Technical Super Unleaded

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Technical Super Unleaded

Duncan said:
Just a quick question. Is it ok to run my 98 Cinq Sporting on Super Unleaded? Ive tried Tescos stuff and it ran fine, but BP Ultimate seemed to upset it a bit.

My Sei sporting had much the same problem, BP ultimate and Esso's Super 97 both caused the engine to lose power at the top end (wouldn't rev past 5000rpm in 5th even downhill). Optimax proved a bit better but not by much. Generic 95 premium though gives more power and more revs.

All of my other cars (from old Fords to new TVRs - and some cars that can only run on super unleaded) respond very nicely to any of the super unleaded brands but not my little Fiat. The situation isn't unique though, some Mitsubishis have the same difficulty.

As for being ok to run your car on the stuff - it won't damage the engine but you'll likely use more fuel trying to do the same journey as you tend to be heavier with the throttle to compensate for the power loss. Given that you pay extra for the luxury I would say it is basic maths that any attempt to do so is a waste of both time and money.
 
I found this after filling my Sei up with Tesco 99 Octane - seems a bit nippier at low speed, but on the motorway it was struggling in 5th to reach 70 which struck me as really odd. This is 5% bio-ethanol fuel as well. going to run this tank down and then try it with 95 octane and see how that goes. BP Ultimate worked nicely though.
 
on a cinq it wont make much difference at all. our golf runs 10 times better on higher octane fuel, but in the cinq it didn't make any difference at all. But then again I dropped a dose of redex in every 500 miles, so I suppose the fuel system was quite clean anyway.

On some cars, using 95ron can cause the engine to knock, but on a small, low performance (compared to some I mean) car that was designed to run on cheapo fuel it shouldn't make a difference, except maybe in economy.

Jon+Em
 
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