With gas prices high again I am revisiting something with my wife's car. She drives a Mazda CX-7 with a 4 cylinder but has a turbo charger attached to it.

The recommended fuel for it is of course premium but I was going to back it down since that's $.40 more per gallon. Nearly $5 a tank which doesn't sound like a lot but it adds up for us.

What are the downsides to backing down to regular from premium or even at least to the mid grade stuff? Does it really make that much of a difference?

 

if you are going to back down, go all the way to regular. The car will run fine on it, but not it's most efficient as it does on premium. Less power, etc. How much of a difference in performance it makes is unknown, but it's kind of a "Catch 22". Less power means more work to move the vehicle, etc.

You can always so a study by keeping track of your MPGs on regular vs. premium. Also make sure to record prices, even though they will change. Keeping a running avg. of price is your best bet.

You can then find out what kind of difference you are seeing MPG wise. Use that to determine roughly how much you spend per mile, and you can use that to figure out how much you save in the long end between the two.

 

If you'd like to have a spreadsheet to keep track of your MPG, I can send you a copy of the one I developed for my truck/car.

 

$4.13 for 93 here . That pushed me to finally join Sunoco A-Plus rewards.

 

Yea the rising gas prices make me glad I am within walking distance from work.

 

Might start riding my bicycle once or twice a week.

 

It would be nice if I could do that....would have to leave at 6:45 though. But traffic would be much nicer.

 

I already have to leav at 7 just to beat the school zone that starts at 7:15. It would be almost 9 miles one way on my bike, so about 40 minutes ride time one way.

Kinda hard to save gas when we have two trucks and an SUV

 

Just paid 3.95 per for Sunoco Regular in Toiletto OH. 8/29/12.

 

Is that the link in your signature?

I am more concerned with just prolonged performance issues over time in the vehicle. It sucks because we have always put in the high grade stuff but I a tired of paying the differences if it's not really needed.

I just topped off my truck and still spent $50 at lunch. Little ridiculous......they are going to pimp out hurricane Isaac.

Patrick, how is the new gig coming along?

 

Paid 3.899 for straight regular octane in eastern South Dakota this morning at a Shell.......

 

Yeah. I added it after I posted that.

I don't think on a "low" performance I4 like the CX-7 has will really matter. If you were tuned and running some extra goodies, I could see it being a problem.

Maybe see what some Mazda techs and other Mazda enthusiasts think?

 

There is a Mazda site I have visited in the past but I have noticed there isn't a lot of activity on them, could be a few days before its viewed you know. I figure with all the gear heads on here it would be easier

 

You shouldn't have a problem running it on regular. The knock sensor will keep the boost down and the timing retarded. It won't be as quick and it will lose some gas mileage, but you won't hurt anything.

 

Run regular as long as it doesn't ping, which it will most likly not.