Super unleaded rip-off

thelawnet

Anyone know why it costs so much? When I was in France the 98 octane was just about €0.02 more than the 95, but here the price difference is around £0.08.

maninthestreet

Unless you drive a high performance car, you are wasting your money buying super unleaded petrol - stick to the cheaper grades.

thelawnet

Well my car actually says 98 octane recommended (it's a 2 litre turbo), but I don't buy the super. Might consider it if the price difference was €0.02 though

forgotmyname

Supply and demand. Few people want it, And even less actually need it.

So they lose a whole storage tank for something that may last a whole week where the other tanks have to get filled daily.

sharpy2010

thelawnet wrote: »

Well my car actually says 98 octane recommended (it's a 2 litre turbo), but I don't buy the super. Might consider it if the price difference was €0.02 though

What car is it? I've got a 2 litre turbo too (Subaru STi), and if run on 95 ron petrol for any length of time it will detonate the engine and kill it.

Mine never runs on less than 97 octane. Does make me wonder how much extra I've spent over and above 95 octane fuel prices, as its a thirsty car at the best of times.

forgotmyname

What car is it? I've got a 2 litre turbo too (Subaru STi), and if run on 95 ron petrol for any length of time it will detonate the engine and kill it.

The ignition should detect the lower fuel quality from the knock sensor and retard the timing.

It wont explode or detonate.

sharpy2010

forgotmyname wrote: »

The ignition should detect the lower fuel quality from the knock sensor and retard the timing.

It wont explode or detonate.

It certainly SHOULD do, this is stated in the manual.

It isn't the experience of multiple people on the Subaru forums though, so whilst it should be ok to use 95 octane, I'm definitely not going to chance it.

At very least, the car won't perform to what it is capable of.

Paradigm

thelawnet wrote: »

Anyone know why it costs so much? When I was in France the 98 octane was just about €0.02 more than the 95, but here the price difference is around £0.08.

That's easy...we are in the UK, we just keep paying!

Now if we burned a few sheep & blocked a few ports like our cross channel friends we might get somewhere.

sj999

Most cars run fine on standard unleaded, evens sports cars.
Mum use to put super unleaded in her Ka. But that was just because it was the closest petrol pump.

SpeedyMarcus

Never used it, same for premium diesel choices - unless you have a company fuel card or cash to burn why would you? Accepted, there may be some performance trade-off for high-end sports cars, but my days of fast driving were short-lived and a long time ago.

Notmyrealname

thelawnet wrote: »

Anyone know why it costs so much? When I was in France the 98 octane was just about €0.02 more than the 95, but here the price difference is around £0.08.

And diesel was considerably cheaper when I was in France in August than either 95 or 98 RON yet it is more expensive here.

France is not the UK and there's nothing that says prices have to be similar.