Octane rating is a measure of how much you can compress the fuel/air mix before it'll detonate itself. Detonating before it's meant to is not great for an internal combustion engine, which rather expects those events to be set off by a spark plug and timed so as to get the most energy out from the piston movement. A higher octane rating just means that the fuel/air mix has to be compressed harder before it'll do this on its own; higher ratings thus allow for higher compression ratios which allow for more useful energy to be extracted from the same amount of fuel. Since Honda tells us that the '15 CR-V is designed for regular gas (despite the slight bump in compression ratio vs the '14), plus or premium doesn't offer any advantages: those fuels don't have a higher energy density or anything like that. They'll work, but they won't help.

It's worth mentioning that Honda are one of the backers of the Top Tier detergent gasoline standard (nothing to do with octane rating) so I try to fill up from one of those retailers.

 

If you can find gas without ethanol, you will get slightly better mpg using it.

 

I too prefer Top Tier branded gas. I am averaging 30-34 mpg in mixed driving. Long road trip coming up next month and looking forward to mpg results for that. Yes, 87 octane only!

 

so，regular one is fine？ it will not influence engine work？

 

The owners manual implies you need 87 octane top tier gas.

 

87 or burn your cash, not to mention higher octane burns the engine in the long run

 

What is your reasoning behind this statement?
I mean the 'burns the engine' part.
I agree with the 'burn your cash' part.
Curious.
Buffalo4

 

Just use what it designed for , regular unleaded

 

Designed for regular 87, or designed for E10 or upcoming E15 fuel. I get 2-3 mpg more IF I CAN find pure gas, but it is difficult to find unless you put in 91 octane.

 

I'm using 87 octane from these local top tier gas stations BP, Exxon, Mobil & Shell. I don't see a Top Tier sign at any of these gas station but assume they are according to the top tier website. Sunoco's website they exceed EPA requirements for detergency standards.

 

Plain jane dead dino,
do not waste $$ on higher octane gas, it's not designed for it.

 

I actually used a bit of everything when gas was cheap.. now gas is getting expensive again...


From my personal experience:

87 Octane: Does ok, no engine noise no complaints. Don't get as good as fuel mileage as I thought, maybe because I am a bit heaver foot the way I drive. Plus a lot of highway speeds.

89 Octane: Feels a little bit peppier, I meet the EPA sticker mileage with this octane, Wide open throttle feels pretty good. I mostly use 89 Octane. Good for high speed driving as it feels like there is some more pep then 87 octane. I find 89 Octane is good if you plan to drive > 75 MPH for a mile or two

93 Octane: Normal drive in the city, fuel economy is the same as 89 Octane, Wide open throttle feels sluggish.. Like the computer is over thinking or if the air and fuel is not right. Highway cruising is fine, but the CRV falls flat on its face when you floor it, you get better response from 89 Octane.

 

In my opinion natural gas and ethanol are perfect.

 

The CRV is designed to run on 87 octane gasoline and buying higher octane gas will not increase your performance or your milage. All brands of gasoline come from the same refineries the difference in brands is the additives that are added for each brand. The 2015 and 2016 models engines have a direct fuel injection system which the injectors have very small holes in the nozzles. Keeping them clean is important therefore Honda recommends using gasoline that meets the TopTier standard for additives. Instead of spending a couple of cents per gallon for higher octane find a TopTier rated brand. Some brands are as low in price as the no-name stations are, Costco, Quiktrip and Valero.

www.toptiergas.com

 

87 octane is just fine. I've never put anything higher for the past 2 years.

 

Honda also recommends a TopTier brand for the extra additives especially with the direct injection engine.

 

Avoid ARCO or bottom of the barrel joints. That did my last Honda in.

 

ARCO is a top tier rated brand. It was most likely the station's tanks that caused your problems, and not the Brand.
BTW, how did ARCO do in your last vehicle? Pinging, detonation (lower than advertised octane) water, dirt???
Curious.
Buffalo4

 

Is your friend smarter than the hand book?

 

Handbooks say use 87 octane or higher...wich yields some interpretation. Some engine management will tune in to the fuel it is using with their knock sensors, they will advance the ignition timing according to their ECU maping. This usually produce 2-10 horsepower increase depending on engines and octanes and usually better efficiencies with better fuel mileage and lower exhaust temperature. I have no idea yet if the current 2.4 earth dream engine has maping for higher octanes.

E10 or 9 part gasoline for 1 part ethanol is acceptable but may cut gas mileage by as much as 5-10% in my experience. Ehtanol attracts moisture and is corrosive. If it is used fast and is bought fresh it should not cause short term issue. Ehtanol blend has lower BTUs so less energy and because it is an oxygenated fuel, makes your O2 sensors give a richer ratio to your ECU. The reason of the 5-10% penalty in fuel economy.

Fuels are basically all the same. What makes a difference is the additive package that is added to the fuel at the loading ramps for delivery trucks. Regular is probably 84-85 octane and with the 10% ethanol blended in the truck (ethanol is an octane booster) gets 87 octane. Old or contaminated gasoline with ethanol that attracted to much moisture and got into phase separation may feed your engine with lower than 87 octane and damage sensitive fuel systems.

Personally I use Shell V-Power 91 because here in Canada it contains no ethanol and claims better cleaning and protection against corrosion and wear, and this is what you want for your high pressure fuel pump and piezzo injectors in a direct injection engine. Their additive supports high pressure and heat commonly fond in the injectors tips that sit in the combustion chamber. An advanced additive package for an advanced engine.

But bottom line your engine will work correctly with no issue with cheaper 87 octane E10 but their are some better alternative. Honda recommends Top Tier Gasoline but it is not mandatory.

 

You are beating a dead horse. Honda calls for Top Tier 87 Octane. Where I live all gasoline contains up to 10% Ethanol by law and that percentage is within Honda's guidelines.

Of course, you are can choose to spend more money on fuel. It's your choice.

 

The USA Top Tier list surprised me to some extent !! Brands like Costco, Kwik Trip would be examples of brands I'd perceived as being of lesser quality (whatever that means) Up here, I use Holiday and/or SuperAmerica which are both on the list ( founded by 2 brothers from St Paul so it shouldn't surprise me). IMO, the key to this issue is use a high volume station and don't let gas sit for long periods of time unless you add some sort of stabilizer (SeaFoam, Sta-Bil are 2 popular ones up here). Craig

 

Direct injection is relatively new for Honda and this technology makes more particulate matter that can foul piston rings and injectors tip. This is why I personally use V-power for its cleaning property. The octane number is not what im looking for. Synthetic oil is what I will use also.It's your car if you want to cheap on gas its your money. Maybe you will trade your car after 4-5 years then it makes sens putting the cheapest stuff.

 

Direct injection is relatively new for Honda and this technology makes more particulate matter that can foul piston rings and injectors tips. This is why I personally use V-power for its cleaning property. The octane number is not what im looking for. Synthetic oil is what I will use also. . . .[Emphasis added.]

FWIW, I agree with GTI. Less expensive fuels have fewer detergent additives. Even the Shell fuel he mentioned -- "V-Power" -- has twice the detergent additives of Shell's lesser-octane fuels.

Why is this potentially significant? Because Honda acknowledged recently in a recall notice (I don't have it in front of me) that a combination of "aggressive" driving on a cold engine, combined with lesser-quality fuels and contaminated engine oil, results in piston-ring deposits. That, in turn, results in excessive oil consumption.

Because statements to the effect that "It hasn't happened to me" aren't really meaningful or persuasive, I can only add that the use of a known high-detergent fuel and the use of a high-detergent synthetic oil (e.g., M1 or Shell's Platinum) can't hurt.

 

I choose to follow Honda's recommendations. Using a Top Tier branded gasoline in the octane of 87 per the manual is advised. The refiners blend the Top Tier gas to specs that do keep the engine cleaner. As always it is the owner's choice of who to believe and what brand of fluids to use.

Enjoy the ride!

 

I agree with "Grafarian" findings. I have similar experience with 87,89 and 93. I use aCar android app since last 4 years and record every fill up. From the records I have maintained, I see that I get more mileage with 89 and a bit more boost. But going 93 does not make more difference than you would be expecting just looking at the digits going from 87 to 89 and jump of 89 to 93.
Honda manual says 87 as minimum requirement but does not talk about the performance on 89s and 93s. So as some of the friends here are noting down, that is not the requirement. It is minimum requirement.
I suggest, fill up with different octane ratings gasolines for a month and observe difference yourself. A month of addition to fuel cost will not empty your pocket that much. Experience and decide yourself.

 

The manual says 87 or higher, the engine will run fine on 87 and marginaly better on premium fuel 91. For most people 87 is perfectly acceptable and the higher price of premium is not worth the slight increase in engine response. Honda recommends 87 because the nature of this car and the nature of their buyers and part of this decision is marketing also. Any 87 top tier brand will do good in the CR-V. If you want the best I would advice using premium top tier like Shell who push on cleaning properties. GDI engines have their injector tips exposed to combustion. Keep them clean for optimal fuel spray paterns. Honda used low tension piston rings for this engine, carbon deposits may lead to ring not working properly and causing problems with blow-by and oil consumption as well as valve deposits from PCV being over pressurized with blow-by gases.

It's your car, but my opinion is put what's best in term of fuel and motor oil (M1 0w20 for price and availability) and ounce in a while redline your engine wide open throttle on the highway to clear carbon deposits.