I rather just save my money

A good explanation here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OFV8gpxAxI&feature=youtu.be
The difference in octane is how fast the fuel burns. At the tech school I attended long, long, long, long ago, had a demonstration. A long clear tube, 4-5 feet had anatomized drop or 2 of different octane gas put in it. When ignited you could watch the flame travel the length of the tube. The higher the octane, the slower it burned.

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I hear you. Normally I'd agree, but for me there's a big difference between the truck feeling so gutless it can't maintain 60mph in top gear up a slight grade vs having just enough of a boost in low end torque to pull it off. YMMV

Ok I have a confession, I re-geared

But I won’t pay more for premium gas lol

What was the cost to do that? Might be the ticket for all of us expecting too much from an octane change.


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I've been using it normally for about 2 years now with experiments running 87 again. No change at all. I run it because the single VVTi engine had low speed high load knock issues which were solved with higher octane. I doubt it was detrimental to the health of the engine but it was something I didn't want to hear. I could have sworn I heard it in the Runner so I just went to 91 here in Derpiforna.

Knock is detrimental to an engine.
Be sure that is what you are hearing.
All ecu engines have knock sensors so you should not hear knocking unless it becomes out of range of the ecu.

Possible your engine is coked up, but these days that should be iffy.

Most people don't notice with the 1GR easily hitting 250K miles. I doubt it was coked up because I drive it hard and continued to do so after supercharging at 90K miles. I made it to 150K when someone ran a red and totaled my Tacoma. It would have kept going otherwise.

Knock sensors are not a guarantee preignition won’t occur. You can pull the timing back all you want but static compression (or bad fuel) can still cause pinging.

The only thing that will stop the pinging in the aforementioned exceptional cases would be to cut fuel entirely. Will a knock sensor do that, if the condition doesn’t resolve pulling timing?

Completely cutting fuel (or spark) typically occurs when hitting the rev limiter.


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With my 2015 Tacoma with 5 speed the gear hunting was less, the Tacoma was also considerably lighter, thus less downshifting on grades.

Several causes of pinging, if in fact it is occurring and reduced by premium fuel, the the OP should investigate the causes.
The point being, it is detrimental to an engine.

Most people just keep driving without knowing what knock is. Certainly knock isn't good but this also isn't a rotary engine where a few will take out an apex seal.

So I went through this same thought process with my hemi grand cherokee. I was doing anything to improve the 12 mpg (yeah, the 4Runner really isn't that bad). The manual said to use only 87 or 89 octane, but I was getting 1-2 mpg better with 91.

The issue that was brought up about this on the jeep forums isn't that the manufacturer is trying to save you money on gas. As mentioned in other responses here, it's also about ecu tuning, combustion, designed temperatures, durability of materials (seals, metallurgy), fuel detergents, etc.. Even though it's also a vvt engine, but obviously different than the Toyota 4.0L, I stopped using 91, because I got some credible feedback on potential damage that can happen with continued use. Just something to think about - the engine isn't necessarily designed for 91 octane or higher despite performance improvements.

I'm not sure. I remember it was expensive, and thats probably why i don't remember what i paid, too traumatic for me..lol.

So many narratives on this issue and so little data, but maybe that's why we love this sort of conversation. Two thoughts, then I'll grab the popcorn.

1. What is really happening when you change gas? Are you getting cleaner burn, more power, change in engine temperature? Is there anything else happening that affects what we see? (Ethanol additives play a huge part in this as well, maybe more than octane.)

2. None of this is actual research. Get large sample sizes, blind study, run rigorous tests, and get back with us in 6 months. Get someone else to fuel up your truck every time, change randomly between fuel types (no diesel), and run 3 tanks before switching to the next fuel. Get that data over many samples and then bring it here to share so we can insult you.

TL;DR, drive slower, buy regular gas, spend the saved money on a decent 6 pack (no IPA).