I was surprised with the list as even ARCO (Which is typically cheap when paying with gas) is on the list for Top Tier as well as Costco.

 

From my years of owning a 400 and 430 I experienced very little difference between 87 and 93 octane. Although I do believe the mileage and power were slightly better with 93 the cost difference negated this maybe 1 - 2 mpg difference. Toyota uses the same 4.3 in various models and they say 87 is perfectly fine.

With my experience on tuned vehicles, the resistance to pre-detonation running 93 really comes into play when trying to tune an engine with forced induction. But even then, many turbos these days will run 87 just fine as the knock sensors can easily retard timing to avoid knock. I never experienced knock in my 400 or 430 running 87 although I ran a good fuel treatment every 5k mikes to help keep any carbon buildup to a minimum.

In my opinion, run what makes you comfortable. This issue has been discussed to death and by far the majority of owners experience really no difference between 87 and 93. If you do, you might want to look into other issues with you vehicle such as carbon buildup and / or a bad engine temp sensor, etc. I will also say the level of additives even in top tier gasolines pale in to comparison to adding your own. I would personally choose a station that is busy and hence minimizing water in their storage tanks and add you own fuel system cleaner every 3 - 5 thousand miles. Clean your throttle body, stay up on your oil changes, and replace your engine temp sensor if you have not already.

 

No threads on oil at all everyone agrees.

The reason Lexus says 91 octane is it boosts the HP and torque to stay competitive and everyone else follows. Rich new car buyers buy suggested high octane fuel dont look at the 70 cents a gallon difference maybe think it id POSH, then I am sure most cheap out. 250 k miles on 2 LS's reg mid premo non eth, eth never noticed a difference but run reg ethanol to save 14 bucks a tank.. No again all driving is different. I am mostly HWY speeds 90 miles R/T to work then haul around locally in my Touareg to save miles on the dieselgate cheater.-

 

While I am 100% behind tier 1, the absolute best gas for your 430 is 100% gasoline as opposed to the 10% (or more) Ethanol boondoggle. There is an app on iOS/Andoid called Pure Gas that I swear by. While it is not a night a day difference, it is superior. Scuttlebutt is that the powers that be put it in there to placate Iowans as it is one of the first primaries during Presidential election season.

 

Crude starts in a family of wells. It may be transported by pipeline to freighters or rail cars. Next stop: refinery. The refinery's gasoline output is then transported in any combination of pipelines, freighters, and trucks--to retail outlets.

There is no one brand of retail gasoline that goes from wellhead to your gas tank under the banner of that one single brand. However there are brands with proprietary blends added pre-retail that may have some effect on some engines.

Just avoid unscrupulous retailers that contaminate their gas tanks with foreign liquids.

 

To get rid of all the shenanigans around premium, I go to either of the warehouse clubs to buy 93, only for 2 of our 4 cars. The last time I filled up last week, regular was $2.199, and premium was $2.369. NO GAMES.

Super unleaded is a pet peeve of mine. The BMW requires 89 minimum, the Maxima super is recommended (ran 19 years on 87 octane, nothing happened), ditto on the LS, and thank goodness my wife's car was designed for 87.

Way back when, super was always 20 cents more, regardless of if regular were 99 cents, or $3.79. But then, more and more cars became turbocharged and the demand changed. Super became more inelastic. As such, premium was all over the place, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 cents more than regular. In a way, having to use premium, is being treated like a second class citizen.

Don't believe it's contrived? The 2015 VW GTI says premium required on the fuel door. The 2016, which is the exact same vehicle with no changes, says 87.