I just bought my second Crossfire a week ago. After all the paperwork was settled the first owner of this car told me that he never used premium fuel. The car ran perfectly on the 150 mile drive home. I can't help but wonder though if the original owner may have caused any damage by not using the proper fuel. Would the ECU have compensated for the lower octane and I have nothing to worry about? Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated. Other than this one issue the car is in near perfect condition.

 

Toomanycars
The ECU's and related equipment on the Crossfires (and later cars) compensate for the misuse of the regular gas grade. This is not your 70's cars with the primitive smog equipment that created potential damage to the engines. Remember the knocking that took place, when you tried to turn off the engine, and continued to run for a while, due to poor gas or the wrong grade being used? There is a loss of power, based upon the regular grade of gas.
Buy premium....
Dennis
DTMenace

 

Thanks for the reply. I do use premium in my other Crossfire and will continue to do the same with this one also. I guess I was just looking or some peace of mind. I also just noticed that this subject was bought up before so I was just about to delete this post before I got brutally chastised!

 

I have used mid-grade gas in my car for the last 15 years. no problem.

 

Regardless of type of vehicle FOLLOW THE OPERATIONS MANUAL.

 

I agree, for the difference in price who cares. In Canada the difference in price between regular and premium is 15 cents a liter a little less for mid grade. So that adds up with a fill up, it’s only money.
I would not brag about not using regular.

 

My view:

1) Someone who obsesses over pennies per gallon is someone who also takes shortcuts with maintenance for the same reason: short term financial concerns.
2) If 20 to 50 cents per gallon is that big of a deal, given that most Crossfire owners are older, I'd ask just what you did in your life that a few cents per gallon is such a big deal to you at this point in your life.
3) The ECU will compensate for low grade fuel, but just watch the numbers, the ECU does not KNOW what fuel you put in, it reacts to knock and retards timing, but it does not magically know what fuel you put in the car. THe idea that you "cann ot do damage" due to the ECU "compensating" outlines clearly that you do not understand how the ECU manages the engine. RUnning cheap gas is the same as running 10W40 conventional oil: if you honestly believe the engineers had no reason to specify a certain product, Dunning-Kruger is alive and well in you.

 

DITTO... TOOMANYCARS, Unless your rocketing around from 0 to whatever all the time, nothing will be damaged. If you use premium, and rocket around all the time you'll do damage to your car all over all the wearable/torqued parts. . Have fun, it's your $$, I have used mid-grade since purchased new @ 23 miles on the ODO... BTW, engine manufacturers have been in cahoots with all types of businesses who share in revenues. Good example, using only a certain brand of oil Mobil1 0W-40. If you think monies did not pass between companies after that little sticker/mention in an owners manual about using Mobil1, think again.


.

 

I had c320 wagon( same engine as the limited crossfire) that i used reg in because the guy i got it from said he had always used reg. gas, long story short , i only pushed the car once or twice
because if you check,,, a lot of the turbo cars today have two hp setting example, my ford fusion turbo, in the manual says 210 hp on reg and 235 hp on
premium. so that being said the limited can be 205 hp on reg and 225 on premium.some people say with the crossfire you only need the premium gas when you push the peddle to the metal. oh,, the wagon i use nothing but premium in it today and at 110,000 miles it runs great. jim

 

With some brands even between the mid grade and premium there is a difference in the additives/detergents.

 

I've used mid-grade to top off while on a road trip. The half-tank or so mixed with premium hasn't caused any problems. The cost for premium locally has dropped to what our price-fixed regular used to be before the family that owned all but two of the over a dozen stations in town sold out facing multiple state investigations for price gouging and price fixing. So, now the cost for premium hovers around a dollar more than the price for regular, currently $2.99/gal. $3.99 for premium is decent and in line with the local market. Car runs fine and seems happy to be drinking up the good stuff.