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8455 messages, Last post on Nov 26, 2009 at 9:11 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: fintail (Sep 29, 2009 7:45 am)
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Sep 29, 2009 3:57 am) I'd be willing to pay MSRP if it was a car I really wanted and like I said, it was a fair price. |
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Replying to: andres3 (Sep 28, 2009 2:24 pm) Whoa whoa whoa... First off an A3 is more VW then Audi and while VWs are expensive to fix they aren't nearly as expensive as Audis. Which A3 do you have 2.0T or 3.2? You just think the Audi is more reliable. You are just exiting your factory warranty period so just wait till your first major out of warranty repair.  Audi's have the most inflated parts prices of any non-exotic brand. Even more so when a particular model goes out of production. I have told my story about my wife's Audi many times. It had a crack in the coolant expansion tank. No biggie just a crack I will order another one charge it to my shops wholesale account to get the wholesale discount then just pay myself back. I call up the Audi dealer tell him the VIN and what part I need. Sure no problem that will be 780 dollars.  What I wanted the wholesale price. He says that is wholesale retail is 1,100 bucks. I fixed the tank with the highest temp epoxy I could find and a two inch section of PCV pipe that was just a little smaller then the outflow tube in the bottom of the tank. At a 100,000 miles if that A3 needs an engine or transmission it is basically totalled. A 2.0T engine installed probably runs 7,000 to 8,000 plus installation so figure close to 10,000 dollars. A neon at 100,000 miles that needs an engine isn't that big a deal. Any garage can put a motor in one and you can get used or rebuilt engines for less then a grand. |
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Replying to: elias (Sep 29, 2009 6:45 am) I'm not sure what kind of car you drive, but a lot of domestics only recommends 89 or above octane fuel, true. OTOH they make less power than import engines of the same size. And if you think it's technological, let's take Dodge Intrepid for example. It's engine can run on 87, but a switch to 89 increase engine response noticeably, and at the same time fuel mileage improves by about 10%. How's that?
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fintail, i want my car to perform as intended too. It's intended to produce between ~360 & 400 hp & ftlbs with 87 octane, and to produce at least 400 hp & ftlbs with 91+ octane. I have selected the 87 octane performance level for much of my driving, especially in cold weather and for highway-commutes. (During winter there is rarely enough traction or a proper situation to ever apply 400 ftlbs, even if the road is 100% dry.) m4dcow, sounds like you are doing exactly as I *recommend*. You tried your car with the various octane levels, noted any performance & mpg effects, and chose according to your preference. Cool. My tests years ago in CA with 1992 & 93 honda civics with their "87 octane recommended" showed they got >10% mpg improvement from switching to 87 octane to 89 octane, on my 52 mile 70 mph commute over highway 17 -> 880 -> 85 -> 101 . Also I could repeatedly show a slight mpg improvement with the civics running with MTBE-oxygenated fuel compared to ethanol-oxygenated fuel. And the other driver in the household could say with 100% accuracy whether the civic had 89 or 87 in it, based on the seat-of-the-pants throttle-response. All this on a car which was designed for 87 octane!
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Replying to: m4d_cow (Sep 29, 2009 9:05 am) I have a 2000 Intrepid, and have never run anything other than 87 octane in it. And it gets more or less its EPA ratings...~20 city/29 highway. I just filled it up this morning, and mpg on that tank was around 20.4. And that was mostly short-trip driving, probably no more than 4-5 miles at a time. And it's not too hard to break 30 mpg on the highway. Would a higher octane fuel seriously do anything for it? I know some vehicles are designed to run on a higher grade, but are "smart enough" to retard the spark automatically if you use too low of a grade. You lose a little performance and economy, but at least don't get the valvetrain clatter like back in the old days. But the Intrepid, as far as I know, is designed to run on 87, so I'd think any higher grade would be useless, unless it was getting to the age your valves and such were getting carboned up. I'm actually kinda curious to try some hi-test in the car next time around, to see if it makes a difference. I guess it might take a few fill-ups before I notice anything though? |
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Replying to: bumpy (Sep 29, 2009 8:15 am)
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Replying to: elias (Sep 29, 2009 9:22 am) I want to say the owners manual in my old car recommends 98 octane, or something like this. Has the calculation method changed over the past 50 years? When I was in school I would run it on mid-grade (89) as I was a cheapskate, but now it gets premium. I have to believe that number isn't necessary, as the car was sold in many places where such high octane simply couldn't have existed. |
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Replying to: elias (Sep 29, 2009 9:22 am) It's intended to produce between ~360 & 400 hp & ftlbs with 87 octane, and to produce at least 400 hp & ftlbs with 91+ octane. Actually, it's far more than a 10% loss in actual driving since the thing will ping at more than about half throttle with 87. So you'll instinctively back off the throttle when it hits 3K or so and starts doing it. And for good reason - they test the engines with 87 in it but don't care if the engine thrashes itself in the process to hit redline and get that high HP figure. The same is true for how they normally test 0-60 times in the Corvette as well - it's transmission is only designed for 50 full-power launches. The flog it to death and get a good 0-60 time. But sane people don't (or shouldn't) abuse their vehicles. So while you CAN run 87 in it, you can't let it ping, which means 1/2 throttle at best. That means a practical 2/3 the rated torque and HP. I know this because my truck's engine has been heavily modified and will only run properly with premium(and about 5 degrees advanced timing). Goes like stink as a result but sounds like a Mercedes diesel without premium in it.(as well as ZERO extra power over 4K).
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Replying to: fintail (Sep 29, 2009 9:48 am) As to the Fintail needing 98 octane there are several different ways to calculate octane but higher octane fuel was available back in the 60s then there is now. I would find it hard to believe that Mercedes would design what was essentially their bread and butter sedan to operate on 98 octane as it is measured now. You are probably just seeing the difference in how octane is measured in the US vs. Europe.
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