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Which fuel and why.....?


Oli
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Only a couple of days now, and one of the first things I am going to need to do is fill her up. Lots of people rave about Optimax and other about BP - Which should I use and why? Is there a noticable difference between them and other 'super' unleaded. Any difference with MPG? 169144-ok.gif

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People will always debate this fact mate, but run her on Optimax or Ultimate. Although the engine will run RON 95, due to the knocking sensors in modern cars, however the car will not produce as much power and notably throttle response will be reduced.

The car will also produce higher emissions and may return less MPG. You will also not reap the rewards of the cleaning agents present.

Give her Optimax or Ultimate, she deserves it mate 169144-ok.gif

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In a previous thread apparently Evo magazine did a comparative test on the GTI with different fuels.

The quoted output figures were BP 95 Octane 204 BHP, 242 lb.ft torque.

BP Ultimate 212 BHP, 252 lb.ft torque.

Shell Optimax was apparently just short of the above figures.

Didn't read the article myself or aware of how scientific it was.

Always run mine on Optimax. (98 Octane as recommended for the GTI )

Would be interested to know in which EVO edition this article appeared though if anybody still has it ?

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There was also a very detailed comparison test on TV a (fair) few months ago - Fifth Gear I think. They tested different cars with unleaded 95, BP Ultimate and Shell Optimax.

The results basically said that if you run a high powered turbo car, the difference between petrol types is quite significant but on your 1.1 Fiesta there's not much difference.

Shell Optimax definitely came out as the best petrol for high powered turbo cars, followed by BP.

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Quite a lot has been written about why VW recommend using 98RON fuel for the 2.0T FSI engine. As a regular fuel for the GTI it doesn't make any sense to use otherwise. I have more trust in products from Shell than Tesco and so I exclusively use Optimax. They also have a good Station Finder on t'internet.

At 10,000 miles my mpg is suddenly improved! - At least, according to the computer readout.

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Why is BP Ultimate not used Red?

Based on feel, I thought Ultimate was better than Optimax but Fifth Gear did show that Optimax was a clear winner. Shell has introduced a 100RON fuel here in Australia which includes Ethanol to boost up the RON. I wonder what sort of an improvement that would have and whether the ethanol would have a detrimental effect on the car.

Anyone know much about ethanol?

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Yes saw this myself,the GTI was not considered to be a higher enough performance car to justify you from seeing much of a difference in the fuels.

When came to the Evo 7 there was a large increase in gained performance or torque as much as 10-12% with the GTI only managing 4-5% Optimax though came out on top....

When owned the E46 M3 this soon let you know by the engine note and feel if you used anything other than Optimax....

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Why is BP Ultimate not used Red?

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....Sorry, I don't quite understand your question. I think that some people here do use BP Ultimate. I cannot say that it's not as good as Optimax but I have a lot of faith in Optimax and have family history with Shell.

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GTiVeeDubber - the Tesco 99 fuel in the UK is 5% ethanol alcohol - available only at some Tesco petrol stations in the UK linky

In the UK there is another fuel called E85 bioethanol which is a blend of 85 per cent ethanol/15 per cent petrol - but this has very limited availability and few cars are set up to use it (eg Ford Focus FFV).

In a thread across on the Audi board, most people found the higher octane petrol gave better performance, but not always better economy

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It's a definite effect. Roger dropped the car off with probably 95 RON in. The car then had four tanks of optimax - the performance was breathtaking during tanks 3 and four - so much so I kept getting torque steer all the time (when putting my foot down). But, the mpg was lousy 25-28 mpg at best.

Now on tank 4 of 95 RON, the torque steer has stopped when i floor it, indicating the topline performance is worse, but the economay is now 32-35 mpg.

So, my conclusion is this : put 95 in MY tank, it helps to stop torque steer,and gives better economy....

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I have noticed an increase in economy with normal unleaded over Optimax. Not sure how much 2-4 MPG I think.

Car maybe doesn't quite pick up as quickly and doesn't have quite the same amount of power but I rarely get to use it to the full on todays roads anyway. Sob

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Audi A3 2.0 T FSI Sportback with lots of toys.

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The higher the RON the less likihood of engine pinking with high levels of ignition timing (advance) - the ECU sorts our the advance and the boost and will largely adapt to the fuel being used.

The biofuels - eg Tesco 99RON - also make Tesco more profit as they have a lower rate of tax than normal petrol due to their bioethanol content 48.35p/litre tax for normal petrol, 28.35 for biopetrol linky coffee.gif

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Just to throw the spanner in the works so to speak, but we have a new Sainsburys petrol station in our town, on speaking to the BP garage owner in the same town, he said that they were both supplied by BP ?

How does that work then? .............

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At our old site we used to have a petrol station - BP. All the fuel in our area came from Fawley. All they do is add different additives dependant on what brand of fuel was being sold. Fawley would supply all the petrol stations from Brighten to as far west as Weston Super Mare.

So all the unleaded was the same just with different additives and the same with diesel 169144-ok.gif

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