The type of gasoline you put in your car can be vital. But, if you’ve just bought a new vehicle, you may not know which grades of gas to use – in this guide we aim to solve that mystery for you.
Firstly, a typical fuel station in Canada will offer three—or occasionally four—types of gasoline: regular, mid-grade, and premium are standard, and many stations will offer an ultra-premium grade as well.
But which grade of fuel should you use? Is it worth putting premium fuels designed for performance cars into regular sedans and trucks?
Mid-grade and premium gasoline is of course more expensive than the regular stuff, but is it worth it? And what about the effect of bio-ethanol additives found in fuels? How does that affect different fuel types in Canada? Read on to find out...
Gas Types in Canada: Differences Between Regular, Mid-grade, and Premium
- What Does the Octane Number Mean?
- What are the Different Types of Gasoline?
- How Do I Know Which Grade of Gasoline to Use?
- Does high-octane fuel boost your performance or MPG?
- Does all Canadian Gasoline Contain Ethanol?
- Can all Cars Run on Unleaded Gas?
What Does the Octane Number Mean?
Octane is one of the flammable hydrocarbons that is naturally present in gasoline. The octane rating found on the different grades of gasoline is related to the refining process: fuels with a higher octane content are more expensive to refine and cost more to store and distribute due to lower demand. Those added costs are passed on to you at the pumps when you choose a higher-octane fuel.
Here’s why the octane number matters: an internal combustion engine creates power by filling each of its cylinders with a mixture of vaporized fuel and air, then lifting the piston upward into the cylinder to compress that mixture. The spark plug then creates a spark that ignites the fuel, and the resulting explosion pushes the piston back down the cylinder so that it can refill with the air and fuel mixture and the cycle can begin again.
To get more power from an engine, the amount that the fuel mixture is compressed within the cylinder is increased. When everything is working as it should, the fuel mixture ignites fully and evenly. When it isn’t, the mixture may ignite on its own prematurely while being compressed (known as detonation. This creates what’s called knocking, a pinging or knocking sound the engine produces when this problem is occurring. Over time, persistent engine knock can damage an engine and hamper a vehicle’s performance.
Sometimes, the fuel mixture may spontaneously combust on its own before the spark plug fires, a process called pre-ignition. High-performance engines are more prone to premature ignition because of their higher compression ratios. Higher-octane fuel burns more slowly when compressed and ignited than lower-octane fuel, which makes it more resistant to pre-ignition and knocking and therefore better suited to higher-powered applications.
One of the significant challenges with modern cars is the dominance of turbocharged engines—these can be more sensitive to knock as they effectively run higher compression ratios since air fed into the combustion chamber is already pressurized by the turbochargers.
To help combat this, modern engines include knock sensors, which detect knocking and adjust the engine’s timing. This can mitigate the damage caused by pre-ignition, but a driver may find that the car’s acceleration becomes lethargic in response. Increasing the octane rating of the fuel used in the vehicle will prevent the knock sensors from engaging and improve performance.
What are the Different Types of Gasoline?
Regular Gasoline (87 octane)
Regular gasoline in Canada is typically rated at 87 octane. This is the least expensive type of fuel and is also the grade recommended for use in most engines that don’t specify a need for a higher octane rating.
Mid-Grade Gasoline (89 octane)
Mid-grade gasoline is typically rated at 89 octane in Canada. A few vehicles call for it specifically, but it’s also useful in specific scenarios. For example, some engines that call for 87 octane will knock when regular-grade gasoline is used in high-demand applications such as towing, and filling up with mid-grade temporarily will resolve the knocking in those instances. Some engines will also begin to knock while using regular fuel as they age and may benefit from a switch to mid-grade over time. For the most part, however, there’s little benefit to filling up with mid-grade gasoline or higher if your engine doesn’t need it, and it’s not a suitable substitute for premium gasoline if that’s what your engine requires.
Premium Gasoline (91 octane and above)
For the most part, the gasoline labeled as premium grade in Canada is rated at 91 octane, though several brands also sell an ultra-premium 93 octane or 94 octane gasoline at select stations.
These grades are the top tier and most expensive types of fuel with the ultra-premium grades coming at the highest cost. If your engine calls for premium fuel, you’ll need to use it consistently to prevent the long-term damage caused by knocking. In fact, filling up with a lower-octane fuel may even void your vehicle’s warranty if it causes engine damage.
Some car manufacturers will say that, for certain engines (particularly performance vehicles with high-compression engines), premium fuel is ‘recommended.’ This means that the engine will operate at its best and produce more horsepower with premium gas, but the vehicle can also be fueled with 87 octane fuel without causing damage to the engine. However, the engine’s power output will be lower with regular fuel than it will be with premium fuel. When premium is recommended but not required, it is possible to switch between high-octane gas and regular gas – whether due to price, availability, or a short-term need for slightly better performance – as often as required with no risk of adverse outcome for the engine.
Premium vs Regular: How Do I Know Which Grade of Gasoline to Use?
The vast majority of cars that require or recommend premium fuel will say so on a sticker inside the fuel door or on the gas cap. However, this is not a universal rule, and used vehicles may have had these stickers removed. The safest bet is to check the owner’s manual for the automaker's recommendation, where the octane level required by the engine will always be specified.
In summary: if your car’s engine requires premium fuel, you’ll need to use it. Lower-octane fuel could damage the engine, or at the very least cause it not to perform at its best, and you risk voiding the vehicle’s warranty if you don’t fill up with the grade it requires.
If your owner’s manual specifies that your vehicle’s engine needs mid-grade fuel, you should use it. If your engine takes regular fuel but you’re noticing knocking due to the engine’s age or driving in a high-load situation, try upgrading to mid-grade fuel to see if it helps.
If your car calls for regular grade fuel, it’s best to use regular when filling up at your favourite gas station. Apart from the scenarios outlined above, there’s no great benefit to paying more for a higher-octane fuel when your engine doesn’t require it—it won’t particularly improve your engine’s fuel efficiency or increase its longevity.
All types of gas are required by Canadian law to have a minimum level of detergents and additives, which act to keep your engine clean and free of deposits. Therefore, buying premium or super-premium fuel when your car doesn’t need it is unlikely to be the best use of your money.
Does high-octane fuel boost your performance or MPG?
As mentioned, it’s best to use the grade of fuel recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, and while plumping for higher-octane gas has been shown to deliver a small improvement for performance car owners, the improvement is generally negligible. As for fuel economy, again some cars bay show a mild improvement, but it’s unlikely to be greater than the extra cost of using a higher-grade fuel.
Does all Canadian Gasoline Contain Ethanol?
Since 2022, all fuel types and gasoline grades sold in Canada contain a certain amount of ethanol to help reduce vehicle emissions overall—though the mix of these blends can change depending on the requirements of different provinces and the products available at different gas station chains.
The basic requirement, however, are the national Renewable Fuels Regulations from 2010, which required producers of gasoline to ensure that 5 per cent of their fuel cam from renewable sources, essentially bio-ethanol. This means that E5—which is 5 per cent ethanol—is common, as is the 10 per cent ethanol blend E10. However, some provinces go further. Ontario, for example, will require that 13 per cent of its gas is bio-ethanol by 2028, and 15 per cent by 2030. Manitoba, meanwhile, requires at least 10 per cent ethanol in all gasoline sold there.
Most modern gas engines are generally happy to run on E10, but older models might require E5, so for those you may need to use premium gas. Due to the slightly lower energy content of bioethanol, however, the use of blended gas might mean a small drop in fuel economy.
Can all Cars Run on Unleaded Gas?
Canada halted the sale of leaded gasoline in 1990, and the vast majority of modern cars have been designed from the outset to run on unleaded gasoline. However, if you run a classic car, you may need to use additives in your petrol, although many classics have been converted so that they will happily run on unleaded gas.
