87-91 octane?

So in cars in general you always here that it is a scam to pay for 91-93 unleaded. I was told that you can go with 87 and once in awhile go higher to 'clean' the engine. Is this true? Is it different for a rotary engine?

ive heard the same thing, and i have that same question, lol no one answers me back either, sorry to dissapoint you, ill guess well learn our answer together

ive heard the same thing, and i have that same question, lol no one answers me back either, sorry to dissapoint you, ill guess well learn our answer together

I guess we will never know...but when I bought my RX-8 I asked the dealer and his answer was "for a high revving high performing engines premium is recommended". It wasn't clear whether we could use 87 octane. I sure hope we could "mix" in 87 octane in with the premium...I live in Cali and pay $1.85-$1.95 a gallon for premium. LATE....!

I guess we will never know...but when I bought my RX-8 I asked the dealer and his answer was "for a high revving high performing engines premium is recommended". It wasn't clear whether we could use 87 octane. I sure hope we could "mix" in 87 octane in with the premium...I live in Cali and pay $1.85-$1.95 a gallon for premium. LATE....!

damn man you should come down to maimi, premium's only 1.65-1.70...
still alot though i remember in georgia when i was little it was under a dollar for a gallon... times have sure changed

While I don't have an RX-8 yet, I do have an RSXtypeS and it requires premium fuel. It is marked on the filler cover to use a minimum of 91 octane. Most high performance cars require premium fuel. Fuel requirements are usually listed in the owner's manual.

I do not know about the RX-8 but back in the day I had a 1986 RX-7. I was told by a friend who also had one to only run the cheap stuff. I also was told by a Mazda dealer to keep it running good never put high octane in it. Something to do with the way it uses oil to lubricate. I was told high octane would reduce the life span. Unfortunately a jacked up truck that ran a red light and crushed the car shortened the life span for me.

I would contact the local Mazda repair shop and ask them what to run.
It should also state a recomended octane in the owners manual. I ran economy grade from Sunoco because it was 1 octane lower than all of the others and my RX-7 ran great.

The Octane rating of gasoline is a measure of the stability under compression. The higher the octane, more more stable the gas, and the higher compression it can take without detontating (pinging). I don't know what compression ratio the RX8 runs, but most performance cars run higher compression than your standard sedan, and thus require higher octane gas. Lower octane fuels typically have more energy density than higher octane fuels though, so want to run the lowest octane you can without pinging for the best gas milage and power.

If you want to test how low you can go, go to your local auto-parts store and buy a can of octane boost, then fill you car up with a lower octane gas and find the steepest hill you can and try blasting up it. If you hear pinging, stop immediately and dump the octane boost into your gas tank. If you don't, then hey, you're good with lower octane gas.

91-93?
should i be pointing out that we have a 95-97 here in the uk.
but we pay tway more than you do...

I own a '04 rx-8. I have tried on many times to run less expensive gas. Don't go there. If you want to run it at its peak performance, only run 93 octane. The difference will astound you. Also, running less than 93 will also increase the likelyhood that you will flood out your car. Flooding an rx is not fun, yes I have done it. If you flood it, basically have it towed to the dealer and let him get it running again.

I only use Shell 93 Octane.

Listen to me or,........Learn the Hard Way!

wow this is an old thread

but ya the octane rating is for the flash point [i believe thats the name], the higher the number the higher the flash point is, it is important in performance cars because of turbo chargers and higher compression ratios, these create more heat and pressure in the engine and could lead to premature detonation of the air/fuel mixtures

that can be very damaging to the engine as the combustiosn are happening at the wrong intervals