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When it comes to octane, stick with what the manufacturer recommends in the manual. If the manual says you can run on 87 octane, there is no benefit to running higher octane.
Some cars can run on 87, but also specify for max performance to run 91 or higher.
Read the manual
I had a new M3 when Car and Driver tested one running 87 vs. the recommended 93. Car was a tick slower 0-60 but essentially unnoticeable. I had a leased Audi A8L......car got 48K miles of 87 octane without any problems whatsoever. If it doesn't ping then I wouldn't worry about it
What I see is one section in/near the industrial area of state.
Large round tanks. Many. Owned by one private company. And not by the name brand gasoline companies.
All of the delivery tanker trucks go there for gasoline. Shell, Sunoco, Texaco, Mobil, etc.
They all get the gasoline from the same large tanks.
Now, some will claim that at that point of pickup - that the delivery truck driver adds some additives to the tanker delivery truck. And that additive in that tanker truck is what differentiates one brand from another.
In my county, Murphy Oil (Walmart's partner) has its own distribution network. For every other gas station in the area, fuel comes in by barge on the Intracoastal Waterway, goes to the Citgo fuel depot on Boggy Bayou, and then all the different brands get their gas from the Citgo depot.
From there, we go for gas stations that look like they've been built or rebuilt in the past 20 years because it seems likely their fuel tanks are also in good condition. Usually Exxon these days because Publix does a frequent deal where you can buy a $50 gas card for $40 with purchase of other groceries, and whatever additives Exxon puts in seem to be relatively benign.
Only place I will avoid unless it's the only option in 50 miles is BP and that's for more other reasons than fuel quality- I'm on the northern Gulf Coast and remain appalled at how they handled the oil spill, and I know a lot of people directly negatively affected by their criminal negligence.
Unlike the other posters, I run 2 Octanes higher than the owners manual recommendation and notice both the performance AND miles per gallon difference. I.E. It PAYS to add that extra Octane.That may be because my area has hills and dales, curves and canyons. In a place flat like Phoenix or LA you might not notice, unless you make a long run and keep records??
My issue is that it may be that some makes are recommending a higher octane gas because they "want to be safe" and limit liability in some way or just to make the car seem sportier by having that as "recommendation". Kinda like everything says "dry clean only" now (just in case!) when many times it can be safely laundered. <shrug>
In REAL basic information, there are 2 major components in the formulation of gas, Heptane and Octane. These indicate the chain length of the molecules used. Octane is a very stable chain length and does not want to burn. Heptane, while stable in atmosphere, becomes very unstable when compressed, like in your engine. The more Heptane, the easier the gas will light. The more Octane, the harder it is to get it to ignite. The higher Octane is used in higher compression engines to stop the gas from going off due to compression, like a diesel. In an engine designed to use regular gas or 87 Octane, there is only one benefit from using it and that's due to the change of the burning temps in the combustion can remove some deposits. It's far cheaper though to use a Stoddard Solvent based cleaner like Techron to remove the deposits so there is no cost benefit from using the higher Octane gas. There is slightly more energy in the higher Octane fuels but if the engine isn't design to take advantage of it, it's a waste of money. Like it says in most owners manual, use a quality brand of gas meeting the Top Tier requirements.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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I don't know if it's changed but I drove a gas tanker in the '70s. While a truck in service for a Phillips 66 distributor, this was during the crisis years and we regularly had allotments for and picked up loads from Texaco, Tenneco, and a few others I can't remember at this point and delivered those products to Phillips retailers. We also had trucks from other brands taking loads from our Phillips tanks.
Unlike the other posters, I run 2 Octanes higher than the owners manual recommendation and notice both the performance AND miles per gallon difference. I.E. It PAYS to add that extra Octane.That may be because my area has hills and dales, curves and canyons. In a place flat like Phoenix or LA you might not notice, unless you make a long run and keep records??
I can almost guarantee that these performance and MPG difference is all in your mind. It does not pay. Hills, canyons, etc....makes absolutely no difference.
If by small chance you do need higher octane then your owners manual (it's pinging) then it may be an indicator that you have some engine problems. Otherwise you may be actually hurting performance with too high octane by changing the ignition specs - air/fuel mixture burning more slowly and with less combustion.
My ex brainwashed me to stay away from AM/PM, and now that I have my nicest car I've ever had (Lexus), I still steer clear, excuse the pun! I do get 76 gas, I am not sure if that is equal to AM/PM; it goes for the best price here. Otherwise, I go to Shell or Chevron.
A friend of mine is a service manager at a major high-end car dealership. If a car comes in for repairs, and the issue is motor related, first thing they will do is pull a sample of gasoline from the car's tank. It it isn't the high octane gas specified in the owners manual, warranty coverage will be denied.
OP, in a Sentra, 87 octane is fine because as a couple of posters already stated, higher octane gas is useless in an engine that's not designed to take advantage of it. Regarding brands of gasoline, I used whatever is cheapest. But a previous commenter also noted that he only uses gas from stores that look new or look relatively newer because they'll have newer tanks. I'll start heeding this advice too.
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I do get 76 gas, I am not sure if that is equal to AM/PM; it goes for the best price here. Otherwise, I go to Shell or Chevron.
