Premium gas costs more than regular gas. Filling your Lexus with premium gas every time might break your bank, especially if you live on a budget. It is understandable if you are tempted to fill with regular gas even when the automaker recommends premium.
Does using premium have an impact on your car’s performance? Will using regular gas damage the engine of your Lexus?
What Happens If I Don’t Use Premium Gas In My Lexus?
If the Lexus model requires premium, it means that the automaker engineered the engine to operate under high octane gas. Using regular gas, which has a lower octane rating, increases the chances of uncontrolled self-combustion, which can lead to engine knocking.
Luckily, not all Lexus cars require premium gas to operate normally. Whether or not to use premium gas depends on what the automaker requires.
But what happens if you still use regular gas when the automaker requires premium gas?
Lexus requires high octane gas for its performance cars, such as the coupes. These cars have high compression engines that can detonate if you use lower octane gas. Luckily, modern computers can tweak the ignition system so that your car runs on regular gas-only up to a point.
If you continue using regular gas, the performance of your car will suffer and so will the fuel economy. Even worse, regular gas makes your car’s engine more prone to detonate.
The bottom line is, if Lexus requires that you use premium gas, or at least octane rating 91, do not use regular gas. If your engine sustains damages from the use of regular gas, you void your warranty. This means you will have to pay for the damages, which can be more than the coins you save buying regular gas.
Which Lexus Models Require Premium Gas?
On some models, Lexus “Recommends” the use of premium fuel. If this is the case, you can use regular gas without any damages to your engine. Using premium gas will slightly improve your car’s performance and gas mileage, but you may not even notice the difference.
On other models, Lexus “Requires” that you use premium gas. These are models whose engines are designed to run on high octane gas to operate without detonation. If your Lexus requires premium only, you do not have an option but to use premium gas lest you damage your car’s engine.
Most Lexus models will operate efficiently on regular fuel. For the Lexus SUVs, you can run UX, UX Hybrid, NX Hybrid, and RX on regular fuel without damaging the engine. These models require a minimum recommended octane rating of 87, which is regular gas.
Other SUVs, including Lexus GX, NX, RX Hybrid, and LX, require premium gas. Lexus requires that the minimum gas octane rating be 91, which is premium gas.
All Lexus coupes, which are high-performance cars, require high octane premium gas. The engines of these cars run with a high compression ratio to generate more power. Using regular gas will lead to knocking, which results in engine damages.
The automaker recommends the minimum octane rating for these performance cars should be 91.
