I was told to alternate between the both if I wanted to in the summer.....I was also told that for the winter time I should ONLY put 87 in the car to prevent cold start flutter and engine problems......... any thoughts out there?

I've been driving turbocharged Saabs for almost 15 years. The one thing I know is that turbochargers have a higher propensity for preignition (knocking) and therefor like high octane. Now good engine programming can minimize this but most turbos, especially the 2.7T, are programed for performance. And I believe that the allroad's owner's manual recomends 91 or higher octane. Finally, my feeling is that the higher octane gasolines tend to be cleaner. There is no way I'd put 87 in my allroad.

Josh

'01 silver allroad quattro Tiptronic
'97 Saab 9000 Aero 5spd
'94 Nissan King Cab pickup V6 5spd

If you fill up your tank every week (17 gals per fill) @ 1.90 per tank for 92 octane thats about $1680 per year. Now lets get the 87 octane @1.60 to a total of $1415 per year. Thats roughly a $265 savings per year. You would have to drive many years to save up enough to replace the turbos if the got a bunch of auto-detonation from the low octane gas.

I think I'll stick to the high-octane for Herman (my allroad).

Curtis

I assumed that much...... The dealership tech guys didn't look so bright when the Question came up anyway... So has any of you fellas had problems in the winter with such high octane?

Can Too Much Octane Really Be Bad For The Car?
I've Been Using 98 Octane.

Where the hell do you get 98 octane on a regular basis? I'd love to dump that into my bike.

Its called Shell Optimax.
In Sydney, Australia.

But it won't make any difference either, unless you're getting knocking.

You can find 100 octane quite easily in the SF bay area, but you have to pay $5/gallon for it. Now, why aren't people up in arms about that and writing to their congressman!