is premium fuel worth it?

O

othompson824

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I got an 06 V6. I get gas at sams club and currently they're charging $5.65 for unleaded and $5.84 for premium (yes i live in CA). Is it worth paying for premium gas as far as fuel economy goes? im currently getting around 16.5 mpg's according to the guage. Thanks for the input!
 
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Good question. I've always used premium in my 2004 V6 4r. I average 18.5 actual mileage but with gas prices ... I'm wondering if 87 octane would work as well.
 
Ralph Blake said:
Can you find real gas gas with no Alcohol in it? If you can that is the best.:thumb:
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This is my preference. Shell station by me sells ethanol-free 87. That's what my 4Runner eats.

But I'm not sure it's the right decision from an economics standpoint. The added BTUs and mileage don't make up for the increased cost of ethanol-free compared to regular, at least at not at my station.
 
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Wasn’t worth it for me. Switched to 93 in my 2003 v8 and the added fuel price far outweighed the marginal mpg gain. Does just fine with 87 in the tank.


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5thToy said:
This is my preference. Shell station by me sells ethanol-free 87. That's what my 4Runner eats.

But I'm not sure it's the right decision from an economics standpoint. The added BTUs and mileage don't make up for the increased cost of ethanol-free compared to regular, at least at not at my station.
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It's what the Alcohol does that is the major problem #1 Alcohol sucks water out of the air like crazy, this water lays at the bottom of your fuel tank that is where your fuel pump is located, ask the people who replace fuel pumps most are caused because of water damage to the pumps.
#2 Alcohol is corrosive to metal parts and it is hell on rubber, no matter what the Auto and Truck Mfg's and our Government try telling everyone that their rubber parts are made to with stand Alcohol, just ask the people who keep replacing these Alcohol damaged parts.

The corn growers love ethanol it's made them rich our Government loves ethanol, it's made their pals rich making the stuff, if our leaders in power today they would want 25% to 40% Alcohol required added to real gas.

Also just ask the people repairing lawn equipment they love ethanol because it brings in a lot of work for them, it really kills lawn working stuff they don't use parts that are designed to resist Alcohol damage just would add extra cost to them.

Me i won't use any gas with ethanol in it.:hatsoff:
 
Ralph Blake said:
It's what the Alcohol does that is the major problem #1 Alcohol sucks water out of the air like crazy, this water lays at the bottom of your fuel tank that is where your fuel pump is located, ask the people who replace fuel pumps most are caused because of water damage to the pumps.
#2 Alcohol is corrosive to metal parts and it is hell on rubber, no matter what the Auto and Truck Mfg's and our Government try telling everyone that their rubber parts are made to with stand Alcohol, just ask the people who keep replacing these Alcohol damaged parts.

The corn growers love ethanol it's made them rich our Government loves ethanol, it's made their pals rich making the stuff, if our leaders in power today they would want 25% to 40% Alcohol required added to real gas.

Also just ask the people repairing lawn equipment they love ethanol because it brings in a lot of work for them, it really kills lawn working stuff they don't use parts that are designed to resist Alcohol damage just would add extra cost to them.

Me i won't use any gas with ethanol in it.:hatsoff:
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That’s why I use it when I can find it even though it doesn’t make sense from a fuel cost vs. efficiency standpoint. It’s not a choice for a lot of people though as ethanol-free isn’t available in some markets.
 
5thToy said:
That’s why I use it when I can find it even though it doesn’t make sense from a fuel cost vs. efficiency standpoint. It’s not a choice for a lot of people though as ethanol-free isn’t available in some markets.
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Speaking of Cost vs Efficiency Ethanol 76,000 BTU/Gal. Gasoline 125,000 BTU/Gal.
No matter how one looks at it you don't get the mileage or do you get the preformance from Ethanol, and if your state like California blends say 25% ethanol with their gas well you understand.:moping:
 
Short answer is no. The manual details everything you need to know for your vehicle to perform best. If it says 87, you’re doing nothing but wasting money buying higher octane unless it’s in special circumstances like higher altitudes.

In fact, midgrade (typically 89) is specified for almost no cars at all. It only exists because marketing research shows people presented with three options will often choose the middle one - so the gas company makes more money.

People have different opinions but little or no evidence. Happy to reevaluate if anyone has proof higher octane does anything for a 1GR V6.
 
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Bought my 4R V8 in SoCal in '04. Ran 87 octane in it (usually from Costco) all the time. No problems never a knock. Good pep and power. Probably equal in acceleration and speed to a Cop Car V8 Crown Vic. We have non ethanol premium here in Arkansas now but I never run it in my 4R. I save the premium "real gas" for my '75 BMW R90 motorcycle. Average mixed driving weighted toward town on the 4R is consistently 15.6>16.5mpg on local 87.
 
othompson824 said:
I got an 06 V6. I get gas at sams club and currently they're charging $5.65 for unleaded and $5.84 for premium (yes i live in CA). Is it worth paying for premium gas as far as fuel economy goes? im currently getting around 16.5 mpg's according to the guage. Thanks for the input!
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Kinda.
From everything I've been told it has it's upsides and downsides. I'm running some high grade fuel to get the fuel injectors cleaned out. There is a slight increase in fuel economy. (granted this is in a non vvti v8)
It may be different for the v6's could be more drastic of a change, especially if you've got the vvti.

Expensive, and the 4runner really isn't tuned to get the best out of it. The mileage increase is pretty slight. The only real difference I ever noticed in performance was that it doesn't vibrate as much.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't run it every now and again to clean out the injectors and the fuel lines/tank.
 
I buy whatever the cheapest is with the gauge listing in the 19.5mpg range with very little highways use. May go up a bit if I do a chunk of highway and it goes down a little when the winter blend of gas comes out. The high test stuff here is way more expensive than the 87 octane and there's no ethanol free gas nearby unless you buy race gas $$$.
 
Run what the manual says, 89 if I recall. They spec that because that is the octane needed for the engine to perform TO SPEC, meaning no detonation. More octane doesn't help because you're ALREADY AVOIDING DETONATION.

Personally I run Rec. 90 which is an ethanol-free fuel I am blessed to have available by my house. If I could get Rec. 89 I would run that.
 
Moist said:
Kinda.
From everything I've been told it has it's upsides and downsides. I'm running some high grade fuel to get the fuel injectors cleaned out. There is a slight increase in fuel economy. (granted this is in a non vvti v8)
It may be different for the v6's could be more drastic of a change, especially if you've got the vvti.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't run it every now and again to clean out the injectors and the fuel lines/tank.
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Truly curious as this is the first I've ever heard of this - higher octane fuel is supposed to clean injectors and fuel lines? It's no different than other grades except for the octane rating, right, and doesn't that only affect combustion?


Cezar said:
Run what the manual says, 89 if I recall. They spec that because that is the octane needed for the engine to perform TO SPEC, meaning no detonation. More octane doesn't help because you're ALREADY AVOIDING DETONATION.

Personally I run Rec. 90 which is an ethanol-free fuel I am blessed to have available by my house. If I could get Rec. 89 I would run that.
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Just looked it up for my 2007 V6 - manual specifies 87.
 
The 4runner runs fine on 87, however I have done math via Fuelly, it gets roughly 10% more efficient with 91.

So it’s a simple math exercise, if premium is less than or equal to 10% more than 87, it gets premium.

We usually only fill at costco, so she almost always gets premium.
 
Bluesky 07 said:
Just looked it up for my 2007 V6 - manual specifies 87.
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Okay in fairness this is a confusing topic. In Japan where these cars are made, they use RON whereas in the US we use AKI(RON + MON / 2).

So the manual says use 87 octane or 91 RON.

87+91/2 = 89, otherwise known as mid-grade.
 
Bluesky 07 said:
Short answer is no. The manual details everything you need to know for your vehicle to perform best. If it says 87, you’re doing nothing but wasting money buying higher octane unless it’s in special circumstances like higher altitudes.

In fact, midgrade (typically 89) is specified for almost no cars at all. It only exists because marketing research shows people presented with three options will often choose the middle one - so the gas company makes more money.

People have different opinions but little or no evidence. Happy to reevaluate if anyone has proof higher octane does anything for a 1GR V6.
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This^^

87 is just fine. High test is for turbos, superchargers, etc... stuff with high compression. Your "increase in mileage" is due to the lower weight of your wallet on 93.
 
Cezar said:
Okay in fairness this is a confusing topic. In Japan where these cars are made, they use RON whereas in the US we use AKI(RON + MON / 2).

So the manual says use 87 octane or 91 RON.

87+91/2 = 89, otherwise known as mid-grade.
Click to expand...


That seems like creative math to me. The manual says 87 and the pump says 87 and my truck has run fine for 15+ years and 232K miles. I’m not sure there’s anything more to it.
 
Valize said:
The 4runner runs fine on 87, however I have done math via Fuelly, it gets roughly 10% more efficient with 91.

So it’s a simple math exercise, if premium is less than or equal to 10% more than 87, it gets premium.

We usually only fill at costco, so she almost always gets premium.
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This made me look closely when I got gas today. 87 - $3.39, 89 - $4.35, 93 - $4.59. 94cents more to go up 2 points, I'll just stick to 87.
 
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