Just picked up my 2011 MCS today. Read the owners manual cover to cover. It says it recommends premium fuel but sounds like mid-grade would be acceptable. What does everyone out there recommend?

 

Congrats - And welcome to North American Motoring !

PREMIUM ONLY ! ! !

And as a rule if pulling into a filling station and a tanker truck is there, I move onto another gas station. Tankers off loading fuel can stir up all kinds of crap from the bottom of the pumps tanks which will float around for a while before settling.....

 

Yet another old wives tale. Modern (last 15-20 years) tanks and stations have vapor recovery systems, filters, and moisture separators for just that reason. It doesn't matter.


As for what grade of gas. To get the best performance from your car, (that's why you bought the "S" right), you have to use the highest octane gas available in your area. In Cali it's probably 91, in Md it's 93. Will it run on less? Yes it will. But at lower performance. The N16? (for 2011?) is a very advanced little bugger. Direct injection, knock sensors, ECU, O2 sensors... blah, blah, blah...

Anyway, using less than the highest octane you can, will reduce engine performance. The lower grade gas will, (not maybe, not could) will allow the engine to have detonation more easily. The knock sensors will (well sense) tell the ECU, the ECU will retard spark timing to make it stop. Less timing in a turbo engine, means less power. Plain and simple. The engine programming wants the most timing it can use without knock. It's a great little dance... The O2 sensors calling for more or less fuel, the knock sensors wanting less advance, and the ECU playing band leader...

Will it run on less octane? Yes it will. Will you notice a difference? I have no idea about you, but I can.


Oh, and for the prive difference, (about $2.00 a fillup) I'm not going to worry about it, I'll have 1 less Venti at Starbucks.

 

Actually the Owners manual for my 2011 MCS says preminum is "Highly" recommanded.

 

Higher octane means higher deto point which means you can run more aggressive timing/more boost. When an engine is tuned for optimum performance at a certain grade of gas it's always a good idea to run that grade. Can you get away with lower octane in modern engines? Sure, but usually at the cost of power and efficiency, meaning you'll have to fill up again sooner thereby negating any price "advantage" the lower grade had when you filled up.

 

Required fuel
Super Premium gasoline/AKI 91
This gasoline is highly recommended.
However, you may also use gasoline with less
AKI. The minimum AKI Rating is:
> Cooper S, John Cooper Works: 89
> Cooper: 87
If you use gasoline with this minimum AKI Rating,
the engine may produce knocking sounds
when starting at high outside temperatures. This
has no effect on the engine life.
Do not use any gasoline below the specified
minimum fuel grade. Otherwise, the
engine could be damaged.<
This is what my 2011 manual says.

 

I know this thread is about the MCS - but what about Justas?

 

www.toptiergas.com. That's all I have used (high test) in the last 4.5 years and so far so good.

 

Knocking has no effect on engine life? Yea right. Detonation is an engine lkiller, especially a turbo engine. It can break rings, ring lands, melt holes in pistons...

 

Premium

 

Look at my post above your post. It shows 87 minimum octane rating for what you call "justas".

 

You'd have to be outta your mind to run anything less than 91 in the MCS.

It's a boosted motor with 10.5:1 compression....they throw "superknock" codes in stock form, even with "premium" fuel. Run the highest you can get.

 

I'm not sure about where you live, but where I live there's only a $0.10 difference between mid and premium. Fill up with 13 gallons and the difference is only $1.30. That's not enough savings for me to risk it!

 

Be a rebel! 87 from Bob's Gas Emporium... What does MINI know?

 

Use premium and ethynol free if you can find it. You will get the best mileage and performance.

 

My justa manual says as quoted above in #6 ... sticker on the fuel door says 89 minimum.

Picked up my car last Friday.

 

The car will run better, and arguably safer, on premium being a forced induction motor. The total price difference on a tank of gas is what, $2-3 at the most? Why bother using lower octane...

 

Only premium. If you use anything less, the dealer will gladly use it against you if they ever find out. They love to blame all your cars problems initially as "bad gas."

 

premium of course and check out pure-gas.org for ethanol free gas a little more expensive but worth it

 

I only use Premium, 91 is what I can usually find. All of it has 10% ethanol though...

 

How much ethanol is in the gas on military bases? Ive been getting all my gas at the class six shoppette on mcguire afb

 

Should be the same as anywhere else man. AFAIK anyways.

 

I find this an almost hilarious discussion. I just came of a mercedes c63 that got 13 mpg at best. People who drive M5's get around 11 at best. And those cars have no choice but premium.

Buy the premium. Enjoy the performance. And as another poster said above, skip the coffee that day.

 

Most readily available gas has some ethanol in it. As I understand it up to 10% is currently allowed. According to a WSJ article a few weeks ago, there is legistation either proposed or pending that would raise the allowed amount to 15% as "experts" claim most cars manufactured after 2001 can tolerate it just fine. At one time (about 5 years ago) I was philosophically on the ethanol bandwagon and even considered investing in companies that produce ethanol, thinking it might be the next best thing. I have since changed my mind. Farm lobbies and ethanol lobbies continue to push ethanol in gasoline as a solution, but most scientists and economists disagree. Hopefully congress will listen to folks who know as opposed to those with the vested financial interest. Oh, BTW - good thing I didn't make that investment - it would have turned out to be pretty costly.

 

Yup ethanol in gas is ******** and shouldn't be there. It has no beneficial effect and actually uses more energy to make than it produces. All in all, it's just a massive failure all around.