Here’s the deal: Toyota recommends 87 octane for the new Tundra. In most states, that’s the lowest octane available. Because the Tundra was designed for the lowest octane, you should only use the lowest octane available, regardless of the engine you have. If you live at high altitude, you can even use 85 octane with no problems.
But wait — what about better engine performance? Or better gas mileage? These claims (typically made by the gas companies) are bogus. While there may be some slight benefits to using high octane fuel, the extra cost doesn’t justify the extra expense. Don’t believe it? We found this article that explains exactly why Tundra owners shouldn’t buy premium.
However there is one benefit to premium that the Car Guys didn’t mention: Most high octane fuel contains detergents that will clean your fuel system. These detergents are similar to (but less concentrated than) a bottle of gas treatment that you would buy at the auto parts store. Fuel system treatments are good preventative maintenance — over time, impurities will deposit themselves at the natural “choke” points in your fuel system. Typically, that’s your injectors and your fuel pump. Eventually these deposits can foul an injector, reducing fuel economy and performance. In fact, if the injectors become too dirty they will require replacement. So cleaning your fuel system is a good idea.
But the problem with using premium gas to clean your truck’s fuel system is that price difference between a full tank of premium and a full tank of regular is more than enough to buy a bottle of fuel system cleaner and pour it in yourself. But that’s assuming you remember to do it. If you’re like a lot of people, buying fuel system cleaner isn’t on your list of priorities. If you’re the type that forgets to do these things, then buying premium gas once a year will keep the fuel system clean enough.
Bottomline: Because the Tundra was designed to run on plain old low octane gas, adding higher octane has little or no benefit. Unless you don’t want to mess with putting some fuel system cleaner in your truck every 20k miles or so, there’s no reason to fill your new Toyota Tundra with premium gas. Take that Exxon!!
Popularity: 3%
ACTUALLY I have found after testing this out 3 seperate times that premium gas gives me 2 mpg better at 70 to 75 mph. I average 20.9 mpg at 70 to 75 mph from Central Louisiana to East Central Texas on I-10. I got that EXACT reading all three times. I tested the same trip 3 times on regular and averaged 18.4 for the 3 trips. Same speed, Same direction of travel (west), Using only Shell brand fuel, and I alternated the tests between premium and Regular. I drive a 07 Tundra DC 5.7L stock. If you run through all the math at a 20 cent a gallon bonus cost per gallon it cost me 4 bucks extra but I can go about 50 miles farther on the same 20 gallons netting me a better than $6 savings so I make $2 per tank. now if it is a .25 or .30 per gallon extra cost it washes out the savings but it is a economic savings most of my time to put premium in. I owned a 01 RAV 4 before I purchased this truck and it would average about 1 MPG better. My only guess for this is that the VVTI can adjust itself for better use of the Premium.