Wow, everyone just joined

My 2025 NX 350 is now one day old in the garage.

Can I fuel this with 89 octane? 91 is difficult defined here in New Jersey. And the price difference between 91 and 89 is more than a dollar a gallon, local to my market.

What does the fuel flap say? If it says premium fuel required you have to run at least 91. If it says recommended you can run 89 but I would still run at least 91.

Head to the NX forum. This is RX.

Actually it was in the Car Chat forum. Must have been moved here by accident.

I guess one could always RTFM.

when in doubt, look at the manual or look at the fuel filler door....

You are free to choose the fuel of choice there are many who will say there is no difference and Toyota uses the same engines in their cars and only call for 87. Just like on the reverse side you will see many say that cars are tuned for specific fuels and using anything but that can lead to carbon buildup and shortened life.

In the end I think it boils down to your end goal. If you lease your car or never hold a car longer then its warranty I don't think it matters as someone who holds their cars till there is no value left in em I would use the recommendations. I had a 1999 GS that required premium and I ran regular on it at 120k miles I did have random issues with the fuel system that a mechanic at the time claimed had to do with not using the proper fuel. I had a 2004 GX I put premium in with 210k miles and never had a fuel issue.

I truly believe at this point the grade of gas has less to do with it then the quality of the station and the supplier of the fuel. If you stick to your mainstream heavy fuel suppliers it probably does not matter. However if you hit the smaller fuel stations You may notice more of a difference there.

If you do choose to use a fuel other then the recommended pay close attention at your drive on your second and fifth fill-ups for knocking or hesitation in the fuel system, if you encounter none then there probably is no difference for your configuration. If you are running a turbo and plan to actually get on the gas you will want 91 or 93 as its going to be taxing everything harder then normal driving so best to cover your basis.

Modern engine electronics and control systems prevent any damage to the engine from pre-ignition when using 87 octane gas in a car designed for higher octane gas. You may experience a very slight loss in gas mileage and performance from the retarded timing but nothing else.