I use premium and mid-grade only occasionally. Would there be any performance differences for your car if you used premium?

 

No performance differences I could tell.

 

I used regular gas on a recent trip out of town because the gas station only had regular and was the only station for another 50 miles and I filled up because i didnt want to make another stop. Car ran the same at highway speeds. Didnt feel any difference. Ive been thinking about trying it on the city. I thought I'd read a post somewhere that stated that the computer adjust the timing on the car based on the octane.

 

I believe that's correct, but how does the computer know the octane of the gas you just put in?

My understanding is that the engine "Listens" for a ping, indicating a timing problem caused by low octane gas and then adjusts the timing based on that ping.

HBH

 

I burn Regular, but then I live in the Denver area and we can get away with it at this altitude. "Regular" is 85 octane around here.

Made a x-country trip to FL last October and could tell it really wanted the higher octanes. Under hard acceleration it didn't have near the poop it usually has. Mid grade was better, Premium made all the difference in the world.

Under normal driving just piddling around town, probably wouldn't make any noticeable difference.

Why do I cheap out on the gas? ... so I can buy another Lexus some day.

;->

Whit

 

Vancouverl, what year and model ML? I remember my mom had a ML 320 when they first came out, and right around 70k on the odo, it had developed an oil leak that none of the local benz dealers could fix. We ended up practically giving it away. Got her into Lex GX 470 and she loves it. She wont get rid of it for anything to this day.

 

I only run 94 octane premium Conoco/Phillips in mine. It only costs a few bucks more per tank. I would only run regular if I was out of fuel and that's all there was available. You won't get the power or fuel mileage running regular. It retards the timing and that cuts down on power and fuel mileage...

 

lexus recommends the highest grade of gas, but you can run regular and it'll be fine, just expect the fuel injectors to run a little louder than usual. that's all.

 

mine is a 2002 and yes i have the famous oil leak as well you have to drop the engine to fix it .it is from the oil sensor .its not worth anything but boy is it good in the snow ill hang onto it till it dies.

 

All I use is regular. Still get 24.3 mpg around town. Always have more than enough power.

 

The engine is designed for premium so I use premium.

 

I feel a difference if I use 87 octane ...

 

It's top of the line Lexus, manual says 91 octane and above, so I follow the manual. If you can drive a $70K car, you can afford the few extra dollars. Just eat McDonalds' dollar menu items, instead of fancy restaurants.

 

lol you are right .

 

+1