Can U.S. Mazda 5 2.3l use premium gas?

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#11

07-08-2009 | 12:09 PM

virgin1

Super Moderator

Joined: Mar 2007

Posts: 8,666

From: Manor, TX (Outside of Austin)

Ah! A gray market car going the other way!!

Anybody remember the '80's?

As I understand it and from what I have read, the Euro cars have a sharp cutoff on the RH side and the headlights are completely different. I don't think you will be able to get away with different bulbs alone.
Ours are DOT spec. Theirs are E spec and as far as I know have always been quite different. When I shop I worked for had acquired a Euro spec BMW 1600-4 sedan, we had to figure out what to do about the headlights and it was a serious problem at the time as the US/DOT spec lights were completely different in style and shape.
You will likely have an easier time now as I am pretty sure the Euro spec assemblies will retrofit easily (direct bolt-ins?), but they will no doubt be expensive.
I'm sure your contact over there will know all about that and be able to advise you better than I/we can on the subject however.

#12

07-08-2009 | 01:28 PM

kakraemer

Junior Member

Joined: Jan 2009

Posts: 13

From: Norway, Europe

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg512

I already have a German/Euro driver's license. It seems like I have to worry about the lighting though. The sidemarkers / turn signals are amber, so no worries there. The high beam might be a problem I need to investigate if it's just a matter of changing bulbs, or getting new Euro lights. I mean the car was made for Euro / Asia, selling it in the U.S. was almost an afterthought as far as I know. It's can't be THAT different from the Euro version.

Greg

Seems like you are in good shape. Let me clarify the lighting issue. American (DOT marked) headlights are legal for use in Europe as long as you can change a defective bulb (no sealed beams). No problem there.
But you can't have "glowing" turn signals in front like most US spec cars have when the lights are on. Instead you must have 2 white lights for this purpose. Usually they are referred to as parking lights or city lights over here.

Last edited by kakraemer; 07-08-2009 at 01:35 PM.

#13

07-08-2009 | 02:06 PM

kakraemer

Junior Member

Joined: Jan 2009

Posts: 13

From: Norway, Europe

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldeng

Virgin 1 is absolutely right: use of a higher than specified octane fuel gets you nothing from your engine (it will run marginally cooler), but the slower flame propagation rate means uncombusted fuel exits the engine only to be dealt with by the catalytic converter. This raises the cat temperature and will reduce the life of the cat and the downstream O2 sensor.

I'm not a chemist or fuel expert. But if higher octane fuel is considered to reduce life of emission components, I wonder why there isn't a massive amount of failures in these components in Norway, Sweden, Finland and a lot of other European countries which lowest grade of fuel is 95RON=91AKI?

As a curiosity I can mention my 2nd car, a 14 year old Nissan Maxima V6. The last 4 years it has been running 100k KM (62k miles) exclusively on E85 (105 octane!!!) and according to a lot of "wise car people" the engine should have been shot a long time ago due to the engine and fuel system incompatibility with ethanol. Fact is, the car has logged over 300k KM total and is passing emission tests with better values than 6 years ago. Still first catalytic converter and first set of O2 sensors. Strange considering it's been running on wrong fuel which has an octane rating 10 numbers higher than the engine calls for...

Last edited by kakraemer; 07-08-2009 at 04:29 PM.

#14

07-12-2009 | 09:00 AM

reedmk2

Junior Member

Joined: Jun 2008

Posts: 6

From:

Euro Gas

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg512

We have a Mazda 5 here in the U.S. which has a 2.3l engine using regular gasoline (87 AKI / 91 RON). We're moving to Germany end of the year and really would like to take our Mazda 5 with us. We got a great deal on the car, the shipping cost is reasonable ($1,500 to $2,000), and it's still alot cheaper all in all than selling ours and buying a new one over there (like $10k more).

Besides wondering if we can get it easily inspected / registered in Germany, my main concern is the gasoline. I know in Germany most gas stations don't carry "regular" fuel anymore but only premium (91 AKI / 95 RON). Can I use that with my U.S. Mazda 5? I don't see that 2.3l engine being sold in the German version. Will it hurt the engine?

Thanks for your help!

Greg

I know their are folks in the US military that have taken their Mazda 5's to Germany. The gas hasn't done any damage to note. I'm U.S. Air Force and have brought my US Mazda 5 to England with me. The only gas we get on base is 90 octane. I've been here nearly 1 1/2 years using the stuff with no problems. I'm not sure what all civilians have to go thru to get their cars registered in Germany. In England, you just need a yearly MOT inspection and a light conversion. Not amber parking lights (clear only), amber rear turn signals, and a rear fog light. I'm not sure if Germany is the same or not. I did take my 5 on a rode trip to Germany last month. I can definetley say that the 5 is not tuned to do 110+ on the Autobahn as I was trying to do with mine. Lots of screaming at those revs.

I've got a few pics on the link below.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3008760