OT - Anyone Regret Buying a Premium Gas Car

[Mike Avery]

Wife is looking at a new car, the VW Eos. It requires premium gas. The cost difference between regular and premium is 25 to 30 cents per gallon which means with each fill up, it will cost an extra $5. Essentially she would be buying an economy car but wasting the MPG fuel savings by buying the premium fuel. Part of me says get the car you want but the other part feels there may be some regret down the road each time we pull up the pump.

Anyone buy a car that required premium gas and regret it now.

Of course the wife reminded me the boat holds 300 gallons of mid grade and only gets 1.5 MPG.

Mike

[HisDoghouse]

Mike, Kathy & I bought a VW Convertable Beetle last June, and love it. It runs on regular, and at just over 11K miles, it's getting 27 - 29 MPG. That should improve as it breaks in. Gimme a call and I'll tell you more about it.

Joe

[bluefin2na]

The extra $5 a gallon might be worth it to keep her happy! A couple years ago my wife insisted on getting a VW Touareg TDI. So we went from 50 mpg in the TDI Jetta to only 25 mpg in the Touareg. Not to mention diesel is now over $4 a gallon.

[jasonco51]

I remember reading an article in POPULAR MECHANICS back in the 80's that basicly said the differences in the octane ratings of fuels at a regular gas station was a SCAM. The biggest diference is buying fuel at THE HAPPY MART who get their fuel from the small low quality wells, and the EXXON/MOBIL/BP who have the large higher quality wells. But then you get into the whole debate of it all flows through the same pipeline from the gulf all the way up the eastern seabord seperated by a PIG.

[hamonbagel]

I've got a 1980 528i fully restored that runs great on premium. It doesn't bother me a bit to get 20 mph because the 14 gallon tank is nothing compared to the 40 gallon tank on the Suburban or the 70 gallon tank on the boat. If you have the money for the boat, don't bitch about the car. Keep the wife as happy as you can being a man and you might get lucky once a year.

Get her the Aston DBS and go fishing.

Jeff

[Foy]

Mike,

If Lanie doesn't drive a great deal, the difference becomes less important. My point of view is that my diesel pick up gets driven about 4,000 miles a year for mandatory driving. Anything else is elective driving. I look at the mandatory costs differences only, as I have to have what I have for the elective driving (towing heavy, where diesel is the only way to go).

The price relationship is also pretty stable between prem and regular unleaded, unlike the extreme fluctuations in the the relationship between diesel and regular. That trend, of course, started about a week after I purchased my diesel pickup in May 2004. Go figure.

Foy

[Mike Avery]

We are certainly not rich by any measure. We make sacrifices in other areas of our lives to afford our boat and fishing lifestyle. We both drive economy cars as I don't even have a trailer or tow vehicle for the boat. But this is perhaps one of the areas we should not be making a sacrifice. In the end it's her choice, not mine.....just curious if anyone bought a car that needed premium and had regrets later.

[gooosehunter]

No regrets here on our new Audi Quattro! We love the car and drive her whenever we can! The car does pretty well on fuel cost if you keep the foot off the pedal. I however, find that difficult at times. The best thing about the car is the service; it only has to be done at 10,000 miles vs. 3000 for others. I drive my truck and the wife has an Acura for her company car. Hate the Acura, but love the Audi.

Cheers and here is to some warm temperatures, lower gas prices and calm seas.

Dave

[coast2coast]

No regrets on the Jaguar S-Type, it gets 28-30 mpg on the highway and 22-24 around town. Filling that 18 gallon tank with premium is a bargain compared to my truck at 28 gallons of regular or the 140 gallons in the boat. Plus. my wife is the happiest person alive when she's driving it because it was always her dream car.

[Bryansfish]

I'd like to know if anyone owns a car that says it requires premium (higher Oct) and tried running regular gas and what if anything happened?