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What "frugal" tricks have you found to just not be worth it, either in time or money? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/frugal@lemmy.world
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I've noticed sometimes that there's some half-baked videos or blogs or whatever that purport this or that frugal trick, but if you look at the time or math, it's not actually frugal for you.

What are some examples of that you've come across? The things that "aren't worth it"?

For me it's couponing. (Although I haven't heard people talk about it recently--has it fallen out of "style", or have businesses caught up to the loopholes folks used to exploit?)

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[–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Lower octane gas definitely gives you less power. The owner's manual for my car gives two different horsepower ratings for different octane gasoline.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Probably a forced induction engine. Normal NA it makes no difference as long as it's not a high compression engine. Octane rating is how much heat and pressure the gas can handle before auto igniting. So higher octane means an engine with a turbo can run higher boost on higher octane which makes more power. It's a waste of money for most people to buy more expensive fuel. Though some fuel can be just shit and full of water at those sketchy stations.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Exactly. I tried top tier gas (91 octane) and noticed no difference in gas mileage. I live at high elevation and have the option of 85 octane and do notice the engine rides a little rougher than with 87, but fuel economy is pretty much the same (like within 2%?).

    Just get whatever your car's manual states. Some cars need higher octane, most don't.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You guys are confusing top tier gas vs higher octane. Or this thread has just been interchanging them and not being consistent. Two terms are being used. Top tiered as name brand vs higher octane. Both discussions are happening at the same time.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    I mean the octane tiers at the pump, or what is usually marketed as regular, premium, etc. There are at least two other terms used to describe gas tiers:

    • "top tier" - marketing term for gasoline with detergents and whatnot
    • tier 3 gas - lower sulfer gas that reduces air pollution

    AFAIK, all three terms are independent of each other, so you can have tier 3 gas with or without detergents, in any octane tier you need.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I agree but in this thread people are interchanging high octane vs top tier.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    That sounds right, my car is a turbo charged 4 cylinder. TIL, thank you!

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    It can still be optional to run higher octane. Older Volvo 5 cylinders could run 87 with no problem because they only ran 9lbs of boost (only certain models). Most modern turboed engines usually can optionally run more boost if you put in higher octane. The issue is they rely on detection of early detonation when running worse fuel. Which scares me because of it fails engine goes boom very fast.

    Use the octane that is recommended for your vehicle.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Lower octane is not lower tiered. Lower tiered is buying gas at Kroger or Costco vs Shell

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