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I have not tried it, but the other day I heard on the radio that any car that is recently made can run on regular unleaded gas. The only thing is you may not get as good gas milage on lower octane.
Jeezus how many times are the cheap/uninformed going to bring up this topic? IT'S IN YOUR MANUAL PEOPLE! The engineers aren't lying to you! Put less than 91 in the engine will pull timing to prevent your engine from detonating itself - as has been posted ad-nasium. Search - it's a wonderful thing, so are FAQs. So are Manuals. I think this has been posted over 10 times this month alone.
I have an 05 MCS with 6500 Miles, I have been running 89 octane for the past month, the milage doesn't seem to have dropped off, I average about 28 to 30 MPG, I have a 92 mile round trip comute to work, 70% of it is highway. I was worried about Pinging or Detonation when I made this change. I weaned it over slowly, and have not noticed any bad noises under heavy accelleration or under low rpm load, with the cost of gas now if my milage drops 1 mpg for every tank, I think I can live with that.
Dave
__________________
05 DS/B MCS, Jan Tune (208/191), Helix 19% Pulley, Helix High Flow 380's, Helix Intake, TSW Damper, Helix Short Shifter, "Ebay"exhaust, Mintex Red Box Pads, Walmart Catch Can, Scanguage II, Garmin Nuvi 350, 205/50/16 General Exclaim UHP's on Panasport rims, Home made Light Bar w/4 Hella 500's
Jeezus how many times are the cheap/uninformed going to bring up this topic? IT'S IN YOUR MANUAL PEOPLE! The engineers aren't lying to you! Put less than 91 in the engine will pull timing to prevent your engine from detonating itself - as has been posted ad-nasium. Search - it's a wonderful thing, so are FAQs. So are Manuals. I think this has been posted over 10 times this month alone.
You need a in there... then it's ready for the Rants thread...
I have an 05 MCS with 6500 Miles, I have been running 89 octane for the past month, the milage doesn't seem to have dropped off, I average about 28 to 30 MPG, I have a 92 mile round trip comute to work, 70% of it is highway. I was worried about Pinging or Detonation when I made this change. I weaned it over slowly, and have not noticed any bad noises under heavy accelleration or under low rpm load, with the cost of gas now if my milage drops 1 mpg for every tank, I think I can live with that.
Dave
No one ever said you would hear anything, or have detonation. As I said - your car is SAVING YOU from it by pulling timing. Sure, your car runs - but you are way down on available power from what you would have with the proper octane. Real simple.
DON'T BUY A DEMO FROM A DEALER WITHOUT ASKING THIS QUESTION.
"Do you folks every run this thing on regular?"
You'd be surprised. Some dealers don't care what gas they put in demos.
Regular gas is bad for the engine. Its that simple. I agree with borderline ranters on this subject.
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2004 MCS BRG with Cordoba: Gone but remembered fondly.
2006 MINI Cooper S cabrio. White with black leather. Premium, Sport, Cold Weather Packages and Nav. It was a Limo: Gone but remembered fondly
2006 MINI Cooper S cabrio with full JCW tuning kit, brakes, carbon fiber in and out and swag. - May sell. Be still my heart!
When you buy a performance car, particularly one that is not normally aspirated (super/turbo charged) you just need to accept the fact that you have to spring more for gas.
Plus, something that's killing me with people going to lower octane gas as the price gets higher is that the percentage difference between the cost of regular and premium is now LOWER than it was before, so if the difference didn't bother you before, don't let it bother you now. I always run 93 octane (of course the station down the street from me has 87, 89, 93, 94, so I pay 20cents more for 93 than for 87 )
What is the recommended gas for a MCS ? My other car is a V8 and required 92 octane gas... wonder if I can get by with 87 or 89 on my MCS ?
Thanks
This is my opinion....you can use 87 or 89 octane without hurting anything. There might be a slight drop in gas mileage or performance, but I doubt it.
I don't think that horsepower dictates what type of gas to use. It is the way the engine is designed. The car companies don't see any more money by having their cars run on premium. If the manual recommends 91 octane or higher put that in the car. If you are concerned about the cost of the gas buy a car that runs on 87 octane.
I understand that a MCS will require 91. But for a regualar MC to require 91 is a bit too much. it's only 105 hp and it takes 91...
its 115, get it right
my MC get 4-5 MPG better with 91+ versus 86, 87, or 89. when i run 107 or 110 cam 2, it goes back down to 4-5 less than 91. its not that much money more, 3-4 more dollars a fill up, so it doesnt bother me!
__________________ -Rick
'03 EB/B MCS
Crap, gotta change my name to Not-so-rednwhite-or-darksilvernwhite-but-electricbluenblackcooper.
Same problem up here, if you are worrying about 80 Bucks a year difference why buy a MINI you might as well buy 2 Hyundai accents and put the change in your pocket.PS All modern cars have a ENGINE Management system thats programmed to self protect ie. retard timing if you get bad gas or fill with 89 octane to save money.You should here the SUV owners complaining at the gas pumps here.My friendly response is:If you cant afford the gas why are you driving it DUH!
Here in Alabama where we have 89 and 93 octane, I guess I could mix the two 50/50 and save a few pennies. . .
__________________ Disclaimer: No claim is made that the quality of the MINI-related advice offered by Yucca Patrol
is greater than the quality of MINI-related advice offered by other NAM members.
For the MC--10.6:1 compression ratio is a lot, aluminum heads or no. But other manufacturers have speced 87 octane with 10:1 compression for 15 years now.
I figure if I have to use premium anyway, I may as well have a turbo or supercharger, which is why I bought an "S."
If you don't notice/are willing to accept the power and mileage losses, then 87 is likely just fine for a MC since the engine will protect itself. But never for the MCS--too dangerous to run forced induction with low octane since retarded timing will make it runeven hotter.
Some people like to be cheap for the sake of being cheap, not frugal. They create false economies and end up paying more in the end.
And on the other hand some people think the word "premium" with respect to gas means better. It only means better with respect to anti-knock additives, nothing else. If, on the slim chance your engine knocks excessively running regular, the engine computer will reduce the timing automatically, eliminating the knock and any chance of engine damage. The reduced timing may or may not have a noticeable effect on engine performance or gas mileage. To know for sure you would need to carefully monitor your gas mileage under the same driving conditions with at least 4 or 5 tanks of gas. The perceived difference from one tank of gas is meaningless.
The reason the "regular" MINI requires 91 octane fuel is because of the high compression ratio of, I believe, 10.6 to 1. The MCS has a lower compression ratio, (about 8.5 to 1), than the MC, but since the supercharger jams the fuel and air into the engine, the effective compression ratio is as high as or higher than the MC.
Neither car will be damaged by using lower than 91 octane fuel. In other words, if you use, for example, 89 octane gas and it seems ok, it is OK.
As a side note, it cost the oil compainies about 2 cents/gal more to produce 91 octane compared to 89 octane. They then charge about 10 cents a gallon more for it.
Since my previous post was well received and while I'm not an expert....I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express recently.
Additional clarification. The knock we are worried about is caused by the heat of compression causing ignition, rather than the timing firing the spark plug to cause ignition. This ignition from compression alone causes a pinging sound simular to the sound of a diesel. This is why pre-ignition is sometimes called "dieseling". The noise is detected at very low levels by the MINI's knock detection system which retards the timing, making the spark plug fire at a time when the piston is at a lower position in it's compression stroke...in other words, it makes sure the fuel/air mix is ignited by the spark plug before it ignites from the heat of compression only...presto, no knock.
Because the piston is no longer at it's optimum theoretical position for maximum power production, a very slight reduction in power and/or gas mileage could occur. Your engine will not be damaged in any way by this change in timing...not to worry.
The above information is certified correct to the best of my knowlege.
WOW! I stayed in my own home last night, my manual says premium, and I have a headache. 91 or better it is. The "I's" have it. I hope this thread helps the first person that posted thier first post in here. Posts aren't always this rant-ish.
Unfortunately, things like this aren't stickied around here (no car-guy topics are), and it'll be gone through AGAIN in a few days...probably for weeks/months. It's too bad the things that ARE stickied, like 'register for your super special forum number' and 'find a local buddy' and 'the latest mini ad' are 'important' and the topics of a car forum.
Calulator time:
12MCS BRG II, 6-speed, White Top and Bonnet Stripes, BLK Alloy Wheels, Armrest, Anthricite Headliner, Xenons
in there... then it's ready for the 
)
gas pumps here.My friendly response is:If you cant afford the gas why are you driving it DUH!
