So my girlfriend got a 96 honda prelude and it says unleaded premium fuel only on the cluster. So can she only put premium in it

 

Yes.

 

 

FAQ

 

Umm, did you even think about that before you posted it?

She can put regular in it, but it's going to knock like Bob Dylan on heaven's door, at which point the knock sensor will retard timing to protect the engine from damage. Then she'll have a '96 Prelude that runs sluggish and throws Check Engine lights.

 

 

its gonna run just fine on any octane if its your girls daily who cares just dont put anything with ethanol in it. the gas stations dont even check the octane level to make sure its 91 or 93 or 89. so your probably not getting what you want anyways

 

^Not true, ran it with reg when I first got it and exactly what targa said happened.

Just hunt around for a place that has a good deal on the grade, in a large city like where I'm at you can find gas with either $0.12 diff in grades or $0.05 diff, its not always gonna be high.

 

I use my '99 as a daily driver and you do not want to put anything less than premium in it for sure... if you're worried about the cost of it compared to regular, in the long run it's about the same because i have ran regular in my car just to see how it reacted and it knocked like crazy, shut off on me at low speeds and the biggest thing i went through a tank of gas like it was nothing driving the same amount of miles in the same driving conditions as i would when using premium. so trust me fork out the couple extra cents for premium it's definitely worth it.

 

hm ive never had any of those problems in my prelude my nissan 240 or my acura tl but i do know for a fact that the gas stations dont check the octane levels of their gas very offten i heard from a manager at a local bp that they almost never verify octane levels and they can be as much as 2 to 3 ocatane off so for volcom 7 1 just try a few and decide for yourself cause every car is gonna be a little different anyways oh but you i will agree to the mpg you will get better with premium

 

Anyone with Senna in their avatar pic must know what they are talking about.

 

I still can't believe how cheap some people are......Premium will cost you $2-3 extra per fill up. We're talking an extra $0.01 per mile....hahaha

 

If you absolutely need to run regular for whatever reason you decide, then go for it. Just know the car was tuned from factory for premium so anything less and you run the risk of all types of problems. As NirVTEC stated, its only a couple bucks difference per fill up... just do the math. All 92+ preludes have a 15.9 gallon tank... so even if its 30 cents extra over regular for premium, its less than 5 bucks difference.

I'm sure a knock sensor is more than that... and heaven forbid you have a more expensive problem.

 

lol once again try it for yourself if your lude is stock just its gonna run just fine on other gas just dont put anything with ethanol in it but yeah premium isnt that much more but it can be like 300 more a year to fill up with premium everytime or more depending on how much you drive but make your own choice but also a good gas station will make a difference also i only go to BP or QT those are the local good ones for me thats almost more important so you dont get old gas or gas with water in it