Gls Convertible

Premium Unleaded vs. Unleaded for a 2004 Beetle Convertible?

I'm looking at purchasing a 2004 beetle convertible turbo GLS and it requires premium unleaded instead of what I'm used to; regular unleaded. It's not much, ten cents or so per gallon, but has anyone else switched from unleaded to premium unleaded? Do you notice a big difference? It's like $1.45 per tank and for some reason this is one of my issues that i'm having.

Thanks!

There is already a bunch of misinformation here, but at the end of the day you want to run 91 octane gas in your care because of the turbo motor. The car has multiple knock sensors that will prevent any damage from occurring by using lower octane fuel, but you are sacrificing performance and most likely fuel economy as well. Like you said, for $1.45 a tank it's really not worth going against the manufacturer's guidelines.

And just to clear up some of the other myths here... higher octane gas doesn't "burn slower", it just has a higher activation energy before it will combust. Unburnt fuel will not stay in the engine for the next cycle, but will be expelled with the exhaust gas causing a rich smell. It also will not cause a gasoline motor to stay running once the ignition is cut off, this is a phenomenon which occurs with diesel fueled vehicles only.