The gas you you put in your Kizzy really matters.

[MNSLS]

I haven't had the 10 Kizashi SLS for long. Enough for 4 tanks of gas. After reading this and the manual to use non-oxygenated gas I thought I'd give the local station's non-oxygenated gas a try.

87 octane provided me with 29.6 MPG. The next tank:
92 octane provided me with 31.4 MPG.

The cost difference was .20. 87 octane was $3.53. So the higher octane cost me .20/3.53 or 5.67% more.

The mileage difference 1.8/29.6 or 6.08% more.

Seemingly the expensive gas did pay for itself. The 'catch' of course is this was only a single test. The travel paths, the time of day, person in the car, and weather were not the same between the two.

I switched back to the 87 octane for the next tank. It was again not the same as either of the first two tests. Though it was more highway and thus I'd say closer to the 92 octane test. One significant difference was I used my air conditioner at least half the tank. I had not used that in either of the first tests. This time - 29.8 MPG. No real savings there.

What I learned to date? My Kizashi thinks it gets about 2MPG better than it really does.

[WESHOOT2]

I notice a 2MPG improvement running Mobil 93 octane.
So I do.

(I also notice less knock from the motor.)

[JJfairway]

The higher the octane the better the engine performance and mileage. I'm in Iowa and Ethanol is prevalent. You can pay 25% more and get 25% more mileage and have better additive/cleaners in the fuel. Or, you can save 25% at the pump, get 25% less mileage, and have harsher fuel in your automobile. Maybe I'm full of water here and I'd like to have some engineer or someone more knowledgeable clue us in to the pro's and con's of Ethanol. I know the Kizashi manual says only fuel with 10% or less is acceptable. I think Iowa has a much higher percentage of Ethanol. I won't use it in any car...

[MNSLS]

JJ I don't find paying 25% more for gas gives you 25% more mileage. Look a few posts above and you'll see my first trial at this. I gained about 6% MPG by moving to the non-oxygenated premium grade.

Last night I was considering another trial on this tank. That service station had unleaded for $3.44 or premium at $4.06. When it came to cost the 17% surcharge more then off-set a 6% gain. So, I didn't use premium.

I will be running another test in the future.

[Moto]

The separation in premium fuel prices varies a lot around the country. I only pay about 20 cents more over regular.

[NiteRider]

So here is a list of Non-Oxygenated gas stations in the US and Canada. Unfortunately, there are none around where I live. http://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp

This is what I don't understand. Suzuki's manual says to run non-oxygenated (No Ethanol) gas in the Kizzys. However, there is hardly any of it around anymore. And really, most modern cars are built to run on blended gas except for the Kizzy. This really baffles me. Are we destroying our engines with these ethanol blends?

[Ehibb034]

Agreed with Moto...

I only buy premium when the difference in price between premium and regular is 20 cents or less. This seems to me to be the cut off point between loss/gain in doing the premium.

I never buy mid-grade. No rhyme or reason, just how I have been doing it.

[JJfairway]

25% increase/decrease is exaggerated. In our Chevy Tahoe the Ethanol really lessens our mileage per gallon and range per tank. I prefer premium blend in smaller engines and normal unleaded without ethanol in larger engines.

[rjc1976]

yeah, I was gonna say..... quality should make much much much more of a difference than octane.

This is how I feel. I use 87, but I try to stick to the gas on this list:
http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

[Trailboss]

I'm with Dr. Bill on this one....


http://www.kgoam810.com/viewentry.asp?I ... SONALITIES