Do these cars "require" premium gas? I know my dad's '96 TL "requires" premium grade but he uses regular.

Any thoughts?

 

ONLY use the premium - other gas will make the engine either not start or run REAL REAL REAL bad. You paid good money for the car - it's worth the couple extra cents for the gas.

 

actually 87 octane wont make it run really bad or not at all. acura's are designed to run on premium fuel (91 octane minimum) because the timing is advanced to squeeze out approx. an extra 15 hp over the same engine in a honda thats tuned to run on 87. the 87 octane fuel will cause the injectors to fail roughly 60-80k because the pulse will change from the designed pulse due to the timing retard that will occur due to the knock sensor. you are better off running premium fuel because in the longrun it will cost just about the same amount if not less then replacement of all of the injectors, gaining an extra 15hp for those 60k and you wont have the hassle of getting the injectors replaced.

 

They recommend higher octane for higher compression engines use it. It will be more efficient and you will have more power.