FASTEST, EASIEST SAVINGS AT THE PUMP; "JUST SAY NO!" TO HIGH OCTANE

We've just begun a new column for the Santa Monica Daily Press, and it will run every other Tuesday. We'll reprint the columns here right after they run. We'll have some different material here, though, because we're able to add comments and observations which we didn't have room for in the newspaper. At the bottom of this posting, you'll find information on how to get the column, and the newspaper, online and about another new outlet ... The Huffington Post).

After reading this posting, you’ll be able to save a minimum of 25 cents, and in many cases a lot more, not just per tankful, but per gallon of gasoline. (The oil which sprayed out of James Bond's 1963 Aston Martin DB5 can be put to better use refined and in your gas tank).

And you don’t have to call some 800 number for “magic pills” or order a “secret report the government doesn’t want you to see” about a 100-mile per gallon carburetor; this “trick” is free.

Unfortunately, diesel fuel buyers can’t benefit from this ploy.

Which is: Just say “pass” on the high-test gasoline and stick with the lowest grade of gas your car or truck can guzzle without getting ill.

The truth is that very few unmodified cars will run best only on high octane. Most every car and truck sold in the US will run just fine on “regular,” usually 87 octane, and mid-grade gasoline, usually 89 octane. The highest grade gas sold in California is 91 octane. (George W. Bush leaves from the airport at Daytona International Speedway; either that or Harrison Ford stole his plane! Wonder how many gallons of kerosene that critter uses every year? By the way, be sure to click on this photo to see it greatly enlarged; it's quite an amazing shot!).

My long-time old friend, John Dinkel, author of the “Road & Track Illustrated Automotive Dictionary,” offers an authoritative word on the subject: “If a carmaker recommends gasoline with a minimum RON (a method of measuring a fuel’s anti-knock abilities) of 91, fuel from a pump with a rating of 87 or higher can be used”.

My point exactly. Dinkel may tell the world’s worst puns, but knows his stuff when it comes to automotive issues.

Pontiac’s all-new 2008 G8 sedan, made in Australia by GM’s Holden division (and called Commodore down in Oz), is available in the US with either a V6 or V8 engine.

Pontiac recommends “regular unleaded” for use in both engines, but also says that “premium (octane gas) maximizes performance”. Is it worth paying between an extra 25 cents and a dollar-per-gallon in order to access, say, those last 20-or-so horsepower? That’s up to the car’s owner. (The Owner's Manual of the new Pontiac G8, both V6 and V8 flavors, says using something other than 91 octane gas will have the kitten purring along just fine ...).

Here’s how to determine which grade of gas your car or truck needs: Experiment, just like we all did in junior high science lab, but without trying to blow something up.

If your owner’s manual says use high-octane, and you’ve been filling-up with the premium stuff, simply stop --- and try a tankful of the mid-grade. Or even the lowest-octane available.

Here’s the important part: If during or after running a tankful of the low-grade, unlabeled, Ripple-version of gasoline your car or truck starts exhibiting some nasty tendencies which it didn’t on the high-grade, including engine knocking, pinging or even “dieseling” (turning off the ignition doesn’t stop the engine from running for a few seconds) and/or a noticeable drop in acceleration (“bogging down” when you try to pass on the 90 Freeway) or there’s a drop in mileage, using a tankful of high-grade the next time you fill-up will usually cure every one of those problems exhibited on the cheap swill. (This week, George W. Bush lifted a White House Executive Order barring offshore drilling which had been signed by his father, President George HW Bush, in 1981; his frankly mean and petulant actions have no effect, because, thankfully, Congress has passed its own law, now US Federal law, banning offshore platforms from America's coasts. Good thing, too, because if they started planning a rig like this today and placed it and drilled and actually found oil, it would bring us some gasoline in, maybe, about five years. That gasoline will only extend our chronic, national addiction. Today's gas/electric hybrids and even the coming 'clean' diesels, which get much better mileage than their gasoline counterparts, could be seen as the drugs they give addicts to help get them through the withdrawals; but if the addict doesn't want to stop, no amount of drugs or persuasion will help. Addicts have to reach, they say, 'rock bottom' before they'll decide to get help. Seems to be that's where our nation is right now, hitting bottom, and asking for relief and a new way to live. You want to see this when you look out the window, or experience what happens when oil washes up onshore? Trust me, we in California have had the complete experience, and we won't let it happen again. You Go, Arnold the Guvernator!).

There’s nothing wrong, and money to be saved swapping between the high, mid and low grades every tankful.

With the price of gasoline (and diesel, heating oil, jet fuel and anything else made from plastic or other petro-related products) only going up, with perhaps just an occasional and temporary dip, the trick of swapping gas grades might be completely new for you or something you’ve been doing for years. (Some say that whatever 'national energy policy' we do have was developed, and approved, by Big Oil in secret meetings with VP Dick Cheney. We know they had the meetings, we just don't know what they talked about, apart from wanting to drill, drill, drill and then drill some more. Where's the no-budget, all-hands-on-deck, Manhattan Project, Apollo-style national campaign to create the new energy economy for our country and the world? Did Cheney and his employers come up with that, or did I miss something on the news?).

Our nation’s fearless leader’s only suggestion to lower gas prices has been to recommend rescinding rules which prevented offshore drilling, and to blame the high prices on Democrats.

So, never has the grade of the gas Americans use in their cars and trucks been so important. Not to your car or truck, but to your wallet.

(Steve Parker's newspaper column, Tornante, runs every other Tuesday in the Santa Monica Daily Press, www.SMDP.com; He also writes and moderates the only all-automotive blog on The Huffington Post at www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-parker; His daily national radio show, American Racing Today, focuses on NASCAR and can be easily accessed on this site by clicking on 'Our radio shows ...' in the Sections column found in the right-hand column on each page on this site).