How Buying High-Grade Gas Saved Me Money: A Personal Experiment

Now before we get started, let me tell you this is my own experiment done on two cars. This is by no means a legit scientific study, so read it accordingly. I am proposing that with the price of gas the way it is, it is cheaper to actually put the highest grade octane in your tank. With prices hitting almost $4 a gallon and then next octane still only costing a dime more, Might as well go for the good stuff. This study was done over the course of a month using the 3 different grades of gas from the exact same station.

Cars
OK for the cars used in testing. 2001 Chevy cavalier z24 - Manual says it holds 13 gallons of gas but each fill up only gets to between 11-12. The second car is a Toyota Corolla - again another car that fills at around 11-12 gallons per tank. These cars are heavily driven about 50 miles total each day for work and just getting lost on my way to CVS. I live in Florida so if any of you know Florida is very hectic driving with continuous stop and goes.

Round 1
OK the first prices were set as 87octane - 3.19 90octane - 3.29 93octane - 3.39. I filled up both cars with the 87octane (like I normally USED to do). The Toyota took a total of $35.86 to fill (11.3g), while the Chevy took $37.39 (11.7g). Me and the wife drove the cars until the "check gas/gage" light went on. The Toyota went for 262.2 miles on that tank (23.2mpg). The Chevy went for 284.3 miles (24.4mpg) I knew Chevy was better!

Round 2
Now of course the prices changed but we still could use the same stats. 87octane-3.21 90octane-3.31 93octane-3.41. Again filled them up to the brim and waited for the lights to come on. Toyota took 38.05 (11.5g) and the Chevy took 38.4 (11.6g). Again the usual driving standards and the Toyota went 282.9m (24.6mpg) and the Chevy went 291.2m (25.1mpg).

Round 3
As the third time to fill up the tanks came around prices were getting outrageous. 87octane-3.32 90octane-3.42 93octane-3.52. Again filled up the cars, Toyota took a whopping $40.13 (11.4g) and the Chevy took $40.83 (11.6g). Doing the regular driving, the Toyota went 288.4m (25.2mpg) and the Chevy went 309.7m (26.7mpg).

Conclusion
Basically, using the trusty calculator, the miles per gallon went up almost 2mpg for each dime it cost. And with the price of gas around $3.50 to $4 a dime is only roughly 3-4% more money to get 5-7% more gas mileage. And more gas mileage means less stopping at gas stations and more time at the blood-bank to make gas money. Plus now you won't have to worry if it is just a myth that higher octane gas is better for your car.