While it is common knowledge that the people of the USA (and in particular California) worship the automobile over all other forms of transportation, there are some aspects to the operation of this sophisticated machine that are not clearly defined. I'm sure the most common misconception I run into is the issue of gasoline “grade” or “octane “. Since the cost of high octane (premium) gas is higher than low octane (regular) gas (usually 20-30 cents per gallon), it will prove to be beneficial to consumers to take an objective look at their auto’s requirements.

Let’s take a closer look at the terms I will be using to further our discussion. To begin, octane is the numerical representation of the relative speed that a fuel burns. For instance, a higher octane gas burns SLOWER than lower octane gas. Sounds backwards, doesn’t it? Why would you need to slow down the burning of the gas in your engine? Without getting too detailed, your car’s engine requires a gas and air mixture to be compressed and then ignited by a spark. Some engines compress the fuel mixture to a higher pressure than others. It turns out that these high compression engines are not only more fuel efficient, but they also gain more performance per gallon of gas used than low compression engines.