Gas Premium or regular?

[Dragon86]

Hey guys

Just to clarify something here, as we all know the engine under this car is a boxer engine, when i was ordering my FR-S, the guy said this car can run on regular gas if you wanted too.I think he was mistaken with the other Toyota cars. However the question is would you run it on regular if gas price goes sky high lol.

[86_ZN6]

Originally Posted by Dragon86

Hey guys

Just to clarify something here, as we all know the engine under this car is a boxer engine, when i was ordering my FR-S, the guy said this car can run on regular gas if you wanted too.I think he was mistaken with the other Toyota cars. However the question is would you run it on regular if gas price goes sky high lol.

manual says premium gas only.

[Draco-REX]

Read your owner's manual. It requires Premium.

Don't worry about the price. Premium is usually only 20 cents/gal more than regular. That's only about $2 per fill-up. A pittance to pay for peace of mind.

[bimmerboy]

91 or higher only. If nothing but 87 was available i'm sure it would run but I wouldn't drive it aggressive at all. Stick to premium

[moniz]

Premium is required, but it will run on 87, as will all cars that require premium, if it HAS TO, like in an emerg situation, like if you in the middle of a nowhere gas stop and all they have is 87. The computer will adjust the timing to accommodate the 87, but, BUT, it will run like crap, have less power and get WORSE mileage. The money you think you're saving by putting in 87 gets eaten up right away in getting less per mile so you're not saving a damn thing and potentially costing yourself more in the long run if you run 87 regularly.

If putting 91 or higher is a problem for people, them why even but the damn car? These kind of people remind me of the old quote "...those that know the price of everything, and the value of nothing."

[Capt Canuck]

^Bingo. It amazes me every time this question is posed. Not because it's a dumb question, but because who wants to willingly degrade the quality of their car?

Lovingly hand-washed weekly or gas station auto-wash once a month?
Oil change every 6k miles or 60k miles?
Properly inflated tyres or whatever pressure they happen to be at is fine?

There are loads of ways to expedite the wear and tear on your car, over and above the fuel you use. Use you imagination!

[Enigmus]

The premium grade available in New Orleans is 93 octane but the majority of them have 10% Ethanol. Personally I use pure gasoline by looking for gas stations listed here http://pure-gas.org/ It's a matter of preference and I'd like to have the most energy-efficient burning gas available for my beloved car. =)

[phm14]

Originally Posted by Enigmus

The premium grade available in New Orleans is 93 octane but the majority of them have 10% Ethanol. Personally I use pure gasoline by looking for gas stations listed here http://pure-gas.org/ It's a matter of preference and I'd like to have the most energy-efficient burning gas available for my beloved car. =)

Thanks for that. Disappointing there's not one station listed for Houston.

[stalon320]

Actually.. The car can run just fine on regular unleaded. I have noticed that many performance cars today have no issued running on reg unleaded as the computers adjust the spark, timing, etc... its really not that big a deal unless you are looking to race the car.. normal driving.. there's no difference..except to your wallet. The only time you will notice a difference.. is if you use racing fuel.. at like 104 octane.. I used that in my mustang of years ago.. and it definately made a difference.. also made the whole car smell like gas..lol.. it was actually pretty cool back then

[Enigmus]

My bad i forgot to mention it's a user submitted website so not all ethanol free gas stations would be listed. They're typically smaller non-corporate mom&pop gas stations. A quick google search for houston ethanol free gas stations brought up a number of car forum threads asking the same. I'm sure you'll find one near you easily. I didn't realize the one 3 blocks away from me was ethanol free. It looked like a tiny abandoned station with alcoholics loitering about. I only want to the Chevron 10 blocks away only because it was 10 cents cheaper. Goes to show you that looks can be deceiving! Don't dismiss that small dismal looking gas station! They're typically the ones that close at 8 or 9 after the megamillions time cutoff!

[Jeff Lange]

Most Toyota models that specify "Premium" are typically looking for 91. The FR-S manual is looking for 93.

Jeff

[Hanakuso]

To answer your question, yes regular will run but why risk damage to the engine to save a few pennies.

[miata]

No damage will occur. Just less power. Use whatever you want to use - regular or premium or plus. My father has always used regular gas in his Acura MDX for the last 10 years since new and the car's been running with no engine or power train related problems. It now has over 150K miles.

[moniz]

Originally Posted by miata

No damage will occur. Just less power. Use whatever you want to use - regular or premium or plus. My father has always used regular gas in his Acura MDX for the last 10 years since new and the car's been running with no engine or power train related problems. It now has over 150K miles.

To which I's ask, does the MDX manual say premium recommended or required like the FR-S manual? It's understood that if it says recommended, then using regular will have no real effect on mileage and is ok, but you will lose some performance which for daily driving is fine.

But if the engine REQUIRES premium, as the FR-S does, then you will be getting worse gas mileage, negating your savings and worse still, putting you in a precarious warranty position if your problem is ever fuel related.

Personally, I'm no gambler with my money and do what I can to get the most out of the car, and keep me in good graces with the factory warranty. If you feel that's all hogwash, feel free to be the guinea pig, since it's not my money/car on the line.