dotbowels

Premium is 20 cents more a gallon (than 87 oct reg) where I am in Iowa. Psychologically it bothers me having to use premium (extra 20 cents a gal) and wondering what the availability will be if things get tight. If I use 1000 gallons a year it's only $200 more a year. Someone slap me around and tell me why I shouldn't get rid of my 2003 Cadillac DHS that has depreciated drastically versus what a Lexus ES330 would've depreciated. Thanks Dorothy

mhc0725

Shirley, you must be kidding...

Tell you why you SHOULDN'T get rid of your Cadillac? I have no reason to give to not get rid of your Cadillac. Get RID OF IT and get a ES350 NOW !!!

As for gas, if $.20/gallon is going to dent anyone's wallet, then driving a luxury vehicle is going to total their wallet. Drive a Prius if you're so worried about $.20 more, or even $4/gal. gas.

dotbowels

Whoa beat me up, it's an availability of Premium issue also,sorry if i offended you

SilverLady

A lot of the CL people here are too young to remember when you couldn't get gas easily at any price - back in the 1970's and briefly again in the 1980's.

These were politically manufactured crisises by our "friends" in the Mideast - and it took only hours or days for it to be felt at every gas pump in the country. People waited for literally hours on line to buy gas (they were lucky if the station or they didn't run out while they were waiting). Once you got to the pump, you bought what they had, and you might only be allowed to get so many dollars worth or gallons. NJ went to alternate gas days - you could only buy gas on certain days based on your license plate and it was illegal to top off your tank if you had a half tank or more.

Flexibility is important. Does the ES350 "recommend" premium, but allow you to use gas down to 87 if you have to? (That is how the GX is specified).

XeroK00L

The New Camry V6 can use regular gas and so can the mechanically identical ES350. You'll just lose a bit horsepower (3-4hp) basically. So just use regular if that's the only thing bothering you from getting the ES.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

If you use 1000 gallons a year for an extra $200, you would be driving about 25k miles a year. Is that your estimated driving range a year?

But other than that, I think that gas prices would be one of the lesser concerns with owning a Lexus versus a Cadillac. Consider the big picture and make the right decision for you, not the right decision of what everyone else thinks.

Good luck. We hope to see you soon in an ES!

<VENOM>

The ES350 says it requires premium, the V6 camry can run on either or from what XeroK00L says, did the lawyers just word it differently knowing the customers buying a luxury car won't mind filling it up with the good stuff but know camry owners don't want to spend an extra 20 cents, is their really a difference, cause the runs on regular, premium for added performance is nonsense.

Neuroguy

The manual for the ES350 says you should use 91 octane. Around here, that's the "mid-grade" gas - with 93 being premium and 87 being regular. The price spread between grades ranges from 5 to 10 cents over time and between stations.

CyclopStan

If you all want to feel better 92 octane premium is $3.86 here right now & thats the lowest we found, they're always within 2-3 cents of each other.) 87 regular is $3.66

jeffofla

Pretty similar prices to Los Angeles too Stan, so don't worry that you're not alone in paying at the pump.

dshahs420

freaking gas prices!!!!!!!!!!!

Ingram4868

Sooooooooooo, is anyone using 87 octane in the new ES350? My wife is currently waiting for her ES350 to be delivered toward the end of the month. I have a 2005 Avalon which I believe has the same engine as the ES350. My Avalon is rated at 280HP when using 91 octane. The owners manual says to use 91 octane. When my Avalon was new a bunch of us on the ToyotaNation website tested 87 octane vs. 91 octane and we could not tell a difference in performance or in MPG testing. And no engine knocks thanks to the very fast sensors and computers.

There are those that say, it is only $3.00 per tank difference. While that is true I don't look at it in that light. It is not so much saving the $3.00 per tank as it is perhaps just not needed. That is why I do not change my air filter every 3,000 miles or buy new tires every month. It is just not needed.

TheRupp

I swear i remember reading somewhere that using 87 was ok with the ES350... It only has 4 more hp and 8 more lb-ft of torque, than the Camry V6, and the Camry V6 requires regular. Not sure about the compression ratio's though.

foofighter

it's ok to do it, your engine's ECU will retard your timing and you will be driving an engine that's not optimized for what it was designed to do. Direct Injection engines are pretty sensitive to these things...i dont know what the long term affects of running 87 would do to your engine. But i wouldnt want to risk it, it's a pretty expensive car that you're buying why skimp out?

XeroK00L

Again, the ES350 and Camry V6 are mechanically identical and do NOT use direct injection, unlike the GS300 and IS250/350. The Camry V6 is recommended to run on 87 and so can the ES350 because they are mechanically the same car! The ES350 will see no long-term problem whatsoever with 87 just like the Camry V6. They "recommend" to run the ES350 on premium only because it has a premium badge, and that its horsepower rating was tested with premium fuel. That's all.