Premium gas for 2017 Hyndai Sonata 2.0 Turbo GDI??

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Messages
3
Location
washington
Hello experts.

Just bought a 2017 Hyundai Sonata 2.0 Turbo GDI. I'm not sure of the engine compression (owners manual doesn't even have it... grrr..), but I think it may be 10:1 based on a dealer website - again, not confirmed though.

Manual states 87 octane or higher fuel. Would I benefit from premium 91/93 top tier for this car? I've read some things about premium fuel definitely providing benefits for direct injection engines, and would prefer to use the best fuel from the start of its life.

Thanks in advance for your input.

pianokeys
 
If your manual states that 87 octane or higher is acceptable then run a good quality 87 that is Top Tier approved. Whether it be Shell, BP, Chevron, Costco, Valero or Citgo. Another key part if the deal is going to a high volume station where the gas is fresh due to selling a lot of fuel. See how well it does on Top Tier 87 and if it is missing and pinging on this then go up to the 93.
 
Some makers will indicate advertised horsepower with a TGDI engine is only with 91/93 octane fuel, so there's probably a marginal performance benefit. And there's some anecdotal evidence that premium may prevent "overfueling" and reduce fuel dilution if less engine knock is detected.

My DI-only engine seems to not notice a difference in performance or fuel dilution between 87 and 93 octane. Given the price differential you may want to experiment a bit and see which fuel works best for you, maybe comparing a couple of UOAs (93 vs87) after break-in. Or you could just use 89 octane.
 
My parents have a Ford Escape with a GTDI engine. It went from ~23 or so to ~27 in daily commuting going from 87 to 91 octane gas.
 
My Regal has the LHU 2.0 turbo direct injected Ecotec which is rated 270 HP 295 Ft/Lbs Tq which I believe is a little more aggressive than the hyndai. Here is the actual wording from the manual:
If the vehicle has the 2.0L L4 engine (VIN Code V), use premium unleaded gasoline with a posted octane rating of 91 or higher. You can also use regular unleaded gasoline rated at 87 octane or higher, but the vehicle's acceleration could be slightly reduced, and a slight audible knocking noise, commonly referred to as spark knock, might be heard.

With that being said even though 91 octane gas was recommended the engine responded with more power, and much better fuel economy when I was able to put 93 octane in it. I believe most direct injected engines these days will respond to higher than recommended octane fuel depending on driving conditions. The best thing to do is experiment and then weigh the pros and cons of running higher cost fuel.
 
This is good advice ! ... As a 2017 GDI Sonata (non turbo) owner I follow this same advice and my car has run great on good quality 87 octane gas . For what it's worh I tried a half tank of top tier 89 octane and my gas milegae got worse and performance / acceleration was no better than 87 octane . *I have to believe the electonics in engines nowadays are so good they can make instant adjustments regarding octane and gas quality . To conclude - unless you are experiencing pinging and missing do as this poster advises and just stay with top tier 87 octane and put the saved $$ in your pocket !
Originally Posted By: bbhero
If your manual states that 87 octane or higher is acceptable then run a good quality 87 that is Top Tier approved. Whether it be Shell, BP, Chevron, Costco, Valero or Citgo. Another key part if the deal is going to a high volume station where the gas is fresh due to selling a lot of fuel. See how well it does on Top Tier 87 and if it is missing and pinging on this then go up to the 93.
 
My GDI sonata pings on 87 like crazy. It pings on 89 winter blend fuel.

Now that we are into summer it does not ping at all on 89, so I stick with that.

But in winter, I had to use 93 octane.
 
Our, now sold, 2.4 Sonata GLS pinged on 87 too. Our 2013 2.0T Santa Fe has been flawless on 87-89 or 93.
 
Originally Posted By: wemay
Our, now sold, 2.4 Sonata GLS pinged on 97 too.


Yikes! That's really up there.
 
Lol... yeah caught it with enough time to fix.
whistle.gif
 
Any current gas engine with a turbo will almost always get better mileage with higher octane. Now is that improved mpg enough to negate the higher cost? Is your car carrying 2 or 3 passengers on hot days with the A/c engaged? Many factors will affect your decision. I don't know what the difference in price between 87 and 91/92/93 is in your part of the country so maybe it's worth it, that's a personal decision. I would not bother with anything in between 87 and premium. 89 octane is achieved by mixing the two together at the pump. Have you seen what a gas pump looks like without those fancy panels? Yes I can be a bit of a cynic and believe that if it comes down to a pump mixing fuel, odds are that the margin of error(and profit) 89 octane will be closer to 88.5 octane than 89.5. You are probably better off purchasing 87 and then buying some premium when your tank is at 2/3 or 3/4 full. Thanks for reading, hope this helped.
 
I run 93 or 91 E0 .. little 1.5 engine clearly has more grunt actually throaty..nice engine.
 
I ran 87 octane (not-Top Tier) fuel for a couple of years with my '12 Optima SX which has a hotter engine than yours. I then began with simple mods, one of the first being switching to 93 octane Top Tier gas (Shell/Costco for me) and noticed a difference. Found out that the car's brain (the ECU) can adjust to make about 10HP more with 93 octane over 87 octane over a tank of gas or so.

As I've modified my car more (bigger exhaust, SRI intake and lately a performance tune), I ONLY run 93 octane for the many benefits I get from it. The car is my DD. With premium gas being really so cheap, why not?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top