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TacomaGeneral discussion forum for the 2005 and later Toyota Tacoma.
This is a discussion thread titled "'05 Tacoma V6 needs 91 octane premium gas!", within the Tacoma forum, part of the Truck Forums category.
"The V6 needs 91 octane premium, while the four-cylinder, which Toyota anticipates will account for 30 percent of Tacoma sales, makes its power on 87 octane regular."
You can run on 87 with the new V6, however 91 is recommended for full performance. It is the same engine that will be in the 05 tundras. Check out the engine specs in the garage.
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There goes "ANY"... "cost savings" opting for the Tacoma and its new "larger" size, as opposed to the Tundra! Think gas mileage is bad on the Tundra... well... "you ain't seen nothin' yet" if the V6 model "requires" 91 octane!
Damn... my '95 Tacoma V6 extended cab 4x4 "barely" gets... 400+ miles out of tank of gas (on 87 octane) and I can ONLY imagine what that'll "translate" into with having to run 91 octane in a 40 horse stronger V6!! I've been down this road once before and... BELIEVE ME... it "ain't" pretty! The wife had an '01 VW Bug which was "factory" turbo charged and it ALSO "required" 91 octane! We also had a '95 GMC Yukon (that's Tahoe for the Chevy folks ). Anyway... the fact is... it cost us JUST as much to fill up that VW Bug as it did the Yukon! And... this was... "BEFORE"... the price of gas was OVER $1.29! Ummm... almost forgot... keep in mind... I'm on the East Coast where gas prices are... just a "little" better.
The new "look" will certainly sell... but I'm willing to bet... once the "new" wears off... there will be buyers "pissin-n-moanin" over... gas "prices",... gas "mileage"... and "power losses"... if they do... opt... to run 87 octane!
Hmmm... does that sound... even vaguely... familiar to Tundra owners?!
You can run on 87 with the new V6, however 91 is recommended for full performance. It is the same engine that will be in the 05 tundras. Check out the engine specs in the garage.
I automatically agreed because I have looked at the Tundra specs but the specs posted in the garage for the V6 Tacoma actually say "91 or better"
I automatically agreed because I have looked at the Tundra specs but the specs posted in the garage for the V6 Tacoma actually says "91 or better"
So I don't know what to think now.
It is the same engine, why would it require different fuel? I think the 4runner is "...87 but 91 is better..." I guess we will have to wait until a 2005 owners manual gets posted.
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2003 Stratosphere Mica SR5 Access Cab
Shocks: Bilstein 5100 coilovers and 5100s in the rear.
Wheels: Toyo Open Country A/T 275/70/16s on MB Blitz rims
In the Car and Driver article, it does list the compression ratio in the spec sheet page for the V6 4.0L as 10:0:1.
So simply put, anything 10:0:1 and above requires a higher octane.
The current Tacoma is 9:6:1, so your OK with one of the older ones.
91 is the minimum as mentioned, but where can you get 91 Octane blended gas? On the Northeast, I only see 87,89,93. So you will be running premium and or a mixture of 89 and 93.
BTW, the new V6 engine 3.3L in the Camry and Highlander is 10:8:1.
You can get away with using 87 octane, (the knock sensors and the computer monitoring the fuel mixture, so no knock or pinging), but with the higher octane you will get better performance. A friend of mine has a 2001 V6 Highlander and ran only 87, but with 25,000 miles, he develpoed a knock. He switched to 93 and he said it runs like a new motor.
So big $$$$$$$ to run the truck.
Why does everyone always get bent out of shape on gas? What's the difference between regular and premium? 20 cents per gallon? Get the hell over it. If you can't stand to pay an extra 20 cents a gallon to have a TRUCK, then go get yourself a new, spiffy little hybrid or Aveo.
If you fill up your tank with 22 gallons of gas like I do every week than $.20 more of gas is just $4.40 a tank. Is that a big ownership cost compared to what everything else cost to own a pickup truck? It’s about $230 year for me!
A large cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee is $2.09 each here. Have one a day that’s $14.63 a week or $760.67 a year. Make your own coffee and it’s about $.20 a cup + less time wasted standing in a line or a drive through wasting gas.
Just trying to put this in perspective! There are also other vehicles on the market that can do as much as a pickup truck can that cost less to operate.
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So will I need avgas, race fuel, an O2 tank if I get it with the blower?
Damn this really changes things, I put about 60k a year on vehicles and was looking at a well waited for upgrade to my civic. Knew it was gonna cost me a penny, but 91? that means 93 to me and that means unfortunately that this beast will cost as much to op as a damned Titan/Tundra
I have a S/C'd v6 in my Tundra and I've found the easiest way to deal with the higher price of gas is just put your credit card in the pump. Then never look at it. When the nozzle kicks off, put it back in the pump and drive off. Couldn't tell you what my last couple of tanks have cost me.
There are some interesting articles on the web from Consumer reports, USA Today, and many others. Easy to find. The general concensus is that Premium fuel is a waste of money.
Cars not designed to use Premium will not see any benefit from it, and may see downsides. Many cars designed to use it will run just fine on regular.
If car (Truck) with knock sensors runs on regular it should run fine. If computer senses knock, it will retard timing which will reduce power somewhat. Won't hurt vehicle though.
So, if you don't want to use Premium, there seems to be sufficent evidence to suggest you don't need to. Not my recommendation, just summarizing what I've read.
Other angle. Math involved, skip if you don't like math.
You are designing an engine. You want a certain level of performance. 245hp etc. You can get a 4.0 liter engine with high octane to produce that performance by burning 20mpg.
The other option is to create a 4.2 liter engine that produces that performance at 18mpg, but uses lower octane gas.
Alternatively you could run Regular gas in the 4.0, get less performance, and hit the pedal harder. I'm speculating this would be similar to the 4.2 engine in my examples.
So at this point, let me be clear. I know very little about engine designs and I don't know how realistic my example above is. I think it may be on target in the sense that if the 4.0 liter engine was run on regular gas (not the recommended premium) that it might knock, reduce power, and not get the desired performance metric. Therefore if you wanted that performance on that gas, you would need a bigger engine or other related technologies. I could however be full of BS at this point and not know it.
or if MPG are equal then obviously low octane wins handily -$120
I am assuming this is the least likely of the above scenarios however. Why would someone design an engine that required more expensive fuel if there was no performance advantage? I don't think it makes the engine less expensive to build. Probably the other way around.
Anyway, it's easy to get caught up in the math, and I'm not sure I proved anything with it. However, I do think the simple math of "That gass is more expensive therefore I loose" may be overstated. I'm not saying engines designed for premium is cheaper, but it probably isn't quite as bad as some have made out. Engines designed for premium, get better performance (or they wouldn't have bothered). You have to add that added performance back into the equasion.
The other articles I read definately suggested if your engine was NOT designed for Premum, don't use it. That is just flushing money. Your engine cannot take advantage of it and may run dirtier.
I have a S/C'd v6 in my Tundra and I've found the easiest way to deal with the higher price of gas is just put your credit card in the pump. Then never look at it. When the nozzle kicks off, put it back in the pump and drive off. Couldn't tell you what my last couple of tanks have cost me.
Some times it's best not to know what you could know!
'05 Tacoma V6 needs 91 octane premium gas!
). Anyway... the fact is... it cost us JUST as much to fill up that VW Bug as it did the Yukon! 
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