Why does 370z require premium gas?

jakoye

I appreciate the technical explanations, but I'm also curious about the design decision itself. To wit, as I said, my '85 300z did NOT require premium fuel. As well, my 2006 Mustang GT does NOT require premium fuel.

So obviously it's not absolutely necessary for a premium sports car to use premium fuel. So why did the Z's designers decide to go this route? Is it just for the extra cachet of having to put the "best" fuel in your sexy sports car? Or is it simply a case that in order to get the amount of horsepower out of an engine the size of of the Z's engine, they *have* to use premium fuel? (kind of like how Nissan recommends that you use ester oil)

My thinking here is that if you're going to create an "economy" sports car (relatively), it would seem like a wiser decision to design it so it can run on regular fuel, especially for a relatively low-mileage car like the Z. This will be even more of an issue as the US economy recovers and gas prices, once again, go up, up, up.

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