2016 GTI takes 87 octane gas?

[skgarach1014]

I ran 87 in California for a while. I noticed pinging and engine strain when going uphill from a start.

I switched to 91 and haven't looked back. The engine runs waaaay smoother

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[VdubbinCT]

Is Shell's "Plus" aka 89 better than 87? Anyone ever done a study on this? Just curious. 87 for $2.99, 89 for $3.19, Premium for $3.49 and seeing if the added cost would make a difference

I filled with 89 for the first time today and just going to see if I notice anything different than 87. Anywhoo, I filled up today from dead empty to dead full and it showed on my "Range", that the tank will be 355 miles. I knew it would change to 365-375 as I got going. I made a 112 mile drive home. I am still on "Full" when I got home, and it fluctuated from 365 to 405 on the "range" on the way home, and now it's at 390 miles.

Does "better" gas if it's called that, give better mileage? This is for the 2018 GTI if it makes a difference


I also notice some stations have 87, 91, 93. Others like Shell have 87, 89, and I think the next up is "V Power" Nitro or something which is the premium. Does Shell 89 compare to those that are 91?

 

[Huntermike]

Is Shell's "Plus" aka 89 better than 87? Anyone ever done a study on this? Just curious. 87 for $2.99, 89 for $3.19, Premium for $3.49 and seeing if the added cost would make a difference

I filled with 89 for the first time today and just going to see if I notice anything different than 87. Anywhoo, I filled up today from dead empty to dead full and it showed on my "Range", that the tank will be 355 miles. I knew it would change to 365-375 as I got going. I made a 112 mile drive home. I am still on "Full" when I got home, and it fluctuated from 365 to 405 on the "range" on the way home, and now it's at 390 miles.

Does "better" gas if it's called that, give better mileage? This is for the 2018 GTI if it makes a difference


I also notice some stations have 87, 91, 93. Others like Shell have 87, 89, and I think the next up is "V Power" Nitro or something which is the premium. Does Shell 89 compare to those that are 91?

No, No, and No. Marketing got you

 

[VdubbinCT]

No, No, and No. Marketing got you

haha figures, a marketing scheme

 

[kingkhan]

Elevation issues?

Nope, I live in the Toronto area. I'm mostly worried about long term reliability by using 87. Will probably just use 91 going forward for peace of mind.

 

[Agray]

Actual data from 24,000 miles of driving using 93 and 87. I also moved to a 235 tire before many of the fill ups that were 93. All in all... it's even.

87= 29.3 MPG
93= 28.06 MPG

Excel sheet below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dgwxtnwqvvs5hjc/Fuelly%20Export.csv?dl=0

 

[MSchott]

Actual data from 24,000 miles of driving using 93 and 87. I also moved to a 235 tire before many of the fill ups that were 93. All in all... it's even.

87= 29.3 MPG
93= 28.06 MPG

Excel sheet below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dgwxtnwqvvs5hjc/Fuelly%20Export.csv?dl=0

It is my anecdotal experience that moving from a 225 tire to 235 has a detrimental effect on fuel economy. It could also be tire compound but when I went from the stock Hankook tires to 235/40-18 Michelin AS3+ tires my fuel economy fell by about 10%. I always use 93 octane by the way as you can’t get 91 where I live.

 

[AndroidPurity]

It is my anecdotal experience that moving from a 225 tire to 235 has a detrimental effect on fuel economy. It could also be tire compound but when I went from the stock Hankook tires to 235/40-18 Michelin AS3+ tires my fuel economy fell by about 10%. I always use 93 octane by the way as you can’t get 91 where I live.

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I wouldn't expect a drop by that much from wider tires. I figured only a 2-3% difference that would be hard to tell. But 10% is a lot! Good to keep in mind when I get tires for my car, except I'll probably keep the same rims on my sport.

They are probably the only rim available on the MK7 GTI from the factory that I like enough to keep. Hopefully going with the Michelin Super Sport A/S tires with same width won't make much difference from being a bit stickier tire.

 

[AndroidPurity]

It seems there's a lot of misinformation in this thread from peoples assumptions and no actual data sources to back them up.

AAA did a very detailed study on multiple different cars with higher performance engines that require premium gas, and test what putting 87 octance (regular) gas in them does to the gas mileage and power of the same car.

The results were extremely interesting! Check out the detailed PDF here of the cars they used (they even did the A3 1.8t), all the parameters they used, and so much more.

In general they found that in pretty much every car and pretty much every test that using the recommended premium gas gets better gas mileage than using regular gas.

They also found that pretty much in every car and pretty much every test that using the recommended premium gas gives more horsepower than using regular gas. As much as

Basically a win-win situation, more mileage and more power!!! Also this study means you could conclude that if you run 93 octane in your GTI (2 higher than factory recommended 91 octane) then you actually have about 2% to 3% more horsepower than the factory rating. Meaning the GTI rated at 220hp is actually around 225hp-227hp when you run 93 octane. when adding 2%-3% and rounding to the nearest whole number.

 

[Itzed]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I wouldn't expect a drop by that much from wider tires. I figured only a 2-3% difference that would be hard to tell. But 10% is a lot! Good to keep in mind when I get tires for my car, except I'll probably keep the same rims on my sport.

They are probably the only rim available on the MK7 GTI from the factory that I like enough to keep. Hopefully going with the Michelin Super Sport A/S tires with same width won't make much difference from being a bit stickier tire.

Tires make a huge difference, even regardless of size. I drove my original Bridgestones to 70K and just replaced them with new Vredesteins. My MPG consistently improved over the life of the OEM tires as they wore, where I was getting 410 miles per tank by the time I replaced them. My new sticky tires have cut that to about 360. But I’ll take that any day for the lower noise and better ride.

 

[MSchott]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I wouldn't expect a drop by that much from wider tires. I figured only a 2-3% difference that would be hard to tell. But 10% is a lot! Good to keep in mind when I get tires for my car, except I'll probably keep the same rims on my sport.

They are probably the only rim available on the MK7 GTI from the factory that I like enough to keep. Hopefully going with the Michelin Super Sport A/S tires with same width won't make much difference from being a bit stickier tire.

I don’t attribute all of the difference to the extra 10mm. It could also be the tread compound, speedometer error or something else.

 

[Strange Mud]

Interesting stuff posted by Android.


I'll try and spend more than a quick glance at it but interesting the Audi was the one car that did worse on premium (it was the 1.8l engine) I do know premium is 20-30% more $ in CT.



reminder to play nice in this thread...do what makes you happy you can discuss why you make your choice but everyone's choice is up to them.


Mud

 

[golfdave]

couple of points ..

wider tyres affect aero like mad.."Eco" cars have narrow tyres....

look at the car from the front..its called the "frontal x-sectional area"...your tyres are visible below the bodywork..& act like a brick to the air flow....the wider the tyre the more the "brick"...

to get around this sports cars have very low suspension so the bodywork covers the tyre, so not much of the tyre is visable from the front...again "eco" cars have lower suspension..


as for premium gas...mainly its the cleaning packages which help especially in shell vpower/optimax….I which I have been using since 2002 in my cars...

 

[AndroidPurity]

Thanks for the information on the tires guys!

Interesting stuff posted by Android.


I'll try and spend more than a quick glance at it but interesting the Audi was the one car that did worse on premium (it was the 1.8l engine) I do know premium is 20-30% more $ in CT.



reminder to play nice in this thread...do what makes you happy you can discuss why you make your choice but everyone's choice is up to them.


Mud

Yeah it is very interesting. Since the 1.8t by VW/Audi engine was the only 1 to actually have decreased mpg with premium. My theory is because it likely has something to do with the fact it was also the only engine to experience audible engine knock on regular gas (pg 23).

Since it gets knocking on 87 octane regular, the engine should not really be ran on it, despite Audi saying it can. Also further evidence we likely should not be running any VW or Audi engine that is boosted on regular. At least if you want your engine to last a long time and become damaged over time.

Also another factor to keep in mind is the A3 got the best mpg out of all those cars under every test. Even better than the 1.4t in the Renegade!! So since it's the best mpg car in the test, and since it's the only one with knock, to me that just says Audi tuned this engine precisely for premium. So maybe that's the reason for the difference?

Anyways the approximate 2.1% increase in both horespower and torque with premium in the 1.8t likely means we would see at least that or probably more using 93 octane on the 2.0t. The power gain was even seen in the mid-range RPM's where most people spend most their time with spirited driving.

So the extra power and longevity is enough to convince me to use premium every time. Even if anyone reading this doesn't care about the power increase, then you really should if you want your engine to last long according to this study on the A3. That money you're saving in gas will be spent anyways when your engine has issues from continuous knock.

 

[blaqsheep]

Basically a win-win situation, more mileage and more power!!!

Based on the Edmund MK6 GTI study, it was found that fuel economy was negligible between 87 and 91. In the study you posted, looking at the A3, an increase of 4 hp will certainly not be felt or realized.

It's a no brainer that premium fuel is better for forced induction vehicles. At the end of the day, particularly for the GTI, it is recommended but not required.

In terms of what using strictly 87 does to the EA888 engine over time, no one knows as there has not been a comparative study. So saying premium is better for longevity is speculative. There are so many factors that come into play.

I'll be using 87 this winter because gas is finally around or less than $1/litre, fuel economy is much lower during the winter anyways and the roads are shit so there's no need to go fast. Wish me luck