Car Myths #31: High octane gas gives cars more power By Frank-Ling / Apr 09, 2014 share Facebook Twitter Google + LinkedIn Pinterest Email Share... By Frank LingWe’re not sure where this myth originated from, but we can make an educated guess. Everybody knows race cars need special fuel to go fast. So logically, high octane gasoline should do the same for regular cars.It sort of makes sense and there are tens of thousands of drivers who practice this little ritual every time they fill up.So will you benefit by using higher octane gas than what is recommended for your car? And if you do, how does this help?More is lessThe octane rating is misunderstood as a power rating of the gasoline. This is easy to get wrong because we’re all taught that numbers closer to 100 means higher quality. We take this idea and transfer this to octane ratings.But octane ratings have nothing to do with more power in the gas, and if you use a higher octane rating for your car, no one is getting any benefit from this except the oil companies through the extra money you spend.Octane ratingThe octane rating of gasoline is arrived at by its resistance to pre-detonation or pinging in the engine. Pinging happens when the gasoline explodes before the spark plugs have a chance to ignite it; the gas-air mixture combusts merely by being compressed by the pistons.Higher performance engines have a greater compression ratio than normal cars. If gasoline is used that cannot resist pinging under these increased pressure, the engine pings and can cause damage to the engine. This is why high-end cars need higher octane gas to prevent pinging.So as a general rule, using gasoline that has a higher octane rating than your car needs doesn’t translate into more power or better performance.But if your car manufacturer recommends higher octane gas, don’t Scrooge out by buying cheaper low octane gas.Source: Techsupportforum.com