JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Premium gasoline may not always for worth the price, according to new research from AAA.
While some cars are designed to run on premium octane gasoline, others simply recommend it.
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Premium gasoline is pricey. AAA found that consumers wasted nearly $2.1 billion dollars fueling vehicles with higher-octane gasoline. In doing so, there was no benefit to using premium gasoline in a vehicle that only requires regular-grade fuel.
Here are the key finds from the report:
- Fuel economy for test vehicles averaged a 2.7% improvement
- Horsepower for test vehicles averaged an increase of 1.4%
- Premium gasoline costs on average of 20-25% more than regular gasoline.
AAA found the fuel economy improvements shown during testing do not offset the potential extra cost to purchase premium gasoline. AAA does recommend:
- Drivers of cars that require premium gasoline should always use it.
- For those cars that do not recommend or require premium gasoline, AAA suggests drivers opt for the lower priced, regular fuel.
One tip- any car that makes a "pinging" or "knocking" sound while using regular gasoline should be evaluated and likely needs to be switched to a higher-octane fuel.