GoodRevs,

You can run on regular, no problem. In fact your manual will state that the recommended/lowest grade of fuel is 87, but for 'added performance' you can run higher grades.

Now, as you said, its an old age question where some assume more $$ per gallon will yield more per tank. This varies in theory and test since, the amount of 'more money' you put into the tank works out to roughly the same for all grades.

I don't have any data recorded anymore but i did this with 87 & 91, it worked out to roughly the same in terms of Miles to the tank/dollars spent on fuel.

And I don't feel a decrease in performance in the car, and i get a consistent ~300-330 miles[mostly city] - ~400 miles [some city/more highway] to a tank.

My all time best was 430 miles to a tank. These numbers were achieved on 87.

 

GoodRevs, simplest, most defensible perspective (e.g. in "debates" with service depts.) answer on the topic: What does your owner's manual say to use?


An old friend who's been in almost all aspects of the car biz shared that perspective with me one time and it makes so much sense.

 

i use 89 octane on my 93ES300..around 3.00 as well

 

Ive been running premium here in Cali(now at $3.30) since ive had my 98 ES300 and ridden in a couple of my family and friends Es's. It runs a bit smoother and maybe a tad bit more performance with the premium gas. It's a Lexus, might as well put the good stuff yah meen.

 

You all are wasting your money running premium! It does nothing for performance or miles per gallon, in fact it will hurt performance. Most cars, including ours, don’t' run the correct compression and air fuel ratio to benefit in any way. Simply search premium vs regular gas and read.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/featu...questions.html

 

As long as it doesnt say "premium required" then you should be fine. I believe the ES was the only lexus model that was designed for regular octane gas. I dont remember how long that lasted, but i think for at least the first 3 gen's.

 

^^ this.

There's a reason my buddy's 10 sec street Mustang needs to run 94, whereas my ES needs a lowly 87!

 

You should run the lowest recommended octane in the vehicle, thus regular gas.

"Many high-performance engines are designed to operate with a high maximum compression, and thus demand high-octane premium gasoline. A common misconception is that power output or fuel mileage can be improved by burning higher octane fuel than a particular engine was designed for. The power output of an engine depends in part on the energy density of its fuel, but similar fuels with different octane ratings have similar density. Since switching to a higher octane fuel does not add any more hydrocarbon content or oxygen, the engine cannot produce more power."

 

Another post on cbrforum.com, but same theory applies:

"Octane is not a rating of "detonation pressure" or something like that. It's a rating of how long the fuel take TO detonate (among other things. yes, I'm simplifying). You're going to get the optimal performance by using the fuel that your engine is currently tuned to use. Now, you can tune your engine to use higher octanes, which of course will give you better performance, but throwing 107 octane fuel into a factory-tuned bike isn't going to do you any good. If you're that interested, ignition advancers are cheap and available for most CBRs, which would get you on your way.

Most gas stations have something like 87 - 93 octane, which is so small of a difference, that the bike can handle the entirety of the range. The only upside to premium used to be that some stations added detergents to the mix, but now all the big names do that with all octane levels, so you can just save your money and throw in the 86. Even if the 93 DOES provide improvement, it's going to be so minimal that you won't even feel it, so what's the point?

Don't confuse all of this with using a better QUALITY of fuel. Octane levels do not denote quality. Just because the pump has a sticker on it that reads "premium," don't believe that it's not full of rat feces and drano. Remember that lawusit Citgo had against it back in the 90's for killing everyone's injectors with their ****ty gas?

This argument is as old as all the other "Who makes the best (random fluid, or part) for my bike?" threads. I have yet to see anyone throw up a dyno printout showing performance gains moving from 86 - 93 octane. 86 to somewhere up in the 100's, absolutely, but nothing in this tiny consumer range."

 

^ If I use 87 I will blow my engine. :-P But I'm boosted, lol.

Well said.

 

Use whatever octane the engine was designed for. You're wasting your money on a higher grade gas, as it will get you no more power and will not make your car (engine) run any 'smoother' or anything like that. There's a reason higher performance engines or forced induction (i.e. turbo/supercharged) engines need a higher octane...

 

I only want to hear from ES330 owners, everyone else keep your comments to yourself. What fuel are you guys running 87 (regular) or 93 (Premium)? I keep getting a stupid code (P2197) o2 Sensor and I almost think it might be cause I run regular. Thoughts/Comments?

 

i've only run premium in my 06 es330. 91 octane since that is all i can get in my area.

 

Thanks, anyone else?

 

I'm not sure why you are limiting answers to ES330 owners. The differences between the 3MZ (330) and 1MZ (300) aren't really significant - bore and stroke are slightly higher on the 3MZ, and the throttle body is slightly bigger....but that doesn't matter for this topic. And the 3MZ has a better knock sensor, so it will be more accepting of 87 than the 1MZ. So if 1MZ people can do it, you definitely can.

I have a 1MZ in our ES300, and a 3MZ in our RX330. Both get 87, and both like it just fine. No issues at all, ever. Fuel economy is slightly better with 93, but I've calculated it out a few times at different gas prices, and it's never been worth upgrading.

It should also be noted that this has been covered to an exhausting level several times - a simple search would get you some serious results.