iWannaGS

Hey all,
First of all I am a proud owner of a 2016 F Sport and drove her home last night. This morning I popped by a few of my normal gas stations around here and notice that alot of them say "contains 10% ethanol". I live down the street from trucks stops right off the major highway. In my previous vehicle (97 4Runner) Ive always pumped 89 (sometimes less) and they all contain 10% ethanol and even though its not like how it was day 1, it still runs. However, this is a luxury vehicle im driving now and want to preserve it as long as possible. Therefore should i keep venturing out and look for premium non-ethanol gas elsewhere or am I ok with this 10% ethanol premium at my normal stations? Loves, 7/11, Conoco, Alon are a few stations down the street from me.

Thanks

bclexus

Most all gasoline sold nowadays is 10% ethanol - 90% gasoline, which is known as E10. E10 is okay, but I would not use E15, being 15% ethanol.

I would use Top Tier detergent 'premium grade' gasoline.

Here are the Ethanol-free gas stations on your state.

Top Tier Detergent Gasoline

iWannaGS

Thanks! really informative.

charley95

Please post pics. of your new ride! I'm dying to get a new F-Sport but, I have to save some more penny's. What features and color combo did ya get? Been looking online nationwide and new F=Sports are everywhere.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

Our cars are okay up to E15.

iWannaGS

I picked up F Sport in Ultra white w/ rioja interior. Its just like a lot of the gs owners here with the common color basically. Big features that I had got were Mark Levison speaker system, HUD along with the basic F Sport features. I would post pics but after the long drive back, my car needs a bath already! haha good luck with your search!

spoogenet

While it may seem a bore, I do recommend reading the owner's manual. Lots of interesting tidbits in there and you can breeze through the blah blah blah parts.

Lexus specifically states in the owner's manual that up to E15 (15% ethanol) is acceptable and not to use anything beyond that. They strongly recommend Top Tier detergent gasoline, which is no surprise. For optimal performance octane of 91 or higher is required. The engine will work with octane of 87 or higher, with degraded performance below 91 due to the knock sensors kicking in to protect the engine.

Afrosheen

The sticker on the gas door of my '13 says nothing higher than E10. If it wasn't some stupid city-mandated law I'd buy 100% gasoline but I'd have to drive at least an hour away just to buy it. Damn corn lobby.

praetor

Check the sticker on your gas cap and manual. It states explicitly not to use E15.

JDR76

This is interesting. My gas gap says up to E15 is okay, that E20-E85 is not.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

interesting... my gas door/cap (i forget) says E15 is okay.. E20-E80 is a no no...

Anyhow.. I actually experimented with no-ethanol gas vs Chevron E10 for 6 months.. 1-month between switching from/to... Pumped a full tank every 6 days on average.

What I found is both gas gave me similar MPG, but 1-2% better on the no-ethanol. The no-ethanol gas was from a no name brand / small gas station (I was always the one pumping gas there)... Performance wise it was the same. I've lived a few states and honestly, I've gotten the best MPG with Chevron 93 then Shell..

I was all gung-ho about no-ethanol gas few years ago. Now after my experiment, I sleep better at night knowing that as long as I put in a quality gas in my tank, my car is safe. Of course, if there was a Chevron station with no-ethanol gas about 10 minutes away from my regular gas station, I'll go there..

JDR76

Page 545 of the manual from my 2015 GS states E15 is okay.

praetor

Interesting. Things may have changed in 2015. I have a 2013 and it explicitly says no E15.

Afrosheen

Yeah things must have changed. I know we barely dodged legislation to force e15 and higher over the past three years.

spoogenet

It must've changed in 2014, as mine clearly states up to and including E15 is fine.

One thing to consider in your experiment is the fuel economy change may not be driven by ethanol. Many "no-name" gas stations use fuel with the minimum required detergents, whereas many big-name stations use significantly higher rates of detergents. They even proudly advertise how much detergent they put in the gas to "keep your engine clean." While they may do that over time, more immediately they don't have as much energy to combust and you may notice a performance or mileage change.