'The West' is a mighty big place.

In my sub-region of 'The West', from Alberta to British Columbia to
Washington and Oregon, regular gas is 87 Octane - alcohol is optional.

Jake

On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 11:17 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:

> Well, that sounds definitive.  I was hoping for a reply that would
> enlighten me a little more, however.  VW clearly recommends minimum
> octane 87.  Gasoline in the West is clearly lower octane than that (on
> reasonable theoretical, and I suppose data driven, grounds).  Numerous
> folks, including some with claimed technical expertise, state that the
> waterboxer is subject to detonation knock (ping) and that the octane
> value of the gasoline used is iffy in that regard.  Consequently these
> folks recommend higher octane gasoline.  If they are wrong, I'd like to
> know how we know that.  If they are right, I definitely don't want to
> waste my money.  I'd just like to understand it a little better.  I
> certainly believe that pinging would be less noticeable in a vanagon
> than in a vehicle with the engine right in front of the driver.  For
> driving in Oklahoma, I pay the extra for alcohol free gasoline.  Is that
> a waste of money also?  Actually, for my other cars, I concluded that I
> would pay up to but not more than $0.06 per gallon more.  That was
> arbitrary.  Given the alleged propensity of the waterboxer to be
> sensitive to gasoline quality (and VW's admonition in the manual to use
> alcohol free gasoline if possible), for that vehicle, I always pay
> whatever extra I have to to get alcohol free fuel, where it is
> available.
>
> Any explanation will be considered helpful.
>
> David McNeely
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 12:18 PM , Richard A Jones wrote:
>
>  And, am I just wasting my
>>> money, as most auto manufacturers state, when I pay extra for the
>>> higher
>>> octane stuff when out west?
>>>
>>
>> Yes.
>>
>> Richard
>>
>

--
Jake

1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"

Crescent Beach, BC

www.thebassspa.com
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27