Just picked up our new 2010 Prius. My wife tells me that she read somewhere that we need a "certain" octane level in gas. Any reason to use anything but lowest octane, unleaded?
Nope unless you want to spend more money. There is a misprint in the OM... the octane should be 87. See other posts. Peter
Your wife did read that, but it is a misprint. Read the '88 Octane for 2010 Prius' thread, but start with Doug Coleman's response. If you are new here, carefully note the job title in his signature block.
88 per the manual. You would need to mix 87 and 89 to get this. It is possible that to achieve the stated 50 MPG rating, 88 had to be used during the tests. Supposedly Toyota made a mistake but I haven't seen any press release or official communication that says 87 is the optimal fuel to use. On my previous cars, 91 was required for max performance but 87 could be used. It may be the same with the new Prius.
The manual is the most official communication you can get, but it has a misprint. Likewise, I haven't seen any press release or official communication that says the Prius absolutely doesn't come with a valet key so I'm still hoping to get my valet key someday
87 per the Prius Product Manager, Toyota Motor Sales, USA. Please see the pointers in my reply above.
Thanks to all! My brother, another Prius owner, let me know about this site. I appreciate the responses and the help.
The "correct response" is: "Gas? Yes, put some in. If it's called gasoline and it burns, Prius can use it."
Never trust the sales guys. Until I see an statement from a Toyota employee with a Japanese last name and an engineering title I'll be skeptical about the "misprint" on the manual.
See the attached jpg, which I got from the online manuals at the Owner's page on toyota.com. Honda had a similar misprint with the Pilot a few years ago.
You are funny. So are you still bothering the dealer about not getting a valet key based on the "misprint" in the manual?
This topic has been beaten into the ground. Take a look at the Google search of this site: Google Tom
I don`t even thing they sell anything less than 90 in Japan. No gas stations I have been to have had it, and apparently the laws for gasoline state that "regular" is 89.0 and over, and "high octane" is 96.0 and over. It isn`t even legal to sell 88, let alone 87.
Note that the manual page I posted says (Research Octane Number 91) beside the 87. Maybe it's just a naming thing, and not a real difference. EDIT: royrose beat me to it.
And how can you have a "valet key" with no lockable storage anywhere in or on the vehicle. Besides. anyone who's letting a valet park their beloved Prius should be.....
Perhaps so - but even then, it would be a hard one to pull off as everywhere is either 90 or 98+, with nothing in between. I couldn`t put 91 in no matter how hard I were to search... And as the Prius is a "regular" car in Japan, I am guessing it was probably designed for 90? (Research Octane, apparently.)
