with my knowledge on octane and gas (which isn't much) 93 needs to be run in higher compression motors.

I had a 98 Ford Contour SVT, in which Ford said required 93 octane. (comp. ratio was close to 10:1 if i remember correctly.

The one time i filled up with 87, i noticed a (very, very) slight drop in overall performance and the gas mileage decreased enough that 93 was the only gas my car saw after that!