I would have to respectfully disagree that premium would lead to cleaner fuel injectors, I think that depends more on the additives they put in rather than the premium/regular choice, so that could be brand dependent.

I didn't realize reducing the horsepower might reduce the mileage. I googled around and found an interesting article:

"High-test does have a potential fuel economy benefit. It is slightly denser than lower-octane gas, meaning there's a little more energy in a gallon. But the small difference is hard to measure in real-world use, and that same density can contribute to undesirable buildup of waste products inside the engine. "

I learn something new everyday

Umm, okay. It's a performance car and the owner's manual says "Premium fuel only." I am not complaining and in fact my last car was the same way.

A friend of mine drives a Lexus and he does the same thing. He doesn't put anything in it but Premium. He's never not put any other grade in out of fear of what it would do to his car...

I can understand not experimenting on a new expensive car.

I confess. I use regular in my Mercedes.

The octane rating of gasoline determines the way in which the fuel combines with oxygen during combustions, and thus the speed, violence, and temperature of the explosion (what you might call the combustion profile). A car's engine's materials, design, and timing are tuned to run ideally with a specific combustion profile determined by the grade of gasoline recommended in the owner's manual. Will using a different grade result in catostrophic damage to your engine? Hardly. But in the long run, if the engine is firing with a combustion profile outside of the design sepcs will require the engine to compensate and perhaps lead to accelerated wear or loss of peak performance.

I was very pleased to see my owner's manual recommend using only 87 octane.

Thanks for that. I knew it was something along those lines but am really not well-versed in how these things work (on the other hand, I'll be rebuilding Jennifer's computer over the weekend so it's obviously just a matter of specialties). Jen's Subaru (the DOOMBGY Mk. II) specifies 87 "Regular Unleaded only" as well.

Tom read a story today about Exxon/Mobile's profits this past quarter. Secibnd-highest profits for a quarter ever, second only to Exxon/Mobile's fourth quarter last year.

The article (I'm betting it was CNN or LA Times?) stated it like this: every second, Exxon/Mobile makes a profit that is the price equivalent of the amount of gas used to drive between NY and LA THREE TIMES. Every second.

How is this effin' legal?

My truck is rated for E85, but there is not one station in the entire Phoenix metro area I can find that sells it.

I just can't get upset at oil companies making a profit of about 9 cents/gallon of gas. That's not unreasonable. It's the sheer volume of the industry that produces the profits (Americans burn around 383 million gallons/day - or so it was in March 2005).

I hope they do not go with windfall profits taxes....a ridiculous and counterproductive thing to do. I was going to go into an explanation, but I'll defer to an economist who can explain it much better than I can.

Windfall Profits and the Price of Gas