Shell Optimax or BP Ultimate???

[Stu R]

Does anyone know the difference between? Which would be best in by baby?

Bravo 155 HGT

For Optimax I would have to pay stupid motorway price or go well out of my but if it is really worth it compared to BP Ultimate than I am prepared to do it.

Any other petrol that I could look at aswell in the same catogory?

Cheers in advance chaps

"Old enough to know better, Young enough not to care"

 

[Dan]

some tesco's sell 99ron fuel chap, I found in romford they sell it for the same price as I pay for normal unleaded in Peterborough.

Dan

Skate2create/D Unit...24/7

 

[Sp33dy]

aye we kno wall about the 99 ron fuel chap lol

 

[Ben]

Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear did a comparison on the different types of fuel.

http://195.54.228.132/fifthgear/jsp/5gmain.jsp?lnk=600

I had to email them and ask them to put it up on their site, as I couldnt remember the difference.

I guy I know recons he had about 20mph top end different on mondeo V6 when using optimax rather than 95ron stuff

 

[marko]

As i understand it, only TVR build and include Optimax in their cars because the engine was designed around the fuel (you know what i mean). It will make no difference to your engine performance unless it has been tuned with that fuel included.
I could be wrong...

 

[Stu]

Was not just thinking of performance gain for it though that would be good.

Was thinking more in the lines of better throttle responce and fuel econamy.

But more torque is sounding more and more tempting

"Old enough to know better, Young enough not to care"

 

[nico]

I run nothing else

much to my amazement I have to say
with Optimax the mule pulls better and even sounds different too

 

[Stu]

Does the mule think that it would be worth it for my baby to go 8 miles out of her way (16miles total trip) for the champaigne of petrol?????

"Old enough to know better, Young enough not to care"

 

[steve]

Fifth gear did a test of various fuels.
Results here
http://fifthgear.five.tv/jsp/5gmain.jsp?lnk=601&featureid=143&pageid=273

 

[ashley h]

why does the golf only produce 172bhp when its listed as 197?

 

[Lee]

I should think that 172 is at the wheels, 197 is at the flywheel...someone correct me if im wrong!

 

[Tommy L]

So I take it would be not much use in a bravo 1.8hlx?

 

[steve]

There doesn't seem much (if any) improvement in the power side of things.

If you only did it for the economy you would have to factor in the extra milage just to fetch the fuel. Added to the extra cost of the fuel, I'd say it weren't worth it.

 

[Ben]

I only ever run my 1.8 HLX on Optimax. Howevr I have done this with all my cars. It cant do any harm...

The Ron rating of the fuel was explained well in fifth gear in lay terms...

The higher the rating the more control over the engine the ECU has, and so it can run better, producing more power and torque.

I have no idea about cleaning of the engine, or fuel econemy, mine always stinks. I am happy to get anything over 300 miles from a full tank of anything

 

[Buzz]

I always run my 1.8HLX on Shell Optimax about 95% of the time, as it costs the same as my local BP charges for standard stuff! the shell is 800yards past my work.
the other 5% of the time i run on Sainbury super-unleaded, which again costs the same as my local BP rip offs charge for boggo fuel.

I have tried on regular fuel and within days i felt it was much more sluggish to accelerate, and it just didn't feel the same.

@Ben, i get at least 350miles on a tank filled right up, and run till the light comes on. tested several times, and the most i got was 490 before i chickened out and put 49litres in
I drive 22miles twice a day, plus the usual 3-4 mile shop runs most days. Do you have a particularly heavy foot? (And i certainly wouldn't say i drive like a grand-dad)
(Oh, and my engine runs as sweet as a nut... its always been smooth, even now at 75k its like nearly new. It has had 8 services in its 6 year life, but i think a good part of it is down to good fuel, particularly now that its into its middle-age)

Buzz (formerly LightWarrior)
The champion of the Bravo 1.4
Owner of the Bravo 1.8
Member Page

 

[Sven]

Had only one tank of optimax in my life - bllody monopolists , but my delta was absolutley happy with it
She pulled like mad - standard fuel back in - loss in performance

Members Site - - - - - - - My Site

 

[Tom]

"The higher the rating the more control over the engine the ECU has, and so it can run better, producing more power and torque."

Which is pretty much total tosh (about what you'd expect from 5th gear)

The ECU has no more control than with normal petrol.

The difference is down to the calorific value and the burn rate of the fuel. These determine the peak pressures and temps which in turn determine the torque output.

 

[RR]

Optimax, every day.

 

[Steve]

On a normal, modern, fuel injected car with ECU, Optimax etc. is more than likely going to be a complete waste of money.

With a higher performance turbo car, it's possible that you'll see a difference - but I'm not convinced by the Fifth Gear figures.

As for the 'calorific value' - that's a load of tosh, too. The advantage of high octane fuels comes purely by being able to advance the ignition without pinking. For this you need s knock sensor, something which I'm pretty sure no-one has on their Bravo/a/Marea.

The standard ECU can tweak the advance to a certain extent, but not by enough for it to make a difference you can feel or measure.

 

[Stu]

I would have to disagree.

I new some one who had a toyota corolla 1.6GTI import running normal 95Ron Fuel.
Top speed was about 124mph on the needle.

He put a full tank of Optimax in plus a small bottle of octane booster. This put his octane level to about 100.

The cars top speed by the needle was then 135mph and he had to remove his foot off the pedal because he was running out of road.

I know it does something good. Just wanted to know which was best???

"Old enough to know better, Young enough not to care"