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General Good petrol? Bad petrol? (for a 2001 Sporting model)

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General Good petrol? Bad petrol? (for a 2001 Sporting model)

Tara100

Tara100

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Hi

I'm owned my Sporting for nearly two weeks now, and she will need petrol in the next few days, and I'm curious as to which would be the best petrol to put in her?

Some say go for branded fuel and don't touch Sainsburys / Morissons / Tesco petrol etc as it's watered down (no idea if this is true)
Others recommend using the higher octane fuel, and on the other hand, some say it's only good for high performance cars.

So....
I thought that the best place / people to ask are Seicento Sporting owners for their experiences / views :D

Thanks in advance
Tara
 
I tried the higher octane 97 unleaded in mine a few times, and I'm sure that it made it run worse...personally on a standard engine, I would just use the normal 95 unleaded. I use Sainsburys or Tescos 99% of the time, as the nearest "branded" station to me charges an extra 10p/litre....and in the last 10 years the only problem I've ever had was petrol from a BP station, which had water in their fuel tank.
 
Hi Tara,

I have a Seicento Active, I mainly use Tesco fuel in mine, I have tried other like Texico (didn't run well on that fuel) Sainsburys and Asda i've used with no issues.

I've also run on Shell STD and V-power but didn't notice any difference.

Hope this helps.

Martyn
 
Thanks Martyn

I'll be using BP or Sainsburys then, as they both give the same price per litre, and they offer the cheapest petrol in my town.
 
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I've just worked out the fuel efficiency of the car, and over 230 miles (mixed motorway and town driving 70-30 mph ) I've got 47 MPG.

Is this ok / good / average?

Thanks again
Tara
 
30 to 60 is possible, you need to use highmiler techniques to get more

there is an owner's handbook in the downloads section of the site which is useful for fuse replacement or folding the rear seats up etc.

e.g. the screen washer bottle filler cap is well hidden
 
Ah, I see....

Broken down, the 47 MPG was over 150 miles motorway and 80 miles short stop-start town driving. :)
 
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Er - sorry to rain on anybody's parade , but I have run both my present 2000 Sei and previous Chinc (and previous Honda nx650 'bike) on super only , Tesco 99 for preference , except when not available , and you certainly can tell the difference in terms of throttle position , sprightliness , and ability to climb hills .
Just sayin'
 
anything over 95ron in a normal cento is just a waste really, i use high octane in the turbo but thats highly strung motor and it helps prevent detonation etc. With mr fingers, its just a placebo - even if the difference was measurable on a dyno it would be so small that you could not tell the difference. Its like fitting an aftermarket panel filter, it may make an extra 1 maybe 2 bhp if your lucky but this is not a big enough change in performance for a human body to feel. Placebo's can be strange and bizarre things.

Tara, any unleaded you will find on a forecourt in the UK will do fine really ;)
 
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lots of people will buy a more expensive product on the basis that it must be better cause it is more expensive, Fiat recommend 95 octane...

The MPG is very dependent on the number of cold starts the first five miles it guzzels fuel after that it sips.
 
I use 99 octane in my turbos, too.

Now I remember, 5th Gear did do some dynamometer tests of various fuels, which may be on the Net somewhere. Essentially they found that engines designed for 95 octane made no more power on 99 octane than on 95, while (some) engines designed for higher octane fuels would run on 95, but lost power on the cheap stuff. (Don't try this on cars where the ECU is unable to adjust the ignition timing to compensate, or mahem will occur.) From memory, they used a late Imprezza (it would destroy an early one) and something awefully posh.

Although associated with performance, high octane fuels are actually slower burning than low octane ones. This becomes very apparent with super high octane fuels like Methanol, Ethanol and LPG which require a lot of ignition advance to get peak combustion at more or less the right time.
 
fingers99 said:
I use 99 octane in my turbos, too.

Now I remember, 5th Gear did do some dynamometer tests of various fuels, which may be on the Net somewhere. Essentially they found that engines designed for 95 octane made no more power on 99 octane than on 95, while (some) engines designed for higher octane fuels would run on 95, but lost power on the cheap stuff. (Don't try this on cars where the ECU is unable to adjust the ignition timing to compensate, or mahem will occur.) From memory, they used a late Imprezza (it would destroy an early one) and something awefully posh.

Although associated with performance, high octane fuels are actually slower burning than low octane ones. This becomes very apparent with super high octane fuels like Methanol, Ethanol and LPG which require a lot of ignition advance to get peak combustion at more or less the right time.
Click to expand...

 
All standard (and by "standard" I mean unmodified) Cinqs & Seis should run perfectly on 95RON and show no improvement on 99RON (and could possibly run worse as they have no knock sensors).
However I suspect the ignition timing is slightly out on my 899 Cinq and that combined with the slightly higher compression ratio from needing the head skimmed means I get pinking on 95RON but it runs perfectly on 99RON (Tesco 99 most of the time).

I know I should just adjust the ignition timing, but I suspect the screws will snap and just using 99RON is a lot less painful...!
 
David C said:
All standard (and by "standard" I mean unmodified) Cinqs & Seis should run perfectly on 95RON and show no improvement on 99RON (and could possibly run worse as they have no knock sensors).
However I suspect the ignition timing is slightly out on my 899 Cinq and that combined with the slightly higher compression ratio from needing the head skimmed means I get pinking on 95RON but it runs perfectly on 99RON (Tesco 99 most of the time).

I know I should just adjust the ignition timing, but I suspect the screws will snap and just using 99RON is a lot less painful...!
Click to expand...

Is that possible (adjusting the ignition timing) on an 899?
 
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