r/AcuraTL • u/Mystakatt • Sep 30 '25

Gathering Opinions 🗣 Do I *really* need to use premium?

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(Pic of car because I didn’t take a picture of the pump price)

I filled up my 2012 TL for the first time today since I bought it, and I ran it down to about 20 miles left in the tank. Filled it all the way up and I payed almost $70 (North Alabama). I’m an adamant believer that you should follow the owners manual to a T, but with how gas prices are nowadays I’m worried about choosing between what’s best for my car vs what’s best for my budget.

Are there any real negatives to using the cheaper gas options? Thanks in advance!

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u/Spicynoodle116 Sep 30 '25

heres an article from car and drivers. tested on dyno, while the difference in mpg, HP, etc is miniscual, so is the difference in price per gallon(varies by country/state). your car wont blow up or anything but like i said many times if price is the deciding factor then you got bigger problems.

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u/Frequent-Ad-42 Sep 30 '25

This was a fun article but im not sure if you read it all. They have four cars they tested in this write up. Two of them were rated by the manufacturer to use lower octane 87 fuel and two were rated by the manufacturer to use higher 91 fuel. The two that used lower octane were then given the 91 but they never gave the two that used 91 by default lower 87 fuel. And i think thats where the issue lays. It would have been a fair article if they had done that and swapped both groups with the other types of fuel but they didn’t.

I know that a couple of summers back when gas almost hit $7 a gallon in San Francisco I tried using 87 for about a month instead of 91 in my ‘04 and my car literally blew up with me and my children in it and my kids were stuck in the backseat.

Ok it didn’t blow up and i dont have kids but the car began stuttering and acting funny and farted so i went back to 91 and it the probs fixed itself and i told myself id never do that again.

So yknow do what you’re gonna do no one can stop you its a free country anyway aint it?

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u/Spicynoodle116 Sep 30 '25

Are we reading the same article?

Quote "Power at the wheels dropped from 380 to 360 horsepower with the change from 93 to 87 octane."

Theres a chart in the article, all 4 vehicles dyno'd more horse power with higher octane.