I haven’t been blogging much, no time since the end of my vacation and the return to reality… however, my friend Scott wrote an email that I’m re-posting (with permission). I guess that makes Scott my very first guest blogger!
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For years I have been using mid grade gasoline. I have kept track of my mileage and know that in my Dodge Durango I get about 13.6 mpg in the city. That is pretty much all I do is city driving, not a lot of highway with my business. So my 2004 Dodge Durango with the 5.7 liter V8 HEMI engine has been doing me just fine.
But with rising gas prices, I decided to give “regular” a try. I read an article in the AAA “Going Places” Southeast edition that suggested mid-grade is, for the most part, not necessary and putting mid-grade into your car is not a “special treat” for the engine, rather, a waste of money. It says to check with the manufacturer but most cars do fine on regular.
So, I decided to fill her up with regular for about $.20 cents less per gallon and see how it went. Well, I should have gone with my gut instinct and stuck with plus. I reset the mpg tracker and sure enough, after driving around town for 3 quarters of a tank I am getting down around 10.6 mpg on regular gas. At $3.99 a gallon for regular, that breaks down to $.42 cents per mile in the city. At $4.29 (30 cents more, but it is really more like 20 cents usually), that breaks down to less than $.32 cents per mile with midgrade. I have been told I am wasting my money, read articles that said the same thing, but all along what I was doing was right. My car is thirsty for mid-grade!
I am switching back to mid-grade, it is cheaper!
Additionally, I looked up my make and model and the manufacturer says “Unleaded mid-grade 89 octane recommended Unleaded regular 87 octane acceptable.”
Acceptable to who? The oil industry.
Do yourself a favor and check what your manufacturer recommends. Then do your own tests. I think you may be surprised to find that it is actually cheaper in some cases to pump your car with midgrade. Especially you guys with the BMWs and Jags. Heck, you probably have to use premium..
Good luck!
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