GT Cruser

My friend wants to buy the GT Cruser but he is concerd that the engine uses premium fuel, is it possible to run the engine on regular? I know that the engine would have less power, but does it have a knock sensor that can retard the timing or reduse the boost level to make it more friendly to Regular fuel? Thanks

Isn't that car turbo charged? you cant use regular on a turbo car!

well my lol other friend has a Dodge Shadow ES with the Turbo engine and it is reccomended Premium fuel and he only uses regular and it runs jus fine

Well of course regular is fine if you drive it like a sissy! but if you punch on the gas use optimum gas!

with my friends turbo car we have gone for times of up to 30 or 45 sec. at full throttle without letting up once without problems, but what we do know is that the car does have more power on premium but it has run fine on regular since 1987 even thoug it is reccomended to take premium

I guess the engine would only get dammaged if there's too much heat in the engine. My experience with reguar fuel and turbo conbination has always ended with a piston with a hole though it.

so all he would really have to do is watch the temp gauge? sorry if I sorta seemed like a total ass, I am just going of things that I am slowly learning, and i do appricate all your advice and input.

Originally posted by mr_tw
sorry if I sorta seemed like a total ass,


Not at all, you're actully one of the most decent people I've chatted with here.
Boost from the turbo causes heat, if the combustion chambers of an engine overheat the engine will start to get pre-ignition(knock, pimg),
sounds just like shaking a spraycan. If an engine gets preignition for an extended period of time, the least that can happen is melt a hole in the piston. I don't see a problem using regular for "cruising" the boulevard but the user manual's recomendations of fuel grade should be followed if any hard driving is done.:cool:

ya, I got ya there, if the engine does start to "Ping" after it starts, do u like shut of the engine asap, or slow down, or what precautions shold he take f the engine does ping?

Usually the pinging will happen like uphill, if that happens, lay off the gas a little, but if you have the radio blaring you probably wont hear the pinging sound.

Alright, here is your problem. The engine is running at a lower compression ratio to handle the boost pressure from the turbo. If you use lower octane in engines such as this you WILL cause detonation, and when I say will I mean there is no getting around it. You will ruin your engine. If your friend continues to run on lower octane he is going to blow holes clean through the pistons. I've seen it before; it is not a pretty site. Trust me, use the 91 or better, it will cost you less in the long run, besides, why the hell would you buy a car equipped with a turbocharger and put crummy fuel in it?

So the answer is a definite NO! You HAVE to use 91 octane or better.

no offence ment to your knowlage or anything but my friend has logged around 260,000 kms on his engine using only and alwayd Regular gasoline and he does frequently drive it hard, butI believe it with the GT Cruzer, being the higher boost that it uses

My wife has a Turbo Cruiser. The manual says it can safely and effectively use gas with an octane rating of 87 to 91. You will get better mileage and better performance with the higher octane. Anything higher than 91 will just go out the tailpipe.

But I agree with what was said previously; why get a turbo if you aren't going to get all the performance it was designed for? We always put premium in it.

I'd stick with what the manufacture or manual says. anaything else than that is a guess and you don't know what will happen. All turbo cars to the best of my knoweledge are supposed to use 91 or higher octane to give the car better perfromance and to stop detonation. Usually in newer cars the ecu is setup with an octane range that the car will run on. Also running lower might lead to problems.

There is an 04 PT turbo called the Turbo Lite, a little less power but it runs on regular gas.
Less power will not work for me. And if you are not running what the owners manual says you are pissin away gas money.

The knock sensor will detect detonation and pull back the timing to eliminate the knock, but it also reduces power. You will get more power by using 91 or 92 octane, but the ECU and knock sensor will protect the engine (unlike an older turbo engine without these gizmos). Do what you like either way. Factory HP ratings are with 91 octane fuel.