– Why are you supposed to put high octane gas in some (typically luxury brand) cars?
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A higher octane rating prevents early ignition of fuel during compression, when fuel ignites prematurely it can cause what’s known as an engine knock which can wreck your engine. This isn’t much of a problem with regular car engines, but when an engine is very powerful it usually has a higher compression ratio and the additional power also makes it more likely that the engine will damage itself if it knocks.
The higher octane gas burns in a more controlled way, and actually produces less power than lower octane gas. But because it’s more controlled it becomes less likely to cause problems in these high power engines.
In simple terms, you should use the high octane fuel in these engines because they’re made to burn that fuel. And you should also avoid using it on cheaper, less powerful engines because there is no benefit in doing so. In fact doing so will cause the engine to produce less power.
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