Gas is getting pretty pricy. I'm planning to buy a MC, not an S. I understand that Mini Cooper "recommends" premium fuel. Do I really have to fuel with premium gasoline? Medium grade OK or does it have to be the highest octane?? What if I use regular unleaded (87 octane, I think). Will this damage the engine or just impact performance or gas mileage??? What are people doing?

 

I think the obvious response to this is...if you have to ask...


At 30 some MPG I'll not worrk about giving my impending S Premium fuel.

I am, though...as you..interested in seeing the replies of current owners. It's my belief that with minor differences, in Britain they're still buying Gasoline. We are buying Motor Fuel...big difference. A British friend couldn't believe my Morris Minor was vapor locking like it does...till a friend of his came here and tried to drive the same car he uses in Britain. Vapor Lock City.

Anyway...if they're specing Premium Gasoline...and we're buying Premium Motor Fuel we're still going to come out short aren't we?

Peter...concerned about the quality of the fumes he huffs...in Denver

 

yup, you really should put in premium. :smile: The engine will get a little knock and detonation with regular (at least it did on my S when I let a drunk girl fill up my car , wasn't even worth the free gas in the end). plus, for the entire tank, i noticed a bit less power and my highway fuel econ dropped about 1.5MPG...

Keep in mind the regular MC get's pretty decent fuel econ on the highway. Tho if you really need to watch the fuel budget, a Golf TDI can't be beat

 

Both MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S have a fuel requirement of at least 91 Octane. This is due to the compression ratios of the 1.6L Tritec engines.

The MINI's engine computer programming is equipped with an anti-knocking device in case you need to use gasoline with lower rating than 91. Some people regurarly use 87-89 Octane fuel and report no problems, but I personally do not recommend this practice on a daily basis.

Your new MINI was designed to run best on Premium gasoline. Since you will be getting a regular MC, the added $.10-$.20 per gallon of premium fuel can easily be offset by the EXCELLENT gas mileage of the regular Cooper model.

Don't be stingy about given the recommended fuel rating to a brand new $20K auto.

 

Like I said, you can use 87-89 octane gasoline in cases where you can't get Premium 91-93 octane fuel. Saving the extra few pennies on 87-89 gas is not worth it at all in my opinion!.

The car was designed to run on 91+ octane gasoline and that is what you need to use day in and day out.

 

My wife drives a 2002 Cooper CVT with 25K miles. She is currently getting around 31-32MPG in heavy city traffic with the A/C on all the time. We love it!!:smile:

Gas mileage in these cars gets better as they pile up miles!. This is one of the reasons it is so crucial to follow to the "T" the recommended "Break-In" procedures when the car is brand new.

Your mileage should be even better with the new Getrag 5-speed manual transmission in the 2005 Cooper!!:smile: What are you waiting for????

 

For the last year I ran the high grade gas. The last 4 or 5 fills I have been using Chevron Regular (87 octane) and my MCS has been running just great.Lets not start the hate mail... When I run Chevron high grade it runs like crap. The best high grade gas for my MINI is Arco 91 Octane... Just for a test I have tried to switch to a lower grade gas... everything has been fine for the last few tanks... No ping, knock or anything else. I will go back to the high grade, but I think that I will take advantage of saving a few bucks.

I bought the MINI partly for gas milage... now it takes just the same $ amount to fill up then with my old car. The MINI is a hell of a lot more fun so I have no complaints, but its just an interesting observation!!!!

 

I personally use Citgo 93 Premium fuel in both of my MINIs and they run MUCH, MUCH better than when I filled them up with either 93 octane Mobil or Chevron fuels.

Citgo 93 Premium is much cheaper too than Mobil or Chevron

 

The "few bucks" you are saving are just that a "few bucks". Why inflict long term damage to your engine just to save a few pennies here and there?

 

I thought I read somewhere that cheaper, lower octane gas equals worse gas mileage. Is that true? If so, you wouldn't really be saving much.

 

I think that really depends on the engine. Higher grade fuel doesn't always result in better performace or mileage and vise-versa. People often mistakenly start putting premium fuel in an engine that was designed to run on 87 octane thinking that it will increase performance. *Generally* it will not. Yet, *generally* an engine that was designed to run higher octane fuel will experience reduced performance on lower octane fuel.

 

Premium (93 octane) usually costs about 20 cents more than the cheap-o gas (87 octane). And let's say you average 15,000 miles a year on your MINI Cooper. You should easily be able to get fuel economy in the mid-20s on your MC, since I can get in that range on my MCS. (True, I drive like my Grandma, but that's another story.)

With those figures, you will be consuming 600 gallons of fuel a year. And by using only 87 octane, you will be saving $120 annually. But, that's only assuming that your fuel economy doesn't go down the toilet with the cheap gas. EDIT: And, if you are able to get the 30 mpg (which is entirely possible) you will only save about $100 a year.

I used to drive a beater car that I really didn't care what went in the tank. If they had 85 octane or some substance that only vaguely resembled gas, it wouldn't have mattered to me. So, I understand your reluctance to pay an extra $5 or so every time you fill up your tank, but... Is it really worth it? If you can't afford to pay an extra $120 a year for the fuel that it needs, can you really afford a $20K car and the $350 a month car payment?

 

Just curious what everyone uses.

Personally I use 91 Octane, always have always will.

Brand I use is Chevron (because it's close to my house). 76 now and then, coz they have better pumps.

 

We like Sunoco for our Evo and will use it for my Mini. There you have the option of 93 or 94 octane!

 

I,ve been trying the new Shell "V power" and I must say I'm very impressed(93 Octane)

 

This is just a guess, but I'd say regular will be fine. If the car sounds and runs OK, (no pinging), then it is OK. Premium gas is rarely necessary in today's cars but manufactors like to recommend it. This is at least partly due to differences in gas quality from one country to another. There're covering their bases. Gas companies like to sell premium because they make more money. Between the two they place a seed of doubt about using regular.....not to mention the word "premium" gives a false sense of superiority to the more expensive stuff.

Check your mileage and the way your car runs on different grades of gas and then buy the cheapest that provides good performance.

R.E.

 

I agree with you. I was just running a little test, well not so scientific, but just for my own sanity I guess. I am believe that all the gas is the same... the oil companies are just sticking it to us!!!!! However that is another topic to get into.... I will be switching back... Dont fret!

 

I've been trying the new "V Power" at shell for the last 2 tankfulls,and I really notice the difference ,not only in performance,but in mileage as well.Interesting that there are 2 threads going simultaneously on this subject

 

My concern on the issue is that diffent octane fules have different densities and variation in desity can reek havok on SOME parts. I forgot what octane means "chemically" I will check my notes from school but I remember thinking "oh well I guess I should use premium if the manufacture say so." I will fill y'all in when I get a chance to translate my O-Chem notes.

 

Right. Remember, although premium fuel may look pricey, it's only $1-2 more per tankful. That's it! That's a fraction of what the car will cost you in the first place. Speaking from experience (having been over my head with finances and cars when I was younger), if a couple dollars a month makes that big a difference if affording a car then you probably shouldn't be looking at getting that car.

 

87 Octane Regular works just fine. Premium fuel is just an oil company scam to get an extra few bucks from the consumer. I've been running Regular for over a year and 25,000 miles with no decline in performance or gas mileage. BMW is even telling S owners with the yo-yo problem to use Regular gas to solve the problem. Do you think they'd do that if there was any danger to the engine?

 

you are forgetting about compression ratios. Back in the 60's and 70's before the lower octane mandate, cars with 10-11 to 1 compression ratios were common. But, try to run one of those cars now with 87, your going to knock. (since there is no knock sensor)

Now, the MC runs a 10 to 1 compression ratio. It would be best not to run that on 87 unless you don't mind the risk of launching a valve stem out of your hood due to pre-detonation. A MCS has 8 to 1 compression ratio but is supercharged. So, when you are under boost, you actually run a higher compression ratio. If you never run under boost (like thats ever going to happen), you could run 87.

A typical modern American v8 runs around 8 to 1. Those can run on 81 if you really wanted to. My previous car had a 9.1 to 1 compression ratio. That would not run (well) on anything lower than 87. Plus I had to watch where I got that 87 or it would sputter and hesitate.

So you have to ask yourself, what is cheaper, cheap gas or a mechanic.

 

Hello! My Tootles has 9000 miles and near the first service date. We have tried to run 93-93.5 octane with no preference to brand. She is the wife's daily driver and around town, we are averaging 29+. I have made one road trip and using cruise when feasible, averaged 34-36 mpg. Have made the error of pumping less tha 87 and could really tell the difference.

 

Running a lower Octane fuel will cause the car to run with less spark-advance which is probably easier on the car since it reduces the horsepower output of the engine.

But I would never run anything but the recommended Octane in my 2002 MINI Cooper 5-speed.

If you drive 12,000 miles-per-year and get 30 MPG, saving $0.15 a gallon gets you $60 a year in extra spending money.

If you drop even 5% in fuel economy, you only save $25 a year.

Simply not worth it in my opinion.

 

I really don't think very many car makers would recommend 91 octane unless the car needs 91 octane. For starters, a modern car is NOT going to ping, even if you put 86 octane in it. It will simply retard the timing to the point of sillyness and you will lose a lot of power. Most OBDII cars are equipped with a knock sensor that prevents this type of thing. If all you do is drive your car on the highway and you never put your foot into the throttle, feel free to use the cheaper gas. However you are likely playing with fire if you decide to "open her up" with the cheap stuff. My Civic does not even run right with cheap 93 octane in it. Many a new STI owner will tell you their cars "barely run" with 93 and recommend even higher octanes.(admittedly the STI is an extreme case here...) Furthermore, it doesn't benefit the manufacturer to recommend higher octane useage if they don't have to. Most people are actually put out if the car requires anything more than 87 octane from their pocket book and will consider buying something else. I'm actually quite used to the idea of paying 2.09 a gallon for gas by now and don't actually care about ten cents more on the gallon. The added performance and added protection for my engines against thermal damage is worth the extra 1.50 at the pump on a fill up. I am always amazed though when people I talk to will base a $24k decision on buying a car on whether or not fuel costs them ten cents more on the gallon.