The common misconception is that the higher the octane rating, the more horsepower produced from the fuel. Octane rating is simply the fuel's resistance to premature detonation upon compression in the cylinder.
Motors requiring higher octane fuel get their horsepower from a higher compression ratio and closer timing tolerance - close enough that the less stable 87 octane fuel will tend to light-off before the the piston stroke passes top-dead-center... This usually ends up with the the piston trying to go backward rather than forward - which is very inefficient (and sorta detrimental to the drive train :^D )
This is why "octane-boost" additives work with cheap gas... You aren't adding any magic "go-fast" to the fuel - you're actually calming the cheap fuel down a bit so the engine can operate effectively... the gain in horsepower coming from all cylinders firing forward rather than fighting the occasional backward-fire "ping".
It's probably also a good time to note that 87 octane gasoline is *not* labeled "premium" for a reason - premium fuel has additional detergents to keep your engine clean - which translates to a happier Raptor over a longer period of time.
So - it all boils down to how you use it and price-point...
If all you do is commute/tool around town - 87 with an occasional tank or two of premium to 'clean the pipes" will probably do you fine. But if you can afford the extra $0.10 a gallon per octane hop (in my neck of the woods), and/or regularly run under increased load (hills, hauling, romping) - the $2.60 or $5.20 investment per tankful would be worth it...
Close, but no. To take on a few other posts too...
Actually, it is the measure of resistance to detonation, but detonation happens after the plug has been fired and ATDC.
Pre ignition happens BTDC (and has a really good chance of instantly toasting your motor) and is an explosion. Light pinging going up a hill is not pre ignition. The ping/knock of detonation is the sound of 2 seperate flame fronts meeting in the combustion chamber. Harmful, but no death sentence.
Octane is a measure of resistance to detonation. That's it. It doesn't automatically mean more power, more energy, more MPG, more detergents, or even faster/slower burning. There are multiple paths/additives to go about increasing octane and they all bring different possible characteristics with them. Different companies use different formulations that can also change with the seasons and region.
It means you can advance the timing a bit and have the combustion happen closer to TDC and therefore under higher pressure. Similar to an increased compression ratio, this will provide better MPG and power (to a point).
In older/lower performance motors, you may see an increase in power, MPG etc. switching to a higher octane fuel...but you may see nothing change or a decrease. It will be because of other aspects of the fuel though, whatever they may be, likely not the octane rating itself so much. Maybe your motor like a bit slower/faster burn. Maybe it likes having a slightly oxygenated fuel or perhaps it can do a decent job with a higher energy content.
It's a measure of resistance to lighting off before we want it to. We know it will light off from the spark and that the flame front will keep it going. What we want to know is if the fuel mixture on the other side/different area of the combustion chamber is stable enough to not light off from the growing pressure caused by the intended combustion starting point. The pressure increase travels faster than the flame front itself. We want it to wait until the spreading flame front reaches it for it to combust. If it does light off from the pressure, we will have two flame fronts and hear a ping when they collide.
A ping means we had a sudden increase in pressure and not a smooth burn. It will slowly fatigue metal and bearings.
Higher octane is called 'Premium','Super" or whatever because that's what the marketing team started calling it. It is designed to play to your emotions and guarantees nothing outside being correlated with the octane rating. Some brands may, or did at one point. use more detergents in Premium, it is, however, not to be expected unless otherwise stated.
