2009 Es 350 Gasoline Premium 93 Vs Unleaded 87

amir07 · February 26, 2015

I got a Lexus es 350 2009; mileage 85k

Can I put regular unleaded gas instead of 93 premium?

What found be the pros and cons?

Thx

Ricky

VBdenny · February 26, 2015

My 2004 ES330 specifies Mid-Grade (91). Your car will run on either however with Premium, you will have more power and better fuel economy.

gbhrps · February 27, 2015

amir07,

Your car was designed to run on regular unleaded fuel and using premium will do the car no harm, but you'll be wasting your money.

Here's a YouTube link to a Car and Driver discussion on the issue:

LexBob2 · February 27, 2015

Just for clarification, premium unleaded is recommended/required by Lexus for the 2009 ES350 of the OP. With the 2012 model year (I think) out of the blue Lexus said it's OK to use regular. There has been a ton of discussion and debate over whether it's OK to use regular in the 2007-2011 models. I feel it's up to the individual driver to decide what they want to do. I used regular in my 2007 and 2010 and many others stuck with premium. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

gbhrps · February 27, 2015

lexbob2,

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

If the car is to be driven in an intelligent manner and not beaten on, and the car manufacturer only "recommends" mid grade or premium fuel, then you would have no issues with detonation or anything else hurting the engine by using regular unleaded. The engine computer will tune its parameters to match the fuel grade.

I've been using regular unleaded in my 1990 Nissan 300ZX NA for the last 25 years, and it runs perfectly well. Then again, I've never raced or fried the tires, as the car is just one of several toys I've acquired over the years. My wife drives her ES350 in the same manner, and we use regular fuel in it as well.

Now, if I was going to own a car that I frequently drove hard, used on the track, or one that had a supercharger or turbo, definitely premium fuel is the only way to go.

KBRX330 · March 6, 2015

2008 ES 350 we logged 200,000 miles on 87 octane...no pinging. 2011 ES 350 we have 26,000 miles on it with 87 octane no pinging. Unless you get pre-ignition or pinging I would estimate that 87 is fine.

BTw, we also did 170,000 on the 2004 RX330 on 87 octane and 55,000 miles on a 2012 Avalon 2GR-Fe with 87 and no pinging.