Should I be using premium gasoline for my 2007 Camry LE 6 cylinder, or is regular unleaded fine?

Question

So should I be using premium for my 2007 Camry 6 cylinder, or is regular unleaded fine?

Is it just me? I feel as i f unleaded makes my car's acceleration feel slower.

Answer 1

Here we go again with the octane question.

A Camry is designed to run on unleaded regular. It won't run any better on premium.

Octane is a measure of a fuel's resistance to preignition ('pinging,' or in extreme cases, 'knocking or 'detonation'). Preignition is when your engine's fuel-air mixture ignites without a spark, like a Diesel. It's not supposed to do that! Preignition is bad. It can burn holes in your pistons, break pistons or piston rods, and in really extreme cases, blow holes in the cylinder walls.

That's because preignition causes the fuel-air mixture to ignite while the piston is still rising in the cylinder, so that instead of pushing down on the piston in the power stroke, it's actually resisting the rise of the piston in the compression stroke.

High octane fuel resists preignition that might occur in a high-compression engine. Your Camry isn't one of those, so you'd be trying to cure a problem you don't have.

It would be like giving a performance beverage to a couch potato and expecting it to make him run a faster 100 meters. The reason he can't run with the elite sprinters has nothing to do with dehydration or electrolyte imbalance, so feeding him Gatorade or whatever isn't going to turn him into Carl Lewis.

Answer 2

Unless your owner's manual specifies using premium unleaded gasoline (and I'm 99% sure the Camry owner's manual doesn't), use regular unleaded. The problem with using premium when it's not recommended is your engine will eventually develop a "memory" to premium and won't run worth a darn on anything else. Regular unleaded contains detergents and additives to keep your engine running cleaner longer, so there's really no advantage to using premium in a car that doesn't need it.

Answer 3

Its a non-performance engine with low compression. Unless your computer compensates for higher octane it will NOT run better on premium. Some european automobiles have computers that will monitor engine performance and add more or less timing depending on fuel octane by testing for predetination (pinging).

Premium is also unleaded, you can not buy leaded gas at the pumps in the USA.

Answer 4

Regular is fine, Premium gasolines are just a way for the gas stations to make extra money off morons looking for prestige.
If your Toyota required Premium fuel it would say on the dash or inside the door for the fuel cap Premium (91 octane or better) fuel only.

Answer 5

Its just you. Most Japanese cars are designed to run on plain old unleaded regular.

follow the manufacturers instructions, you could do damage to your engine.

Answer 6

yes it is true--- the higher octane the better performance I have found out first hand my car runs a lot better with higher octane. not that using the (not so) cheaper stuff hurts but you need to use what the car calls for. its hard though right now with gas prices the way they are!!! but if you can afford go with it. I drive a max and they say the higher octane is better on the sensors and such... less to replace later

Answer 7

if it's recomended to use premium you might want to. i don't think unleaded will hurt it but you might find that you won't get the performance out of it that it's made for

Answer 8

it is just you premium gass has higher octane levels which will not ignite as quickly regular is fine for any car that doesn't require premium

Answer 9

87 octane is fine, you may feel more power with higher octane. do some experiments with figuring out if higher octane fuel saves you more with better mileage even though it costs more at the pump.

Answer 10

Regular unleaded is better for your car, it is proven it is better for your catalytic converter.