My Smart is 3 days old... did I hose it up today?

[doogster]

I'm so used to pulling into my local Wawa and saying "fill with the regular, please"... so... today.... when I had 3 bars left on my gas gauge... I pulled into Wawa for the very 1st time to put gas in my smart.... knowing full well I needed super... and I said "fill it up with the regular please"... it took 5 gallons, for a total cost of $18.95... had driven 198 miles... a yield of 39.6 MPG for the 1st tank full.

I was approx 2 miles down the road before it hit me that I had said REGULAR... what should I do now? Should I buy a container of octane from like Wal*Mart or something?

I was thinking of letting it get down 3 or 4 ticks on the gas gauge and then going to fill it back up with super... hoping to raise the overall octane in the tank...

Any thoughts?

[maxtraxduffy]

i think your ok

[Dunerunner]

Your call!! Lots of posters here running regular or mid-range in their smarts. Lots of folks not running regular or mid-range. Make your own decision and next tankfull, pump what you like. As you have filled with the low test stuff, try to determine any performance differences and report it on the forum!

[SuperGeek]

You'll be fine. It's 3 days old... under 1,000 miles, still respect the low RPM rule... try to keep it under 3,000 RPMs sustained, only go above that for short acceleration times. Safety and road conditions, plus your own gut feeling, should take precedence... you probably won't hurt it unless you really push the limits.

87 gas in a 91-recommended engine is ok, it just won't give you 100% of its performance. Since you're in the breakin period and driving lightly anyway (I hope), you probably won't notice the difference. For that matter, most people say they can't tell the difference in feel or performance anytime... the effects of using lower octane are invisible and would accumulate over time if there's carbon buildup. One tank won't hurt anything.

[Carl242]

Dilution is the best solution ;)

[SmartPotato]

The dealer said the performance was the same but fuel economy dropped 2-3 mpg. Otherwise no difference.

[Lgaruti]

Originally Posted by SmartPotato

The dealer said the performance was the same but fuel economy dropped 2-3 mpg. Otherwise no difference.

I agree. When I tried regular my mpg dropped 2-3mpg and seemed to accelerate a bit slower.

[fun42]

Ours is 6 days old. We filled up today and got 37 MPG on a tank of regular gas, while running A/C a couple of days and fighting strong winds on the interstate. Not too bad in my book.

[spdickey]

Now stop tempting fate, follow the recommendation in the owner's manual, and top it off with premium at the next opportunity. And stop being so cheap and pay the extra $2.00 per fill up.

[MichaelJ]

Originally Posted by Lgaruti

I agree. When I tried regular my mpg dropped 2-3mpg and seemed to accelerate a bit slower.

When you put regular in, the ECU will retard the ignition to prevent knock.

Byproducts of this process are reduced mileage and less power.