regular octane I assume).
 
Has anyone noticed any benefit to regularily or periodically using a higher octane fuel?  Regular is suggested for the CRV, and I have no desire to spend more on fuel than I have to , especially if the more expensive stuff doesn't contribute significantly to performance.

Larry

> I just drive from Maryland to Texas (putting on 4000 mi in 3 wks) and back
on
> my brand new 99 CRV MT, and the car wowed everyone. I traveled 80mph most
of
> the time, and even the mountainous regions of Tennessee were no challenge.
> What a great car.
>
> Lauren Muney


We took a trip from VA to LA and the CRV was an extremely comfy ride. I bit
loud, but comfortable. We avged about 27-28 mpg.

David

>We took a trip from VA to LA and the CRV was an extremely comfy ride. I bit
>loud, but comfortable. We avged about 27-28 mpg.
>
>David
>


I'd love to get 25 MPH. I average 22-23. How did you get 27-28,
especially down south where the highway speed is 70 MPH.
I do have a rack on my 98 CRV, which undoubtedly bleeds mileage

> I'd love to get 25 MPH. I average 22-23. How did you get 27-28,
> especially down south where the highway speed is 70 MPH.
> I do have a rack on my 98 CRV, which undoubtedly bleeds mileage

Well it was all hghway. In town out there I think we got 22-23 too. But
there was a tank where we got 26. I had 2 tanks where we hit 28 on the
trip, but that was pure uninterrupted driving.

David

> We've noticed that fifth gear in the manual trans is geared quite a bit
> lower than the highest gear in the automatic, making the 5 speed's engine
> spin about 500RPM faster at 70MPH. It appears that Honda has designed a
> vehicle that gets better gas mileage with an automatic transmission than
> it does with a manual!

Yup, I have a 5 too. I also wish 5th was a bit taller, I feel like I need
to shift to 6th all the time.
David

I have always run regular and get about 450kms per tank. I have a friend
that has a V as well and runs Premium and says he gets about 480-500kms per
tank. Any benefit - do not think so.

Larry,

The main reason, IMHO, to use high octane fuel is to prevent the engine from
dieseling or knocking or pinging. If your car does not ping using regular
fuel, then there's really no reason to use the higher octane stuff. There are
some cars out there that have knock sensors. With those cars, you really can't
tell whether your car is pinging because the computer compensates for it. You
simply get lower performance when it senses any pinging. Using higher octane
fuels on those might actually give you higher performance if, indeed, the
computer sensed any pinging with the regular fuel. My 98 CR-V EX does not have
a knock sensor. I know that car runs fine with 87 octane fuel.

--Ron

My Honda service manager told me not waste my money on premium gas. The
engine is designed to run on regular.

Higher octane gasoline will not give you higher performance in your CR-V. A
higher octane rating in gasoline inhibits the compression-ignition-point of
the fuel/air mixture -- nothing more.

If an engine "requires" a higher octane gasoline, it is because it was
designed with a higher compression ratio. The fact that an engine has a
higher compression ratio WILL allow that engine to make more horsepower
using higher octane gasoline. (More horsepower compared to an engine
similarly designed, but with a lower compression ratio.)

Here's a pretty good page of information about gasoline.

http://www.calacreek.com/consumer/cars/sav...oneyatpump.html


It's also interesting to note that the compression ratio of an engine
"changes" with altitude. Engines used at higher altitudes can use lower
octane gasolines than their brothers at lower altitudes. (The physical
dimensions of the engine's cylinders and combustion chambers do not change,
of course, but the relative number of air molecules compressed DOES change
with a change in altitude, thus the "effective" compression ratio is
changed.)

Rick A. Shay
Colorado