Drive a 2003 Landrover Disco. LR recommends premium unleaded. at almost $4 a gallon, its killing me. Can I use regular unleaded without hurting this “senstive” SUV’s engine?
If the Owner’s Manual does use the word “recommended”, rather than “required”, then you can safely use regular gas.
Just bear in mind that, aside from a possible drop in power, you also may experience lower gas mileage when you switch to regular, thus negating the potential cost saving. You might want to do a little experiment over the course of a few tanks of gas in order to see the outcome.
Sure! Use whatever fuel you like. Find loopholes, like courtroom shysters, in splitting a word three ways from Sunday. A wiser interpretation of the word “recommend” would be “should”. You may, or may not, burn holes in the pistons; but, HEY!, you saved a few pennies! Well done!
The owner's manual will say that it must have high octane or that it may use regular but should use high octane. The parts the leave out are:
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If it needs high octane, using regular can damage the engine.
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If it should use high octane then it has a system to sense the low octane and to make adjustments to the car that will protect the engine. However the adjustments will result in lower mileage (reducing or wiping out any economic advantage) and will reduce the power, defeating the reason most people buy cars that require high octane.
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Using high octane in a car that does not recommend it does nothing but cost you more.
Is it really killing you? For my vehicle which absolutely requires premium it costs me an extra $8/month in fuel costs vs regular driving 10,000 miles/year. Hardly worth even thinking about for the pleasure of driving a sports car.
I think the price increase of fuel regular or premium overall is “killing” you recently, the difference between regular/premium (typically $0.20-$.25) has never changed even when fuel was nearing a dollar.
Break down the costs and realize its so meager especially when you own a premium vehicle. I just don’t get it.
In Ontario, premium is 10 cents a liter more than regular. Given that I use about 150 liters of (regular) gas a month, it would cost me an extra $15 a month to use premium instead of regular. I know I can afford an extra $15 a month… I’m sure you can too, especially since you can afford a Land Rover. And of course, you factored in the need for premium fuel when you bought the Land Rover… right?
If a vehicle is DESIGNED to use premium then using regular unleaded will NOT save you any money. When using unleaded the computer will retard timing so the engine won’t knock. This will result in a loss of power and gas mileage.
AND this is hoping the knock sensor will always be working, AND that NO detonation ('way before normal ignition) occurs, AND that ignition retard can go low enough to prevent knock. Heads, or tails?
This question has been asked and answered many times before. Try using the “search” function to see HUNDREDS of posts on this subject.
Do Land rovers still use the old 1962 Buick pushrod aluminum V8? They would run on kerosene without damage…But now that they have been “upgraded”, that is no longer the case…
Your fuel cost is THE LEAST expense you have in operating that vehicle…
YUP…