Honda and Premium Fuels

[SLK]

Have just bought a Honda City ZX a couple of days back... the dealer says its a strict no to use premium fuels with this car.

Well, I had always heard about this but was never a honda owner to be concerned .

I know that using premium fuels make the engine revs considerably smoother and give more FE (works for my WagonR), so how is the situation so different for a honda?

As of now, I won't be using premium fuels but I still would like to know if any honda city owners use premium fuels? and what could be the possible reason behind this restriction on using premium fuels?

*I think this might have been discussed before but I could not find the topic*

[GTO]

Linkway Honda recommends generous helpings of Speed93 to my Vtec. I have only heard of manufacturers not recommending premium fuels for diesels, never for petrols.

Ask that executive for an explanation, and take a second opinion from someone in the service station of your dealership

[ajmat]

MY vtec has been using premium fuel from day 1 except when traveeling out of town.

No problemss at all

[rareone]

Few dayz back a similar suggestion was given to me by sharayu hyundai people.

They strictly told me not to put Premium Fuel and just put the regular fuel for my Santro Zip Plus.

When i asked him the reason why he said its written in the manual to use 87 Fuel and not the 91 Octane Fuel...

Now i m always confused when i go to the Petrol Pump what to put...

[diven_b]

about a year ago aci had tested the new city with 97octane fuel and it performed better....better fe and better 0-100...this is because the compression ratio of the car i pretty high,so it works better with higher octane fuel..there was a 2\3 page article on this

[Shan2nu]

Vtec runs on IOC 91 Premium Fuel. No probs yet. Car feels better with it.

But i didn't notice any further diff when i filled speed 93. 91 is good enuf for these engines.

Shan2nu

[Boom Shiva]

Hey I've been wondering for a while...does it make sense to use 97 in Optra or am I just wasting my money?

[quicksilver]

I remember one of my cosins in B'Lore damaged his OHC-Vtec's fuel pump/injector because of some very minor variations in the density of Premium Petrol (think it was IOC, am not sure though).

EDIT*** Sorry, forgot to mention that it happened almost 3 to 4 years ago ***

It was found out that a batch of petrol refined at the Mangalore Refinery plant was faulty, and since it did not come under warranty cover for the vehicle, my cousin had to pay close to 25-30K. I am sure a lot many people with MPFI vehicles could have faced a similar situation and it was on the newspapers too.

Probably one reason why manufactorers do not recommend premium fuels. Another reason could be that the cars are detuned anyways and they don't see the need for premium fuels.

My OHC 1.5 had been running ONLY on XtraPremium for the last 35,000 KMs and never had a single issue. I have felt improved mileage and engine runs smooth ever since I switched to premium. HTH.

[viper]

Originally Posted by Boom Shiva

Hey I've been wondering for a while...does it make sense to use 97 in Optra or am I just wasting my money?

Hry,

It definitely makes sense considering Speed/power etc are only 6 bucks cheaper compared to 10 odd earlier.

Viper

[iraghava]

Well I have been using a variety of petrol grades on my OHC VTEC (courtersy of my travelling outstation to places which have dubious fuel quality) & she runs OK on normal petrol & there is slight difference in the smoothness of the engine on Premium fuel especially there is reduced jerking at low speeds.

For some time now whenever I am in delhi I fill up on Speed 97 because of the small difference in price nowadays. And I must say there is a slight but perceptible difference in the car's performance & smoothness while using 97. I would highly recommend 97 to people who don't have a problem with the price.

[Jeeves]

I have the same recommendation from my dealer for the Civic A/T. In fact I would have thought it might improve performance by using premium petrol. On the other hand I am apprehensive because of the recommendation. Maybe as GTO has suggested I will ask the service/tech guys when it goes for 1st service.

[SLK]

Originally Posted by Jeeves

Maybe as GTO has suggested I will ask the service/tech guys when it goes for 1st service.

I'll do the same ASAP.... won't even have to wait for the first service...
One of the tyres of my car was defective!... got to collect a replacement from the dealer in a couple of days.

[sandeep108]

Originally Posted by Jeeves

I have the same recommendation from my dealer for the Civic A/T. In fact I would have thought it might improve performance by using premium petrol. On the other hand I am apprehensive because of the recommendation. Maybe as GTO has suggested I will ask the service/tech guys when it goes for 1st service.

Read the manual. For the civic engine, 91 is just fine, in fact you should then get the 140bhp. I read an ACI article on supercars where with super unleaded in europe, the bhp was around 850bhp and with super unleaded in US it was only 805 bhp since octane rating of US petrol was lower.

I believe usually speed is the culprit, because of differing density. Dealer says to use power/xtrapremium no problem, not to use speed. That being said, I have used speed and xtrapremium in my OHC with no problems. Xtrapremium>speed>normal petrol. I once tried speed 93 but performance very noticeably worsened actually. Xtrapremium makes engine much smoother and gives much better low end performance without knocking.

Civic will be xtrapremium 91 only.

[Jeeves]

Excuse my ignorance, but since I have an account with an IOC pump nearby, what is their premium called?
And is it ok to fill the premium when I already have some regular in the tank?

[SLK]

Originally Posted by Jeeves

Excuse my ignorance, but since I have an account with an IOC pump nearby, what is their premium called?
And is it ok to fill the premium when I already have some regular in the tank?

It's called XtraPremium.... I have had a to mix regular and XtraPremium a few times.. for my WagonR... no issues...