Altima Coupe + Regular / Mid-Grade / or Premium ... in your 3.5?

[timmyt0481]

As a new Altima Coupe owner one of my biggest questions to the dealers was do you really 'need' to put Premium fuel in the car for the 3.5L engine as is recommended by Nissan?

All the dealers I spoke to told me 'no' and that they don't even put it in for the 350Z's. They told me unless it's a mom and pop shop with no quality standards (which is silly since they are all regulated) that regular unleaded would run just fine with no noticeable power degradation and or engine knocking, etc.

That being said the first time I filled up I used Premium and everything was great. After a week or so I burned through that (... got just over 400miles to the tank with mixed highway/city (23mpg average)) and as you might imagine I had to fill up. For tank #02 I used regular unleaded and have found that even though the car runs fine the engine seems to be louder and starts seem to rumble the car a little bit more.

Maybe it's me just being paranoid (common) but I was curious what others experiences have been?

Perhaps going for 'mid-grade- would be the best bet?

Thanks for all responses ...

[toxik]

Heh, well I haven't had to fill up yet but I'll let you know after I do. Although, I'm leasing my coupe so I doubt that I'll be using Premium.

[Carlosf22]

Toxik, did you find out anything about the insurance?

[toxik]

Toxik, did you find out anything about the insurance?

Yeah I got the same rate as I was quoted for on the v6 sedan. It's currently 1500 for 6 months but itll go down a couple of hundred because my brother just moved out of our household and he's not gonna be part of the insurance coverage anymore. But yeah, no difference between the sedan and coupe rates. I have Allstate btw.

[Buzzman]

FYI, there were some good discussions in the Pathfinder/QX4 forum on this subject in recent months.Since they use the same 3.5 engine, you may want to check it out.

[timmyt0481]

$1500 ... how old r u?

[toxik]

I'm 20 but I live in NYC. 1500 for 6 months in Brooklyn is considered cheap. My dad's 2005 Honda Accord is 1800 for 6 months.

[timmyt0481]

OMG ... This is one reason that I've not left suburbia and gone metropolitan; though I must say someday I want to try it.

I'm 26 ... and my six month premium for this car is ~$550. Which if you ask me is a lot! When he said it would probably go down ~$100ish after a year I was pumped. =)

[timmyt0481]

Oh ... he told me for the I4 it would have been about ~$80 dollars less. Not a big jump but money is money. I still wanted the power though. :x

[Carlosf22]

Progressive quoted me at $600 something, and i'm 19. For gas, if the car is owned go for mid-grade, for a lease just regular. With gas prices premium should be out of the question.

[toxik]

Oh ... he told me for the I4 it would have been about ~$80 dollars less. Not a big jump but money is money. I still wanted the power though. :x

Well the main reason that I didn't get the v6 is because of insurance. I can afford a v6 and pay for insurance but it's way too much if you ask me. That's why I went for the v4, to have lower monthly payments on the lease that won't kill me when combined with insurance.

[timmyt0481]

Nothing wrong with that ... it's simply called being practical! =) I certainly considered that option; but I think I'll save that for when I'm older. :x

Heck I was even looking at Hyrbrids! In another 5-6yrs I don't think there will be a choice for that. But right now ... I can deal with the gas price (as long as it doesn't go much higher then it is now!).

[timmyt0481]

For being 19 that is a great rate. I'm not sure how they can pull that! Is that with a really high deductible or something?

[Carlosf22]

No, it's that we would have 4 cars in the household and all with the same insurance company.

[08Coupe]

I use 93 octane, my policy is $703 a year (250 deductible)

FYI alot of newer cars pull timing with low octane, and I want my 270 on tap

[Jaeger]

I use premium (91) octane in my 3.5. I know it can run on regular, but since it runs best on premium that it what I use. I have tried a tank or two of ultra (94 octane) but could discern no improvement in performance and mileage seemed to drop a bit.

Best mileage so far was 29 mpg on a relaxed highway trip. I consider that to be pretty darned good for a car this powerful.

Jaeger

[timmyt0481]

Lucky! When I turned 16 my parents made me get my own policy and wouldn't let me on under theres. So therefore I got NO discount for multi-car!

I guess they thought they were teaching me responsibility by making me pay outrageous rates!

[timmyt0481]

Ughh maybe I am just getting raped by State Farm!

93 Octane seems to be the going grade around here. 87, 89, 93 ... no 91/92 of course.

[timmyt0481]

Yeah I've been told by my step sister who has an Acura TL that REQUIRES Premium (91 or above) that she can't tell any difference going to anything about 91; though almost everywhere has 93, etc so your basically forced to.

[luckybaer]

I think only Shell has 93 around here, and that's what I've put in the past couple of tanks (my altima has less than 1,000 miles).

I'll go to 91, too, if it is convenient.

I don't know what the dealer put in the first tank, but it got 20 mpg, and since I've put premium in, I've been around 22 mpg.

Heck, I bought the car because I love the performance, so I'll keep the premium flowing.

[hattrix]

I talked to both my motorcycle dealer (Bike claims it needs premium) and my Nissan dealer. Both said EXACTLY the same thing independently. You only need to use 89. The standards of Premium set in your guides is because in Asia and Europe there is no regulations on gas. If you get the low grade it could be half water (ok, maybe a bit of an exageration). What they both told me is that overseas, the premium gas is just about exactly the same as our regular 89 gas in North America. There is no discernable difference for our cars or for my Ducati for that matter with 89 to 91. I have tried both and can't tell the difference whatsoever. If I can't tell the difference and it won't damage my car, than there is no point in using. If I don't have to use it in my Ducati which is a much more delicate engine than a Nissan, I am sure as hell not using it in the Nissan.

[08Coupe]

I talked to both my motorcycle dealer (Bike claims it needs premium) and my Nissan dealer. Both said EXACTLY the same thing independently. You only need to use 89. The standards of Premium set in your guides is because in Asia and Europe there is no regulations on gas. If you get the low grade it could be half water (ok, maybe a bit of an exageration). What they both told me is that overseas, the premium gas is just about exactly the same as our regular 89 gas in North America. There is no discernable difference for our cars or for my Ducati for that matter with 89 to 91. I have tried both and can't tell the difference whatsoever. If I can't tell the difference and it won't damage my car, than there is no point in using. If I don't have to use it in my Ducati which is a much more delicate engine than a Nissan, I am sure as hell not using it in the Nissan.

I had HP tuners on my last car (2004 ls1 gto) and on a dyno saw 2 degrees to timing pulled with low octane (90), with (94) I did not~~ thats about 25rwhp. On my harley(aftermarket heads,cam,ect) I saw 11hp more at the wheel.

Rule of thumb the higher the compression or booster applications fuel will make more of a difference. On your bike I would run super(93-94) unless you drive like an old lady

[timmyt0481]

Well I did my first long distance drive this past weekend. Took a drive on down to Columbus to check out ComFest (crazy city that weekend let me tell you).

Round-trip I was averaging 26mpg and that was with about a 50/50 split of the tank doing about 200 miles highway and 200 miles city previously in the week. I guess that's not to shabby! (400 miles is about to be expected from a tank of fuel in this car it would seem)

Unfortunately most of of my driving is within the city where I only seem to be averaging around 17mpg regardless of the fuel grade I've put in.

I just broke 1000 miles on the car and am on my third tank of fuel. So far everything is great. I might make a new post for (the first 1000 mile impressions). =)

Oh ... after I emptied out the tank of regular grade fuel I filled back up with premium and I am rather certain I am not crazy as it does seem to run a heck of a lot smoother! once again Like it is a definite noticeable difference IMO. Though fuel efficiency didn't seem to be any better or worst. I have not really 'floored' the car around yet or tested its limits so I can speak too much whether performance was of any big difference. It just seemed to run 'rough' with regular and that was my only impression. Whether that means it was harmful to the engine or not I can not say.

Sorry for writing a book here ... ~Tim

[toxik]

Thanks for the insights tim. I still have only driven close to 100 miles on my car, and my fuel gauge is still on full. The car's computer says that I'm averaging about 14.5 mpg, which is what I expect in Brooklyn. I have only driven about 10 miles total on the highway, so I'm still curious as to what kind of mileage I can get there.

[melbourne]

Why would anyone spend 25 to 30k on a vehicle and then consider low octane in a high compresson engine when the engineers advice premium, for maybe a couple of bucks at a fillup. At no time would I consider that in my SRT8 Jeep. I know that it would cut milage, loose power and could carbonize valves over time. You spent good money for a great engine--use it. I intend to get a coup for my wife as the Jeep is just to much for her. sizewise and power. Looking forward to it.

[Dexion]

Why would anyone spend 25 to 30k on a vehicle and then consider low octane in a high compresson engine when the engineers advice premium, for maybe a couple of bucks at a fillup. At no time would I consider that in my SRT8 Jeep. I know that it would cut milage, loose power and could carbonize valves over time. You spent good money for a great engine--use it. I intend to get a coup for my wife as the Jeep is just to much for her. sizewise and power. Looking forward to it.

I hate to sound like the a$$ but I wholeheartedly agree!If you spend the extra dough for the 270 horsepower V6 that they say "we recommend premium" why would you cheap out 5 bucks a fillup? Your getting less gas mileage so your 5 dollar savings evaporates since you'll be back at the pump sooner. You loose performance, and lastly your knock sensors will have to take the punishment since you insist on running less than 91. Only a matter of time until the knock sensors have had enough.

IIRC in 2002 the Altima's manual said this for 3.5's"If you need to put regular in your car put only enough to get to a gas station to put premium in" <- or something of that respect. Guess they needed more sales on the 3.5 so they said you can put it in fine now.

[leifab]

I'm not sure of the difference in the Altima, since i've only had it about 3 weeks now and only filled up once, but in my sentra, with the 2.5 (qr25de) engine, there was a BIG difference. When i filled up with regular (87 octane) the engine would have LOTS of knocking an pinging at low rpms, switching to premium (91 octane) took care of about 90% of it.