Premium fuel- worth it?

[minig646]

I know two things about premium fuel: the 1mz does NOT require it, and that engines not designed for it will not benefit from it. However, I was reading through my owners manual and read that "For improved vehicle performance, the use of premium gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended."

Has anyone been running on premium fuel with any noticeable differences? I always assumed that such a pedestrian engine wouldnt benefit from premium fuel but if Toyota themselves are recommending it I may give it a shot.

[1gSE]

It can run on 87 octane with no problem, it'll just pull timing, which is why they have "for improved performance" in it. Are you running it hard, detonating etc etc? On a stock motor, you would be fine. Me personally, I run the highest octane I can get (for obvious reasons) When I was in North Dakota I did notice the car running better between mid grade and premium. I didn't touch the low grade stuff.

With that said.....you're talking about maybe a 5 dollar difference when filling up...

[yaddadaimsayin]

i do it just cuz. even if it's all mental, an extra $3-$5 every 2 weeks is not that big of a deal.

[SteveSolara]

I've also had the car on 93 or 94 octane gas, I believe that i heard if you run lower octane like 83-84 its causes more carbon build up and or chance of sludge, well.. for older cars. But don't take my word on that, i just went by that and haven't notice a MAJOR difference but maybe in the future you will. Also its only a few dollars more so, why not. Oh and yeah if you are SCed than def run higher octane gas for performance obviously.

[TheGreenDutch]

I always use 87 reg but when you use a 93 or up octane the car runs much better and you get slightly better mileage. Also those higher octanes have cleaners in them and higher amount of gasoline. So what I do is every so often per month I fill it with 93 or when im going on a nice speed run to get a smoother ride and cleaner tank. I think its good to do this every once in a while to balance out the use of the crap gas.
Also stick to one gas station. I usually use Sunoco gas, Wawa or Hess if its not available. If I'm going to a station im not sure of I will get the 93 just in case they have dirty tanks or are running more crap through the pumps. You never know i see a lot of stations getting on the news for having water in the tanks and crazy crap just to be cheap.