General Super Unleaded

[maccauk1]

The other afternoon, using a fuel station i hadn't used before I accidentally filled up with super unleaded.

Apart from the horrendous price, I reckon that the car runs considerably better, (1.1 active eco).

What's the consensus here?

 

[udtrev]

The other afternoon, using a fuel station i hadn't used before I accidentally filled up with super unleaded.

Apart from the horrendous price, I reckon that the car runs considerably better, (1.1 active eco).

What's the consensus here?

My 1.2 dynamic didn't notice much difference, my wallet on the other hand spent a fortnight in intensive care !!!

 

[trackdayqueen]

Have to run it in my integra type-R, but not worth using on a low performance car. Though I will say that if you are using V-power then it does have very good detergent qualities which will do no harm at all.

 

[ultrageek]

The last time I filled in 97 and above, I noticed that at higher speeds, i.e. > 115km/h; my petrol needle took a slightly longer time to drop as compared to using 95.
It was just a short 5km sprint though. But since then petrol over here has gone up.

Anyway, it's coming to the annual Chinese New Year and the accompanying mass exodus for me with a long 350km run. Am gonna take the little panda and fill her up with VPower and see the difference... and will put in my comments here...

 

[percymon]

Put it in the partners 1.2 occassionally, can't say it makes much difference to either performance or economy (possibly 1-2mpg extra).

Refuelled a 1.1 hire car in austria and that was like a rocket compared to whatever was in the tank before. Possibly they used 91 octane before, so the jump to 97+ frightened the poor engine into life

 

[Demic]

I use V-Power in my 100hp if I can. There's a slight difference I feel, a bit like driving on a cold crisp day with lots of lovely dense air for the engine. Subtle, but it's there never the less.

 

[greyridertoo]

Unless the ECU adjust for a higher rated fuel - which it doesn't in the Panda's case - then it shouldn't make any difference. It used to be worth bunging in a gallon of unleaded to lubricate the system now and again but that's long gone so I'd save the money and bung in the odd dose of Redex or similar instead. Not that I do.

 

[Advanced Driver]

Unless the ECU adjust for a higher rated fuel - which it doesn't in the Panda's case - then it shouldn't make any difference. It used to be worth bunging in a gallon of unleaded to lubricate the system now and again but that's long gone so I'd save the money and bung in the odd dose of Redex or similar instead. Not that I do.

It made a very noticeable difference in my 899cc Seicento. I have only used it once on the 100HP and didn't notice a difference, but I was still getting used to the car back then so I may try again sometime. On the Seicento, the engine was slightly quieter with it, but I didn't really notice the difference until I went back to normal petrol. When I went back to normal petrol it sounded so much better and faster. At about 60mph it felt like I was doing 80mph - it was so much fun! So I prefered the cheaper stuff in my Seicento, but there was a big difference.

 

[maccauk1]

Especially as it cost.......wait for it......£1.22 a bloody litre.

 

[David C]

It made a very noticeable difference in my 899cc Seicento.... On the Seicento, the engine was slightly quieter with it, but I didn't really notice the difference until I went back to normal petrol. When I went back to normal petrol it sounded so much better and faster. At about 60mph it felt like I was doing 80mph - it was so much fun! So I preferred the cheaper stuff in my Seicento, but there was a big difference.

Funny you should say that.
I had to fill my 899 Cinq yesterday morning and every pump had a massive queue, except the one that only had 97RON. I couldn't wait so filled with that. I'm genuinely surprised at the difference. It shouldn't make any difference, but it has!
Only non-std thing with the engine is that I had the head skimmed after a head gasket failure a while ago, so the compression ratio is slightly higher than normal, but not much.

 

[greyridertoo]

Similar thing happened with us on Friday, in a bit of a rush and the only pump free was serving up a "super" version of go juice. Bunged a tenner in the Panda and fled. By the end of play we'd used most of it over a fair run of Mway and dual carriageway driving. Sorry guys, not a jot of difference I could tell other than already stated, expensive stuff!

 

[gareth111278]

Next time i fill the Panda I'll put 97 in & see what 'Fuelly' comes back with for MPG.

I thought about it yesterday at Tesco's but bottled out!

Fuelly give you running costs in pence per mile but I'm not sure if that's for each fill or just an average.

The only problem is that my car is still 'loosening up' so the MPG gets better each time so that might skew the results in 97's favor.
[If anyone looks at my Fuelly page, the dip in MPG the time before last was me filling up to the brim { the system justs thinks you've used more fuel!}
Gareth

 

[David C]

I'm starting to think that either the head had been skimmed before to raise compression or that someone in the past has advanced the ignition timing, or it has been knocked out, because my little 899 Cinq is running much better on the BP 97RON than it ever has on normal 95RON...

I'm going to be faced with a dilemma when I fill up next time. :tempt:

 

[udtrev]

Next time i fill the Panda I'll put 97 in & see what 'Fuelly' comes back with for MPG.

I thought about it yesterday at Tesco's but bottled out!

Fuelly give you running costs in pence per mile but I'm not sure if that's for each fill or just an average.

The only problem is that my car is still 'loosening up' so the MPG gets better each time so that might skew the results in 97's favor.
[If anyone looks at my Fuelly page, the dip in MPG the time before last was me filling up to the brim { the system justs thinks you've used more fuel!}
Gareth

That fillup is not too bad Gareth, I often get variations

 

[AskCy]

We noticed that our old 2L Diesel Rover ran a lot better on the superdiesel stuff.... All its lumpy idling, hestiation and general overall running was much improved - It was an old car and probably wanted a good tuning and changes of oil etc but didn't get it as we were trading it in etc... Maybe those that notice a big difference between unleaded and superunleaded have the car tuned slightly to aggressively for the normal fuel so it runs slightly worse than is should ? (I don't mean tuned with turbos and boost controls, I just mean how its been set up and mapped etc during manufacture..)

??

Steve

 

[Kerrzinho]

My old XR2 ran better on higher octane fuel... but I can't say I was surprised by that.

I've never noticed any difference on any modern cars I've used higher octane fuel with.

 

[greyridertoo]

.....If anyone looks at my Fuelly page,

How do we do that? Is there a link somewhere, the graphics in your sig don't do it.

 

[udtrev]

How do we do that? Is there a link somewhere, the graphics in your sig don't do it.

And here comes the cavalry !!!

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/gareth111278/panda


Trev

 

[gareth111278]

Thinking only about possible MPG imporovements, how much better MPG would super unleaded need to give to give lower running costs? Is anybody's maths good enough to work it out?
Is it simply that if the fuel is, say, 5% more expensive a 5% improvement in MPG will cancel it out?

 

[David C]

In my Alfa 156, when I was doing a 2-hour each way commute every day, it made the difference between comfortably doing a whole week without refuelling and it being VERY tight on the way home on Friday!