US vs EU Owners Manuals

[singular9]

For those that do not believe me, or are oblivious, here is visual evidence. On one hand, is the US owners manual for a 2021 Toyota Camry 4 cylinder (A252A-FKS engine). I owned one of these, and was just as oblivious and followed the "oh, the manual says so so I will believe it" mantra. This is a lie.
Save money with cheap oil and gas and you will have extra money for engine replacements i guess? But that is a dumb way to exist IMO. The UK/EU manual for the same exact engine requires not 87 octane, but 91 octane (95 RON or higher), and 0w20/5w30 oil.

See for yourself. Go to toyota US and toyota UK and compare your engines. I have found this to be the case with all toyota products, every single one of them, as well as my honda. So, why do they do this?

Isn't it obvious? EMISSIONS REGULATIONS and LOWER FUEL COST/Yr on the window sticker.

My solution is I simply get rid of the car once the value curve starts to fall enough, that way I get most of my money out of the car. So to me, its not as big of an issue, the next guy can be the one to buy the motor, such is life.

 

[Hermann]

It's why I am running at least a 0W-30 full syn in my hybrid. 0w for the you never know when the ICE will fire up, 30 weight for the chain driven stuff in the engine. Currently running about 0W-32 if my Frankenblend math is correct. 0W-20 is recommended.

 

[TiGeo]

So run premium gas and 5W30 oil....certainly doesn't hurt it. I agree with your comment regarding emissions/fuel cost for vehicles sold here in the U.S. vs. ROW, this seems to be common with many other brands as well. However, nobody will be able to substantiate that using the 16/20W vs. 20/30W and 87 vs. 91 fuel will have any meaningful degradation of this engine over the life you own it for a Toyota Camry that is likely just being driving "normally" which is the whole reason they do this.

 

[buster]

Engines can certainly run on multiple grade viscosities. The ideal goal is run the lowest viscosity grade you can that also gives you maximum wear protection.

 

[pbm]

If I bought a new Camry I would use 0w20 rather than 0w16 because I have a stash of it....and....I certainly don't believe it would make a noticeable difference in gas mileage....and...it may actually provide a bit more engine protection. The race to water thin oils is more CAFE driven than proven science IMO.

 

[RooflessVW]

It's the year 2023...

Dead Toyotas litter the roads of America. Seized up and forgotten by neglected owners who fell for The Big Lie™

 

[FCD]

It specs 95 RON minimum not because it needs it just because that is the lowest octane across pretty much all Europe, in Russia i believe normal unleaded is 92, which would be about equal to 87AKI
Super Unleaded or "Premium" is 98 which would be roughly the same as 93 AKI although higher octane fuels are available like Aral 102 in Germany.

 

[Hall]

Myself and others have posted these examples many times. The owner's manual for our Fusion (Mondeo in the rest of the world) recommends Castrol oil but the US manual definitely doesn't name any brands. The manual for our '12 Civic for Australia (as I recall) lists suitable engine oils ranging from 0W-20 up to 10W-40 for the same 1.8L engine, whereas the US manual says 0W-20 only.

 

[edyvw]

95 RON is the minimum in Europe. Car manufacturers tried to push 95 RON or 91 AKI to be the minimum in the US but they found out the hard way that politics is deeply engrained in that issue. I personally used 91 AKI in my Toyota.

As for oil, Toyota always recommended heavier oil in Europe. Exploitation demands are different (especially in Germany). This tells more that your engine will be OK if you use 5W30 over 0W16. There are still people, even here, who think engines will explode if thicker oil is used.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

I've never heard this argument before.

It's not like it's possible the driving conditions in Europe could be different, nor that the fuel and/or ECU programming could be different. No sir, no way.

 

[singular9]

It's the year 2023...

Dead Toyotas litter the roads of America. Seized up and forgotten by neglected owners who fell for The Big Lie™

You laugh, but if you just google the subject, you will find that many people (a substantial amount) think that just because it has a toyota badge that it doesn't need maintenance, or that they can "not worry about it as much". I have a few friends that swear by the fact that toyota's are just as unreliable as a Mercedes or BMW because their toyota's broke down, but a lot of it came down to just being lazy with the oil changes. It actually baffles me, considering I meet dozens of new people a week, I can confidently say that anyone I talk to about cars, has no idea what oil they put int, what gas they put in, and how often it needs to be changed. My own boss, who is a sensible engineer, understands the need to maintain mechanical parts on his farm equipment, doesn't change his oil until it is too late, and swears by using 87 octane on his gdi turbo engine "won't hurt anything". Engine blew up not a month after we spoke, didn't even have 100k miles on it.

So yeah, keep laughing, but I am pretty sure if I bet that 20% of car owners straight up do not maintain their cars, and another 20% don't even know what oil/fuel they need because someone does it for them, you would agree.

(Edit, actually considering toyota is moving towards turbo GDI more and more, I wouldn't be surprised if we do see toyota's littered around because everyone got complacent, "its a toyota" mentality isn't right.)

 

[singular9]

It specs 95 RON minimum not because it needs it just because that is the lowest octane across pretty much all Europe, in Russia i believe normal unleaded is 92, which would be about equal to 87AKI
Super Unleaded or "Premium" is 98 which would be roughly the same as 93 AKI although higher octane fuels are available like Aral 102 in Germany.

To be specific this is a UK manual, and the UK has 91 and 95 RON at every pump I have seen.
Not to nit pick, but you can go check the same manual for australia as well, which has a 3 grade system afaik, and its the same. This was just a General Example, g.e.n.e.r.a.l.

 

[RooflessVW]

but if you just google the subject

"Just Google it, bro."

 

[TiGeo]

It's the year 2023...

Dead Toyotas litter the roads of America. Seized up and forgotten by neglected owners who fell for The Big Lie™

The Netflix docu-drama is coming...

"I mean....BITOG predicted this man...20W then 16...it was only a matter of time." - guy in Netflix docu-drama

 

[PimTac]

Nothing wrong with turbo GDI motors.

I wonder which oil is recommended in Tanganyika?

 

[M56959]

Topic beat to death, not news, everyone is aware.

As majority of replies are variants of the above. Locked.