Hi all, I'm about to buy a Cooper S that was bought in Germany by a military family and shipped to the US later. It's been titled and everything here but I am a little concerned about the fuel type. Is it designed to run on the US premium fuel? Or a higher octane?

I recently spent some time in spain and the lowest octane you could buy was 95 and I'm taking it to alaska where the highest we can buy is 91. Is the engine the exact same as the US versions or do you think maybe it was designed to run on higher octance?

Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

I bought both of my MINIs through the Military Sales and haven't had any problems with fuel back in the States. The rating systems are different between Europe and US, however, I do make a point of sticking to the the highest octanes available, like Shell. My Google-foo is weak this morning or I would've provided a link to the comparable US gas stations for higher efficiency fuels. Hope this helps.

Cheers!!

 

Ask your dealer or your favorite independent shop to print out ALLDATA top tier gasoline usage bulletin for BMW vehicles specific to your year and R##.

 

That 95 is the RON while the 91 is AKI, they aren't the same octane scale.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Research Octane Number (RON)
The most common type of octane rating worldwide is the Research Octane Number (RON). RON is determined by running the fuel in a test engine with a variable compression ratio under controlled conditions, and comparing the results with those for mixtures of iso-octane and n-heptane.

Anti-Knock Index (AKI)
In most countries, including Australia and all of those in Europe, the "headline" octane rating shown on the pump is the RON, but in Canada, the United States and some other countries, like Brazil, the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI, and often written on pumps as (R+M)/2). It may also sometimes be called the Pump Octane Number (PON).

 

Wow very interesting about the octane ratings, I had no idea.
Thank you everyone for the replies, sounds like everything should be good using US premium. I'll check with a mini dealer on my way up to Alaska just to be sure. Thanks!