2009 Es 350 Gasoline Premium 93 Vs Unleaded 87

[amir07]

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

[Collin2377]

No, you cannot put regular gas. They changed that starting with the 2010 and up LEXUS. For those you do NOT have to use only premium, but for the 2009 it is required to use only PREMIUM. Good luck ! Do you still have the car, by the way ?

[gbhrps]

amir07,

 

My wife's last 2003 ES330 and her present 2011 ES350 are recommended to use premium fuel, but have only had regular fuel put in them since their purchase. Both cars ran flawlessly on the regular fuel without a hitch. Any time I have been behind the wheel of her car I have never heard any preignition under moderate to hard acceleration, nothing, nada, not a hint. The computer recalibrates for the octane reading of the fuel and adjusts accordingly.

 

That said, if my wife or I were to be beating on the car everytime we got behind the wheel, I would demand that she put premium in the tank as a precaution. Or if the engine was turbocharged or supercharged, again I would use premium fuel. If you drive like the average driver and not like someone doing the Indy 500, you'll be just fine using regular fuel.

 

Here's another take on the topic from another source:

"The main advantage of premium-grade gas is that it allows automakers to advertise a few more horsepower by designing and tuning engines to take advantage of premium's anti-knock properties. But auto engineers generally agree that if you use regular in a premium engine, the power loss is so slight, most drivers can't tell.

"I go back and forth, and I'm hard-pressed to notice" whether there's regular or premium in the tank, says Jeff Jetter, principal chemist at Honda Research and Development Americas. He drives an Acura designed for premium.

Import brands, especially, use premium fuel to distinguish their upmarket models. Most Toyotas, for instance, are designed to run on regular or midgrade, while the automaker's Lexus luxury brand prefers premium. Same with Honda and its Acura luxury line.

"Generally, the more expensive the vehicle, the higher the expectation for performance and the more the customer is willing to pay for fuel," says Pete Haidos, head of product planning for Nissan in the USA.

Actually, the price debate is nearly worthless. At 20 cents more for premium, pumping 20 gallons of it instead of regular would cost $4 more. Annually, that's a difference of $171 for a vehicle that averages 14 miles per gallon — as some big sport-utility vehicles do — and is driven 12,000 miles a year.

Gasoline retailers and refiners like high-test because it's more profitable than regular-grade gas is. The retailer paid about 8 cents more for the premium you pay 20 cents more for — though that margin can swing wildly. Refiners make a few cents a gallon more on premium than on regular when they sell to wholesale distributors."

If you drive 300,00 miles it may make a small difference but I normally trade in at less than 100,000 miles. The fuel debate is nearly as active as the oil change interval, brand, type etc. It is all interesting to discuss."