RXSF

I wish we had 93 in the west coast...here we are using 91 like animals

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Sunday I filled up with Shell 93 at 2.93 a gal.Prices are rising.Over $3 today.

RXSF

dont get me started, my 91 premium is $3.41

RVH

Consumer reports says that you should experiment and that virtually all cars will run well on 87. They say you should use a couple of tanks of 87 and see if 1) you get any pinging sounds from the engine, 2) your mileage deteriorates, or 3) you notice a degradation in your power (and it bothers you).

It's usually a ten cent difference between regular and the mid-grade, for a buck and a half I usually go mid-grade. I NEVER use 91/93 since it runs well on the 89.

They go on to say that there are NO long term effects of using the lower grade, only the effects mentioned above.

I had a 99 RX and a 2007 and did it this way and got 150k on the former and 60k on the latter.

Bob

rongro

I am looking to replace my 2008 400h. I ran that car on 89 and 93 octane. About 2 mpg difference. Every sales person, as well as service people, I speak with tells me (for the RX 450h) I can use 87 octane without damaging the car, but I may give up some performance. I was going to replace the car in May, but I am waiting to the summer when the new 2013's come out. I probably stick with 89 - 93 octane; unless the price of gas really goes up!

UCSB

Worrying about regular vs premium seems like a pretty silly issue to me. Here in the SF bay area we are paying about $4.30 for regular and $4.50 for premium. So about 20 cents a gallon difference. So only about 4% difference in cost or $2 to $3 a fill-up. Since Lexus seems to feel that you will get better fuel economy on premium, how big could the actual financial difference be ... $2, $1, $.50 ... or it could possibly be cheaper if you are getting more than a 4% difference in fuel economy. The reason I use premium is because how the car operates. It is very frequently starting and stopping and anything I can do to make sure that it is absolutely running it's best seems like a logical approach to me.

InRBigness

I would kill for that difference UCSB. Here in Winnipeg reg (87 ) is .1.17/ liter and premium (91) is $1.29 / liter. so it is far more than a 4% increase. The only difference between them is the amount of Ethanol in them. Ethanol lowers the octane.

My 450H runs fine on the Recomended 87 octane so I dont really care but for me to run 91 octane (not 93 as that is rarely available) would be 4.91 per US gallon for 87 octane its$ 4.42 US gallon. That works out to $.49 per gallon or almost $8 per tank or roughly 10% more for not even the highest octane. There is no cost benefit for me to buy it as I dont need any more power and I doubt I will get 10% better milage. When I am in the States I do buy the better gas to run through as different gasses have different additives.

rongro

My issue isn't money. As I said, I haven't used 87 octane in my car. What I said was the sales/service people tell me I can run the car on 87 with out a problem (regardless of what the manual says.) I am wondering if anyone has heard similar things from Lexus. My 400h is just under 4 years old and has about 78,000 miles on. The few cents would add up with the mileage I drive.

billy44bo

When I was looking to order my 450 one dealer told me that 89 would do just fine here in Alabama

yeehawbob

I have been using 87 since January and I do not feel any difference, BUT I have not tried the 89 or 91 yet so I would'nt know the difference anyways.

grt62

Using 89 since new (4/11). Averaging about 23-24 around a very hilly town. 3 trips from upstate NY to FL, 24-26, using 89 and 91 octane. Really didn't see any difference between the two, aside from price, although I do get about 2-3 mpg better in the warmer weather. Not quite what Lexus advertises, but significantly better than my wife's GX 470, which gets about 16-17 mpg. However, when in FL which is flat, I get about 27mpg using 89 octane. MPG drops quickly after 70+mph; I usually drive 75-80 on the trip between NY and FL.

wardak

Hi Comrade



I bought my first 400H last yeatr in September, during winter time i usually got 570 KM for 53 Ltrs. now the weather has became warm and i gets 640 per 53 litrs. a big diffirfence.

Wardak

VVRX

When I picked up my 450 back in December, my Lexus SA informed me that it was okay to use regular 87 octane
with no harm but with an estimated loss of between 15-20 percent in performance. I have since stuck with 89-91
octane. With the 89 octane I usually get about 2 mpg less than premium. After my last trip using premium octane
91 I recorded my best mileage yet at 30.7 mpg.

yeehawbob

After trying 91 Oct a couple of times and then going back to 87, I have seen a noticable difference in engine noise.
I did record the engine noise on my phone once with 87 and then with 91 and there is a slight difference.

UnCon

I've been using "regular" for the past two years in my 2008 400H. I live in a rural area with what most would call back roads. I can go about 5 - 8 miles before I hit a stop sign, hilly, windy roads. My driving style is not economy guided, so I only get a little over 22 mpg. I had attributed that to my heavy foot,, but this thread made me realize that it could be the regular gas too. I have not noticed any power loss or other issues. No service problems... 89K on it and ready to upgrade