Volkswagen Atlas Forum banner

Thoughts on Unleaded 88

9K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  KarstGeo 
88 is typically a 15% ethanol based fuel vs. the standard 87/regular with 10% E hence the slight increase in octane rating. I see no reason why you can't run this without issue. 5% E isn't going to have f-all of an impact and will be well within the range of the fuel system's capacity. Just my $0.2...as always, internet so take that for what it's worth.
 
I use 87 octane gas...no issues.
(2021 Atlas Cross Sport, 4-cyl)
Of course you have no issues, VW has tuned the engine to be able to run 87 as the min without issue. 40K/4 years on straight 87 for me with zero drama as would be expected. My graphs earlier in this thread show the difference - you want max performance, towing, mountains,etc.? Run higher octane fuel. Around town normal daily life? Save your money.
 
There are plenty of videos out on the internet with evidence (not subjective) that more ethanol = fewer mpg and less power to your engine because there are fewer BTUs in ethanol than in gasoline. My own experience bears that out. Take an older car (pre-2007) and put pure, non-ethanol gas (which is available in some locales, mine included) and run on exclusively that mix a tank or two, and measure your average mpg. Then run 10% ethanol and be blow away by how much worse your fuel economy is. This is not rocket science. Just because more modern cars can adapt the timing and spark to run "efficiently" on ethanol blends doesn't mean you will get any more power out of it. It's just not there to begin with. I do not want to run "88" through my Atlas, even though it says it's okay to do so for that reason alone. 87 octane regular with 10% ethanol will get you more mpg than 88 octane 15% ethanol.
That is correct but you need to do the math on the cost difference - 5% E difference will be almost impreceiveable w/r to mpgs but will be cheaper per gallon so may or may not be a better deal..just need to calc it out....it's ~$0.40/gal less than 87/e10. You won't beat it with the slight drop in mpgs...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top