premium petrol question

Katykat

Just got a new car and when I put petrol in for first time, there is a reminder on the petrol cap to use premium unleaded. Now, I've only ever used the cheaper standard unleaded. i dont want to damage the new car, but is there really much difference in the two? I know its only a few pence more, but it adds up to a lot when you fill a car up.

CvPiper

What car is it?

jase1

"Premium" unleaded is the standard stuff.

It is a historic thing: the old standard fuel was 91RON; premium was/is 95RON. The super unleaded fuel that costs more is 97-102RON depending on the garage.

So just continue to put in whatever is cheapest and you'll be fine, since you can't actually get standard unleaded anymore (or at least if you can it's not widely sold).

bengalknights

As jase1 states standard shouldnt really make a difference to the car unless its a brand new high end sports card which are designed with the higher RON rated fuel in mind in which case it would just be more of a performance issue then actually causing damage etc.

skiddlydiddly

Even if it is a higher performance car, if you lose lower grade fuel it will usually default to a safer ignition timing setting which will lose you power but not damage anything.

worried_jim

Just stick the cheapest in. All cars sold in Europe have to be able to run on it by European law. A Ferrari will be quicker on super, but when is a Ferrari not quick enough anyway.

[Deleted User]

Guys, jase1 has already explained that premium unleaded is the normal 95ron stuff. Not the super unleaded/v-power stuff.

Viper_7

It's not just all out performance that is lost as in power, but also performance as in MPG.

Many vehicles - mainly Modern Japanese models perform better in every way on higher octane fuels. If they perform better compared to the additional cost at the pump is up to you.
The ECU will determine how it can best utilise the fuel. A Few tanks of the same octane type are required to determine the difference - unless you reset the ECU

Katykat

Thanks folks, its a Nissan Qashqai 1600. We dont do much mileage in it, - about 5000 a year, so not really interested in the performance level, just want reliability and comfort. Think I'll continue with the cheaper unleaded

Lum

The OPs question has already been answered so I guess it's ok to derail now

Viper_7 wrote: »

Many vehicles - mainly Modern Japanese models perform better in every way on higher octane fuels. If they perform better compared to the additional cost at the pump is up to you.

The reason it makes such a difference on Japanese cars is that their "standard" unleaded is 98RON and "premium" is 100RON

Then they have to detune their engines to run on our crappy 95RON, unless it's a performance Subaru in which case they just don't bother and tell you to run it on 97 as a minimum.

Viper_7

Lum wrote: »

The OPs question has already been answered so I guess it's ok to derail now



The reason it makes such a difference on Japanese cars is that their "standard" unleaded is 98RON and "premium" is 100RON

Then they have to detune their engines to run on our crappy 95RON, unless it's a performance Subaru in which case they just don't bother and tell you to run it on 97 as a minimum.

Thanks for telling me something I already know.