Date:         Sun, 23 Jun 96 12:29:50 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Reply to: Re: Oil cooler placement...pt II

On Sun, 23 Jun 1996 11:11:10 -0500 sean bartnik said:
> ...                                                    I've always run my VWs
> on el cheapo 87 octane gas with no problems, no pinging, etc.  Anybody that
> puts 91 octane in the tank of a VW is just burning money, in my opinion.  Of
> course, in the event that I am wrong, someone please correct me!

one thing to remember about OLD vw's is that the u.s. has changed its method
of labeling gasoline octane: what USED to be 91 octane in the "old days"
(back in the 60's) is NOW 87 octane. so, yes, VW's are designed to run on
the lower pump octane (87) that is available NOW.

but many people "feel" that the higher grades of gasoline give them more
performance, cleaner engines, less trouble, better smelling exhaust, and/or
whiter teeth. ;)  it's their money, their choice. :)

the point is that if you have an older VW and you read the owner's manual
and it says "91 octane", be careful to look at which KIND of octane ...
usually it's "91 RON octane" which is the old way of figuring octane. the
new equivalent is "87 (RON+MON)/2" (or some folks call it AKI octane rating).

joel (octane-breath) :)