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87 or 91 Fuel For 2017 GTI

Keefe

Keefe

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Toronto, Canada
As the title states I was wondering on what you guy's thoughts are on using 87 vs 91 octane fuel in the GTI. When I purchased the car I suspected it took premium gas (91) as all the previous GTI's have required premium, but to my surprise on the gas door is says 87 as well as in the owners manual.

I was wondering if you guys have any input on what I should be using as I've heard people say to follow the fuel door requirement (87) and others say use premium. One of my friends who works at Volkswagen told me to actually use regular since it takes it, as well as another friend who owns an older GTI. So I'm a little stuck on what to be using. I don't mind paying the premium price as I suspected it required it upon purchase, but if there is no real benefit to doing so I might as well save some money in the long run. Thoughts?
 
V

VWTURBOFAM

Ready to race!
Location
TEXAS
Keefe said:
As the title states I was wondering on what you guy's thoughts are on using 87 vs 91 octane fuel in the GTI. When I purchased the car I suspected it took premium gas (91) as all the previous GTI's have required premium, but to my surprise on the gas door is says 87 as well as in the owners manual.

I was wondering if you guys have any input on what I should be using as I've heard people say to follow the fuel door requirement (87) and others say use premium. One of my friends who works at Volkswagen told me to actually use regular since it takes it, as well as another friend who owns an older GTI. So I'm a little stuck on what to be using. I don't mind paying the premium price as I suspected it required it upon purchase, but if there is no real benefit to doing so I might as well save some money in the long run. Thoughts?
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I wouldn't run anything lower than 91 myself, luckily we have 93 in Tx. Your engine will thank you for it, as well as reward you with better mileage and power and longevity. I'll let someone else who is a more knowledgeable here break it down scientifically, as I would prob mess it up and confuse you.

You may be able to get away with it on a Stock car, but for the Love of God, do not run a Tune or Piggyback on anything less than 91..
 
D

dah90

Ready to race!
Location
CA
It’s perfectly fine to run 87 while the car is stock in my opinion. However most of the time I use 91-93 depending on geographical location. The reason being for me is that one the VW website it says that advertised horsepower and torque was achieved using premium gasoline. I want what I paid for so I use the premium gas most of the time unless money is tight at the moment.
 
AERO

AERO

Go Kart Newbie
Location
SE of Denver
The car can certainly run mid grade as long as you aren't tuned. These cars have a very sophisticated ecus and can easily adjust for the octane. The car probably makes 5 less hp with mid grade.
 
PLF8593

PLF8593

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Philly
Car(s)
19 Alltrack 6MT
Keefe said:
As the title states I was wondering on what you guy's thoughts are on using 87 vs 91 octane fuel in the GTI. When I purchased the car I suspected it took premium gas (91) as all the previous GTI's have required premium, but to my surprise on the gas door is says 87 as well as in the owners manual.

I was wondering if you guys have any input on what I should be using as I've heard people say to follow the fuel door requirement (87) and others say use premium. One of my friends who works at Volkswagen told me to actually use regular since it takes it, as well as another friend who owns an older GTI. So I'm a little stuck on what to be using. I don't mind paying the premium price as I suspected it required it upon purchase, but if there is no real benefit to doing so I might as well save some money in the long run. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

In your climate, you should be good to run 87 at least 9 months a year. But if it ever gets above like 80 degrees I'd put higher octane in.

The stock torque targeting is extremely boost conservative, so regular isn't gonna lead to timing pull on stock programming unless the IATs are high like in the middle of the summer.

Basically, you can run 87.
 
Gawernator

Gawernator

Go Kart Champion
Location
Fremont, CA
There's no reason to run 87 unless it's all you can get. The lower octane will decrease your fuel mileage and 91 becomes more economical
 
PLF8593

PLF8593

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Philly
Car(s)
19 Alltrack 6MT
Gawernator said:
There's no reason to run 87 unless it's all you can get. The lower octane will decrease your fuel mileage and 91 becomes more economical
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This is one of the most annoying, hyperbolic, and simply untrue things people resort to in the ongoing 87 vs 91 debate.

NO - the difference in gas mileage between premium and regular is NOT great enough that premium becomes more economical. I just drove 2000 miles between St Louis and back to Philly a few weeks ago, and my friend put Regular in a tank while I was inside the rest stop. I compared my gas mileage on that tank to the other 5 tanks I used between Philly, STL, and back (and believe me, I ran each and every tank to the very bottom, got like 12.5+ gallons on each fillup).

There was ~literally~ no difference. I averaged 32.5 mpg on every tank that was expended on I70 E/W on the flat plains between Columbus Ohio and St Louis Missouri, including the tank that was filled with regular. All tanks had an average speed of 65-72 mph

Premium ~might~ be .5-1 mpg more efficient over the course of a whole tank of city driving. But the fact of the matter is that the difference in gas mileage between premium and regular is negligible at best, and nonexistent at worst.
 
Keefe

Keefe

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Toronto, Canada
After reading some stuff online and deciding what I should do, I decided I'm just going to put in 91 for the life of the car. I want the advertised power and I don't mind paying a few dollars extra per fill up to get the car running at its best. I feel as Volkswagen lets these engines take regular just to appeal to a broader market, but they ideally should be premium vehicles.
 
PLF8593

PLF8593

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Philly
Car(s)
19 Alltrack 6MT
Keefe said:
After reading some stuff online and deciding what I should do, I decided I'm just going to put in 91 for the life of the car. I want the advertised power and I don't mind paying a few dollars extra per fill up to get the car running at its best. I feel as Volkswagen lets these engines take regular just to appeal to a broader market, but they ideally should be premium vehicles.
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Well, of course. They're turbocharged.
 
H

hsyed87

New member
GolfWang said:
This is one of the most annoying, hyperbolic, and simply untrue things people resort to in the ongoing 87 vs 91 debate.

NO - the difference in gas mileage between premium and regular is NOT great enough that premium becomes more economical. I just drove 2000 miles between St Louis and back to Philly a few weeks ago, and my friend put Regular in a tank while I was inside the rest stop. I compared my gas mileage on that tank to the other 5 tanks I used between Philly, STL, and back (and believe me, I ran each and every tank to the very bottom, got like 12.5+ gallons on each fillup).

There was ~literally~ no difference. I averaged 32.5 mpg on every tank that was expended on I70 E/W on the flat plains between Columbus Ohio and St Louis Missouri, including the tank that was filled with regular. All tanks had an average speed of 65-72 mph

Premium ~might~ be .5-1 mpg more efficient over the course of a whole tank of city driving. But the fact of the matter is that the difference in gas mileage between premium and regular is negligible at best, and nonexistent at worst.
Click to expand...
This. Done the math too many times myself comparing price difference vs. mpg difference to even entertain this argument. The savings for putting lower octane GREATLY outweighs any increase in efficiency. It's like a 10-15% cheaper to put regular gas in the car. There's no appreciable difference in gas mileage.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
Gawernator

Gawernator

Go Kart Champion
Location
Fremont, CA
GolfWang said:
This is one of the most annoying, hyperbolic, and simply untrue things people resort to in the ongoing 87 vs 91 debate.

NO - the difference in gas mileage between premium and regular is NOT great enough that premium becomes more economical. I just drove 2000 miles between St Louis and back to Philly a few weeks ago, and my friend put Regular in a tank while I was inside the rest stop. I compared my gas mileage on that tank to the other 5 tanks I used between Philly, STL, and back (and believe me, I ran each and every tank to the very bottom, got like 12.5+ gallons on each fillup).

There was ~literally~ no difference. I averaged 32.5 mpg on every tank that was expended on I70 E/W on the flat plains between Columbus Ohio and St Louis Missouri, including the tank that was filled with regular. All tanks had an average speed of 65-72 mph

Premium ~might~ be .5-1 mpg more efficient over the course of a whole tank of city driving. But the fact of the matter is that the difference in gas mileage between premium and regular is negligible at best, and nonexistent at worst.
Click to expand...

Maybe on your car but I was losing like 5 MPG average a tank. Turbo car can't be as economical with retarded timing and boost. Who buys this car to drive it like a slow grandpa with 87 in it anyways? Lmao
 
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