I just bought a new FJ cruiser. The manufacturer recommends premium which is costing a fortune with the gas. Does anyone run regular in their FJ?
How about that visibility or lack of?
If the manufacturer “recommends” premium, you can run on regular without fear of damage. However, I doubt if you will save much of anything. Using regular will lower your mileage and at today’s prices, it may even end up costing your more. You will also loose some power.
If that was more than just a recommendation, you chance engine damage.
Note, if you car was not designed for premium, there is nothing to be gained by using it. In some cases it can even cause damage.
Filling up with regular gas also costs a fortune. Maybe there’s a difference of a few dimes per week.
You knew when you bought this behemoth that it is not a fuel sipper. It gulps gas, giving back maybe 16 mpg city and 19 mpg highway. That’s with premium fuel; expect a bit fewer mpg with regular. So bite the bullet and expect to pay through the nose regardless of the octane you feed it.
Visibilty, you ask? No problem. Everyone can see you.
Ummm…let’s see if I understand this correctly. You purchased a vehicle that, according to every available source, has extremely poor visibility for the driver, and now you are wondering what to do about it.
And, the vehicle that you bought has a window sticker that listed its poor gas mileage as well as the type of fuel that is required, and you are now wondering what to do about this situation as well. Did I interpret your posting correctly?
Well, aside from trying to get H.G. Wells’ time machine in order to go back in time and buy something with better visibilty and better gas mileage on a diet of regular gas, I can only recommend that you exercise extreme caution when backing up or changing lanes and that you re-read the wording in the Owner’s Manual.
If the manual does, indeed, say that premium gas is “recommended” then you can run it on regular, albeit with reduced power output and probably lower gas mileage, thus making the change in gas grade not much of a bargain in the long run. If the manual says that premium gas is “required”, then you must use that grade of gas unless you want to risk engine damage.
You can safely run regular if you do not hear any pinging, especially under hard acceleration.
There’s nothing you can do about the visibility problem. That glitch existed when you bought the vehicle. It’s also an indicator of just how worthless a 1 or 2 mile test drive is. Many things are covered up by a new car smell. 
The OP is correct. Premium (91 octane) fuel is recommended. It seems to me that if it is recommended, it should be used except when premium is not available.
The visibility can be improved. (And needs it!)
The first thing I did was buy two curved mirrors (curved surface, rectangular edges) that fit on the bottom of my regular side mirrors. Then I stuck them right to the glass toward the bottom of the mirrors. (The curved mirrors came with double-sided stickum.) Those work 100% better to see down the sides. I use the flat glass top 2/3 of the mirror to see into the blind spots, and the bottom curved section to see a wide swath. Gives me 5 mirrors to check instead of 3, but it’s kept me from moving over into somebody already in the lane to the right a couple times a year, every year.
The second thing I added was a backup camera. They’re pretty cheap now. The backup sensors are great – but there’s nothing quite like seeing. And you really can’t see much through the back window, can you? The backup camera is a GREAT addition. By the way – the default is to wire it to the backup lights as a power source, so it comes on automatically when you go into reverse. But I’d like it available more often; I’m thinking of adding a toggle switch in parallel to turn it on whenever I want.
Note: Visibility goes down a bit with a lift, too…