I’m looking in to getting a 2012 tsx and a have a book that says the fuel type is "Premium". Does this mean I would need to use Premium or could I use Unleaded? And would it decrease the gas mileage by a large amount?
You need to use premium unleaded fuel to stop the engine from knocking.If you use regular unleaded, the computer in the vehicle retards the timing to keep the car from knocking and this causes the vehicle to burn more gas.Also, I have had cars in where the customer has put regular unleaded in and the computer couldn’t compensate enough and it still knocked really bad.Lesson: use only premium fuel.
You need to use premium.
The type of fuel has nothing to do with gas mileage. That is a myth.
Premium fuel is a higher octane, which means it is less likely to combust in the cylinder chamber in the engine.
In powerful engines like the TSX 4 cylinder engine making 200+ HP. There is a higher chance of pre-combustion, also known as engine knocking. This destroys the engine. Engine knocking is when the fuel combusts prematurely or at the wrong time.
Premium fuel (higher octane) is less likely to combust prematurely. It is less combustable. It decreases the chances of engine knock, which destroys the engine.
If you use regular fuel, your car will not run correctly and the computer might stop your engine before real damage is done. I know Audi’s sense regular fuel and shut down. I had this happen to a friend who tried to use regular fuel. They had to get it towed to the dealer where they drained the gas tank, cleaned the fuel system, and reset the ECU.
All Turbocharged engines or powerful high compression engines require premium fuel. That is the price of luxury and power. You must use premium fuel.
Using Regular will void your warranty.
Cars like the Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic use small weaker engines. They do not require premium and they run just fine on regular. With little power, there is less chance of the fuel combusting at the wrong time.
I was active in a Volvo forum where the question of how much fuel economy was lost if regular gas was used instead of premium. Of the people who tried regular and compared it to premium, all of them reported paying more per mile for regular as than for premium because of the reduced fuel economy.
In OBDII cars (all cars made and sold in the US since 1996) using regular will not cause the engine to ping unless there are combustion chamber deposits. The EPA was very adamant about adequate control of ignition timing to prevent detonation because of the high NOx produced by detonation, but they couldn’t do anything about the effect of deposits. If you use top tier gasoline brands you won’t have a problem with the deposits, either.
from personal experience=I own a 06 6MT tsx , bought new 11/17/06. I do mostly highway driving but drive it conservatively. No high-revs, or racing. I have all the service done by an acura dealer. They compliment me on how well my car is maintained. The original tires lasted 74,000+miles and the replacements have almost 60,000 miles. The car still has the original brakes. This gives you an idea on how it is driven. I average 30-35MPG using regular gas. My car has almost 134,000 miles. Many of the 09 tsx had problems with the engine pinging-even when premium fuel was used. My car has no knock or pinging (knock-on-wood) If you were to drive my car and did not know I used regular gas you would never know. It runs excellent. According to the owner’s manual it states-not to use gas with an octane less than 87-using 87 octane will NOT void your warranty.
Its not about gas mileage. Cars that need premium gas is so the engine doesn’t knock or ping. If you want your car to run on regular unleaded I’d suggest you install some colder spark plugs