And the difference isn't even $4 or $5 if you consider the better gas mileage that you will get with better fuel. My rough estimate is that I get 2 mpg's better per fill up with 93 (compared to 87).

 

x2. You need to use more throttle w/ 87 gas, at least on the LX470. I found that I get like 1.5-2 mpg better w/ 91 octane vs 87 (the freebie tank of gas I got from the dealer was 87). If you do the math, 1.5 mpg is about a 10% improvement in fuel economy. Since 91 octane is 20 cents/gal more and 87 octane is now, say, $3.50/gal, .20/3.50 equates to only a 5.7% price increase, so using 91 is CHEAPER (at least for me). For me, regular would have to be less than $2/gal to make it cheaper to run 87, and those days are long gone. BTW, I consistently get 2 mpg better on Arizona chevron 91 vs. So. CA chevron 91. Both say up to 10% ethanol, so my conclusion is either AZ gas contains more gas than CA gas, and/or CA gas is using an octane booster that contains fewer BTU's than gasoline (maybe ethanol?) to achieve the 91 numbers. My numbers above are using AZ gas, not CA gas. I haven't tried the experiement on CA gas yet, but maybe those of you in CA could and report the numbers.

 

The way I see it is if you have more than one car and one of your car is a four or 6 cylinder, then drive that one daily as it consumes less gas. but if you only have the lx w/ v8, then why not treat it with a decent gas and the difference in gas price is that much yet.

also, if you can afford a $80k+ car then why worry about the gas price. I know i dont cheer up things will turn out better (or worse?? lol).

 

That depends.

On an engine optimized to run on 87 octane there will be no benefit in performance or MPG by running 89, 91 or higher.

If you have an engine optimized to run on 91 and you're running 87 and one of many instances occur which cause the ECU to change timing (full throttle, full load, hot weather, etc.) the motor won't run at its optimum and power and fuel efficiency will suffer.

More than one LX470 owner has run several tanks of gas through and noted that using regular unleaded vs. premium unleaded resulted in worse MPG.

 

well, i use 91 and i cant really tell if there's any benefit since i always floor it

 

It makes sense for the guys that got an LS400 for $3000 to worry about regular or premium but you guys that got a brand new 570 wtf.. yall cant penny pinch this much if you got such an expensive new car.

 

I have a 570 and I hate seeing my gas bill each month, feels like I could get another 570 for what I pay for fuel.
Prices are terrible but I still smile a little when I punch it (in any of the cars)

 

I drove past my neighborhood ExxonMobil this morning on the way to work and regular (87) was 3.90, mid-grade (89) was 4.05 and super (91) was 4.17. First of all, ouch but seriously.

My LX470 has a 25 gallon tank. I'll assume that the new 570 has a similar size tank. That means the difference between filling a tank at regular vs. unleaded is $6.75. Less than seven bucks.

I'm as harried as the next person about rising gas prices since it's now costs me $100/week to fill the tank on the Beast but honestly... is that difference really worth getting your knickers in a twist?

Use the octane rating that the engineers intended and get every last ounce of power out of your motor. Make one less trip to Satan's Den (aka Starbucks) a week and call it even.

 

If you really want to get a cheap, reliable econobox as a DD, get a Yaris...30+ mpg for < $15K, and I even think it's made in Japan.

 

saw this on the front page of Yahoo today
Much of Europe is +$10/gallon!!

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...S.-Is-So-Cheap

 

Yes the people in Europe are laughing at use getting upset at $3.50 a gallon gas! We are nearing $4 and will see $5 soon.

 

My high hope of getting an LX570 are beginning to diminished.
I can see that my '06 LX470 could be in the chopping block. I will be downsizing.

I will be looking at the 2009 Prius.

Two days ago the price for Premium was $3.99 9/10 times 20 gallons, I was left speechless.

 

Lexus make some fine hybrids. The gave me a RX for a loaner and the motor turned it's self off at red lights and stop signs. No ack of power as between the gas motor and the electric motors the vehicle accelerated very fast!

The is a 460 version, too!

 

We've spent a lot of time and miles behind the wheel of several RX400h loaners. They're very impressive and we consistently avg. 24+ mpg in mixed driving when we have them. That's our preferred loaner when we take one of our two Lexus in for work at the dealership since we need the extra space for the dog.

Great vehicles. Unfortunately, I can't see that well out of them but I don't think the huge c pillars bother most drivers.

 

You pay a premium to buy these hybrids...so, the money saved from buying a hybrid is not all that great (if at all). For example, an average Prius runs about $25,000. BTW, many Toyota dealers are charging a PREMIUM over MSRP for these hybrids. My Corolla cost about $18,000 out the door (everything included). To make money from buying a Prius over a Corolla ($7000), i would have to drive the Prius at least 80-100,000 miles (if not more)!! And what happens at 100,000 miles for a Prius?? Yes, your powertrain/battery warranty runs out...and within a few more miles, you will need to replace the battery, which is a small fortune (about $3000)! So, in the end, it's not even worth it to get a Prius over a Corolla. The new Corollas are supposedly quite refined (smooth & quiet) with decent power and 35 mpg highway. The JBL sound system on the new Corolla is better than the Prius's JBL.

In other words, you buy a Toyota hybrid to be "green" and to save the environment. You should not look at it as a wise financial investment.