Premium vs regular gas

I have wondered what is best as well. Not necessarily for fuel economy, but for the life and health of the engine. I also have the 2.7L and switched from regular to premium out of concern that regular wasn't as good for the engine. I read an article that claimed the premium is best for the 6G Bronco while towing or in hot climates, but it wasn't anything official from Ford. I am curious if anyone with a mechanical or engineering background can explain the pros/cons of regular vs premium gas. It seems the premium is better, but are the benefits, if any, negligible and worth the extra cost?

dadsgoodlife

What fuel are you running in your Bronco? I have the 2.7L with about 25,000 miles on it. I have only used Premium Fuel so far, and am currently running an experiment running it on Regular to see if there is any difference in fuel economy or performance.

Anyone else done a comparison? Is there more I should know that I don't?

Car and Driver did an interesting test a while back on a few cars. The 3.5 EcoBoost seamed to enjoy the premium gas. I bet the 2.7 has similar results? Read on…

At 128.7 horsepower per liter, the F-150's high-output V-6 engine is more power dense than a Porsche 911 Carrera's twin-turbo flat-six. Naturally then, the Ford hauls ass as effortlessly as it hauls a half-ton of manure. When fed 93 octane, this 5594-pound, self-propelled wheelbarrow will crash 60 mph in 5.3 seconds.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
MARC URBANO|CAR AND DRIVER
Power at the wheels dropped from 380 to 360 horsepower with the change from 93 to 87 octane. That difference seemed to grow, and we could even feel it from the driver's seat at the test track. Compared with premium fuel, regular feed sapped the F-150's urgency both leaving the line and in the meat of the tach sweep. The rush to 60 mph softened to a still-blistering 5.9 seconds, and the quarter-mile stretched from 14.0 to 14.5 seconds, with trap speed falling 4 mph. Tapped into the Ford's CAN bus, we recorded a peak boost pressure roughly 1.9 psi lower during acceleration runs on regular gas, down more than 10 percent compared with the 18.1-psi peak on premium. The high-octane gas also helped when soft-pedaling the accelerator, elevating 75-mph fuel economy from 17.0 to 17.6 mpg. That won't make a financial case for running 93 octane, but then you didn't buy the expensive engine as a rational choice. You can think of this EcoBoost engine's more aggressive high-octane tune as a sort-of sport mode that can be switched on or off with every fill of its 36.0-gallon tank.

This was discussed on several-pages-long thread on the other site, with opinions that ranged from the clinical to the religious. Basic automotive wisdom says, "Burn what your owner's manual tells you." Some people (including somebody who claimed to be a Ford engineer) countered and claimed that the 2.7 EgoBoost (sic) is basically a 91-octane engine, but was tuned down to 87-octane for consumer and EPA reasons. This opinion is fueled (pun intended) with the thoughts that you'll need 91 if you install the Ford Performance Package.

My reading of that thread is that a lot of the faith in premium's virtues is psychological ("Put a tiger in your tank!"). I ran 4 consecutive tankfuls of premium (Mostly Costco's "Kirkland," a top-tier blend), and saw no improvement in mileage, logging and computing it precisely on the Fuelio ap, which provides accurate tracking and cumulative data. Some people opined that premium will provide more power when towing or climbing obstacles, but I contend: How do you know, aside from gut feel, that your Bronco is performing more powerfully towing a trailer on "this" mountain road, as opposed to "that" mountain road a month ago? Or "this" rock obstacle, as opposed to "that" one on a different trail last week?

A major exception: If non-ethanol fuel is available in your area, it may be worth some extra money. Ethanol is actually an energy-inferior additive, and dilutes gasoline's energy-value. Not only that, but it corrupts farm land because of the powerful fertilizers needed to grow the biomass (usually industrial corn), and requires more water and energy to "brew" than it produces. Even Al Gore acknowledges that ethanol has been a big bust, but now it's firmly entrenched in the agronomic landscape.

I think these judgements are very subjective. Yes, you usually get what you pay for--but not always.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/the-main-benefit-of-premium-gas-is….66774/

BostonBadlands

This was discussed on several-pages-long thread on the other site, with opinions that ranged from the clinical to the religious. Basic automotive wisdom says, "Burn what your owner's manual tells you." Some people (including somebody who claimed to be a Ford engineer) countered and claimed that the 2.7 EgoBoost (sic) is basically a 91-octane engine, but was tuned down to 87-octane for consumer and EPA reasons. This opinion is fueled (pun intended) with the thoughts that you'll need 91 if you install the Ford Performance Package.

My reading of that thread is that a lot of the faith in premium's virtues is psychological ("Put a tiger in your tank!"). I ran 4 consecutive tankfuls of premium (Mostly Costco's "Kirkland," a top-tier blend), and saw no improvement in mileage, logging and computing it precisely on the Fuelio ap, which provides accurate tracking and cumulative data. Some people opined that premium will provide more power when towing or climbing obstacles, but I contend: How do you know, aside from gut feel, that your Bronco is performing more powerfully towing a trailer on "this" mountain road, as opposed to "that" mountain road a month ago? Or "this" rock obstacle, as opposed to "that" one on a different trail last week?

A major exception: If non-ethanol fuel is available in your area, it may be worth some extra money. Ethanol is actually an energy-inferior additive, and dilutes gasoline's energy-value. Not only that, but it corrupts farm land because of the powerful fertilizers needed to grow the biomass (usually industrial corn), and requires more water and energy to "brew" than it produces. Even Al Gore acknowledges that ethanol has been a big bust, but now it's firmly entrenched in the agronomic landscape.

I think these judgements are very subjective. Yes, you usually get what you pay for--but not always.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/the-main-benefit-of-premium-gas-is….66774/

Sounds you may be a unbeliever of premium fuel for these EcoBoost engines? Why do you think Ford has different HP ratings for different fuels? Did you read the Car and Driver test on the 3.5 EcoBoost?
Science is not subjective. But peoples opinions are.

dadsgoodlife

What fuel are you running in your Bronco? I have the 2.7L with about 25,000 miles on it. I have only used Premium Fuel so far, and am currently running an experiment running it on Regular to see if there is any difference in fuel economy or performance.

Anyone else done a comparison? Is there more I should know that I don't?

Let us know what you find out…. Can’t imagine you’ll notice much in performance, but curious about mpg… of course, you’ll have to improve mileage considerable to break even…

My choice is to buy brand name (Chevron) fuel at the manual’s recommended octane (87)

Alright so just to boil it down so you don’t have to read pages of posts and people arguing…

Most modern engines can dynamically change the ignition, fuel, and valve timings at will. This effectively tunes the engine on-the-fly as the engine is running, allowing you to extract more horsepower, torque, fuel economy, etc. from the engines. There are all kinds of marketing words for this technology, Ford calls theirs Ti-VCT, which stands for Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing.

Gasoline has octane in it, the octane helps keep the fuel stable, and prevents it from combusting under pressure before the spark plug fires. IF the fuel combusts before the spark plug fires you’ll get engine knocking, which if left unaddressed, will cause long-term damage to the engine. To help prevent this, the PCM (Powertrain Control Module) will adjust timings and the turbo to ensure the fuel only combusts when it should.

Higher octane fuel (aka: premium fuel) is more resistant to pre-detonation. This effectively means the PCM can shove more air/fuel into the cylinder and modify the cam timings to be more aggressive. The result is the engine can produce more power and torque… which obviously is awesome, it’s like a free engine upgrade.

In regards to fuel economy… it depends on how the PCM is configured. You can tune the PCM to increase fuel economy, particularly when sitting idle or in stop/go traffic. Or you can tune it to not care about fuel economy and up the power numbers. It all depends.

Most modern vehicles from the factory will do a little bit of both. When the engine isn’t under load, they’ll tune it for fuel economy, but when you ask it to do something it’ll shove more air/fuel into the cylinder to get you going. The end result is usually a negligible impact on fuel economy between premium and non-premium fuel. And if you are someone that is a lead foot you may actually find that your fuel economy goes down a little bit by switching to premium fuel.

BUT, 80%+ of fuel economy on larger vehicles like the Bronco comes down to how you drive the vehicle. I’ve driven the Bronco like a grandpa out for a lazy afternoon drive and gotten 21 mpg out of the Bronco. And I’ve driven it like a hot-headed teenager and tanked my numbers down to 15 mpg. So definitely experiment with it.

RagnarKon

BUT, 80%+ of fuel economy on larger vehicles like the Bronco comes down to how you drive the vehicle. I’ve driven the Bronco like a grandpa out for a lazy afternoon drive and gotten 21 mpg out of the Bronco. And I’ve driven it like a hot-headed teenager and tanked my numbers down to 15 mpg. So definitely experiment with it.

This has been my experience as well. If I just drive how I feel, I'm usually between 19-20mpg. If I'm feeling saucy, that number can drop in a hurry. Sometimes it just feels so good to kick in that turbo and go...

Towing my little camper (1100lbs dry) only takes it down to about 17, unless I'm in the mountains and it'll get closer to 15.

So far I'm on tank #2 of 87 octane, and still about 19.5mpg.

As far as the health of the engine, I have the 2.7 in my 2015 F150. I’ve only put 87 octane in it and never have had any problems. I currently have a little under 111k miles on the engine. Always been surprised how quick that engine is.

2.7 in an f150 was a great engine for me… I upgraded to a 3.5 for towing purposes only

93. Only two times she ever got regular was from Ford itself, and when the Gas station attendant claimed he was doing super when he clearly used regular (Fortunately, only got a gallon of reg there, I cancelled it and Pumped my own gas like I always do)

Otherwise, I make a once a week trip to the turnpike for 94 since I want every last pony I can get. You feel the difference between regular and Super, 30hp, and I'm always in sport while never using 6th gear driving

Speed Devil

when the Gas station attendant claimed he was doing super when he clearly used regular

These are foreign words to me😂. Is it like in the 1950's when the kids would run to your old coupe and fill the tank so you can flip a quarter to them?

20 cents more for premium times 15 gallons (2 door) equals $3 a tank. Is anyone here who just paid 50-60k for a new Bronco that hard up for $3? (wait for person who says they gets 50 tanks of gas a year to say that $150 a year and over the lifetime of the truck adds up to thousands of dollars....sure he/she did the math while waiting in line at Starbucks to get their daily $7 cup of coffee lol) just pointing out the truth.
Signed,

Capt. Obvious

Many folks have spent a lot more money chasing 20-30 hp than putting in a tank full of premium ⛽️ gasoline.
Cheap power. No warranty issues.

IL21Bronco

These are foreign words to me😂. Is it like in the 1950's when the kids would run to your old coupe and fill the tank so you can flip a quarter to them?

In Oregon you can’t pump your own gas…. Likely elsewhere

Bluestreak57

In Oregon you can’t pump your own gas…. Likely elsewhere

Supposedly the same in Jersey, but no ones stopped me

dadsgoodlife

What fuel are you running in your Bronco? I have the 2.7L with about 25,000 miles on it. I have only used Premium Fuel so far, and am currently running an experiment running it on Regular to see if there is any difference in fuel economy or performance.

Anyone else done a comparison? Is there more I should know that I don't?

Here's the results from my "testing".
https://thebronconation.com/general...ane-in-2-3l-with-manual-transmission-t.12759/

ChetC

Here's the results from my "testing".
https://thebronconation.com/general...ane-in-2-3l-with-manual-transmission-t.12759/

It really gets down to reading the owners manual. It never insinuates getting better mileage, just more power along with protection from detonation.

Eninty

There are simply too many environmental variables in the real world MPG testing that you can find any significance in your recorded data. Unless a laboratory MPG test is conducted, any test done under real world driving conditions can't be used to make any determination between using 87 vs. 93 octane fuel.

I would think real world tests, particularly those over a longer period of time and over the same route, would be much more applicable as lab testing does not account for those variables.

Eninty

The purpose of laboratory testing (i.e. using the scientific method) is to remove variables from the test so as to not improperly influence the test results.

True, but again, that doesn’t tell you what your real world results will be because the world isn’t a lab.