This experimental study validated in a piston engine the European gasoline surrogate from [Pera and Knop, Fuel 96 (2012) 59-69], consisting of a ternary mixture of n-heptane, iso-octane, and toluene. Because only the gas phase properties of gasoline were emulated with the selected mixture, this validation was deliberately limited to port fuel injection operating points. By considering engine operation under controlled autoignition (CAI) combustion mode, the validation focused on fuel autoignition characteristics (autoignition delay and rate of heat release). A direct comparison of gasoline and its surrogate over the entire CAI operating range permitted a comprehensive evaluation of the surrogate adequacy under purely kinetically controlled combustion mode. The acquired data include autoignition timings, rate of heat release, exhaust gas temperatures, pollutant emissions, operating point stability, and operating ranges under CAI combustion mode. Good agreement between gasoline and its surrogate was obtained for all quantities, indicating similar behavior for the two fuels. Experimental results showed that a mixture of 13.7 mol% n-heptane, 42.9 mol% iso-octane, and 43.4 mol% toluene is a satisfactory surrogate for a European unleaded gasoline with a research octane number of 95, conforming to the EN 228 specification. (C) 2013 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.