I had an interesting conversation with a client a couple of weeks ago. She said her mechanic told her to buy regular and just add an octane boost to her car to save money. That sounded a little fishy to me, so I decided to look up some info on it. It sounds like if you buy the right octane booster (the one that boost by 50 points), it could increase you from an 87 to 92 level. In addition, there was this article from Edmunds that seemed credible enough (plenty of backyard mechanics were giving their 2 cents on it on other sites so I thought I'd just go to a source that actually did testing)...
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/to-save-money-on-gas-stop-buying-premium.html
The article isn't actually talking about an octane boost but rather that some cars don't need to higher level (see recommended vs required list). Admittedly, to buy the top of the line booster that would get you that 50 point rating, you'd be looking at $8 per bottle. Premium is about 50 cents more per gallon here so you'd barely save anything (breakeven at 16 gallons). Seems like a complete waste of time to me.
I certainly wouldn't contemplate it for my BMW as I'm still amazed how cheap gas is here compared to where I was living. Currently premium at Costco is $2.29. Back in the Bay Area it's $3.19.
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/to-save-money-on-gas-stop-buying-premium.html
The article isn't actually talking about an octane boost but rather that some cars don't need to higher level (see recommended vs required list). Admittedly, to buy the top of the line booster that would get you that 50 point rating, you'd be looking at $8 per bottle. Premium is about 50 cents more per gallon here so you'd barely save anything (breakeven at 16 gallons). Seems like a complete waste of time to me.
I certainly wouldn't contemplate it for my BMW as I'm still amazed how cheap gas is here compared to where I was living. Currently premium at Costco is $2.29. Back in the Bay Area it's $3.19.
