Does the svx engine need premium gas, or can it use lower grade of gas.

Can the Subaru SVX 3.3 engine use a lower grade of gas beside premium gas, does lower grade gas make it knock, not have as much power, any thing.

[svxxx26]

Use premium unleaded. It says that in the owner's manual, the dashboard and the fuel filler door.

It's there for a reason! You COULD use regular...but performance would suffer, as well as longevity.

[Mr.Pwrlite]

Don't use anything less than what SVX requires. By keeping higher octane fuel in your car, you lower your chances of major engine/sensor problems in the future. The engine was designed to use high octane fuels. As far as choices, I find Sunoco Ultra 94 to be the best for me. Once in a while I'll go to Shell's 93 Octane. The lowest I ever put in my car was 92 octane... Anyone else with a favorite brand or grade gas they like to use?

[Beav]

For my nickel's worth I'd use any brand name fuel that doesn't cause the engine to knock. The SVX has two knock sensors so that really shouldn't be an issue. What would be an issue would be a possible reduction in mpg as the computer combats knocking/pinging by retarding ignition timing. That in itself isn't dangerous, just slightly affects economy and performance. Over a long period of time it may cause an amount of carbon build-up in the cylinders. Your decision - for me I kind of have an idea of how much I'm willing to spend on fuel. If the prices skyrocket for no apparent reason I figure I can run the cheap stuff for a while then go back when prices decline. But that's me....

Beav

[1994SubaruSVX]

available at my local Costco. never had any problems....car is as clean as a whistle.

what is the big deal about paying for premium anyway, it really isnt that much more expensive.

[Beav]

I've seen, at times, around different parts of the country where the price difference is 30-50 cents/gal. Plus when the price jumps 25-30 in one day I'll do a partial with regular and wait it out. Not that it would break me, I'm just tired of them using my fanny for a bike rack...

[1994SubaruSVX]

just part of owning the svx as far as i am concerned. it is a high performance car that has high cost needs, whether it is gas or parts again just comes with the territory.

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally posted by 1994SubaruSVX
just part of owning the svx as far as i am concerned. it is a high performance car that has high cost needs, whether it is gas or parts again just comes with the territory.

I agree. Premium gas is typically 2-35cents a gallon more here, but I feel it is part of owning the car.

On my wall here at the office is a receipt from the high gas prices of the summer. I paid more than $34 to fill my car, at $2.10/gal, on that day.

Ouch. It costs me less than $20 now...

[LarryIII]

I gassed-up this morning at the local EXXON station (nothern DE).
The price was $1.319 ($1.32) per gallon for premium. The car took 15.54 gallons ($20.51 total). I finally got to see the little orange light of the gas pump symbol on the dash come on.

I was very foggy this morn. I think I ran over someone.
I found a cardboard box-o-zinfendal, with a MD tax stamp, wedged in the bottom grill of the front bumper.
It couldn't be anybody real important. After all, who drinks wine from a box?


Larry III

[Ron Mummert]

Originally posted by LarryIII
I gassed-up this morning at the local EXXON station (nothern DE).
The price was $1.319 ($1.32) per gallon for premium. The car took 15.54 gallons ($20.51 total). I finally got to see the little orange light of the gas pump symbol on the dash come on.

I was very foggy this morn. I think I ran over someone.
I found a cardboard box-o-zinfendal, with a MD tax stamp, wedged in the bottom grill of the front bumper.
It couldn't be anybody real important. After all, who drinks wine from a box?


Larry III

I got Exxon premium today for $1.23.9 in MD, the land of unpleasant taxation. WAWA had it for $1.19.9.
The box is a step up from the bag that I usually hide my daily brew in. I said that so I could end the sentence in a preposition.
Ron.

[nordique14]

Car&Driver magazine had an interesting article on regular vs premium gas. It discusses the issue from a performance perspective but does not go into how it affects the longevity of the engine.

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caran...e_gasoline.xml

Cheers,
Matt

[SVX10]

Definately go with the premium. I used to buy mid grade all the time cuz it was cheaper and I never heard any pinging. But, as the C&D article mentioned, the engine will change timing to avoid the ping. I ended up with a bad knock sensor, and I have a feeling I know why. Also, as many people heard me complaining about a while back, I was losing street races (dumb, I know, I don't do it anymore) to Chevy Cavaliers and such. I do think it affects performance. I was also told by Eddycat that it could cause carbon buildup in the engine affecting performance and longevity. Even here at 6000 ft, I still use premium (although the highest octane I can find here is 90.5).
Mat-1

[SVXphile]

Never trust that beautiful engine to anything marginal. Only the best for my Super-Ru!

Ron: < I said that so I could end the sentence in a preposition>

Reminds me of the female inmate who tried to get the judge to end her sentence with a proposition.... Don

[Red SVX 92]

Originally posted by Mr.Pwrlite
Don't use anything less than what SVX requires. By keeping higher octane fuel in your car, you lower your chances of major engine/sensor problems in the future. The engine was designed to use high octane fuels. As far as choices, I find Sunoco Ultra 94 to be the best for me. Once in a while I'll go to Shell's 93 Octane. The lowest I ever put in my car was 92 octane... Anyone else with a favorite brand or grade gas they like to use?

I'm very bitter at the fact that the highest octance rating around here is 91 right now, unless you count race gas. We don't have Sunoco here, at least I haven't seen it... I really want some of their higher octane gas, dammit.

[Beav]

Why? Just to spend money on something? You can deposit all of your excess cash into my checking account to take care of that problem.

You won't get any more power from it, that's a known fact. There are no more BTUs in premium vs. regular, so where would the extra power come from? Higher octane allows you to run higher compression without knocking. Unless you've done something to increase your compression ratio you're just blowing your money.

Look at this way, higher octane fuels slow down flame propagation, that's how they allow higher compression without knocking. So if you use high octane without higher compression aren't you just making the fuel less efficient in your particular application? Hmmm....I never thought of it that way before...
Either way probably wouldn't result in any noticeable gains or losses anyway.

Beav