realjdm55

I'm very new to this since I've only owned a '98 Honda Civic Hatch in my life and now I own a brand new 2012 Nissan Altima V6 3.5 SR.

I've read the owner's manual about what fuel to put on my car but I don't believe that 87 octane it suppose to be for a 3.5 V6. I've read somewhere that somebody had said that 87 octane is for the 2.5S not the 3.5 V6.

So am I right that the 2012 3.5 V6 suppose to use 93 octane???

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EarlR

Assuming it's the same as my '07, the manual say for the 3.5 91 octane is recommended, but you can use as low as 87 octane if 91 is not available. It also says you may experience a reduction in performance. I've been using regular so far (only had the car a week), but once I have an idea what my average mileage is I am planning on trying a couple of tanks of 91 to see if it makes any difference.

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Earl R.
'07 Altima 3.5 SE, '03 Frontier 4X4 crew, '02 Camaro toy, '90 240SX ITA car

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realjdm55

Yeah, my owner's manual doesn't spec on what type of engine. I'm being told that they changed all that and that the new 2010+ uses 87 from now on.

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sc302

v6 v8 4cyl doesn't matter. what matters is the compression in the motor. the 2010 and above altima v6 can have 87 in without any issue. I put 87 in mine all the time. I try to put premium once a month in it to help keep the fuel system clean, there are added detergents in premium that don't exist in the cheap crap.

Technially speaking, you will make more power with 87 than with 93 anyway. The higher the octane rating, the longer it takes to burn off...burn off too fast (no fuel left in the combustion cycle) and you will ping, burn off too slow and you waste fuel (goes out the tail pipe). Race cars usually have high compression mixed with high heat which means they need race fuel (many cars have their fuel cooled to assist with keeping the engine cooler), but not because race fuel has a secret ingredient that makes them go faster but because it burns slower, the increased air with the increased amount of fuel that they consume makes them go faster.

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MrHiggles

I've put 87 in my car a number of mixed times to see if there was a difference. First time I used 87 I thought it was bad gas cause it was sluggish and my mpg dropped to 22mpg avg a tank from 24-26 on 93. After a few weeks of using 93 I went back to 87 and kept it there for a month and saw the same results as the first time. 93 made the car run smoother, better, quicker, and more efficient.

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sc302

that is true, but you have a 2007 where the car was specifically designed to run best with 93 octane. In 2010 they changed the computer tune to run on best on 87 octane.

Not that this is the end all be all but:
"For 2010, both the Altima four and six-cylinder engines are tuned to run on regular-octane gas. This is a change from model-year 2009, when the Altima 3.5 models were the only V-6 cars in their competitive set for which the manufacturer recommended more expensive premium-grade gas."
http://iguida.com/2010-nissan-altima

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superbad

wait so ive been running 92 or 93 for no reason?

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2010 ALTIMA 3.5 SR:Prem Pkg, Sport Pkg, Tech pkg
MODS:A34 Nismos, BC Racing coilovers, RL RSB,RL rear endlinks, Recaro baby seat

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sc302

yep. I am getting 24.9mpg right now (can take a pic of the screen if you'd like). no difference between premium and reg as far as performance goes or mpg that I can tell.

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superbad

no need for the pic, i trust you. next fill im going to put in regular
thanks

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2010 ALTIMA 3.5 SR:Prem Pkg, Sport Pkg, Tech pkg
MODS:A34 Nismos, BC Racing coilovers, RL RSB,RL rear endlinks, Recaro baby seat

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realjdm55

Yeah, I'm going to just stick to regular octane 87

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MrHiggles

Yea, just read that the VQ was retuned and it gets 1 mpg better than before. O well, sucks to be me but at least in running at peak performance

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Altima22

i've own 3 cars in my life an 01 Toyota Solara 2.2 4 cylinder, an 06 Mazdaspeed 6 2.3 I4 Turbo and now my 12 Altima 3.5 SR and i've only put 91 octane on all of them because the car performs better, runs better, and its just tops if you like to go fast like me !!! i personally dont recommend 87 because cars become slow, they lag power and its not good for the engine as it might build stuff that you dont want in there, thats why is called regular, but after reading the manual over and over again and it states that 87 is the recommended fuel grade and research octane number 91, i get all confused, so i went down to check with the so called "experts" down at my Nissan dealer, talked to one of the technicians and he said that since my car is a V6 he totally recommends 91, which i already knew but i needed a second opinion, from a technician, but to be honest with you my fellow Altima owners, im still a little bit confused and which one to go with, but at the end im probably staying with 91, since my car performs better, any thoughts, concerns, suggestions ???

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sc302

87aki=91ron

so the cheap stuff in the US is 91 in the UK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

In the US (just about everywhere around here, if you live in the US maybe your AKI rating is different, or they are using RON), it is 87, 89, and 93 respectively. Sunoco had a step up for a while 94. Do whatever you feel you wish to your car, but if the car has not been designed for it you will not feel a decrease in hp simply by decreasing octane. You will not feel an increase on a new car if you up your octane level either. The only reason to run the 93 is to get the benefits of the added detergents in it to help keep your engine clean, and on an average once a month is plenty to do so, or you can run fuel system cleaner once a month (it is a bit more potent).

car and driver tested this btw and agree with me that you feel absolutely nothing and it is so neglegable that it isn't worth the added cost if your car is not designed for it. The cars that require premium suffered, the cars that did not saw little to no gains. The altima is no longer tuned for premium fuel so any gains are nil to non existant. http://www.caranddriver.com/features...results-page-2

Here is an independant study on a Nissan Frontier
http://www.jackphelps.com/frontier/dyno2.htm

and if you want any more reading on this topic
http://www.-------------/archives/ga...ane-myths.html

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Berg

i use reg 87 but i use non ethanol gas.now that's what i call smooth

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2010 Altima 3.5 SR Sedan White,Sports Package,Alarm Impact Sensor,Nissan Sports Horn

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Familyguy1

2011 3.5 here. I use 93. 87 feels really sluggish.

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Black 2011 Altima 3.5SR -Prem & Sport Pkgs

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