Premium or unleaded.

 Premium or Unleaded?

Most Filipinos are still saying premium and unleaded to distinguish two types of gasoline. And these same peopla are still thinking that because it is called unleaded, it has low octane, and that premium has high octane.

Well, for info number 1. The Philippines no longer sell leaded gasoline. All gasoline types are now unleaded.

Which leads us to info number 2. The correct term now should be premium and regular. Not premium and unleaded.

So info number 3 is...premium has higher octane, and regular has lower octane. But both are unleaded.

But here's another wrong notion about octane rating. People think that fuel with higher octane is more powerful than those with low octane.

Which leads us to info number 4. Octane rating is not for power. It is to equal the compression ratio of the engine. Regular cars and motorcycles we use for our daily commute has low compression ratio. Therefore they do not need high octane fuel. These type of vehicles are highly recommended to just use regular gas (which we wrongly call "unleaded").

Info number 5. Sports cars and sports motorcycles have high performance engines. The compression ratio of their engines are very high. Using regular gas for these engines will cause pre-ignition due to the high compression inside the combustion chamber, which in turn causes piston knocks. And piston knocks damages the engine.

Info number 6. The octane in the fuel are retarding agents which prevents pre-ignition caused by high compression engines. That is why high performance engines MUST use premium gas (which we wrongly call "leaded") because they have higher octane, which prevents pre-ignition.

in short:

Low Compression=Low Octane.

High Compression=High Octane.

If your vehicle is not a sports car, don't use premium. your car will run. But it will not have any effect on your engine's power whatsoever. You will just be one of those who spend more money for fuel you don't need. And if your vehicle is a high performance one, don't use regular. You will hurt your engine, and your pocket for the repair later on.

And don't say premium and unleaded. Say premium and regular. Because all gasoline fuel are now unleaded.

I hope this helped