Hi All, Just bought my countryman and have to put gas in it... My brother has a hardtop and puts premium, but on the gas cap to my base countryman it says 89 required. So I guess my question is, do people on here go with the 89 or put in 92/93?

Thanks,
Nick

Stats: Base Countryman, Manual

 

Use whatever you want it does not matter if you run 93 or 89. I am assuming it is a non-s.

 

They mean that 89 is the minimum octane for your car, you can go higher, if you want. You could try a tank of 89 and then on your next fill up try 92. and see if there is a noticeable difference in the way it runs. The computer will make adjustments for different octane fuels, you may notice a little more pep with higher octane fuel, or not!

Dave

 

Read the manual, it'll tell you what grade is recommended.

 

It's non s, and I think I may just try both lol. It says the 89 is minimum but obviously I could go higher. What does everyone here use/do you feel a difference?

Thanks for the responses.

 

I drive an S, so I run 93.

 

Same.

 

I'll say it before someone else does.... there are a million threads on this subject.

That said, I personally don't mind a million more!

My manual says premium is recommended but also says it can run 87 just fine. My gas cap says 89. In other words, I don't think even mini knows what they are saying. I've run tanks of 87, 89, and 93, and have found absolutely no measurable difference. If anything, I've found that I get slightly better mpg with 87. I've never experienced any kind of knocking or pinging either.

You will get a bunch of opinions on this but personally I think the non-s will run 87 without a problem. The S should run premium because of the turbo.

And if you're in a particularly hot location like in one of the heat wave areas right now, maybe consider running 89.

 

Thanks for the above, I went 89 yesterday due to excessive heat, but will try 93 on tuesday and then 87 after that. Right now no difference/problems at all with the 89.

 

oh, btw, my manual also says that Mini recommends using top tier brands of gas. Then later on the same page it says that Mini recommends BP brand fuel..........which is not a top tier brand.

lol

Like I said, I think even Mini is very confused when it comes to what fuel you should put in these cars. But almost everything I've read says that if a car is designed to run on 87, putting anything higher than that in it is a waste and might actually be counterproductive. I don't see any reason to put anything higher than 89 in the regular non-turbo Mini. This is just my opinion though...I am not an automotive expert...but I can read and learn from what I read.

btw, if you have a smartphone and are curious about tracking your mpg and what if any effect different brands or octane gas might have on it, there's a free app called gas cubby that will let you do that very easily. Takes about 5 minutes to set up the app with your info then about 30 seconds to enter the details of each fill-up and it will calculate the mpg for each tank and let you log fuel brand and octane and a bunch of other stuff.

 

I think the issue of Top Tier gas and BP is due to timing of the printing of the owner's manual. BP used to be a Top Tier gas (and apparently was when the manual was printed), but has since lost/given up that designation. I had a similar issue with Exxon, which I use, which was not a Top Tier gas until about the last year or so.

In the case of MINI, they are designed to run on 91+. That is why the manual recommends 91 or better. They will run at a lower level and the computer will compensate.