gasoline RON vs AKI

[urdrwho]

The way I understand is that in the USA we have the AKI measurement and Europe uses RON. AKI is .95 of RON.

Just bought a used Volvo --

Reading in my 2002 Volvo C60 the recommended octane is AKI 91 and the minimum octane is AKI 87.

My Caddie and Jaguar manuals say premium only. It is not a recommendation and the gas cap/flap say premium only. The 2002 Volvo C60 has no such writing on the gas cap/flap. It is a turbo and I have no doubt that the turbo will respond better to the higher octane and will respond more quickly. I'm 60 years old and my days of a heavy foot have passed, I am no slow poke but I am not a jet setter either.

This is my wife's commute car and she drives about 15,000 a year. The difference in a tanks of premium vs regular is about $4.00 or $200 a year. I don't like throwing money away on a higher octane than needed. There is a difference between recommended (manual) and required.

Heck even the caddie and Jaguar have people on the forums that use mid grade and one Jag owner has run his 1989 Jags 200,000 miles on regular. I guess it comes down to knocking/pinging and how hard you drive.[color:#CC0000][/color]

 

[javacontour]

I wouldn't say AKI is .95xRON

AKI is (RON + MON)/2

RON = Research Octane Number
MON = Motor Octane Number

If it were my car, I'd split the difference. In the summer, use premium and in the winter use regular.

 

[beast3300]

The savings of regular fuel will negate the fuel economy loss. Premium all the way is my suggestion.

 

[urdrwho]

I tried the different octanes on the caddie (never regular). Premium and mid-grade were the same MPG on my wife's commute. It was always 20 MPG --- give or take a tenth.

I wonder why they would even make a 2002 engine that was high enough compression to warrant premium? It is a 2.5 engine and that is the same size that is in my Subaru and Saturn. I guess it is the turbo that warrants the higher octane.

If I remember a thumbnail idea is that premium creates a cooler burn and regular is a bit hotter.

 

[Clevy]

Boost and premium go hand in hand. I use premium in everything I own. Shell to be specific. My Harley will ping on every fuel except shell premium,co-op premium or Mohawk 92/94 octane.
Here premium is ethanol free,which is another reason why I use it in everything. I like to advance the timing on my vehicles,so premium is a must have.

 

[urdrwho]

You lucky dog! "Here premium is ethanol free"

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Boost and premium go hand in hand. I use premium in everything I own. Shell to be specific. My Harley will ping on every fuel except shell premium,co-op premium or Mohawk 92/94 octane.
Here premium is ethanol free,which is another reason why I use it in everything. I like to advance the timing on my vehicles,so premium is a must have.
Is Petro-Canada ethanol free with their 92 octane gas?

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: xxch4osxx
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Boost and premium go hand in hand. I use premium in everything I own. Shell to be specific. My Harley will ping on every fuel except shell premium,co-op premium or Mohawk 92/94 octane.
Here premium is ethanol free,which is another reason why I use it in everything. I like to advance the timing on my vehicles,so premium is a must have.
Is Petro-Canada ethanol free with their 92 octane gas?


if you know how many gas tanks the station has ie. if they blend from two tanks, then 92 will have some ethanol in it. i'll check the next time i fill there

 

[dnastrau]

A bit more on AKI vs. RON:

The US and Canada switched from RON to AKI around 1975. Most other countries still use RON.

Generally speaking, the RON va. AKI difference is about 4 or 5 numbers. The following spread is typical:

RON AKI
91 87
95 91
98 93

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: xxch4osxx
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Boost and premium go hand in hand. I use premium in everything I own. Shell to be specific. My Harley will ping on every fuel except shell premium,co-op premium or Mohawk 92/94 octane.
Here premium is ethanol free,which is another reason why I use it in everything. I like to advance the timing on my vehicles,so premium is a must have.
Is Petro-Canada ethanol free with their 92 octane gas?


Our petro-Canada pumps are labelled 91 octane and yes it contains no ethanol. If a person chooses mid-grade it is blended at the pump so if we proceed with the logic that they are blended at a 1/1 ratio that we can conclude that mid-grade will be 5% ethanol.
Mohawk/husky doesn't sell any fuels that aren't ethanol polluted(except diesel). That may provincial specific however I've been across this country and I've never noticed them supplying anything but ethanol blends. They use that fact as a feature in their advertising campaign as "mother natures fuel". Funny actually.
They must have the same marketing people as pennzoil ultra.
To draw attention to the addition of ethanol touting its benefit to Mother Nature and highlighting it as a great reason to buy their fuel either means there is nobody driving the bus at corporate or they think the consuming public are fools.
If the average joe knew that ethanol in the fuel is actually forcing them to use more of it to travel equal distances which would also mean more exhaust fumes leaving their tailpipes.
Spitballing............
K. So I wonder how much pollution an engine emits using gasoline to travel a given distance vs the amount of pollution emitted using a standard % ethanol blend.
Considering more fuel is required to achieve an equal distance does the addition of ethanol lower the total emitted pollutants or is it increased because more is required?
And if emitted pollutants are increased because more is burned then exactly how is that favourable in any way and why have we been forced to accept it.
I understand the idea of providing less funding to the middle eastern end of the world however doesn't this continent produce enough oil to sustain demand which would render the sandbox a mute point or do we consume more then can produce?

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Mohawk/husky doesn't sell any fuels that aren't ethanol polluted(except diesel).

Their 91 octane may be ethanol free, and some wording I've come across on the website could support that idea. If that is the case, their ultra-premium certainly is 91 octane plus ethanol.

Don't be too hard on their marketing. Before the government got involved with ethanol minimums in this province, the marketing clearly was working, both to the benefit of Husky/Mohawk and the consumer. The 87 octane regular was pure gas back then. They offered an 89 or 90 octane (I forget which) mid-grade E-10 for the same price as regular. Their premium was a 92 octane ethanol blend at the same price as everyone else's 91 octane premium. Sure, it was marketing, but their product was different and they made darn sure everyone knew it was different. And I bet they were selling more ethanol back then than is currently required under the law, just by having that pricing gimmick. And they did so without government regulations. Of course, you've seen what government regulations did to Husky/Mohawk's fuel lineup.

With respect to the environment, when Husky/Mohawk started their ethanol business, the emissions systems were nowhere near as advanced as they are now. I recall reading that emissions testing showed the ethanol blended gas improved tailpipe emissions on older vehicles (i.e. back when Mohawk started their thing around 25 years ago). Now that the tailpipe emissions advantage is gone (and reversed), the talk is about renewable energy, of course.