Premium fuel - what the media in Oz think.....

[Zeuk in Oz]

What the great unwashed in Oz are being told :

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/stories/2041.asp

[632 Regal]

my assumption in the US is that the higher refined higher octane fuels are cleaner, this is what I read and I might not be correct but the majority of articles led me to believe this.

[Zeuk in Oz]

my assumption in the US is that the higher refined higher octane fuels are cleaner, this is what I read and I might not be correct but the majority of articles led me to believe this.
I think so too, which is why I run the highest octane I can in my M20 - I believe it contains injector cleaners and therefore probably pays for itself.

I had never thought to justify it due to extra mileage - interesting idea !

[rob101]

the higher the octane, technically, the further you should be able to drive on that fuel
this guy in the article doesn't know wtf he is talking about, higher octane fuels usually have a lower heating value per unit mass (kJ/kg). So if your car doesn't have knock sensors and high compression ratio (for example e34 535i) generally they will have worse mileage for a higher octane. but that said regular unleaded is a poorer quality fuel, but "technically" you should get less mileage if your engine doesn't have knock sensors.

[pundit]

this guy in the article doesn't know wtf he is talking about, higher octane fuels usually have a lower heating value per unit mass (kJ/kg). So if your car doesn't have knock sensors and high compression ratio (for example e34 535i) generally they will have worse mileage for a higher octane. but that said regular unleaded is a poorer quality fuel, but "technically" you should get less mileage if your engine doesn't have knock sensors.
My 1989 Toyota Tarago 2.2 Multipont (no knock sensor) ran worse on premium that standard ULP. It felt like it was down about 10% on power and I reckon 20% on economy.

[BigKriss]

Our chipped cars require a minimum of premimum unleaded. I'm under the impression that 98 RON fuels have better detergents in the fuel to help the engine remain cleaner. With cars without an knock sensor, the cars performance will not improve with an octane increase (it will decrease the chance of detonation though) and I haven't noticed any milage increases or decreases. I just try and run 98 RON whereever possible.

[wingman]

I run a minimum 95 RON. The handbook says 91 RON minimum. Why? Because I feel better about it. I've done no testing so I'm probably a sucker.

[F4Phantom]

I dont know much about the fuel except high octane fuel was invented for high compression to stop knocking as spoken of here. So if you dont have high compression you are wasting your money on the stuff. Also for a real life experiance I got rid of a 1997 WRX last year. Good little car, so when I got it I ran it on the premium stuff the whole time I had it - excpet the last couple of months. I changed because we had a huge fuel spike in price at the time and so one day I put in the cheapest stuff available. Anyway it turns out the car got an easy 50km more per tank and up to 80 and occasioanlly around 100km. I could not believe it so of course thats all I used from then on, so I find it a hard sell for me to use it on the BMW. I doube these tough older engines would notice.

[Paul in NZ]

i do ussually run 91 ron day to day but when ever I anticipate some sprited driving i throw in 95 Ron.On 96 which has been phased out i used to get slightly better economy and it felt "nicer"

[wingman]

Bo,
I forgot to tell you how much I liked the look of your colour coded bumpers and trim. I always thought that colour coding was odd but in the flesh it looks cool!

[romus]

Yeh I had people tell me they get more mileage out of PULP but same as you, that is not why I use it. I use it because it runs cleaner and there's no pinging (or what do you call it?). I tried that 'new' fuel from Shell once, with the red tag, but i still had that pinging sound and didn't feel right. I never use anything but Premium. They can test it and find it a con all they want.

[rob101]

Not to contradict what I said before, but I have read in motor of a road test they did with some V8 hsvs (which are relatively high compression 10.9:1 these days) on a closed test track with either premium or regular vs. ultimate. ultimate did have better fuel economy. but theoretically you shouldn't get better economy without knock sensors and high comp on higher octane (useless you are pinging everywhere).

I Hate the media in this country when it comes to cars roads etc., bloody sheep. if they ever had an intelligent thought, that was non-sensationalist and an issue that would benefit our society to be examined, It'd be the quickest trip in Australia, if not the universe. As evidenced by their so called experts who don't seem to know wtf they are talking about. I am asking the members from the US to import some disgruntled USPS workers with a large cache of small arms and we will send them to the set of a current affair. Its a win win situation for both countries :D

Personally I am mandated to use at least premium on both my cars as i have high comp euro e34b28 on leaded (recommended 98 RON anyway) and the m50 recommended 95 RON. For the extra 5 cents a litre, I'd go ultimate anyday over premium, ultimate is from what i have read the highest quality (cleanest, lowest sulphur) motor vehicle petrol on sale. And yes ultimate does have detergents and reputedly (from the same motor article) keeps your fuel system clean as a whistle.
.......and End Rant

[Rory525]

The lowest octane fuel you can buy here in the UK is 95 RON, I wonder why we dont get 91 ?

Seeing as the sticker on my M50 says 95 RON minimum Im not wishing we had 91 lol

[Zeuk in Oz]

Bo,
I forgot to tell you how much I liked the look of your colour coded bumpers and trim. I always thought that colour coding was odd but in the flesh it looks cool!
Thanks Tony, but I can't take any credit for it - it was like that when I bought it almost 3 years ago !

Personally I would prefer the stock look, but I don't give it high priority wrt to changing it. At least it's not rust ! :)