The manufacturer's test with premium to obtain both the highest mpg's and the lowest emission figures. I have run both in my 08 ES and can't tell the difference.
a better question is which is better, Chevron supreme or the new Shell V-Power
I can't say specifically if there is any difference between these two, but for most brands there is absolutely no difference. All gasoline in the US is refined in either Texas or Louisiana (and maybe a little in CA and a couple other states). Once its refined by any refiner, its fed into a pipeline for transport to various fuel terminals around the country. All refiners use the same pipelines. Once it comes out of the pipeline at the other end, no refiner knows it was their gas they put in at the other end.
For example, Chevron puts 500,000 gallons of 89 octane into the pipeline in Louisiana and at the same time Shell puts in 700,000 gallons of 89 octane. When the gas reaches Philadelphia, neither company knows which gas they actually put in. All they know is 500,000 gallons goes to Chevron and 700,000 goes to Shell. And since Shell has too much, they sell off 300,000 gallons to Costco, Al's Discount Gas and any other off brand station who will buy it.
Now what can happen is when Shell claims the gas and puts it in their storage tanks in Phil., then may put their own additives in. If they do though, its also in Costco's and Al's brands as well. Now of course if Al decides to add water to his gas, its not going to run as well in your car!
I don't own a ls400, but i always run 93 in my es300, and i know for a fact the engine performs differently even though the owners manual suggests only 87, my gas mileage has also gone up 2 mpg, this is without question. All i know is that my car runs very badly on bj's and sam's club gas i don't know why. I have been using sunoco gas lately and it is a 2001 with 120k averaging 25 mpg
__________________ LOOKING FOR A CHEAP CLEAN PORSCHE 944
The man, the myth the legend..........Mike Grier, the greatest player in the NHL
I would never run regular on an LS460. It has never made sense to me why one would spend over $50K to buy a fine automobile, only to run it on regular so as to save approx 20 cents a gallon.
Here's my logic:
For the sake of argument, let's say it takes about 18 gallons to fill up your tank when close to empty.
In most locations, difference between premium and regular is 20 cents a gallon. Thus, if you fill it up using regular gas, you will be saving (18 X $.20) which is $3.60 per fill up.
OK, let's say you fill up about once per week, that's $3.60/week, which equates to $14.40/month, which equates to about $172.80 per year.
Now comes the million dollar question, is it worth ruining the finesse of a LS460 in order to save approx. $200/year?
Surely, the engineers at Toyota did not just sit one day and decide to invonvenience us by requiring premium grade fuel....Or, did they?
Between my LS400 and LS430, I've never noticed a difference in performance or fuel economy switching between 89 and 91 octane; but I figure for an extra dime per gallon, I'll follow orders from Lexus and put in premium. Its only in long term durability that you would notice any problems in the injectors and guts of the engine.
Hybrid Mode
