Does Avalon Need Premium Gas

I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it was
stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
Avalon, premium or regular?
Al

In news:114ub2ql6gna4ab@corp.supernews.com,
Al <albertr@joimail.com> typed:[color=blue]
> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports
> states it uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't
> feel I should have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another
> publication, it was stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone
> know which it is for the Avalon, premium or regular?
> Al[/color]

Not 100% sure, but I believe premium due to a different higher horsepower
engine from the older Avalon.

....Allen

Most any vehicle, for which the manufacture recommends high grade
fuel, will run on regular. The microprocessor will 'de-tune' too
suit.

Before you decide to do that why not, drive and price a 2005 Ford
500? The buff mags have been giving the 500 better reviews than
the Avalon and a very high quality rating. It is a bigger more
roomy, vehicle than the Avalon. Although there are not rebates a
loaded top of the line model 500 can be had with FWD and a six
speed tranny for 6,000, less than the Avalon. Even with AWD the
500
can be had for $5,000 less than an Avalon. The 500 gets better
fuel mileage and it uses regular gas.


mike hunt



Al wrote:[color=blue]
>
> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
> uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
> have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it was
> stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
> Avalon, premium or regular?
> Al[/color]

Al wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
> uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
> have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it was
> stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
> Avalon, premium or regular?
> Al[/color]

With all due respect, if you can afford to purchase a new Avalon, then
surely you can afford to fill it up with premium gas.

If fuel costs are a concern, consider a Prius or a 4-cylinder Camry instead.

Imminent Vengeance wrote the following on 4/2/2005 7:16 PM:[color=blue]
> Al wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
>>uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
>>have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it was
>>stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
>>Avalon, premium or regular?
>>Al[/color]
>
>
> With all due respect, if you can afford to purchase a new Avalon, then
> surely you can afford to fill it up with premium gas.
>
> If fuel costs are a concern, consider a Prius or a 4-cylinder Camry instead.[/color]

With a relatively small amount of due respect, that's a lame answer.

The poster asked whether the 05 Avalon would run properly on regular gas,
while voicing a concern about the price of gas, generally.

The point is not about whether the poster can *afford* to fill it up with
premium. The point is whether the Avalon *requires* premium to run
properly and
without damage to the engine.

As is so often the case, many owner's manuals state that premium gas is
recommended
for "full power" but that regular gas can be used.

The information at
[url]http://www.tundrasolutions.com/dealers/vehicles/2005-Avalon/index.htm#_msocom_2[/url]
does not answer the question.

"Al" <albertr@joimail.com> wrote in message
news:114ub2ql6gna4ab@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
> uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
> have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it[/color]
was[color=blue]
> stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
> Avalon, premium or regular?
> Al
>[/color]
Toyota website specifies that the minimum octane rating should 87, but 91
octane is recommended for maximum performance. I would suggest that you use
at least 89 octane in summer and 87 in winter (especially for shorter
trips).

Another way to save on fuel is to purchase a smaller and lighter car,
especially one that has a 4 cylinder option like the Camry.

[email]BenDover@mailcity.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>Most any vehicle, for which the manufacture recommends high grade
>fuel, will run on regular. The microprocessor will 'de-tune' too
>suit.
>[/color]
This isn't a good idea Mike, as you say, the ECU will take care
of it but by detecting detonation and retarding the spark till it
stops detonating. You're depending on the 'knock detector' to be
working and are therefore endangering your engine...as I said,
it's definitely not a good idea...
[color=blue]
>Before you decide to do that why not, drive and price a 2005 Ford
>500? The buff mags have been giving the 500 better reviews than
>the Avalon and a very high quality rating. It is a bigger more
>roomy, vehicle than the Avalon. Although there are not rebates a
>loaded top of the line model 500 can be had with FWD and a six
>speed tranny for 6,000, less than the Avalon. Even with AWD the
>500
>can be had for $5,000 less than an Avalon. The 500 gets better
>fuel mileage and it uses regular gas.
>
>
>mike hunt
>
>
>
>Al wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
>> uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
>> have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it was
>> stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
>> Avalon, premium or regular?
>> Al[/color][/color]

--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

[email]BenDover@mailcity.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>Most any vehicle, for which the manufacture recommends high grade
>fuel, will run on regular. The microprocessor will 'de-tune' too
>suit.
>[/color]
This isn't a good idea Mike, as you say, the ECU will take care
of it but by detecting detonation and retarding the spark till it
stops detonating. You're depending on the 'knock detector' to be
working and are therefore endangering your engine...as I said,
it's definitely not a good idea...
[color=blue]
>Before you decide to do that why not, drive and price a 2005 Ford
>500? The buff mags have been giving the 500 better reviews than
>the Avalon and a very high quality rating. It is a bigger more
>roomy, vehicle than the Avalon. Although there are not rebates a
>loaded top of the line model 500 can be had with FWD and a six
>speed tranny for 6,000, less than the Avalon. Even with AWD the
>500
>can be had for $5,000 less than an Avalon. The 500 gets better
>fuel mileage and it uses regular gas.
>
>
>mike hunt
>
>
>
>Al wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
>> uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
>> have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it was
>> stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
>> Avalon, premium or regular?
>> Al[/color][/color]

--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

You forgot to mention that the 500 doesn't have an engine.


<BenDover@mailcity.com> wrote in message
news:424F35C5.13E40854@mailcity.com...[color=blue]
> Most any vehicle, for which the manufacture recommends high grade
> fuel, will run on regular. The microprocessor will 'de-tune' too
> suit.
>
> Before you decide to do that why not, drive and price a 2005 Ford
> 500? The buff mags have been giving the 500 better reviews than
> the Avalon and a very high quality rating. It is a bigger more
> roomy, vehicle than the Avalon. Although there are not rebates a
> loaded top of the line model 500 can be had with FWD and a six
> speed tranny for 6,000, less than the Avalon. Even with AWD the
> 500
> can be had for $5,000 less than an Avalon. The 500 gets better
> fuel mileage and it uses regular gas.
>
>
> mike hunt
>
>
>
> Al wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
>> uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
>> have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it
>> was
>> stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for
>> the
>> Avalon, premium or regular?
>> Al[/color][/color]

I put midgrade in my 2001 Avalon and it is plenty fast.


"Al" <albertr@joimail.com> wrote in message
news:114ub2ql6gna4ab@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
>I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states it
>uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I should
>have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it was
>stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for the
>Avalon, premium or regular?
> Al
>[/color]

Art wrote:
|| You forgot to mention that the 500 doesn't have an engine.
||

Details. Details. Art, why are you Democrat types so uptight about the MERE
lack of an engine? WHO needs an engine when you're on the side of RIGHT?


||
|| <BenDover@mailcity.com> wrote in message
|| news:424F35C5.13E40854@mailcity.com...
||| Most any vehicle, for which the manufacture recommends high grade
||| fuel, will run on regular. The microprocessor will 'de-tune' too
||| suit.
|||
||| Before you decide to do that why not, drive and price a 2005 Ford
||| 500? The buff mags have been giving the 500 better reviews than
||| the Avalon and a very high quality rating. It is a bigger more
||| roomy, vehicle than the Avalon. Although there are not rebates a
||| loaded top of the line model 500 can be had with FWD and a six
||| speed tranny for 6,000, less than the Avalon. Even with AWD the
||| 500
||| can be had for $5,000 less than an Avalon. The 500 gets better
||| fuel mileage and it uses regular gas.
|||
|||
||| mike hunt
|||
|||
|||
||| Al wrote:
||||
|||| I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports
|||| states it uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I
|||| don't feel I should have to pay extra for premium. I've notice,
|||| in another publication, it was
|||| stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is
|||| for the
|||| Avalon, premium or regular?
|||| Al

What is does have is a cement mixer.


"Art" <begunaNOSPAMPLEASE@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:MGK3e.11189$z.99@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...[color=blue]
> You forgot to mention that the 500 doesn't have an engine.
>
>
> <BenDover@mailcity.com> wrote in message
> news:424F35C5.13E40854@mailcity.com...[color=green]
>> Most any vehicle, for which the manufacture recommends high grade
>> fuel, will run on regular. The microprocessor will 'de-tune' too
>> suit.
>>
>> Before you decide to do that why not, drive and price a 2005 Ford
>> 500? The buff mags have been giving the 500 better reviews than
>> the Avalon and a very high quality rating. It is a bigger more
>> roomy, vehicle than the Avalon. Although there are not rebates a
>> loaded top of the line model 500 can be had with FWD and a six
>> speed tranny for 6,000, less than the Avalon. Even with AWD the
>> 500
>> can be had for $5,000 less than an Avalon. The 500 gets better
>> fuel mileage and it uses regular gas.
>>
>>
>> mike hunt
>>
>>
>>
>> Al wrote:[color=darkred]
>>>
>>> I am considering a new Avalon, but I note that Consumer Reports states
>>> it
>>> uses premium gas. With the cost of gas these days, I don't feel I
>>> should
>>> have to pay extra for premium. I've notice, in another publication, it
>>> was
>>> stated that the Avalon uses regular. Does anyone know which it is for
>>> the
>>> Avalon, premium or regular?
>>> Al[/color][/color]
>
>[/color]

On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 19:16:05 -0500, [email]BenDover@mailcity.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
>Most any vehicle, for which the manufacture recommends high grade
>fuel, will run on regular. The microprocessor will 'de-tune' too
>suit.
>
>Before you decide to do that why not, drive and price a 2005 Ford
>500? The buff mags have been giving the 500 better reviews than
>the Avalon and a very high quality rating. It is a bigger more
>roomy, vehicle than the Avalon. Although there are not rebates a
>loaded top of the line model 500 can be had with FWD and a six
>speed tranny for 6,000, less than the Avalon. Even with AWD the
>500
>can be had for $5,000 less than an Avalon. The 500 gets better
>fuel mileage and it uses regular gas.
>[/color]
....and is a Ford....


--
Scott in Florida

I have a 2000 Avalon with over 60,000 miles on it, and have never had
anything in it but regular gas. At about 65 mph on the highway it gets just
over 30 mpg, and has great performance. I have also been looking at the new
Avalon with the modified Tacoma engine in it. Unfortunately, I don't like
the increased compression ratio, which could mean pre-ignition and knock
with regular gas when heavy demands are placed on the engine.

For the younger viewers out there, although most of you seem to be very
knowledgeable, a little background about gasoline might be interesting.

About 60 years ago when we were building "hotrods", almost every car ran on
regular gas.
We used to have the heads on the engine machined to increase the compression
on the engine, thereby increasing the volumetric efficiency and output
horsepower of the engine.
Unfortunately, at ratios of 10-to-1 or greater. the gas would pre-ignite and
the engine would knock or ping when accelerating heavily or speeding up a
hill. To stop the pre-ignition of the highly volatile regular gas we added
a "lead tetraethyl" compound to the gas. This diluted the gasoline, slowed
ignition, and ran better in the engine.

We had "regular" and "ethyl" gas. They cost about the same price, since
there was actually less gasoline in the ethyl. Then some brilliant
marketing people discovered that if they renamed the gas "premium" or
something, they could charge more money for it. There is actually less
energy in premium gas than in regular gas.

However, getting back to the initial issue, the modern computers with knock
detectors will modify engine timing and other parameters to eliminate the
knock - at the cost of reduced horsepower and torque. But like the
gentleman said - you are hoping that the computer is working.

I don't know if the ping or knocking will harm the modern engine, but it is
probably not good for it, since the modern aluminum engines are designed to
closer tolerances and are not as robust as the engine in my old '29 model A
was. We would simply let-up on the accelerator when we heard a knock or
ping and never had any trouble with the old engines, except maybe a broken
valve rod now and then, but those were flat-head engines.

I'll probably buy a new Avalon, and will probably run regular in it. Good
Luck.

Graybeard

"Graybeard" <law32@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:LRS3e.2900$44.1209@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...[color=blue]
> I have a 2000 Avalon with over 60,000 miles on it, and have never had
> anything in it but regular gas. At about 65 mph on the highway it gets[/color]
just[color=blue]
> over 30 mpg, and has great performance. I have also been looking at the[/color]
new[color=blue]
> Avalon with the modified Tacoma engine in it. Unfortunately, I don't like
> the increased compression ratio, which could mean pre-ignition and knock
> with regular gas when heavy demands are placed on the engine.
>
> For the younger viewers out there, although most of you seem to be very
> knowledgeable, a little background about gasoline might be interesting.
>
> About 60 years ago when we were building "hotrods", almost every car ran[/color]
on[color=blue]
> regular gas.
> We used to have the heads on the engine machined to increase the[/color]
compression[color=blue]
> on the engine, thereby increasing the volumetric efficiency and output
> horsepower of the engine.
> Unfortunately, at ratios of 10-to-1 or greater. the gas would pre-ignite[/color]
and[color=blue]
> the engine would knock or ping when accelerating heavily or speeding up a
> hill. To stop the pre-ignition of the highly volatile regular gas we[/color]
added[color=blue]
> a "lead tetraethyl" compound to the gas. This diluted the gasoline,[/color]
slowed[color=blue]
> ignition, and ran better in the engine.
>
> We had "regular" and "ethyl" gas. They cost about the same price, since
> there was actually less gasoline in the ethyl. Then some brilliant
> marketing people discovered that if they renamed the gas "premium" or
> something, they could charge more money for it. There is actually less
> energy in premium gas than in regular gas.
>
> However, getting back to the initial issue, the modern computers with[/color]
knock[color=blue]
> detectors will modify engine timing and other parameters to eliminate the
> knock - at the cost of reduced horsepower and torque. But like the
> gentleman said - you are hoping that the computer is working.
>
> I don't know if the ping or knocking will harm the modern engine, but it[/color]
is[color=blue]
> probably not good for it, since the modern aluminum engines are designed[/color]
to[color=blue]
> closer tolerances and are not as robust as the engine in my old '29 model[/color]
A[color=blue]
> was. We would simply let-up on the accelerator when we heard a knock or
> ping and never had any trouble with the old engines, except maybe a broken
> valve rod now and then, but those were flat-head engines.
>
> I'll probably buy a new Avalon, and will probably run regular in it. Good
> Luck.
>
> Graybeard
>[/color]
While that is interesting, the 2005 Avalons have a new 3.5 liter engine. I
believe that it also will run on regular, however, it is a completely
different engine than yours and Toyota does make some engines that
absolutely require premium gas.