Regular VS Premium - let’s put an end to an ongoing debate?

[gaijin]

I think Bully dog makes tuners for the 5.7. They might know more about the toyota ecu fuel and spark tables in relation to octane.

Well... when I search the Bully Dog site for all products for my 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser with 5.7L V8... only one product shows up - a "Throttle Enhancement Device." It appears they offer nothing involving any kind of engine tuning.

Try it yourself here: Bully Dog Product Search

 

[White Stripe]

Well... when I search the Bully Dog site for all products for my 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser with 5.7L V8... only one product shows up - a "Throttle Enhancement Device." It appears they offer nothing involving any kind of engine tuning.

Try it yourself here: Bully Dog Product Search

[HOONIGAN]

The ultimate destination for drifting, burnouts, doughnuts and other acts of automotive aeronautics. Shop our selection of high-performance gear & apparel, or check out our videos and blog for the latest in automotive and motorsport news and entertainment.

www.hoonigan.com

Here is the tuner for the tundra 5.7. They should have an idea of what running premium in the stock tune does. Not positive though.

 

[gaijin]

[HOONIGAN]

The ultimate destination for drifting, burnouts, doughnuts and other acts of automotive aeronautics. Shop our selection of high-performance gear & apparel, or check out our videos and blog for the latest in automotive and motorsport news and entertainment.

www.hoonigan.com

Here is the tuner for the tundra 5.7. They should have an idea of what running premium in the stock tune does. Not positive though.

OK, but if Tundra and LC200 are the same, why wouldn't Bully Dog offer it for both? Maybe it's because you are correct - they know about the tuning and they are different?

 

[Kilcarnup]

OK, but if Tundra and LC200 are the same, why wouldn't Bully Dog offer it for both? Maybe it's because you are correct - they know about the tuning and they are different?

Because they know tundra are trucker cap pitviper wearing hillbillies and LC owners are wine drinking sophisticated folk.. just kidding I own several pairs of pitvipers.

 

[White Stripe]

OK, but if Tundra and LC200 are the same, why wouldn't Bully Dog offer it for both? Maybe it's because you are correct - they know about the tuning and they are different?

I'm just saying that if they are familiar with toyota ecu programming, they could possibly tell you how much affect octane has on a 5.7 with a stock tune. Its also possible they offer a tuner for the 200 but it's just not listed if your interested in a tuner. Or maybe they can point you in the direction of someone who sells a tuner. Although this thread isn't really about a tuner. It's about the affect of different octane on the 5.7.

 

[bloc]

Certain years of tundra have off-the-shelf ECU tuning available for supercharger setups, where that isn't available for similar year 200s, and supposedly the reason why from the tuners is that they are substantially different. Not that knowing what a Tundra does would satisfy those of us that claim definitively that the LX is different.

As mentioned, HPTuners does work with both platforms up to a certain year cut off, but someone would have to pay for the credits to unlock the ECUs and copy/analyze the mapping. Even then I'm not sure what all is available.. yes spark tables, but things like the knock learning and other stuff might not be. As it is it has been a long time since I messed with HPT on my 80-LS swap so I'm pretty fuzzy on its capability.

 

[MrX]

Well, if my engine blows or my drivability sucks over the next 30 years I'll report back. To me paying for premium is just flushing money down the tubes but we are all entitled to our opinions.

Is there any other application where this 5.7 asks for premium? To my knowledge there's not.

 

[Madtiger]

Well, if my engine blows or my drivability sucks over the next 30 years I'll report back. To me paying for premium is just flushing money down the tubes but we are all entitled to our opinions.

Is there any other application where this 5.7 asks for premium? To my knowledge there's not.

You’re wrong. I am pretty sure this one requires at least premium: Toyota Land Speed Cruiser Hits 230 MPH - https://www.motortrend.com/news/toyota-land-speed-cruiser-hits-230-mph/

 

[Markuson]

I'm amused that you yanks (as I find it's usually you lot) are happy to spend good $ on a quality vehicle and then nickle and dime on the most mundane s*** like running a quality fuel..

re Nickels and dimes...

Here’s some math on why I don’t feel that way—

My 200 has been through at somewhere near 14,750 gallons of regular fuel so far.

-In California, Premium can be 40+ cents higher per gallon than regular.

-Using regular is a savings of close to $6000 USD.

To those of us who can only afford pre-owned Cruisers, it matters.

I just put 46 gallons of fuel in my 200 yesterday. Pumping Premium would have cost an additional $18.40 for one fill-up. $18.40 a pop is not nickels and dimes.

If $6000 is nothing to you, then hooray for money, and good for you. But why?

...I’ve run whatever the “regular is in each state. So sometimes that’s 87...sometimes that’s 85.
I have literally had to do NOTHING to my engine after 14 years including VERY hard, VERY heavy use. The thing runs like a top.

—Just for kicks...here’s a video clip from a few days ago on my way back from Cruise Moab... at over 8000lbs... where is this problem that’s worth $6000?
-No lack of power here....

 

[04UZJ100]

“Nickels and dimes?”

Here’s some math on why I don’t feel that way—

My 200 has been through at somewhere near 14,750 gallons of regular fuel so far.

-In California, Premium can be 40+ cents higher per gallon than regular.

-Using regular is a savings of close to $6000 USD.

To those of us who can only afford pre-owned Cruisers, it matters.

I just put 46 gallons of fuel in my 200 yesterday. Pumping Premium would have cost an additional $18.40 for one fill-up. $18.40 a pop is not nickels and dimes.

If $6000 is nothing to you, then hooray for money, and good for you. But why?

...I’ve run whatever the “regular is in each state. So sometimes that’s 87...sometimes that’s 85.
I have literally had to do NOTHING to my engine after 14 years including VERY hard, VERY heavy use. The thing runs like a top.

—Just for kicks...here’s a video clip from a few days ago on my way back from Cruise Moab... at over 8000lbs... where is this problem that’s worth $6000?
-No lack of power here....

Clearly with premium you would have been able to make it over the top due to its better performance at altitude!

 

[lx200inAR]

Ha.. I agree on the idea that it’s more than nickels and dimes. And I’m definitely in the boat of someone who isn’t spending 80k on a truck anytime soon. Back of the napkin math is that it costs about $50 a month to run premium if you drive 20k miles a year. That’s at $.50/gallon extra for premium, which in my area I’d say is conservative. In AR most stations have 3 flavors, 2 below 91 and one that is 91-93. And generally it’s 30 cent steps. Some stations run specials where they let you do premium for regular on a certain day of the week. That’s not helpful if a lot of your miles are put on with road trips.

 

[MrX]

Ha.. I agree on the idea that it’s more than nickels and dimes. And I’m definitely in the boat of someone who isn’t spending 80k on a truck anytime soon. Back of the napkin math is that it costs about $50 a month to run premium if you drive 20k miles a year. That’s at $.50/gallon extra for premium, which in my area I’d say is conservative. In AR most stations have 3 flavors, 2 below 91 and one that is 91-93. And generally it’s 30 cent steps. Some stations run specials where they let you do premium for regular on a certain day of the week. That’s not helpful if a lot of your miles are put on with road trips.

Kroger fuel points help, too. I save anywhere from .30 to .80/gal on each tank of gas, and we are only a two-person household.

I can afford premium just fine but it's just a waste of $20 each fill up. Gas as of this morning, premium is .60 to .80 higher. Times 24.2 gallons. Over the lifetime of this truck that is a small fortune, no thanks.

I HATE WASTING MONEY.

Like I said, if my engine blows I'll report right back.

 

[bloc]

I’d be interested in seeing the spark plugs of a LX that was run on RUG for its whole life until that point.

 

[Markuson]

Clearly with premium you would have been able to make it over the top due to its better performance at altitude!

Heh. Ya, but the top is this...

 

[Madtiger]

FYI. For those who do Apple Pay, fueling at Exxon gives you 3% cash back AND you get points that you can redeem for dollars off per fill up.

 

[Grumvee]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this topic! I’ve been reading this and some past threads to try to come to a conclusion. My conclusion is: things are still inconclusive (from my perspective).

Question for you: can you add octane booster to a tankful of 87 in order to get an equivalent of 91?

I have a LX and my instinct is to use 91 since that’s what it calls for. Also, the cost difference for me isn’t that great[FN1]. The main reason I’m interested in the octane booster route is so that I can get fresher 87 gas and avoid 91 that’s been sitting around a long time, especially at non-urban pumps.

Thx!

Grumvee

FN1: Here are my cost calculations. I drive about 10k per year in CA. Assuming 15 MPG mixed city and highway (I’m on a cross country trip now and hitting a pleasant 18-20MPG highway, with one record-setting 22MPG tank). That’s 666 gallons. Price delta for premium in CA is 30-40 cents. So premium costs me $200 - $250 per year. Over my expected 10 year ownership of the LX, that’s $2,000 - $2,500. Not bad. And way less than I saved by going LX vs. LC when I bought it.

The trade off does become harder if I lived in the Midwest where I’m seeing (on our cross country trip) price deltas for premium of 80 cents to $1. If I lived here, that would drive up my 10 year costs to $5,000 - $6,500.

 

[bloc]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this topic! I’ve been reading this and some past threads to try to come to a conclusion. My conclusion is: things are still inconclusive (from my perspective).

Question for you: can you add octane booster to a tankful of 87 in order to get an equivalent of 91?

I have a LX and my instinct is to use 91 since that’s what it calls for. Also, the cost difference for me isn’t that great[FN1]. The main reason I’m interested in the octane booster route is so that I can get fresher 87 gas and avoid 91 that’s been sitting around a long time, especially at non-urban pumps.

Thx!

Grumvee

FN1: Here are my cost calculations. I drive about 10k per year in CA. Assuming 15 MPG mixed city and highway (I’m on a cross country trip now and hitting a pleasant 18-20MPG highway, with one record-setting 22MPG tank). That’s 666 gallons. Price delta for premium in CA is 30-40 cents. So premium costs me $200 - $250 per year. Over my expected 10 year ownership of the LX, that’s $2,000 - $2,500. Not bad. And way less than I saved by going LX vs. LC when I bought it.

The trade off does become harder if I lived in the Midwest where I’m seeing (on our cross country trip) price deltas for premium of 80 cents to $1. If I lived here, that would drive up my 10 year costs to $5,000 - $6,500.

Read the labels and you’ll see a big lack of clarity on exactly what those products do, other than “raise octane.” If I remember correctly most octane booster will barely raise the RON of a tank. Taking 87 to 87.5, as an example. Nowhere near 91 or actual premium fuel.

 

[MrX]

I’ve had my truck for two months now after 107,000 miles of premium from the PO, every drop has been 87 from me since I bought it. She’s not blowing blue smoke yet…. Drives like a dream. 5.7 is a monster I still can’t get over it.

 

[300blk]

Mine has never seen premium gas.