Hi everyone,

                       I have been reading some of the postings here and no one talks about
                       the use of octane boost.

                       I have seen in other states that their "bad" gas has a rating of 95
                       and the good stuff has a rating of 98-100.

                       I live in Az. and the "best" gas here is a 92 rating.

                       I frequently use octane boost to bring it up to 96. The bottle says
                       that repeated use will not harm O2 sensors,catalytic converters or
                       turbos.

                       Does anyone have any comments either way?

                       Thanks for your help!!
                       Terrance

                       --
                       1997 volvo 850 T-5

                       Your car has been designed to deal with gas as low as 87 Octane. My car is N/A and I really feel no
                       need to use anything other than 87. And I like to drive fast. I have noticed no significant performance or
                       economy advantage from higher octane fuel experiments I have performed with my '98 S70.
                       Turbo-charged engines probably benefit more from higher octane fuel, but 92 seems enough to me. I
                       would not spend the money on octane boosters or even high octane gas. I do run a fuel system cleaner
                       now and again to counteract generally lower levels of detergents in regular grade gas. I also perform
                       "Italian Tuneup" (combines utility and pleasure) every day on the way to work, so I am not really
                       worried about gummed up valves. My car runs great never had a lawn mower syndrome and the milage
                       is ok considering my style of driving.

                       Cheers.

                       --
                       Vladimir. 1998 S70. Base, 5-speed manual.

                       Hi, I have a V70 AWD 97 and use 99 octane gas, because it´s sulfur free and the performance seems
                       to be better on german highways in the high speed range. Top speed is with winter tires about 235 km/h.

                       With 95 octane petrol acceleration is worse and top speed is about 230 km/h. I think the higher the
                       octane level the better - if you really need it. There does not be a difference at moderate speeds, even
                       not in milage.

                       Franz

                       --
                       francesko

                       What winter tires are you using?!

                       And remember, in North America, we rate our octane differently. So "higher" octane numbers in Europe
                       are actually lower in NA.

                       Remember - when over-the-counter octane boast products say they "raise octane up to 4 points" - they
                       mean 0.4

                       ie. 92 oct to 92.4

                       Not very impressive IMO

                       MAT

                       --
                       2000 S70 SE

                       Especially at $7 a bottle!!

                       On one extreme: My wife put regular (87 r+m/2) in my slightly modified 1985 245ti (remember this car
                       has NO knock sensor and a rudimentary boost and fuel control system) - anyhow it almost destroyed
                       my engine, (with boost it sounded like a steel box of marbles) adding a bottle of octane boost did
                       NOTHING, I drove very carefully, until I could get 5 gallons of premium in, then drove anothr 90 miles
                       and topped the tank with premium again - we'll see but I seriously think it may have affected the long
                       term health of the motor at 218,000 miles.

                       OTOH the 1996 NA 855, doesn't really give a crap what kind of gas. I have noticed a VERY slight
                       increase in mileage with premium, but I swear it "lawn mower" syndromes MORE with premium than
                       with regular. I have no explanation for this.
 

                       --
                       Paul S.

                       > I have seen in other states that their "bad" gas has a
                       > rating of 95
                       > and the good stuff has a rating of 98-100.

                       Perhaps you mean other countries. Europe and U.S. measure octane
                       differently. I've never seen gas pump fuel over 93 octane (U.S.
                       measurement) in our U.S. markets.

                       91 octane in Europe is about 87 here. You can try google.com and
                       search on "octane measurement" for more info.
 

                       --
                       Ray Niblett 95 855 GLT / 98 S70 T5M