im not a car guy. i got a new 2006 mazda 3 manual 2 days ago. bone stock to the T except low jack, cd player, and A/C. i decided to pick it up because it is rated the best economy car. but i have to say it looks really really good. anyways my question is, Gas. people tell me certain cars require certain grades of gas or else over time your car will mess up. I got the 150 hp, 2.0L in-line 4 one. and its manual. if what i hear is true, what gas should i get? im thinking regular, since it is an economy car.

 

you are correct, regular unleaded gasoline is what is recommended by Mazda on this car. Normally only luxury cars will say to use premium, or people that have high performance cars use the high stuff, not us though.

 

This is what ive been told by car manufactures, all car manuals say that your vehicle uses 87octane (regular), but this is what i hear from other people (casual drivers and racers alike) any stock car can take any kind of gas except diseal and 98octane as long as the motor has been brokin in and ALL of the previous gas has been eliminated if you change ex. regular to super also if you put a higher grade gas in your car it will run better, go faster, and get you better gas milage (that part has been proven by my friend with the 95 Honda), i myself use regular unless i street race and its cheaper.

 

i cant belive youre delaer didnt tell you these kind of things. most modern cars have knock sensors to detect when the top of the piston is hitting the spark plug do to the wrong octane fuel (or some other reasons) thus they can run on lower grade fuel even though they are supposed to run on 89 or 91. the 3 does use regular old gas but you might try and run a few tanks of premium and see if you gas millage improves enogh to make it worth while. this would be better for the air and on youre motor

 

Regular Pump 87 is all you need...

Anything above this is two things, a waste of money and just added pollution.

The CPU's on today's vehicles are designed to run on a specific grade of gas, using a higher octane fuel will just cause you to fail your emission test and it will drain your wallet faster due to the high price.

Even if your at the drag strip, use 87 octane....It doesnt matter what mods you have. If you want to use "Strip Gas" while your at the drags, you should re-flash your CPU so you actually benefit