djmallya

I friend of mine has an 01e320 and puts regular in his car not premium. He says he has never had any problems and has owned the car for about 4 years.

I've alway been scared to do this, am I being dumb and waisting my money?

Barry45RPM

Well... you aren't wasting your money on Premium. The car was designed to burn Premium, but will run somewhat similarly on a good Regular gas. The difference in cost over the car's 4 - 6 year lifetime doesn't amount to $ 1,000. . . I'd rather have the slightly better performance from a car whose timing has not been retarded so as not to knock on the lower octane.

ProV1

Those German MB engineers who designed & built your car must've been smokin a fat one when they wrote in your manual: "Premium unleaded gasoline only" huh? Use premium only

Barry45RPM

As long as they were smoking... Weren't they the same guys who designed the old Cup "Holders" too?

JRAMGV8

No you are not wasting your money. If it says Premium then stick with Premium.

mpx220

+1

lkchris

I like to invite geniuses like this to put their money where their mouth is and post their VIN numbers---so everyone else can avoid their car when it comes on the used market.

emilner

I usually use a mixture of half kerosene and half grain alcohol and she runs just fine...

Sam52

You can save a little bit of money by occasionally putting about 3-4 gallons of regular. The car is designed to run on 91 octane and some parts of the country has 93 octane. So if you keep careful records, you can mathematically calculate how much regular you can mix.

Most people probably don't want to bother. I don't blame them. Per octane, mid-grade is actually the most expensive gas to buy. If you mix 1/3 93 and 2/3 87, you can get 89. 89 often costs 10 cents per gallon more than 87. If you mix your own 89, it often costs 6.7 cents per gallon more than 87.

To make 91 octane, 2 parts 93 and 1 part 87 is 91. If 93 is 20 cents a gallon more, you can mix your own for 13.3 cents a gallon more than 87, saving 6.7 cents a gallon. The difference is less if your area has 92 octane premium.

cyclerider

For the record, I have never put anything other than premium in my E550, so you may purchase my car with total confidence.

AMG_Fred

The average driver drives 12,000 miles per year
Averaging 20 miles per gallon, that is 600 gallons.
The additional cost to go from regular to premium is almost always 10 cents. making the cost to go from regular to premium $60 per year. If you are worried about trying to save money, I would suggest other methods like reducing some of your expenses which just pick away at your discretionary income.

Sam52

slight error: the typical cost difference is 20 cents per gallon though I've lately seen it slightly higher. I also think many don't get 20 mpg. Not to quibble too much, the difference is about $130-160/year.

By mixing gas, you would save perhaps $40-50/year. Drivers from California wouldn't save anything because their premium is a measly 91 octane. You can save much more by finding a good independent mechanic to work on your car instead of the very expensive dealership. I would think the mixing would only help those in the East Coast who use snow tires. In the winter when you use snow tires, you shouldn't drive like a maniac. The octane requirements during the winter are slightly less than during the summer. Those drivers who meet the above criteria and also have access to 93 octane could mix their gas in the winter and suffer no ill effects.

c240PORTUGA

gotta love people that buy a $50k car and then cry about premium gas.

neyugnj

lol. . if you wanna save on gas, buy a prius. and be a poser and slap a benz logo on it. or........... buy a mercedes smart car.

Vik888

No kidding. If $200 more at the end of the year is breaking the bank, you're buying a car you cannot afford. Consider down sizing and stop living beyond your means.

E500Newbee

Shouldn't keeping up with the Jones...

Davel

Trust me if you plan on keeping the car in the long run your doing the right thing. Higher octane gas (91,92,93) does not ignite as easily as lower octane gas (87,89, etc), and cars that use lower octane tend to have engines with lower compression levels therefore needing a fuel that ignites easier. Putting low octane gas in a high compression motor like in the Eclass causes knocking/pinging because the high compression of the motor causes the gas to explode before the piston reaches top dead center and causes the piston to slap against the cylinder wall better known as knocking/pinging. Now the computer in the Eclass can and tries to adjust to this, and you may get away with it for a long while, but in the end you'll end up with a motor that has cylinder wall damage, smokes, and has less power, and burns oil. Not worth saving $2.00 at the pump

jimmydagreek

A buddy and I did a test many years ago on both of our BMW 325's. He was using Arco regular and I was using Mobil premium for a full year. We removed both fuel filters and cut them open; we were surprised at what we found. My filter was clean inside with very little deposits and looded great. His filter for some reason had rust in it with all kinds of dirt (sandy looking stuff) in there. We were both about 5k miles in difference and ran about 10-12K miles.

Guys, don't cheap out on Premium gas for the $150 bucks or whatever more a year it costs you. Just don't go out to dinner 1 night a month and there your go!

MBNUT1

What I always find funny about these threads is they seem to occur as the price of gas goes up. Which is ironic given that the higher the price of regular is the better deal premium since it is always 20 cents more

LB Bnz

gas prices will rise and fall.... (big deal)

fill up with Premium and you'll be better off in the long run.

...for the record, only Chevron, Mobil or Shell for my cars.

(Put in 'cheap' ga$ and your Benz will fall on it's a$$)

Barry45RPM

Year to year, gas prices will ONLY sharply go up from here on in.

SAguirre

We in the US market should know that our Mercedes gasoline cars have already been detuned to function with 91 octane. In Germany the cheapest gas is about 91, the mid-grade is 95 and super is 98! My Mercedes I had in Germany was a 2.3 16 valve that had to use a minimum of 95. If I had to use 91, I had to turn a switch under the hood.

This means that running 91 octane (which is what we have here in Colorado, perhaps due to altitude) is already the bare minimum the car can take. Going bellow 91 should only be done when there is no other choice. This is no different from buying non steel belted radial tires (bias ply), if you could even find them. You might get away with it, but if something goes wrong, it could cost some money to fix not to mention the car will not drive how it was intended to.

I have once put about 6 gallons of 86 octane in my tank to make it to the next gas station. I drove the car very conservatively and I had no issues, but I would still avoid it. Really, is it really worth it to take the risk?


Steve

bigben320e

+5.

I always tell people no matter what car you drive, there are some things to NOT go cheap on:

1. Gas
2. Tires
3. Brakes
4. Rotors

Some of the other parts are up for grabs. Use what it supposed to go on the car. Like mentioned earlier, if it strains you that bad, get a different car on a lower level. Well, you could resort to some illegal measures...OMG did I say that?

AsianML

Don't they have a different measure for octane or something?

cyclerider

Yes. Their 98 octane is about equal to our 93 octane, due to different calculation formulas.