I found it on MotoringFile!!!

 

I liked your reply so well I thought it deserved repeating.

 

Putz, stop being a JACKA$$.

You have nothing nice to say? Then SHADAP.

 

Perhaps I am just bone tired from this past (school is out) year of teaching 8th graders, but I truly don't believe there are any "stupid questions". Maybe I am defending the kid in class who finally decides to speak up and ask a question. Woe be to him/her who shoots that kid down

Hogtied, welcome. Of course, one could peruse the search function, and get an asnwer. But, if you did that, we would be missing out on your wonderful "Hogtied" moniker.

I've lurked on this site for two years now. For the most part, I have observed a level of etiquette far and above that on most of my Honda Fan Boy sites.

And now that I have decided to persue my dream MINI purchase, I have jumped in with both feet. Willing and ready to speak up, defend the underdog, and add to the pursuit of civilized, respectful conversation in the grand ole USA (which is sorely missing, IMHO).

Thanks to all who have responded respectfully to my questions over the past week.
This is a community with whom I hope to have a long and RESPECTFUL relationship.

Hogtied, welcome again

 

I've always found the search function of rather limited use. I have tried going back and finding past threads and have had trouble locating ones I know were there. Imagine the problems a new member has trying to find ones that he or she doesn't know exist.

 

+1

 

I'm finishing off a tank of 87 right now. The car runs so well on it that you'd need to be pretty good with a stopwatch and gas gauge to tell any difference. I would bet the weather makes more difference than 87 or 93 gas. Just get good gas and don't worry about the octane unless it makes you feel good to say "My car requires premium.", because it doesn't.

 

U.S. fuel price whinners should check the price of gas in London, or most other european locations. We still have it very good comparitively.

 

At 15,000 miles per year and 30MPG, it would cost an extra $100 per year to use premium. Why not just skip the MINI birthday gift and give her premium all the time?

 

What's the point of owning an MCS or a MC if you're going to drive around like that!!!!! "Drive it like you stole it" and have some fun, this isn't a smartcar it's a funcar.


Very well put! I totally agree, aren't all our Mini's worth the extra $100 a year?? I mean come on now think about it we spent extra $$ to buy a car like this and then to cheap out on a few cents at the pump!

It's 94 octane for me! and we pay waaaaay more at the pump up here.... $5.63 per imp gallon or approx $4.70 US gallon

I love this quote:
[SIZE=1]For the price of a Mini Cooper S, you could buy an Acura RSX Type-S or a Subaru WRX, and either of those cars would be a more reasonable, practical choice. But since when did car nuts become reasonable or practical? How many people have purchased a motorcycle for its excellent fuel economy? The Cooper S is a good value because it is two barrels full of monkeys. It's not unlike a ride on a quick go-kart. It's a rousing game of air hockey. It's a trampoline. It's the infectious laugh after hearing someone fart in church. If we didn't value that highly, we wouldn’t be driving a car like this! [/SIZE]

 

With anycar hitting boost will drive your gas mileage down, each time the turbo spools your MPG goes down the drain... Try using cruise control, and not doing jackrabbit starts, your MPG will likely go up. It has more affect on a turbo'ed vehicle

 

But after doing the conversion isn't 94 octane Canadian the same as 87 U.S.?

 

LOL that's how it used to feel on our $, but I live very close to the Washington border and if I gas up on vapours I save $10 to $15 , so the extra in premium compared is a "MOO point" (quoted from Joey on Friends)
Let's spend the extra! they deserve it!

 

I would highly recommend you start using premium. The compression ratio on these motors is very high for a forced induction motor, in fact there are naturally aspirated motors with lower compression that require premium. I also will gaurantee you that you are losing a lot of power because the ecu is pulling iginition timing at the least. The only reason why you can "safely", I use the term safely very loosely, is because the ecu is reading the knock sensor and making adjustments appropriately. For those of you that don't know, knock = ping = detonation. When most ecu's see knock they retard ignition timing and in some cases also throw additional fuel into the motor. When this happens, you lose power and your fuel consumption goes up. The only time of year you might be able to get away with 87 is in winter, this is because colder air helps prevent knock (which is why turbo cars use intercoolers). However, even than you wouldn't get the most power out of the car because ecu's also adjust ignition timing/fuel based on intake air temperature as well. I will gaurantee you that if it weren't for the knock sensor on your car that your motor would definitely be hurting right now assuming that it wouldn't already be dead. Saying the octane of a fuel doesn't matter is a rather ignorant statement.

 

LMAO!!! "It's like a cow's opinion. It doesn't matter. It's moo." I <3 Friends!!! Thanks for making my night Ovrezee!

 

Since I didn't say that I'm not sure if you were trying to insult me or not?

I have no doubt 93 gives a bit better performance at some level and that's why BMW recommends it. But the bottom line point is the MCS manages "owners manual acceptable 87 octane" vs the "recommended 93 octane" so well you can't tell the difference in mileage or performance, at least on the street. Treat yourself not your MINI to 93 if you feel the difference. Your MCS should think 87 is just fine as it was designed and tested to allow use of 87 and has been tested successfully in the real world by MCS owners.

If a BMW engine engineer told me I will be hurting my engine with 87, I would ask why and listen to his advice. I can imagine them cringing that I would use anything less that the VERY BEST but can't imagine them being any less than proud that they designed the engine to run VERY GOOD on 87.

Though the static compression is high that does not mandate a higher octane. Other factors such as the direct injection and variable valve timing come in to play. The MC engine has variable valve lift that could effectively reduce the compression to zero. No air in = no compression. Even on old-school engines the cam will determine the actual compression not the static compression number.

Any EFI engine has a boat load of sensors that make the car run great or like crap. An engine could be damaged if many of them went bad without a compensating action of some kind. I've yet to read exactly how the MCS engine adjusts for all the variables including fuel. For all I know the knock sensor is an integral part of the system for all octane levels. My understanding is that modern knock-sensors can sense the ping well before harmful levels occur and that the MCS then holds the adjustment so you are not riding constantly on the knock-sensor.

 

your Mini will certainly work on regular fuel, it is a bit like buying the cheapest booze for $4 a bottle to get drunk - you sure get drunk, but the next morning the headache is making you realize that some things are worth to spend a few extra cents for ...

Regular fuel will power your car just fine, just not quite with the same performance and not quite the same fuel efficiency and not quite the same confidence that you are doing the right thing for the longevity for your car

 

Regular fuel may be one of those "Penny wise and pound foolish" sort of things. It certainly will be for me. This car will hit a lot of boost at a very low rpm. It's designed for hi octane fuel as is any forced induction motor. Maybe spend less on wax. I'm sure your motor will thank you.

Scooby, these motors hit max boost at 18-1900 rpms.

 

Oh wow. I thought it'd wait out till at least 3000 till spooling like "most" turbo vehicles. ...Well then 91 or better is the way to go, as the motor is constantly in boost

 

Check the posts by Ryephile and data logging (I think). Enlightening.

 

Or it's like buying $11 vodka instead of $40 even when someone "in the know" tells you you should be buying $40 vodka. Maybe we can find an interesting correlation here. At least premium is less than 10% more.

 

This thread is almost as hilarious as one of the many "how often should I change my oil?" threads. LOL
What I personally do is use 87 octane gas and add a pint of cheap vodka to each tank. Man you should see the car jump off the line after that. And I get about 50mpg too!!!

 

Watch out, or you'll be accused of being 'sarcastic' like me.

 

After using a couple tanks of Union 76 87 I decided to change my oil and filter (it had been 3002 miles, I was a tad late). Much to my surprise the filter looked a little dirty (see link to photo) Could that have been my fuel choice? Could it have been the fact that we played hockey with it? I can't figure it out.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...4&d=1182738936

 

Wow , Your show and tell photo really shows that the run in process produces a lot of particulates in the oil. Thanks for that image . I will defineatly be doing a 1200m filter/oil change and 5000m after that.