Is v power dying out

[original guvnor]

I never put 95 in mine it runs like a dog and is easily 30bhp down between 5k rpm and the red line. No point buying a race horse if you are going to feed it dog food.

Exactomundo

 

[mmm-five]

No point buying a race horse if you are going to feed it dog food.

I thought dog food WAS race horses

 

[Maxsam]

never used it, for the driving i do i just does see any point

To be honest when I get old and buy a coupe I won't bother

 

[pilchardthecat]

never used it, for the driving i do i just does see any point

so by extension, the driving you do suggests you have the wrong car

 

[andicole0]

I had to put some ordinary 95 in my M recently and it has started lurching from low throttle on low revs, never did this on V-Power. The benefit of V-Power is not just about power it is also a much cleaner fuel and helps with engine wear over the years.

Andi.

 

[original guvnor]

Paid £1.37 per litre for V-Power today in Nottingham which was only 8p dearer than Shell's ordinary unleaded.

 

[Woots]

an extra 30 bhp just from using v power??
seriously??
does it make tht much of a difference??

 

[mmm-five]

an extra 30 bhp just from using v power??
seriously??
does it make tht much of a difference??

It's not that the V-Power gives you an extra 30bhp, but rather you lose 30bhp by using 95 RON as the ECU adapts to the lower-quality fuel.

 

[Maniac]

I think its largely engine dependant... there are graphs to show it does make a difference, and others that show hardly any difference. In the end, its up to you, do you feel the car runs better on it or not?

Mine, rather oddly, runs smoother on the recommended 95 RON, however I feel it doesn't pull as strongly at higher revs as when its running on 97/98 which also makes it idle a bit roughly. I've used only 1 tank of 95 in the entire time I've owned the car.

 

[pilchardthecat]

an extra 30 bhp just from using v power??
seriously??
does it make tht much of a difference??

Yes. You will be lucky if your get 300-310hp at the crank using 95 RON fuel.

Not much point buying a 340 hp car if you are going to put that s**t in it.

(edit: it's not "extra" - it just gives you the power you expect/paid for when you bought the car)

 

[Dav the wheel nut]

No point buying a race horse if you are going to feed it dog food.

Classic

 

[Woots]

well i didnt know it made that much of a diff....i thought it would produce say 5bhp less using 95....didnt realise it would degrade power by as much as 10% though!! well from now on its 98 all the way

 

[daz05]

an extra 30 bhp just from using v power??
seriously??
does it make tht much of a difference??

It's not that the V-Power gives you an extra 30bhp, but rather you lose 30bhp by using 95 RON as the ECU adapts to the lower-quality fuel.

Not so sure on that. You lose something but not 30 bhp.

Not many make 338 anyway.

 

[pilchardthecat]

Back when Thorney Motorsport were endorsing Tesco Momentum they did a big dyno test of all the 97/98/99 Ron fuels plus some ordinary 95.

v-power and momentum were the best, with bp somewhat behind. The top 2 were 10% up on 98 vs the 95 ron

They used an e46 m3. They have removed the test unfortunately they have obviously fallen out with Tesco

 

[pvr]

The cost of failed O2 sensors etc due to the lower grade fuel is just not worth the savings of a few pounds on a full tank of petrol.

 

[Liam-O]

I'm not in an M but I did 2 identical journeys this weekend, at nearly identical speeds and temperatures. I have to say, I didn't see any MPG gains between 98 and 95, if there were any, it's not worth it price wise. And any performance gains were likely down to me wanting it to be faster, than it actually being faster...

 

[aerobod]

I'm not in an M but I did 2 identical journeys this weekend, at nearly identical speeds and temperatures. I have to say, I didn't see any MPG gains between 98 and 95, if there were any, it's not worth it price wise. And any performance gains were likely down to me wanting it to be faster, than it actually being faster...

98 RON (93 AKI) is the recommended fuel for ///M cars, for all other petrol BMWs it is typically 95 RON (91 AKI). The standard engine map won't adjust to make use of octane above the recommended fuel. By retarding the ignition and using an alternate fuel map, the ///M cars can use a minimum fuel grade of 95 RON.

Your car can't make use of octane above 95 RON, without a custom engine map.

 

[chasBMW]

When I ran an M car I always put in highest octane level available , dont think I ever put 95 in it , I think people get to hung up about the price of petrol

 

[ChawenHalo]

V-Power all the way for me. I don't care if it's 18p a litre more tbh. It's not about the extra 5bhp (probably less on the M NA engine anyway) it's because my car runs very well on it.

It was more like a 30bhp loss on an s54b32 between using normal & super.

That's huge! And I always thought it was half a placebo effect feeling the car slugish with RON 95...

 

[mmm-five]

V-Power all the way for me. I don't care if it's 18p a litre more tbh. It's not about the extra 5bhp (probably less on the M NA engine anyway) it's because my car runs very well on it.

It was more like a 30bhp loss on an s54b32 between using normal & super.

That's huge! And I always thought it was half a placebo effect feeling the car slugish with RON 95...

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the info myself as I've only used 97+ (and a bit of 102 in Germany), but that's the figure that places like Simpsons & Thorney were quoting.