Ok so I was wondering if it was worth on a 500 to fill up with Premium fuel?
Like BP Ultimate or Shell V-Power?

Does the 500 have that (i think its called) Knock sensor that adjusts your engines timings to the premium fuel?

Would it do my engine any damage or would i just not see any improvement?

I want to keep my car to the max

It wont do any damage - but on the occaisions i've tried it i've not really noticed a difference.

I tried 95, 98 and 100 octane fuel......it's all the same.
And interestingly, 95 octane seems to be the most fuel efficient (+ it's the cheapest). I drive 1.4 model.

You won't notice much difference in performance with petrol, if any. Diesel fuels, on the other hand, can vary quite a bit, so their owners should stick to quality brands.

1.4 revs out quicker cleaner on V Power or Tesco99

I've used V-Power in the Abarth and standard 95 and noticed no difference at all.

Si

RobW said:

1.4 revs out quicker cleaner on V Power or Tesco99

Click to expand...

Was initially impressed with Tesco's 99 for a couple of fill ups on me old Junior a couple of years ago, but then ended up with serveral problems that I think it caused. Its got a blend of bio-ethanol added which can cause problems with the fuel pipes and carbs in older cars and also create a sugary substance, which caused problems with my new spark plugs.

I had to replace the plugs and give the car a good old italian tune up using, what my brother used to call, "Man's Fuel", the "full fat" leaded petrol, which at the time (2 years ago) cost around £1.30 a litre so god knows what it costs now! Thats around 98 ron and really improved the old cars performance for a while. I usually run it on Ultima or V-power now. Never try anything out of the ordinary with my newer cars.

It should only help if the engine has knock sensors and can advance the ignition timing / increase boost to match the fuel. Our Impreza is quite sensitive to it, stick a tank of 95ron in it and it hates it, reduces boost and retards ignition timing. The vast majority of non-performance non-turbo engines won't give two hoots what you stick in them as long as it burns and the fuel pump can deal with it what you feel is either a placebo or an effect of decent cleaning additives in the fuel.

Most people (myself included) won't be able to tell the difference in performance between (say) when it's 5*C and when it's 20*C. About the same difference would probably be available from Super at best.

Some cars as stated do depend on it (1990 MR2-turbo for example) but for the rest of us the cheapest is the best!

have a read of this

http://www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk/tuning/Fuel_Test_Results_Update.shtml

I have always run my 1.4 Sport on Shell V-Power. When I changed plugs at 8,500 miles I was amazed that the piston crowns were still shiny So even if the power gains were small, the clean-running of these high-grade fuels is still beneficial, if you were intending to keep the car for a long time.

John

AdamP1991 said:

It should only help if the engine has knock sensors and can advance the ignition timing / increase boost to match the fuel. Our Impreza is quite sensitive to it, stick a tank of 95ron in it and it hates it, reduces boost and retards ignition timing. The vast majority of non-performance non-turbo engines won't give two hoots what you stick in them as long as it burns and the fuel pump can deal with it what you feel is either a placebo or an effect of decent cleaning additives in the fuel.

Click to expand...

Wifes legacy turbo (same engine) is the same. Much much prefers BP ultimate. Does anyone know if the 1.2 and 1.4 have knock sensors? John R Smith why did you change the plugs at 8,500 miles? Surely they're meant to last a lot longer?

alfatastic said:

Was initially impressed with Tesco's 99 for a couple of fill ups on me old Junior a couple of years ago, but then ended up with serveral problems that I think it caused. Its got a blend of bio-ethanol added which can cause problems with the fuel pipes and carbs in older cars and also create a sugary substance, which caused problems with my new spark plugs.

I had to replace the plugs and give the car a good old italian tune up using, what my brother used to call, "Man's Fuel", the "full fat" leaded petrol, which at the time (2 years ago) cost around £1.30 a litre so god knows what it costs now! Thats around 98 ron and really improved the old cars performance for a while. I usually run it on Ultima or V-power now. Never try anything out of the ordinary with my newer cars.

Click to expand...

When I lived in Australia and drove a Peugeot 504 I used to run BP Ultimate (98 Octane in Australia as opposed to the 97 here) and when my dad wrecked the car after I left he said the inside of the engine was great and the valve seats were fine. My brother used to run hils Giulia Sprint GT on Ultimate as well and it ran very well

I plan to have my car for awhile so having a cleaner engine anyway is worth the added extra and just for my peace of mind!

306maxi said:

My brother used to run hils Giulia Sprint GT on Ultimate as well and it ran very well

Click to expand...

The old Alfa Nord twincams are all alloy engines so had hardened valve seats from new, so when Leaded petrol was dropped, it wasn't a problem, except for timing issues, which is fairly straight forward to sort, but I think mainly runing on higher octaine fuel is fine with out altering the timing. I have when needs must ran it on the normal unleaded to.

I've put about 3 tanks of leaded in in the last 6 years. Always runs a little sweeter afterwards, the lead gives everything a nice protective coating for a while, and smells great too:yum: