Gasoline grade.

[Keithwand]

I pulled in behind a guy pumping gas into his 440ix and he was using 87 octane regular so I had to ask.
He’s been doing it for 37k miles alternating with 3 fills regular and 1 premium and said no issues. Car runs great.
Surprised because premium at BJs was only .30 cents more and way cheaper than gas elsewhere.
I know of I can’t fill up at either Costco or BJs I will use 89 mid grade.
What grade are you guys getting?

[jiggz]

Originally Posted by Keithwand

I pulled in behind a guy pumping gas into his 440ix and he was using 87 octane regular so I had to ask.
He’s been doing it for 37k miles alternating with 3 fills regular and 1 premium and said no issues. Car runs great.
Surprised because premium at BJs was only .30 cents more and way cheaper than gas elsewhere.
I know of I can’t fill up at either Costco or BJs I will use 89 mid grade.
What grade are you guys getting?

It never surprises me how people cut corners to save a few bucks. Around here it's usually it's cheap, crappy aftermarket parts.

Chevron 92 octane for me, that's the highest grade available in Washington where I live.

[RED_Y_]

Right, 3 years later this guy returns his 440x when the lease is over and some lucky person gets CPO with engine problems. This is how all these stories start about bad and unreliable BMWs or other premium cars. If you can't afford proper gas for the car go get Camry with 3.5 V6 and fill it up with 87 all day long. How much do you save on full tank doing this? $5? $6? Whopping $200 a year or so? 91 is the gas for N55, you can get it from Costco (they have high tier rated gas) or any other decent station. This is just plain stupid.

[Surgx5]

Originally Posted by RED_Y_

Right, 3 years later this guy returns his 440x when the lease is over and some lucky person gets CPO with engine problems. This is how all these stories start about bad and unreliable BMWs or other premium cars. If you can't afford proper gas for the car go get Camry with 3.5 V6 and fill it up with 87 all day long. How much do you save on full tank doing this? $5? $6? Whopping $200 a year or so? 91 is the gas for N55, you can get it from Costco (they have high tier rated gas) or any other decent station. This is just plain stupid.

Agreed. Cheap cars take cheap gas. I'm in CA and filled up for $100. Got to pay to play. For those in say Texas or other states where it's much cheaper, good for you but still premium or nothing.

[Vivek.]

Originally Posted by Surgx5

Agreed. Cheap cars take cheap gas. I'm in CA and filled up for $100. Got to pay to play. For those in say Texas or other states where it's much cheaper, good for you but still premium or nothing.

The cool thing about CA is that premium is only ~30 cents more than regular. Used to be 20 cents for the longest time (at least northern ca) until a few years ago.

I went to school in Texas and had an e34 535 and e39 540 at the time. 87 was 1.89 premium was 2.59…the two cars got similar mileage but that hit made a big difference. With the fact that everything was 50% further away I ended up spending way more on gas in TX lol

[The Libertine]

Always the highest grade. If I’m not going to compromise on the car I drive, why should I compromise on the gas I use?

[Keithwand]

I feel the same way re fuel. No regular for me. Was so surprised is why I asked him.
He came back to my car and said and it’s the twin turbo 6 which I knew being a 440.
I think the 2019+ is premium only and not recommended but not sure.

[mikado463]

while 91 is the recommended fuel, in my area most stations are either 89 or 93 so I just go every other fill up between the two. The difference between 89 and 93 is about 30 cents a gallon.

For those lucky enough to have Top Tier gas readily available that is more important for the additive package it possesses. Octane is merely a resistance to detonation.

[X Mon™]

Originally Posted by mikado463

while 91 is the recommended fuel, in my area most stations are either 89 or 93 so I just go every other fill up between the two. The difference between 89 and 93 is about 30 cents a gallon.

Ah yes, gone are the good ol' days when it was only a 10 cent differential. Not sure how far SE you are, but MD has been ~80 cents delta from 87 to 93. It's annoying with most of the modern stations not displaying mid and premium prices on their signs.

All that said, top tier 93 in the non-diesels. It's easy enough to take a look here every so often: https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/ I always found the M20B25 motors to be particularly fussy to addaiive packages, and so it started precedence in the late 90's.

[mikado463]

Originally Posted by X Mon™

Ah yes, gone are the good ol' days when it was only a 10 cent differential.

One can no longer look at the 'pennies' difference , rather the percentage. With that being said back in the day it was 10%, now 15-20%

Not sure how far SE you are, but MD has been ~80 cents delta from 87 to 93. It's annoying with most of the modern stations not displaying mid and premium prices on their signs.

agreed, my reply was the differential between 89 and 93

All that said, top tier 93 in the non-diesels.

manual calls for 91, why pay more for what does nothing .....

It's easy enough to take a look here every so often: https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/ I always found the M20B25 motors to be particularly fussy to addaiive packages, and so it started precedence in the late 90's.

[Vivek.]

Originally Posted by X Mon™

I always found the M20B25 motors to be particularly fussy to addaiive packages, and so it started precedence in the late 90's.

Really? We have an m20 e30 that's seen 150k between myself, dad, and brother....never found it to be picky about fuel, oil, coolant, valve adjustments or anything. I think all fuel around here is 'top tier' though, even the cheapest mom n pops have the logo.

Originally Posted by mikado463

manual calls for 91, why pay more for what does nothing .....

Does it call for 91 because that is ideal or because that is the highest grade available in CA which is the largest auto market in the US? Porsche calls for 93 but my friends with em either fill 91 or 91 plus a dash of octane booster...from the seat of your pants you can't tell between the two.

Here's a quote from BMW regarding the performance figures on the M2:

Rated output: BMW recommends the use of super unleaded 95 RON (91 oct) fuel. Unleaded RON 91 (87 oct)fuel or higher with a maximum ethanol limit of 10 per cent (E10) is also permitted. The performance and fuel consumption rates listed are based on the use of RON 98 (93 oct) fuel.

To me this basically says that any grade is approved by BMW unless you somehow find 85 or lower octane or fuel that doesn't have up to 10% ethanol which I believe most US gasoline does. But for the best performance and fuel economy, they used the highest octane available.

[lonestar22]

nowadays BMW DME's are smart enough to detect if youre running less than optimum fuel and will just adjust the car accordingly. you arent really necessarily hurting the car but its also not running at its highest power setting.