With the price differential getting so great between regular unleaded and premium unleaded am I wasting money using premium? I never thought much about it up until it broke the 50 cent/gal differential.
I know I get better mileage and probably more power with the premium but this is more than an oil change expense twice a year. This could be $1000 a year to me.
I wish I KNEW why Toyota RECOMMENDS premium. I guess that is my real question. Why do they recommend it?
Premium Fuel in Cars That it is Recommended
- Thread starter Gebo
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Originally Posted By: Gebo
I wish I KNEW why Toyota RECOMMENDS premium. I guess that is my real question. Why do they recommend it?
Sure did. Read it several times over the years. I assume THOSE reasons would apply to most every vehicle on the road. I probably just had too much caffeine and the conspiracy theorist raised his ugly head.
Just finished watching "Engineering Explained" video talking about this very subject. Just got me thinking...
Around me the spread between grades is anywhere from $0.10 a gallon to $0.30 a gallon. Some places the premium is a $1 more than regular. I use premium exclusively on my Genesis Coupe due to a tune. It runs great on even the cheapest 92 octane there is, usually Pilot. But gets better gas mileage on 93 octane.
When I was at BMW tech school, they said to prove that premium cars run better on super, do 5 tanks back to back of regular and average the economy out, then the same with premium for 5 tanks. My instructor guaranteed that BMWs would return 4-5 better mpg overall using what the car called for. Its a false economy, youre paying less up front but more often for it. One tank could get you another 60-75 miles each tank, so by the 4th one, youre a whole tank behind with regular.
Originally Posted By: Gebo
I wish I KNEW why Toyota RECOMMENDS premium.
I think there is one 2018 Toyota with a turbo engine? GM has already stated last year they wanna see a standard high octane fuel. It's simply a must for the gasoline combustion engine to survive in future vehicles because of the looming 2025 MPG requirement
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Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Gebo
I wish I KNEW why Toyota RECOMMENDS premium.
Recommended sounds like a suggestion that you can take it or leave it, as you wish. So, take it or leave it, as you wish.
The operating manuals for the two 6 cylinder Pontiacs in my sig recommend 89, without actually saying they recommend it - the manual says rated horsepower on 87, but max performance on 89. It is a noticeable difference for only two points, but, optional.
You might try 89 - it is a premium fuel relative to 87. If the engine requires 91 for rated horsepower, you won't get there, of course, but if the engine management can handle it without a lot of detonation, etc., it may be worthwhile. My V12 sounds like it's full of marbles at more than light throttle with less than 91, but my V8 Jaguar does OK on 89 for normal driving.
My jeep suggests 89, says it will run on 87... but it does pull alot of timing.
The other day I stopped at an exxon station to use my amex promo (10$ off 25$ purchase)
87 gas was 2.39 which was the price everywhere.. 89 was 2.99 and 92 was $3.59!!!!
Everywhere else(near me) the price difference is 25 to 30cents between grades
Buffalo had the right idea when I was there..
IIRC 89 was 10-15cents more than 87 93 was 30-40cents more than 87
I've tried using 87 but even when its cold out it runs goofy.
the zf-9 speed transmission likes to run at 1100-1400rpm then it will ping and make noise with any tap on the gas..
so I have to restrict downshifts to keep the rpms up more. and its pretty limp on going uphill at less than 2500rpm or so.
I just suck it up and go for 89 or 90 octane.
Premium fuels in cars that recomend
Interesting video
My LR3 recommends premium but I run regular, unless I'm in the mountains and working it hard.
My "RAV6" 2GR-FE always ran fine on 87, but it was noted on many fora that the Lexus vehicles with the same engine were advertised with something like 2 more HP because premium was recommended for that line. Most any recent vehicle with a modern knock control system can squeeze at least a bit more power from premium, maybe not enough to be noticed.
Subaru recommends 93 for my FXT, says 91 is fine and warns that the vehicle might not run well with 87 or 89 but will not be damaged. In contrast to that, my local dealer said that I could not come whining to them about CELs if I ran anything less than Shell 93 (yes, they were brand specific)...this was when they were trying to blame me for a hard start problem that was later fixed by software.
In almost 4 years, I have run one tank of 91 and the rest 93 and above (94 in Canada and something between 93 and 100 when I played with a partial fill of unleaded racing gas). It was painful to see regular at 60 cents a gallon less when I filled up yesterday, but less painful than almost freezing to death at the pump.
I drive my 2er @12,000 miles per year averaging 26 mpg or better. Assuming that 93 octane costs 50 cents more than 87 octane, using 93 octane ends up costing me an extra <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">64 cents per day</span></span>.
Originally Posted By: Audios
When I was at BMW tech school, they said to prove that premium cars run better on super, do 5 tanks back to back of regular and average the economy out, then the same with premium for 5 tanks. My instructor guaranteed that BMWs would return 4-5 better mpg overall using what the car called for. Its a false economy, youre paying less up front but more often for it. One tank could get you another 60-75 miles each tank, so by the 4th one, youre a whole tank behind with regular.
none of your cars are very fuel efficient
If you are really getting peeved at the cost of fuel, you should get a fuel efficient car for a daily driver, and just use that for the majority of your miles.
Otherwise consider it the cost of ownership.
As far as lex goes they have since changed their recs on all the new cars to only req. regular, s often with no change in the engine or tuning. From the spec sheets the gains in performance are about 5% or less from the change with little or no change in mpg. Often the premium upcharge is higher then your power increase.
A lot of the reason has to do with engineering crossing with sales and marketting and whether max hp and torque numbers will sell more cars or regular fuel. there also is a bit of class distinction as the target luxury market wants something thst requires premium and the extra fuel cost doesnt matter compared to all the other costs.
So up to you why did you buy these cars.
Finally most gas stations only have premium and regular and midgrade is a mix. If you look closely there are visible gallon "odometers" for fuel dispensed, often you will see there are only 2 for premium and regular respectively, and both counters run when you pick midgrade because its mixing.
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Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
My LR3 recommends premium but I run regular, unless I'm in the mountains and working it hard.
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