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I know this seems like a stupid question but it's having me very confused.
When I first bought my car I thought it was supposed to use regular 87 octane, then I read somewhere that it's recommended to use midgrade 89.

But I just now checked the manual and it says to use "86 octane or higher".

So I'm very confused if I should be using regular or midgrade (or maybe even higher)?
I'm looking for the highest performance, not 'whatever will run for the cheapest' or 'minimum requirement' I want to use what will run best for the car.

I haven't found anywhere in the manual that says to use a specific octane, and only that octane.

If anyone else has the same car and knows the answer let me know.

- Paul

 
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I use 89 its only ten cents more a gallon so why not

 
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Actually I just swapped over to 87 and I noticed the tranny shifting smoother and the car getting up speed smoother. Before I had to stomp on the gas a little more and it seemed almost 'airy' when I was trying to accelerate.

Overall it's faster and soo much more smooth than when I've been using 89 (which has been for the past 8+ months).

Use 87 dude.

 
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our engine was specifically designed for low octane gas 86-87 anything higher for a stock D17 engine is a waste of money and you will actually lose performance. it has to do with the way the mixture ignites in the engine.

 
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oh yea..just floored my car around a slow dump truck today and it felt great.
87 octane FTW. Cheaper and my car is significantly faster with it.

I can't believe I was dumb enough to use 89 for so long!

 
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My 05 has been perfectly fine with 87 its entire life. 109k miles

My last 2 Corollas required 91 to keep them from "spiking" under load, this has not been an issue with the Honda though.

 
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you could also reset the computer to do a idle relearn with the 87 octane so your car will learn faster on the lower octane.