LexBob2

You have me yearning for the good old days. Anyone remember gas price wars? Prices would dip around .10-.20/gal. for short periods.

lesz

That may well be the case, but, even if it is, my experience tells me that any differences in fuel economy from using premium fuel are quite insignificant and, in no way, enough to come close to justifying the cost difference between premium and regular fuel. My GX is EPA rated at 18 mpg highway. I live out in the country and rarely drive in stop-and-go conditions, and I regularly get between 19.5 and 20.5 mpg using regular fuel even though the Lexus recommendation is for premium fuel. Similarly, with the 06 ES that I owned, I consistently got between 29 and 30 mpg and the EPA highway rating was either 28 or 29 mpg. Even if I had been able to increase those numbers by a mpg or 2 with premium fuel, the cost of doing so would still have made using the premium fuel a significant financial loser.

lesz

I'm old enough to remember, when I was in college in the late 60s, the two gas stations across the street from each other whose prices, for competitive purposes, were always below $.30 per gallon. I could fill the tank on my 68 Camaro and buy a carton of cigarettes and get change back from a $5 bill. Of course, that Camaro got about 9 mpg.

13IS250C

Yes. I also remember the early '70s and waiting in line to get gas. They had even and odd days. If your license number was even or odd, you could only get fuel on those days. What if you had a personalized plate?

I quit letting people put gas in my car after a jerk attendent dropped the nozzle on my bumper of my '76 Camaro. I don't like anybody touching my car.

jbm79

Where I live, ALL Shell gas stations have attendants in both full-service and self-service pumps.

One thing I hate about most of these attendants is when they try to pump to the exact dollar amount, to the point of almost overfillling the tank after the nozzle has automatically stopped. So everytime, I specifically tell them to "stop on the first click".

And talk about those old gas prices, the lowest I can remember seeing is $1.599 for regular...currently regular here runs for $4.729. Woohoo! Can anyone top that?

RazSrq

Premium required in my last Infiniti (for 8 years). I cannot express how big I smile each time I get to push the regular gas button now. I swear the sun shines just a little brighter.

yowps3

The ES350 makes more power with premium.

It's the 'gas' you should be using with it. I don't see why anyone buys these types of cars and feeds them rubbish.

Mike728

Not since 2010. The ES is now tuned for regular. Putting premium in the tank is just wasting money.

LexBob2

I concur with both of your points...

LexBob2

Here in the U.S. beginning with the 2011 model year regular has been recommended for the ES350. Even when premium was recommended (2007-2010) there was only a 4 hp difference vs. today's 268.

lesz

I agree 100%. If the car is tuned to use 87 octane fuel and you are using premium fuel, you might just as well be flushing $100-200 per year down the toilet.

Yes, and, even if there was any advantage to using premium fuel with regard to either horsepower or fuel consumption, it would be so minor that it would be unnoticeable.

LexRuger

You proved my point in the second post.