Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel

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Sun 31 Jan 2016 18:39
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

Dont Overlook Possible Savings on Fuel!!!!

Purchased a Used Corsa 1.2 from a Dealer 7 months ago, 5 Yrs old, 25k on the clock. In the first 6 months of having the car the most i got out of a Tank was 260 miles, all around Town Driving. I thought this was pretty rubbish for a small engined car.

I looked around online, interested in how i could get better mpg from my car.

Started looking into Premium Fuels and it became clear to me fairly quickly Shell V Power + unleaded was the best quality fuel to be putting in your car for longevity of your engine and also hopefully better mpg, i wasnt really interested in hikes in performance as its a 1.2 Corsa.

Tesco Momentum 99 as a second choice.

I ran my Tank to near empty, 1 or 2 litres left and filled up a Full Tank on the V power. I got 345 miles from the tank, thats an 85 mile increase.

26 mpg to 34.5, To me thats excellent. It costs £4 more to fill up on the V Power, Taking that into account, im still saving £10 every time i fill up and gaining 85 miles on a tank.

Forget about any negative comments on Premium Fuels, Any car under 15 years old can use them, And its a no brainer to put a premium fuel in your car which cleans and looks after your engine and save money and get significant extra miles to boot.

I might try Tesco momentum in a couple of Tanks to compare but im very happy with this.

Get down to your garage and see how your car does, If its as good as mine you'll be happy, It ran smoother too.

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Sun 31 Jan 2016 19:21
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - FP

Glad you're happy with your car's improved performance.

However, here's an alternative interpretation. Your car, when bought, clearly had a problem. We don't know exactly what it was, only that its economy was poor. Possibly that was the result of a dodgy tank of fuel. Maybe the previous owner half-filled it with diesel by mistake at some point.

But you do not know that bog-standard supermarket fuel was to blame.

Now it's running better, how about trying several tanks of the ordinary stuff? You could find that you maintain your improved economy and save money as well, or maybe the economy is only slightly down, certainly not by enough to justify spending an extra £4 a tank or whatever it is on premium petrol.

I doubt the Corsa 1.2 has a compression ratio high enough to benefit from high-octane fuel. The only other thing that may be coming into play is the detergent package. If that has done its job, maybe it's no longer needed.

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Sun 31 Jan 2016 23:20
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

Your missing the point slightly, im paying £4 a tank more for premium V power and im up 85 miles a tank, I Got 26 mpg before, im getting 34.5 mpg now, If i take £4.50 off which i got 26 miles with on Standard Unleaded, Im still gaining 60 miles a tank moneywise and saving £10 on top of that every time i fill up,

I wouldnt even bother going back to normal unleaded, and i very much doubt if i did try it again it would get anywhere near 8.5 mpg more, In Fact i know i wouldnt,

Edited by MAASS42 on 31/01/2016 at 23:29

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 00:14
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - FP

"I wouldnt even bother going back to normal unleaded, and i very much doubt if i did try it again it would get anywhere near 8.5 mpg more, In Fact i know i wouldnt,"

I don't wish to stir unnecessarily (there are others here who make a better job if it!), but this is pretty irrational.

Do the experiment - don't rely on hunches, assumptions and snap judgements.

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 02:40
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

If Vpower's good enough to gain me 85 miles a Tank, However its done it,

I wont be experimenting going bk to Standard, thats for sure,

Happy to put Quality Fuel in my car, gain 85 miles and save £10 every time i fill up. #;-)

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Sun 31 Jan 2016 21:09
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - Avant

This sounds like a car that had done a lot of short trips (average 5000 miles a year) and was in a poor state of tune when you got it. Try a good long trip and see what your consumption is. Premium fuel can make a bit of difference, depending on the car, but not as much as that.

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Sun 31 Jan 2016 23:14
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

I got it from a Vauxhall Dealer, FSH, it had been serviced every year by Vauxhall.

Looked after well.

This idea that only Turbo Charged or Sporty cars can gain from Premium Fuel is Rubbish. In Speed yes, But MPG in mine is up 8.5, Just stating facts,

Edited by MAASS42 on 31/01/2016 at 23:21

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 00:29
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - FP

"This idea that only Turbo Charged or Sporty cars can gain from Premium Fuel is Rubbish. In Speed yes, But MPG in mine is up 8.5, Just stating facts,"

You've got around 8.5 more mpg. The reasons are unclear. The car was unusually uneconomical before. If it had been performing normally I doubt you would have seen much, if any, increase in economy.

"Sporty cars" gain speed from premium fuels? Yes - a slight gain, from a slight increase in bhp, because high-compression engines will "knock" less easily with high-octane fuel. You would probably have to drive a car on a track or test-bed to find out.

A medium-compression engine is unlikely to see any benefit from premium fuels apart from - possibly - the detergent effect of the additive package, if you believe there's something special about it. Even then, it's arguable that the detergent package in standard fuel does the job anyway.

Edited by FP on 01/02/2016 at 00:30

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 01:27
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

Ive seen a few people on these forums say there small petrol Corsa only acheives 260-270 from a Tank, slating it as one of the most uneconomical small cars on the Road, So its not just me.

All i know is V Power Nitro + Unleaded has got me 85 miles more a Tank, Now getting 345, and only cost £4 more to fill up and is saving me £10 every time i fill up.

If the Fuels cleaned ithe engine out with its Great Detergent Additives and thats how its done it or The Fuels done it through just being 99 Ron and better fuel, or a combination of the two, im no Tech Guy etc. The Car had been well looked after before i purchased it.

I wont be swapping bk to standard unleaded, i'll be using this in whatever i drive till i pop my cloggs, Very Impressed with it. I'd be Mad not to.

I Recommend Anybody else with Average to poor MPG to try it, See What Results you get. I know different makes and models are different, this is just what ive acheived by changing.

Edited by MAASS42 on 01/02/2016 at 01:30

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 10:59
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - Doc

I wont be swapping bk to standard unleaded, i'll be using this in whatever i drive till i pop my cloggs, Very Impressed with it. I'd be Mad not to.


Unfortuneately you are kidding yourself.

One tank of fuel is inconclusive. As others have said, you need to go back to using regular unleaded for a while to get any reliable comparison.

You are probably wasting a lot of money.

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 15:50
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

One Tank of Fuel is a start your right, i'll see how the next couple of tanks go,

My moneys on V Power maintaining an 85 mile per tank increase, And £4 extra for that is a bargain, deffo not a waste.

Like i said before, im not interested in increased power, which woulnt be relevant in a little 1.2 corsa, im interested in MPG.

I find it mad that anyone can knock or put down an 85 mile per tank increase.

Sorry if youve tried it and you got very little.

You sound like you must be working for Asda where they only sell standard lol,

Funny.

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 07:43
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - RT

serviced every year by Vauxhall. Looked after well.

That's a flaw in your argument to start with!

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 11:59
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - Wackyracer
Something we both agree on RT.
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Mon 1 Feb 2016 12:42
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - thunderbird

When I drive my car around town, to the shops and occational longer journeys I get about 44 mpg or around 450 miles on a tank.

When I drive my car on holiday I get around 55 mpg or around 560 miles on a tank.

Thats 110 miles a tank extra.

So from now on I am only going to do longer holiday runs. Never doing short runs again as its costing me money.

But seriously, while the high octane fuel should give slightly better performance in theory in the real world in a car like a 1.2 Corsa its going to make 1/2 of sod all difference. The Corsa is simply not a car that can benefit from the higher octane.

Some years ago after many years of using standard fuel I tried the much advertised Shell 98 octane stuff. After a couple of tanks the extra cost appeared to be just about offset by the extra mpg I was getting so I put a 3rd tankful in. Towards the end of the 3rd tank the car started running poorly and when I removed the plugs they were black. Local garage suggested going back to the normal Asda stuff which I did and the plugs remained clean.

No more super fuel for me unless I buy a car where its is clearly satted it is required.

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 16:06
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

The better performance is 85 miles per tank better on VPower, doing exactly the same Around Town Driving Only, God knows what what your on lol.

Im only talking MPG better, Nothing Else,

You stick with Asda if its good for your plugs lol.

Edited by MAASS42 on 01/02/2016 at 16:09

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 18:00
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - quizman

Do you work for Shell by chance?

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 18:49
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - nailit

Breathing too much fumes can affect the thought process. ..

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 19:30
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

I think ive got the whole of Asdas undercover Petrol Gizmos on here bigging up there Normal Unleaded lol,

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Mon 1 Feb 2016 19:39
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - RT

I think ive got the whole of Asdas undercover Petrol Gizmos on here bigging up there Normal Unleaded lol,

Other supermarket brands are available.

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Tue 2 Feb 2016 09:08
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - skidpan

The OP is clearly mad.

If using super unleaded in a Corsa increased the mpg from 26 to 34.5 (a 33% increase) we would all be using it. In truth, from an environmental viewpoint it would become law to use it. Increasing the life of the worlds oil reserves by that amount would be worthy of a Nobel peace prize and other international accolades.

I have tried superunleaded in the past and any difference in mpg was very small. In truth my journey type, weather conditions and driving style would have made a bigger difference. To get a worthwhile result a test in a controlled environment similar to those carried out for the EU figures would be required.

Tonight I will fill my Seat Leon TSi with ordinary unleaded. Might be Asda, might be Tesco, might even be the Coop (think they sell Texaco). Whatever it is my mpg will be within the usual range depending on use.

If I wanted to save 33% of my fuel bills I would simply use my car less.

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Tue 2 Feb 2016 10:11
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - RT

I've seen highly technical documents showing that at octane levels in the 85-100 range, there's a theoretical energy advantage in higher octane which is approximately linear to the octane number, so that using 98 instead of 95 might yield 3% more usable energy - but the big caveat is that the engine needs to be designed to take advantage of that octane increase.

Although modern fuel injected cars use their knock sensors to optimise the spark timing that's only part of the design requirements needed - increased compression also being needed for one - now variable compression engines have been built but none are in production.

A Corsa may well have knock sensor spark timing dependent on it's age but it doesn't have variable compression so any real world gain would be less than 3%.

The problem with owner "experiments" is that they can't eliminate the placebo effect - they believe the marketing hype, they expect more economy and subconciously drive more economically to achieve it.

The OP's consumption gain is no doubt real - but due to his driving. not the fuel - but if spending that extra money makes him drive better, then it's a win-win.

Edited by RT on 02/02/2016 at 10:14

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Tue 2 Feb 2016 18:47
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

Placebo Effect lol, Marketing Hype lol, My Mileometer hasnt turned Schizo lol,

85 miles more a Tank for £3.75 more Only on a full fill up,

I dont need anybody elses tests, The Numbers dont lie, Happy Motoring #;-)

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Tue 2 Feb 2016 18:51
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

Nobody needs controlled enviroment test info for Godsake lol.

Take your car down to near empty, 1 or 2 litres, fill a full tank on the V Power and see how much extra MPG you get, Drive exactly the same as you always do. Same kind of journeys.

Check what you get on a full tank of unleaded first obviously.

Sorry you dont get 30% more miles like i do now on Vpower for £3.75 more.

Long Live Shell!!

Edited by MAASS42 on 02/02/2016 at 18:53

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Tue 2 Feb 2016 18:54
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - MAASS42

Nahh but the make Damn Good Fuel #;-)

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Tue 2 Feb 2016 19:08
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - nailit

Absolutely Barking!

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Tue 2 Feb 2016 19:16
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 - Premium Unleaded Fuel - Avant

I've had enough of the offensive language on this thread. There will never be agreement on the pros and cons of premium fuel, but one can disagree without being rude.

Thread closed.

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