Another Tacoma driver told me I'm supposed to use premium gas

Obviously you aren’t aware of the TW time machine. I visited 2007 once.

 

3rd gen

checks out

 

I've always believed that the higher octane fuel at the pumps is old due to the fact that gas prices are high and most people don't pay extra something they do not need. I have never had a problem with fresh 87.

 

Oh jeez. more confusion about how the US measures octane and how the rest of the world does.

RON (Research Octane Number) is a slightly different scale then R+M/2 (which we use in the US)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating


And ZOMBIE THREAD!

 

Several of us have experimented this with the 4.0

It takes a full tank of premium for the ecm to adjust.

After that, i get about 15-20 more miles per tank on 93 in comparison to 87

Do the math... Depending on prices, there usually is no money saved by doing this.

Looking for better performance from a stock 4.0? Well, switching to 93octane won't Really make a noticeable difference.

The vvti and ecm make it perfectly fine to run the 4.0 on 87-93

In conclusion, if you are trying to travel a few more miles per tank, then 93 can do this.

Otherwise, it's a waste of money. And most people will tell you their "beliefs" or something they "heard".

 

The 4.0 is designed to adjust for both.

 

It is not true...Mine is a stock 2.7...just regular gas. However, I do use top tier

 

15 more miles per tank isn't enough to ever break even on costs. But there is a small improvement in power by running higher octane gas. Modern vehicles can adapt to the difference in fuel. And the newer the vehicle, the bigger the improvement. As I understand it engines with higher compression ratios will see the most benefit and the trend is to have higher compression ratios in newer engine designs.

The way most owner's manuals read they say, "Use at least 87 octane". They don't say to use only 87 octane. And on some vehicles, they state that 87 octane is fine for everyday driving, but they recommend 93 octane when towing.

And a note about the 85 octane gas sold at high altitude. On older engines using carburetors the 85 octane gas is a good substitute for 87 at those altitudes. But I'd not advise using it in a modern vehicle. Stay with 87 octane or higher gas if you live or travel in areas where it is sold.

It wasn't a huge difference in my 07 Tacoma, but with our newer 2014 F150 and 2020 Explorer the difference between 87 and 93 octane was more noticeable. I ran 93 octane in all of my vehicles for about a year. It was most noticeable when towing, and even when not towing the vehicles didn't downshift as often while being driven on the same roads.

I had to shop around for gas prices. Most stations only advertise the price for 87 octane. You don't know what they are charging for the higher grades until you pull up to the pump. Quite often the stations with the lowest advertised price for 87 octane did not have the best price for 93 octane. Once I figured out where the best prices were I was only paying 30 or 40 cents more per gallon. It was worth it to me to get a little better performance.

At least until gas hit almost $5/gallon last summer. I went back to 87 octane after that. At that price point the better performance was just costing more than I wanted to pay. Now that prices have moderated I may revisit that.