"Premium" petrol

Mark7799

Filling up last night and found almost all unleaded pumps out of action. Thankfully found one working (out of eight on the forecourt) as I thought I was going to have to pay more for 'Optimax' or 'Super Unleaded' (whatever the brand was called).

This led me to wonder, does anyone else use these fuels and have you noticed any improvement in performance or cost saving in consumption?

iluvmylexus

there is a difference in performance
whether it is worth the extra cost is up to you

stumpjumper

generally - unless you have a car that can take advantage of the higher RON fuel - you wont see any change.

I had a Citroen C4 which used to get an extra 50miles on a tank of Shell Optimax.

now have a '95 MX-5 which doesnt recognise the premium fuel, and i get the same range out a tank fuel as the ave.

what the likes of Optimax/V power and other premium fuels is that they have better cleaning propteries - i find that putting in a tank or 2 of premium and the car is running better afterwards.

saintjanet

Auto express did a test on various fuels including basic supermarket fuels and fuels like optimax,they found various improvements in fuel consumption,ease of starting and engine cleanliness,performance figures too.

The problem seems to be that only certain vehicles seem to benefit.I cant find the mag. now to give any more detail!!come to think it may have been EVO magazine,not auto express.

philhuff

albertross wrote:

they are certainly not worth the 6p/litre premium over ordinary petrol.

That's a matter of opinion rather than fact. While I'd agree that you're unlikely to save enough fuel through improved economy to get back that 6p a litre, the other benefits that you can't put a cost on (improved response and performance) may be worth more than 6p to that individual.

Personally, I'm prepared to pay a bit more to have a better performing car. And, whilst not the best loyalty reward to start with, I get more Air Miles from Shell for using V-Power than I would for using normal petrol.

Astaroth

I am a little confused here...

I read the OPs question to be about the difference between 95 and 97 RON petrol from the same garage. If this is the question then there certainly is a difference between the two - roughly speaking, and in old money terms, 97 RON is equiv to old 4* petrol where as 95 RON is 3*. For most cars you will see very little difference between the two but for performance vehicles and if there are any old leaded petrol cars that have been converted to run on unleaded still going are more or less the only ones who are going to see anything noticable.

If you are talking about the difference between branded and supermarket petrol as some seem to think the OP is asking then there is very little difference in the actual petrol itself but the different brands do add different extras to it that are supposed to do things like reduce engine wear. This is very much more subjective but indications are that there is some difference between brands but may be not enough to justify the price differences.

gazhawkins

On my Corolla 1.6SR I got slightly improved performance and about 2mpg extra from BP Ultimate Unleaded 97 RON.

However, given that it cost an eye watering 9p per litre more than Sainsburys ordinary unleaded petrol, or 7p a litre more than BP Ordinary Unleaded - I didn't think it was worth it.

Incidentally, I got the same results with Sainsburys/BP ordinary unleaded; perhaps unsurprising as some blogposts suggest that BP supply Sainsburys with fuel.

philhuff

albertross wrote:

As is your post...

The OP asked for other peoples experience..my experience with Optimax (haven't tried Vpower) is that it isn't worth the extra money, no noticeable (positive) difference in performance, responsiveness, or fuel saving.

Look on the Shell website, very few facts and lot's of marketing - if Shell can't substantiate their claims with facts or independent test results, then what hope is there for the rest of us.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to be argumentative, if that's how my post came across.

As other people have said, it does vary from car to car and, to a certain extent, driver to driver - I 'feel' things in a car that my wife doesn't even know exist, but then I've been running and racing cars for the last 20 years. If I couldn't, I shouldn't be in a job!

Assuming a persons car can adjust to take advantage of the 'better' fuel, there will be a difference. A noticeable one? Not necessarily. There's roughly 3% more torque available when it's used in my car, but it's a personal judgement whether that is worth the £4 a tank difference.