sippo Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Apart from the price difference, is there really any big difference between the two. There has been so much speculation, premium gives you more mpg and better performance?
DT2 Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Isn't premium 97 octane, where regular is 95. Hotter burn, cleaner engine.... apparently.
Gatt Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Filled up with the premium yesterday morning - used quarter of a tank to do a 40 mile trip home Normal uses about the same after roughly 100 miles?!
denon101 Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 It's the octane rating in the fuel. Higher octane the bigger the bang and more power. They usually have some additives and special bits to try and justify the price. If it does any good, well you need to be the judge. Also some performace cars will only work on Premium or Super unleaded due to the engine mapping being written specifically for that fuel. If you don't use it, you get a really big BANG!!! Once!!
BenABF Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Premium I'm guessing will have a higher octane rating, the higher the rating the more advanced the ignition timing can be so may release a few more bhp, Depends largely on the engine and ecu of your car. Some really high performance engines with mega compression ratios need the premium stuff just to run smoothly. My Nova has a high compression engine, and the carbs and distributer are setup on higher octane fuel, if I put normal unleaded in it runsa like a dog. HTH.
featured_spectre Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 it depends on the car really. We put it in once a month and do notice a bit of a difference, maybe 4 more MPG than normal fuel...
TechMonkey Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 I used the premium diesel once as it was the same price as standard due to the garage trying to empty the tank ready for the winter mixture. Didn't notice much difference, maybe a couple of points of MPG higher, though mine fluctuates a lot so can't really tell. Someone since told me you only notice once you have used a couple of tanks to ensure you are just using premium and that it has cleaned the engine. I call poppycock but not going to try. I seem to recall someone doing a full on test logging everything down for a year and found little or no difference. I'll see if I can find the results.
3s-gtech Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Higher octane rating helps to prevent pre-ignition of the fuel due to compression - knock. Modern cars will often be able to detect this and adjust accordingly, so will run on either fine. There's little point though, unless your car has a high compression ratio or is turbocharged. The owners manual will inform you better. An example would be the Japanese Celica GT-4 ST202 - 100 octance fuel gives an extra 20bhp on these. Put the same thing in an NA Focus or something, you'll see little or no difference.
sted Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 i tried it last time i had a petrol car and iirc got WORSE mpg on vpower(i definately did with vpower derv) but it was a bit smoother (both petrol and derv) than standard fuel and the tesco premium stuff at the time the car just did not like at all it ran worse than on cheap 95ron sainsburys fuel.
TechMonkey Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Here is the WhatCar study which shows no great benefit & this site seems to have a good sum up about it. A good poin ti makes is you will probably get better results swapping brand then swapping to premium. 1
BenABF Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Nova.... I haven't seen one of those in years!! Yep, spent far too much on it really. Looks like a 1.2 but has a 140+bhp 1.6 8v GTE engine in it
DT2 Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Yep, spent far too much on it really. Looks like a 1.2 but has a 140+bhp 1.6 8v GTE engine in it That's a bit mental in a motor that weighs the same as a kingsize mars bar, and handles like a dog on lino.... I've seen some crazy mods to nova's, never got into it myself though.
BenABF Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Handles lovely with the correct weighted engine, polybushes and decent quality suspension. It's when you start going bigger that you get chronic tourque and understeer.
DT2 Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Handles lovely with the correct weighted engine, polybushes and decent quality suspension. It's when you start going bigger that you get chronic tourque and understeer. I about to begin some mod work to a 1.4i 1996 civic.... Pulse width modulated HHO ram injection system.... exciting stuff I tell you....
BenABF Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 I about to begin some mod work to a 1.4i 1996 civic.... Pulse width modulated HHO ram injection system.... exciting stuff I tell you.... Not really clued up on injection systems, Weber DCOE carbs and distribitors are where its at.
OB1 Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 Yep, spent far too much on it really. Looks like a 1.2 but has a 140+bhp 1.6 8v GTE engine in it Sounds like a proper Q car... AS far as I'm aware, it's only worth running premium if you've got a grey import or something that's mapped for 97/98 RON. Evos, Imprezas, MR2s etc. Some of these even need octane boosters on top. Nothing else will see much of a difference. Just my 2p.
sippo Posted January 25, 2012 Author Posted January 25, 2012 Having investigated more, it says use 98 ron which is the super unleaded. Does it make a difference if I use normal unleaded? I have put 'normal' in but haven't seen an issue.
BenABF Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 It'll run at reduced ignintion timings which will in theory should reduce the performance, it really does depend on what type of engine it is as to if it is noticable or not. No harm should come of it, but you won't be getting the best out of it.
sippo Posted January 25, 2012 Author Posted January 25, 2012 Think I'm gonna fill up with 98 tonight and see what happens.
difinity Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 I's just like to add, cheap supermarket fuel is just that....cheap fuel. It lacks certain additives that keep the engine clean, as a result certain engines that use idle contol valves etc. get gummed up more and require cleaning more often. Ok to use ocasionally, but it will cost more in mechanics bills if you used it constantly.
accura2000 Posted January 25, 2012 Posted January 25, 2012 When i did drive, i had a Vectra Sri, i saved around 5 quid every 150 miles.. Travelling to my inlaws in London, the run costs about 20 quid in normal pertol, about 15 ish quid on super. The main difference in older engines, not sure if it makes a difference in modern engines is that the petrol ignites and pushes the pistons down and round, as opposed to normal petrol when it essentially slaps the top of the piston. Another noticeable thing was when i had to do the head gasket on the car, the bottom end was nearly all shiny silver, on cars ran on normal petrol, the bottom end would be black! so engine wise, it is way better and saved me a fortune not having to clean up the bottom end of the engine. Ultimately, its the owners choice, the difference in petrol price was marginal compare to the overall running of the car, and if i decide to drive again instead of cycling, i shall be uses super again. Oh, and Tesco super is nowhere near as good as BP/Shell, my vectra used to jump around like a b*tch when on tesco super, but did hear that there super is normal fuel with chemical enhancements to make it a higher ron, and if you use BP Ultimate you can join the Ultimate club and collect double if not 4x nectar points when an offer is on.
sippo Posted January 25, 2012 Author Posted January 25, 2012 What vehicle is it out of interest? Skoda Ocatavia VRS. Argh didn't realise it would be so complicated! Obviously want the best for the car. Tesco's momentum got good reviews, but some say they haven't had an issue with it but some say they do.
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