What gas for 2012 v6?

[maverick22]

Title says it all: what gas do you all recommend for 2012 with the V6 (Limited)? My dad's one that believes putting in the cheapest at the pump is fine for basically all vehicles. I usually like to put the middle one and time to time throw the super/premium in there.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[JMSinMD]

Originally Posted by maverick22

Title says it all: what gas do you all recommend for 2012 with the V6 (Limited)? My dad's one that believes putting in the cheapest at the pump is fine for basically all vehicles. I usually like to put the middle one and time to time throw the super/premium in there.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

First thought, breath. We know you're excited by your 40 new threads but take the time to search. Most questions can be answered by searching or by reading your owners manual.

[sweeneyp]

Originally Posted by JMSinMD

First thought, breath. We know you're excited by your 40 new threads but take the time to search. Most questions can be answered by searching or by reading your owners manual.

hahaha

Ill just throw my 2 cents in real quick. Just use regular. medium and premium gas is meant for engines the use high compression usually (and sometimes direct injection like on the lexus version of our v6) and the 2GR-FE in our HL's are pretty basic v6's. Your not going to see any huge gain in mpg (if any) and your paying extra for the higher grade gas.

[maverick22]

Originally Posted by JMSinMD

First thought, breath. We know you're excited by your 40 new threads but take the time to search. Most questions can be answered by searching or by reading your owners manual.

Thanks for the "welcome" I guess. I've read the manual and see what it SUGGESTS, but I like to get other people's opinions who have actually had the car (well a 2011 at least) for a year and have tested with different gas.

[maverick22]

Originally Posted by sweeneyp

hahaha

Ill just throw my 2 cents in real quick. Just use regular. medium and premium gas is meant for engines the use high compression usually (and sometimes direct injection like on the lexus version of our v6) and the 2GR-FE in our HL's are pretty basic v6's. Your not going to see any huge gain in mpg (if any) and your paying extra for the higher grade gas.

THANK YOU...an actual helpful response! That's what forums are about!

[Sky1111]

I did tried 89 few times on my '08 with ~76k km, and I would say that both me and my wife feel that engine runs quieter and pulls stronger.

As a matter of fact, we after burning a tank of 89 gas, the mileage did improve - I think this is mostly because of more cleaning agents in the higher grade.

However, it is more expensive in a longer run to operate the engine on 89 or 91. Besides, I think it is OK to "flash" the engine time by time with the higher grade, but for every day use it is safer to use 87 (as per manual).

Have you tried Chevron gas? does it make any difference?

[JMSinMD]

Originally Posted by maverick22

Thanks for the "welcome" I guess. I've read the manual and see what it SUGGESTS, but I like to get other people's opinions who have actually had the car (well a 2011 at least) for a year and have tested with different gas.

The 3.5 2GR-FE is the same in 2012 as it was in 2008 when it replaced the 3.3 3MZ-FE. Your car will run just fine on what the Toyota engineers suggest in the owners manual. There isn't enough of a benefit/change to justify premium. My MIL's 2005 RX330 recommends premium, but it ran fine regular with no pinging or knocking.

Regular is not right for all vehicles, if I decided to throw the TRD Supercharger onto my 5.7 Sequoia I would have problems if I ran regular. I trust that Toyota wouldn't recommend anything harmful to my vehicle at the risk of a class action lawsuit.

[tagheuer]

study after study has shown there is absolutely no benefit to using anything but regular in cars that specify regular.

There is no real disagreement on this issue.

There is a lot of propganda by the makers of "top tier" gas, etc...and YES they do have some additives, detergents, etc.

But using regular gas is more than sufficient and will allow your engine to run for a very long time. There are much more important things to worry about, like oil changes. These have a much bigger effect on vehicle longevity than regular v premium gas.

Also, using premium is not likely to give any better MPG.

[R1ceRocket]

I just run regular 87 Chevron.

I had a 2008 V6 4Runner and I saw no added benefit to using 91, so I just saved money and put 87 in that.

Now, with my 2011 V6 HL, I put in 1 tank of 91, and from here on out, will probably be putting in 87.

[TrailDust]

Be posting up some regular unleaded mileage results in another thread later today....

[maverick22]

Originally Posted by TrailDust

Be posting up some regular unleaded mileage results in another thread later today....

That would be great! Thanks TrailDust.

[AVConsult]

I would add that our 3.5L ARE higher compression engines; its engine computer WILL take advantage of higher octane fuels and map ignition and injector timing differently. Higher octane fuel allows more aggressive timing and injector timing. As I've read, the ECU listens to the knock sensors on each bank, and constantly adjusts ignition timing and and fuel mapping to be just below the "ping" point. Sophisticated algorithms can bring each cylinder to its ping point (coil on plug systems), versus retarding ignition overall until no cylinder pings.

Although using higher octane fuel might not increase mileage noticeably, it will certainly increase engine torque, especially under low-mid RPM and higher load conditions where an engine tends to ping/knock.

my '02 owners manual says something like "87 octane recommended, '91 or higher octane suggested for improved performance when towing or for heavy loads". I don't recall whether the '08 and new HL owners manuals point this out.

My '02 is much snappier when running 89 octane (a good compromise over the cost of 91 or 93), in the summer when I have the AC on. I run 87 in the winter.

Honda does the same thing with their 3.5L and states so in their manual. In fact many appear to be doing tight timing to eek out better mileage by keeping timing right at ping point, regardless of ambient temp, altitude, octane, etc.

I suspect that ANY engine which uses a knock sensor will probably show *some* differences in low/mid torque, depending on octane.

[AVConsult]

An interesting thing with my Pilot; on family summer trips and loaded down, I ran 91 octane. It significantly reduced 5-4 gear hunting on hills, where torque wins the day.

Otherwise, around town or lightly loaded, I didn't notice a huge performance difference in octanes.

With my '02 HL, it's a pretty dramatic low speed and throttle response difference for octane with the AC running and very hot ambient temps (i.e. our record breaking TX summers).

My Mom's '07 HL seemed to appreciate 91 octane on this summers trip; 4 bigger people, 3 women's worth of luggage, tools, 104 degrees and 65~85 mph in Nebraska. With 87 octane it was doing lots of 5-4 hunting as we got into panhandle hills.

[maverick22]

Thanks for all the info, AVConsult! Good stuff.

[Sky1111]

And I would like to add that on my previous vehicle - '98 Camry V6 - i was getting noticeably better performance and better mileage. The same with '03 Accord V6 - both engines do run smoother and quieter with 91.

Now back to '08 HL - it was 89 gas I observed the best gas mileage I ever seen on this vehicle - average 9.8 L/100km (mostly highway though). With 87 the best I've seen is 10.x/100