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There are many on here who will tell you thet the super unleaded fuels aren't worth having because the extra economy isn't enough to pay back for the premium in price.
However, 'worth' is more than just the economy vs price comparison IMO. Super unleaded fuels are slightly further refined and contain less of the heavy impurities. Thus they burn cleaner. this combined with an increased detergent package means they keep the inside of your engine cleaner. My Saab 9-3 Aero 2.0T had a fair amount of coking on the tops of the pistons when I bought it at 40k. It's now done 100k and most of that 60k of mine is with a super unleaded (mostly Vpower and Tesco Momentum 99 plus occasional others). The tops of the pistons are now almost completely clean. As it's a turbo It will be cleaner throughout the engine, including (vitally) the turbo turbine (exhaust) side - this will help the turbo run better for a longer life.
Soon after I bought it I had a tune from 210hp/300Nm to 250hp/360Nm. Running on super unleaded the engine can better those 'advertised' figures to about 260hp/375Nm. Interestingly super also lowers the point of maximum power from 5400 to 5200 rpm and max torque availability down to just 2400 rpm. You can probably tell that in gear (overtaking) performance is its forte.
I've no real idea whether super yields more 'economy'. That's not at the top of my priorities.
Also interestingly, using super allows the tune to hang on to the increased 18psi boost pressures longer when it's hot (25 ish) in the summer and repeated overtakes push intake temps towards 50. VPower is the best in this respect - you realy have to provoke it hard for the tune to back off the boost (repeated overtakes on the motorway in 6th will eventually do it). I could, of course, spend £500 on a big intercooler.
the engine is also subjectively quieter and smoother and more responsive. I currently have no plans to sell the car.
So, in short, I'm a very happy super unleaded (mostly VP) customer.
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Last night, after my last post here, I remember that I have a very good friend who works at a great oil company in my country. But the most important thing for me is that he is working at country fuels deposits (storage) department. That's the guy! I told him my dilemma. He told me that the fuel who leaves refinery correspond to standards. So the problem is at petrol stations, with the additives they put in it to raise the octane. But that means the fuel who arrives at station has already 95 RON, quality certified, I said. He told me there are other additives who are mixed at the station to raise to 98 RON. But I can use 95 RON without problems. Also I found a video wich some of you maybe already seen it:
youtu.be/WYlk9C1o0nk
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So you've been sucked in by the conspiricy theorists. That video is utter t***.
As an Automotive Engineer, my particular specialism is within Body Engineering at the particular OE I work for. I do however have good friends in a variety of other departments and specialisms.
Some people believe the moon landings were faked. Do you?
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Yes, I became one of the theorists, so 2 hours ago, I fill my tank with 98 RON. And I decided that I will use 98 RON from now on for engine sake, not power gain or less consumption. A little off-topic: I am 50 years old, I am a petroleum engineer(not refinery), the moon landings are true, but I don't believe in God. Do you believe? Enough with off-topic.
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True story.
Back in 1989 I bought a brand new Golf GTi. My previous car was also a Golf GTi but despite identical looks (and colour) there were differences.
The old car was fitted with Bosch K jetronic mechanical injection and mechanical distributor and VW specified 4* leaded which I always used. Even so, after a long motorway run it would pink slightly under moderate load and it was never cured despite a new distributor and other changes.
The new car was fitted with Bosch Digifant digital injection and ignition and VW specified super unleaded as the fuel to use to obtain maximum performance and economy but they did add fuels as low as 91 RON were fine but would affrect performance and economy. I started off using 98 RON but it was difficult to find locally so I tried 95 RON. I could tell no difference even when towing the race car, no pinking under high loads and economy did not appear to suffer. So for the next 7 years and 110,000 miles used 95 RON and the car was in fine fettle and never had an issue.
I last saw the car when it was 12 years old and it had 180,000 touble free miles on the clock. No idea what fuel the owner used.
The car is still alive according to the DVLA site, taxed until December 2016 and MOT'd until August 2016. Its 27 years old in May, perhaps I should find where it is and buy it a present, not 98 RON fuel.
Will I buy 98 RON for any of my cars, not until I get that Ferrari.
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True story.
Back in 1989 I bought a brand new Golf GTi. My previous car was also a Golf GTi but despite identical looks (and colour) there were differences.
The old car was fitted with Bosch K jetronic mechanical injection and mechanical distributor and VW specified 4* leaded which I always used. Even so, after a long motorway run it would pink slightly under moderate load and it was never cured despite a new distributor and other changes.
The new car was fitted with Bosch Digifant digital injection and ignition and VW specified super unleaded as the fuel to use to obtain maximum performance and economy but they did add fuels as low as 91 RON were fine but would affrect performance and economy. I started off using 98 RON but it was difficult to find locally so I tried 95 RON. I could tell no difference even when towing the race car, no pinking under high loads and economy did not appear to suffer. So for the next 7 years and 110,000 miles used 95 RON and the car was in fine fettle and never had an issue.
I last saw the car when it was 12 years old and it had 180,000 touble free miles on the clock. No idea what fuel the owner used.
The car is still alive according to the DVLA site, taxed until December 2016 and MOT'd until August 2016. Its 27 years old in May, perhaps I should find where it is and buy it a present, not 98 RON fuel.
Will I buy 98 RON for any of my cars, not until I get that Ferrari.
This engine in the Golf gti was a great bullet proof engine that would usually survive abuse. The later VAG petrol engines (jury out on EA211) although more efficient have not been so durable. As I had detected pinking and my earlier 1.4 16v had a reputation of self destructing with piston damage - I took no chances. Whether it's made any difference - I will never fully know but it's still a happy engine (doh - cambelt due again though this year).
With the 1.4tsi - I'll not take any chances - you pays your money you and takes your choice!
I don't know if it makes a difference on fuel economy as I've always used higher octane fuel since I got the car so I can't compare
I've also asked for the services interval to be changed from variable to 10k. Always a fan of regular oil changes.
Edited by Big John on 07/01/2016 at 21:52
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Hello
I managed to realize what the problem with 95 RON petrol is. I supplied from various fuel stations and the result was identical. After four full tanks with 95 RON and other 3 full tanks with 98 RON, I realized that in my country, 95 RON gasoline, often has not real 95 RON. So, if I want that the engine runs normally (with no expectations of increasing power or decreasing consumption), I need to use 98 RON. It is not about conspiracies, auditory illusions, something subjective, for me is something real. Thank you again for your patience, advices and the time you spend posting here. For me was instructive.
PS. I am from Romania, I don’t speak often English, excuse my grammar.
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Hello
I managed to realize what the problem with 95 RON petrol is. I supplied from various fuel stations and the result was identical. After four full tanks with 95 RON and other 3 full tanks with 98 RON, I realized that in my country, 95 RON gasoline, often has not real 95 RON. So, if I want that the engine runs normally (with no expectations of increasing power or decreasing consumption), I need to use 98 RON. It is not about conspiracies, auditory illusions, something subjective, for me is something real. Thank you again for your patience, advices and the time you spend posting here. For me was instructive.
PS. I am from Romania, I don’t speak often English, excuse my grammar.
How much does 98RON fuel cost in Romania, compared to 95RON? In the UK, 95RON is about 1.38 euro / litre; 98RON is about 1.49.
Also, no need to apologise, your English is excellent, and easier to understand than 75% of the posts on here!
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At Rompetrol, for example, 95RON is 1,29 euro/litre and 98RON is 1,46 euro/litre.
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Some people believe the moon landings were faked. Do you?
Yes.....
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No offense <dadbif>, but this discussion is off-topic. If you know a forum where we can talk (write) about belief, conspiracy, moon landings, ancient aliens, present aliens, secret world liders, please tell me where I can find it ( my tv is all day on Discovery Channels, Viasat History and Explorer, History Channel). I am open to discuss such subjects. Maybe there are interesting views to read, I'd be curios to know other people opinions, people outside my country. But that involves serious discussions, not mockery. Now, on-topic, if there are others with opinions about petrol that we can use at these new TSI engines, I am anxious to read them.
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This is one of those topics where opinions always differ. For driving in the UK, the majority view is that 95 RON is fine unless your engone is in a high state of tune and the manufacturer recommends 97 or 98 RON.
But it does seem to vary country by country for some reason - even within a country, as we found a few years ago in South Africa where we were assured that 91 RON (which was all you could get inland) was equivalent to 95 RON in the Cape. There was no pinking or other apparent effect on our hire car (admittedly a near-indestructible Toyota).
So I would say you're right to play safe in Romania and stick to what's branded as 98 RON.
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Markets vary which method of measuring octane level they use - so 95 RON as we get in the UK, 91 PON/AKI used in North America and 86 MON are all the same.
Octane level drops over time, from the moment it's refined, so developing countries may take longer to turnover their fuel stocks
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I don't know if octane decreases during prolonged storage, unfortunately I believe it's human intervention.
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I don't know if octane decreases during prolonged storage, unfortunately I believe it's human intervention.
Seriously, it does - the refineries use various additional "fuels" to boost the octane up to the required number but in variable amounts as oil refining is a continuously variable process - it's these additional "fuels" that evaporate more readily than the base fuel, so reducing it's octane value.
Picking up on a different post, the reason that octane varies in South Africa is the inland areas are at much higher altitude than the coast and there's no performance advantage in higher octane fuel at higher altitudes.
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