What gas are you pouring in your 16?

Why is it always regular or premium? I've been using 89 mid-grade, or plus as they call it since I bought he truck. Works great.

 

87 or 89 10% eth still gets worse mpg than straight 87. only way to get straight gas is to go premium and it will usually get better mpg than any 10% eth gas.

but that is the only benefit you will get.

 

To each his own. I get worse mileage with 87. I don't see a difference in mileage between 89 and 91, but the truck dogs with 87. Eth free gas is pretty spendy and hard to find.

 

I've used 87 and 91 in my vehicles. Never could tell a difference at all.

And certainly not anything that could justify that price difference

 

The 4.0 engine is optimized to use 91 octane. The computer software allows it to detune itself a bit to allow the use of 87. You won't notice a difference by switching between the 2 for one tank. It takes the Tacoma computer a bit to adjust itself for a different octane. For best performance, 91 is the way to go.

 

I tried non-ethanol 87 in my 3.4 a few times. It took a few tanks before I noticed an increase in mpg. And it was 1-2 mpg at best. Wasn't worth the extra dollar per gallon

 

tracking my mpg's 89 w/ 10% gets maybe 1-2 mpg more easily than 87. 91 gets about 1 maybe 2, but its more work to consistently get 1-2 mpg more.

are you using an app to track your mpg or is this based on seat measurements ?

 

Just logging my odometer and using phone calculator on fill ups.

 

Is the 10% eth gas actually bad for a motor or just not as efficient?

 

Exactly. If Toyota is telling you to use 87 then 87 it should be. Who would know better than the maker of the truck.

 

Pretty much all modern cars past 2001 I believe, are configured to run on 10% eth.

 

Source for his? Would be interested to read.

 

Yup!

The 4.0 produces 236 hp @ 5,200 and 266 lb ft @ 4,000 on 87. Using 91 it produces 239 hp @ 5,200 and 278 lb ft @ 3,700.

That said, I have no idea what the deal is with the 3.5. It may indeed be pointless to run anything more than 87. For what it's worth, I've always run 91 in my truck. It just seemed to have slightly better response and when I actually tracked my mileage, it was also better than with 87 (although in fairness the price differential probably made it a wash).

 

Can you provide us the source of where you obtain this information from

 

How does a slower burning fuel in a cylinder deliver "better response" AND better MPGs??

 

quote from Wiki: The 1GR-FE is the 4.0 L (3956 cc) version, designed for longitudinal mounting in RWD and 4WD pickup applications. It has a 94 mm bore and a stroke of 95 mm. Output is 236 hp (176 kW) at 5200 rpm with 266 lb·ft (361 N·m) of torque at 4000 rpm on 87 octane, and 239 hp (178 kW) at 5200 rpm with 278 lb·ft (377 N·m) at 3700 rpm on 91 octane. This engine features Toyota's VVT-i, variable valve timing system on the intake cam and a compression ratio of 10.0:1.

 

This has been discussed a lot. Your owners manual should tell you 91 octane for best performance

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gas-octane.36847/

 

Oh really......Let's see the last time I looked at my owners manual I could have swore it said 87 octane. Let me look at it again tonight to confirm. I will let you know tommorrow

 

I run 91
For me the choice has nothing to do with performance or MPG gain, but more how it sounds.

 

The ecu can compensate for increased octane by advancing the timing which increases power. But that doesn't matter because you don't need the extra power since you drive like gramps and take 6 minutes to get up to speed on the freeway.