petrol normal unleaded or Premium?
- Thread starter paul1969
- Start date
paul1969 said:
My first Zed was the baby 18i E89. I started off using standard 95 from whichever petrol station was closest then, after reading something on the interwebz, I tried Tesco Momentum 99. The improvement in range was remarkable, going from reading around 360 miles for a tank to 410, mixed urban and extra urban driving. I definitely felt an improvement in the engine response too. I now have a 35is and have used premium from the start so can't say if the difference would be as marked as before. If there isn't a Tesco when needed I'll go with VP or Ultimate, but never bog standard juice.
With adaptive ECUs the higher octane rated fuel will give you increased performance as the ECU can advance the ignition timing more, particularly at higher revs, without the onset of knock. This will be much more noticeable with turbocharged engines. This does mean that the engine can run more efficiently and for the same driving style/speeds should give better fuel economy. Whether the increased fuel economy offsets the increased cost of the fuel is a very moot point!
For the lower power engines it can up their game a bit and be quite worthwhile. Having said that I don't use super unleaded in the 35is as it has more than enough 'real world' performance on 95RON fuel i.e. It is not required to use WOT that often when the higher RON fuel would come into its own and on the public roads I don't need any more performance! On a track, however, it would be a different matter.
Premium brand fuels do contain better additives, to help keep the engine clean, over supermarket fuels. Their RON is absolutely no different so will not produce better or worse performance. Any perceived smoother running is, I'm afraid, just that - a perceived placebo affect unless the enigine has been run for a considerable time and consistently on one or the other where the cleaning ability of the premium fuel can take significant affect. I run my Range Rover on supermarket fuel as it is a real gas guzzler and the overall fuel cost are a lot lower than using premium fuels. I do run an injector/fuel system cleaner additive through it every 3k miles though - the big V8 still purrs like a kitten.
For the lower power engines it can up their game a bit and be quite worthwhile. Having said that I don't use super unleaded in the 35is as it has more than enough 'real world' performance on 95RON fuel i.e. It is not required to use WOT that often when the higher RON fuel would come into its own and on the public roads I don't need any more performance! On a track, however, it would be a different matter.
Premium brand fuels do contain better additives, to help keep the engine clean, over supermarket fuels. Their RON is absolutely no different so will not produce better or worse performance. Any perceived smoother running is, I'm afraid, just that - a perceived placebo affect unless the enigine has been run for a considerable time and consistently on one or the other where the cleaning ability of the premium fuel can take significant affect. I run my Range Rover on supermarket fuel as it is a real gas guzzler and the overall fuel cost are a lot lower than using premium fuels. I do run an injector/fuel system cleaner additive through it every 3k miles though - the big V8 still purrs like a kitten.
flybobbie said:
Different fuels do make a difference mate, as posted above by several members explanations.
The top and bottom of it is you get what you pay for, higher end fuels can increase fuel economy and performance, how much by can vary with certain cars seeing greater results...
Yorkshire
Tried Shell V-Power this week filled up Think it was about 5 or 6 quid difference to what it normally costs me, To be honest it just seems to drive the same as before as when Using normal unleaded.
As for the performance with I can't really say on that because if I was on Top Gear I'd be James May.
Think I'm going to keep using it tho, if for nothing else but to keep the engine clean.
As for the performance with I can't really say on that because if I was on Top Gear I'd be James May.
Think I'm going to keep using it tho, if for nothing else but to keep the engine clean.