# Premium Gasoline - Is It Worth It?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/premium-gasoline-is-it-worth-it/249642>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 10, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/premium-gasoline-is-it-worth-it/249642 "2004-06-10T14:54:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![olefin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@olefin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olefin)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/premium-gasoline-is-it-worth-it/249642/21 "2004-06-11T03:47:46Z")

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> [@Mister V](#):
>
> Really, I don’t see why people buy $30,000+ cars, and then try to skimp on premium gas. Weren’t they aware of what they were getting into? If you want value and economy, buy a Honda.

I can tell you have never owned a luxury car. I have for several years… and my owners manual specifics **regular gas**. Why would anyone want to waste their money on premium gas when the car maker says use regular? Unless he thinks he’s smarted than the people that designed the engine. 😃

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**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/premium-gasoline-is-it-worth-it/249642/22 "2004-06-11T10:43:44Z")

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> [@olefin](#):
>
> I can tell you have never owned a luxury car. I have for several years… and my owners manual specifics **regular gas**. Why would anyone want to waste their money on premium gas when the car maker says use regular? Unless he thinks he’s smarted than the people that designed the engine. 😃

I agree that premium is a waste of money if the manual specifies regular. I was talking about people who buy expensive cars with high-performance engines that require premium and then decide to be cheap and run them on regular. I assumed that most cars in the $30,000+ range fall into that category, but apparently not.

And how exactly can you tell I’ve never owned a luxury car? I have a 2003 BMW, and the manual specifies premium.

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