85 vs 87

This might seem like a simple question to some, but I've not had a new car, ever. I just got my 22 Off Road and I live in Colorado. I've always put 85 octane in my 2000 4runner but I think there's a sticker on the new Tacoma saying to use 87? I haven't even filled it up yet as it only has about 200 miles on it so far. So what is everyone using in High Altitude area's?

 

85 is fine.

 

85 probably won't hurt anything, but it probably will noticeably decrease your performance and mileage, if you do experience any knocking or pinging I would definitely go to 87.

 

It doesn’t decrease performance or mileage or cause knocking/pinging.

 

If you're happy with the performance and it's not causing any noticeable issues then do as you see fit.

 

Your profile says Florida so I don’t know if you’ve been out west but our gas is 85/87/91 only due to altitude. Using 85 up here is the same as 87 down in the thick air of Florida. Running 87 here is similar to running 89/91 at lower elevations and is similarly an added expense with no performance gain.

 

I’d run 87 until the warranty runs out.

 

Never heard that but good to know, I'm sure Toyota puts 87 on there to "CYA" because it works everywhere and under effectively all reasonable conditions. If 85 is works well for you where you're at then go for it.

Me personally I'd still keep an ear out just in case any knock or detonation does begin to occur especially as things wear in spark plugs get old gap increases that sort of thing but it may never be necessary for you and if not and you're happy saving a couple bucks cool.

Here is Florida we typically have 87 89 91 93 and at some locations up to 100oct.

Me personally I run ethanol free which typically happens to be 89oct in everything.

I get more power and milage on ethanol free and it seems to keep things running cleaner and smoother.

 

This

 

You beat me to it. lol

 

Looks like only forced induction engine can't go lower octane in high altitude

your Tacoma is naturally aspirated (for now), so it should be able to handle 85. But I wouldn't want to do it because what if I pump a tank of 85 and I happen to need to go somewhere lower altitude I'd be screwed

 

The nice thing about the Tacoma’s relatively limited fuel range is that you almost never run into that problem. By the time you’re starting to get close enough to lower altitude that matters you already need to get gas.

 

We got 85 here in Utah as well, been running it for 57k miles now, no issues.

 

Yeah, you don’t just randomly go places out here that are low elevation, it’s still around 3900 ft at the Kansas border on I 70. Even if you did, it’s not the end of the world to run a bit of 85 until you filled up.

I put 87 in mine, because what the hell. The whole 85 octane thing is so outdated anyway unless you have a carburetor in your vehicle. Modern cars have computers to make sure the engine isn’t running rich.

 

I moved to Colorado from Louisiana..... used to use 87, but can only find 85. I now use 85. No pinging, so, should be good.

85 is generally ok because of the altitude.

To the guy that says "you're going to make less power on 85"..... we're going to make less power regardless because of less air at altitude. It's significant.

 

My brother in law lives in Denver, and fills his 3.5 ecoboost with 85. He also tows a large travel trailer.

 

They have 85 regular in Utah, 100 miles or so from us in Vegas.

 

What people don’t understand is the lower octane was for carburetors that didn’t adjust the AF ratio automatically.

 

100%

My wife’s ‘00 Jeep Wrangler TJ, bought new in MD, now lives at 7000’ in Colorado. For the first few years it was not running right. Weird. I put new cap, rotor, wires, plugs, O2 sensors, filters, and it was still “off” for 1000+ miles. Come to find out that her dad said always use lower octane at elevation. Jeep says 87, she was putting 85.
Carb’d vehicles at high elevations, that is correct. It is not for FI vehicles.
The Jeep fuel tank was almost empty so I filled it with 87 and after 50 miles or so it became alive, started better, drove much better, got higher mpgs.