Is it true that I can only use preminum gas in my VW 1998 buggy?

Question

I just heard from my friend who drives a VW that all VWs can only run on preminum gas because german gas is different and if I put the cheapest lowest grade in it will break my engine. Is this true? I really hope not with gas prices what they are.

Answer 1

I have a '98 New Beetle. It's meant to use Regular.
More recent years of VW, have a slightly higher requirement.
You can use 87 octane, no worries (UNLESS IT'S A GAS TURBO!)
Check out this awesome NewBeetle forum, for all the info you could ever need. I'm a student, and it's saved me tons of money I would have spent at the dealer.

Answer 2

If a manufacture says the car requires premium gasoline, you must put premium gasoline in the vehicle. (Check your owner's manual for your vehicles requirements)

Let me explain...

The reason for requiring premium is because the engine is designed to be a performance engine. This usually means that the engine has a high compression to give your better performance and power.

However the higher compression also requires you get gasoline that does not pre-ignite, or believe it or not more resistant to spontaneous ignition. This means you'll need a higher octane (more resistant to ignition).

The lower the octane number, the easier the gasoline will ignite. Which means if you put lower octane in a high compression engine, you'll get something called pre-ignition or spontaneous ignition. This basically will generate a flame front that is at various points in the cylinder that is not at the location of the spark plug, where the desired igntion point is.

Usually pre-ignition occurs where the piston and cylinders meet. This means it will generate a flame front that is opposing the flame front from the spark plug when it ignites. (This will also cause loss of power)

When this occurs as the flame fronts meet (the ones from the cylinder walls due to pre-ignition, and the ones from the spark plug), you'll get a shock wave generated. The shock waves over time will cause piston and cylinder/head damage, typically seen as pitting.

What is normally heard from drivers is commonly described as pinging/knocking, and the damage that can occur will void a warranty.

You can always try a lower grade of gasoline, but if you hear noise coming from the engine, you'll understand why. If you don't hear noise from the engine, you might be safe. Some vehicle manufacturers understand that people want to save a few bucks and so they add a knock sensor that retard's spark. This lowers engine compression simply by retarding spark to a less than optimal point. Honestly to me it seems like a waste to do this. If you're buying a high performance vehicle. typically premium is only $0.10 more per gallon than regular, which means on a 15 gallon tank, you're paying only $1.50 more. The savings in engine wear and tear is well worth the extra $1.50 a tank.

For the 2007 Beetle, "Premium is recommended." per the manufacturer. This typically means the engine does contain a knock sensor, and is retarding spark to prevent damage to your engine.


Joe S: In the US: 89 Octane is Premium, 91 is Supreme and 87 is regular. So based on your statement, you were running the recommended Premium ALL the time and upgraded to Supreme once every 4 fill-ups.

Answer 3

man everyone past the first person is a complete idiot.

Lower octane gas doesnt cause more buildup. It doesnt have any less detergents, and its not "unclean." what the higher octane does is fight predetonation. If your car isnt designed to need it (bugs arent i dont think), then theres no reason to put it in there. Look under the gas door. use whatever octane it says in there.

gas already has all of the detergents and such it needs. The fuel additives are a waste of cash. Seriously. If they were really needed that badly car companies would recommend using them. They dont though.

european gas is slightly different, but more than anything its just rated differently. they dont do the RON+MON/2 style. Your car was not made for europe, or in europe (IIRC georgia to be specific). Its designed and made for the US domestic market, not the european one. There are differences in the euro and US cars.

Answer 4

Using lower grade gas will in the long run cause more carbon build up internally, esp the valves and injectors. You can use low octane rating fuel, but I would either rotate, like premium every other tank or once a month, or put an additive in the fuel to keep the system clean. Its like the difference of eating a cheeseburger instead of grilled chicken sandwich. Just like your arteries may get buildup so to will working components of your engine with bad gas.

Answer 5

While your car will run better with premium, it's not a manufacturer recommodation. I wouldn't worry about it. I use to run three tanks of the 89 octane in my 97 Jetta and the fourth was always a premium tank. It kept the valves and injectors clean. When I sold it 2 months ago, it was getting 34 mpg and had 209,000 miles!

Answer 6

Your friend is incorrect you can use any grade gas in your vw the only thing that might happen is the octane sensor might go off because of the change from premium to low grade but it would just need to be reset which your manual should tell you how to do that.

Answer 7

no