[Bingalau]

Whilst idling away a couple of hours this afternoon I decided to read up on my User's Manual. I read the chapter on filling up with petrol and lots of other bits too. But later on I was looking to see whether I had actually locked my petrol cap and noticed there is a sticker which says that I must use "Super Unleaded". I can't remember reading about which petrol to use in the book. I never noticed the sticker when I filled it up either.


I filled the tank up a few days ago with ordinary cheapo unleaded and am now wondering if anybody can enlighten me as to whether it is necessary to use "Super". I can't see the one fill-up doing any damage but would like to know for the future.

 

[willowaz]

as supid as it sounds, i think that the normal cheapo unleaded is called super unleaded....

the better one is liek premium or such like, they have different names at each station

 

[catman]

HiThe up! brochure says to use 95RON unleaded - which is the basic unleaded. The Super unleaded is 98RON and isn't mentioned as a recommended fuel for the up!

I believe I read somewhere that the Super unleaded is really only for performance cars - so not the up!

 

[george929]

normal Petrol in this country is 95 octane.V power, BPUltimateect. are around 98,99 octane.

The octane of a fuel is its ability to with stand pressure without igniting.

usually it says on the inside of your fuel cap which octane fuel is best for your car..
one of the main reasons for allot of cars not going to the US is the problem of redesigning the engine to suit the lower octane fuels in the US.
sometimes octane rating can make a large difference on power output. sometimes 10 to 15bhp different between 95 and 99 octane.


I could go into much much more details about how iteffectspower butyou'dneed a bookmark to read it.

 

[george929]

i always use.. Vpower. because it is better for your engine.. and much much cleaner than cheap nasty supermarket fuel.... running your up on 98 octane fuel wont cause any problems it will make it run cleaner and moreefficient.definitelyworth the extra money....

on my sisters Edition 30 golf.. i have installed twoseparateECU maps one that is on 98 octane and one for 4 star leaded fuel 105 octane!! after having itpower testedon both fuels 4 star showed 20hp more than the Vpower .. but dont run 4 star in your up ! that will damage your cat unless your cheeky enough to go decat..

 

[bigsi07]

like george929 says use v power, engine will run cleaner and usually the slight gain in mpg covers the extra cost (did in my Mitsubishi)
bigsi07

 

[Manacee]

Nice to see the marketing's working. Go V Power!

 

[idletony]

like george929 says use v power, engine will run cleaner and usually the slight gain in mpg covers the extra cost (did in my Mitsubishi)
bigsi07

We had problems with my wifes Mitsubishi Pinin stalling at junctions and general poor running. After all the injectors had been cleaned (under warranty) the garage recommended we did not use supermarket petrol, after that we always filled up with shell and it always ran fine without any problems, so for certain cars there must be advantages in running branded fuel.

Edited by: idletony

 

[buzlightyear]

My sons race karts and use supermarket unleaded - it burns quicker and gives more power. Shell V power and BP ultimate have additives which will give more mpg by burning slower.

 

[george929]

My sons race karts and use supermarket unleaded - it burns quicker and gives more power. Shell V power and BP ultimate have additives which will give more mpg by burning slower.

i know what you mean buy this. but its notalwaysa good thing. im guessing you mean 2 stroke karts.. as i can remember readingsomewhere. that cheaper supermarket fuelsdon'tactuallymix correctly with 2 stroke oil. i used to have an Intrepid rotax kart(i bought from a mate who used to race. i just bought it for the fun) that obviously is a 2 stroke, now what you are saying is that you developed more power with cheaper fuels... I to found this to be the case..especiallyat higher revs when the power valve is open.
from what a read that 2 stroke oildoesn'tmix very well with cheaper fuel will prove this. the less oil in the fuel the cleaner it is going to burn and give a more even progressive flame spread giving a slight increase in power. but this does mean your engine wont be getting the ideal lubrication required. When driving my kart i did notice a very slight engine temperature difference on the digi dash with the engine being hotter with cheaper fuel than V power... also i noticed toward the end of a tank of cheap fuel the kart would produce slightly more smoke than before. where as a V power tank would smoke about the same.

Obviouslywhat i have seen may have been flukes. but i now always use v power ineverythingapart from garden equipment

PS. what i have just said may bealoadof rubbish!

 

[Bingalau]

Having read all the comments on here and also re=read the label on the inside of my filler opening. I am still puzzled as to which is best. The label on the filler says "unleaded minimum 95 ron". Which to me is the normal cheapest unleaded. But the word "minimum" signifies to me that it is o.k. to use the higher 98 ron? I gather from some comments here that it would be wiser to use the higher "ron" unleaded. With petrol at its present price I am still going to need some convincing that it is better to use the higher priced 98 ron fuel.

 

[Markmod1]

Either is fine, the engines in most cars are calibrated for worst case scenario, bad fuel, third world situations, the engine management on modern cars takes readings from sensors at various parts, places in the engine combustion and exhaust cycle and adjust ignition etc to compensate.

Yes you might get slighly more power with super unleaded, but you will pay for it highly in costs at the pump.

To be fair the vw ups engine isn't a race tuned, high compression, turbo charged, hot running, blue printed and balanced ultra high power unit that are often specified to use this fuel to prevent damage, I.e running hot, pre ignition etc etc. so I wouldn't worry too much. Also not sure about 'cheap supermarket' fuel is different from much of the other branded fuel. There are only so many distillation, oil cracking, fuel production plants about and I expect that much of the fuel comes from the same places, the difference is supermarkets buy in bulk and sell at a slight 'ahem cough' loss leader to get you into shop to spend too.

So long as you are not trying to run it on rubbing alcohol I suggest all pump fuel will be fine.Edited by: Markmod1

 

[yapmaul]

Having read all the comments on here and also re=read the label on the inside of my filler opening. I am still puzzled as to which is best. The label on the filler says "unleaded minimum 95 ron". Which to me is the normal cheapest unleaded. But the word "minimum" signifies to me that it is o.k. to use the higher 98 ron? I gather from some comments here that it would be wiser to use the higher "ron" unleaded. With petrol at its present price I am still going to need some convincing that it is better to use the higher priced 98 ron fuel.   

Hi Bingalau. I do enjoy your posts on here! I think this article tells you all you need to know really. I certainly won't be filling up with anything other than the cheapest petrol I can find and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forwards to doing so!
www.torquecars.com/articles/fuel-octane-ratings.php

 

[Bingalau]

Markmod1 and yapmaul. I must admit I was thinking along those lines myself. If the cheapest will do the job then that will do me. I am by no means a boy racer, I wish I was young enough to be one, but age wearied me and the years condemned long ago. I know I am in God's waiting room, (aren't we all?) but I am not in a hurry to get to the front of the queue for the exit door. So charging along motorways at speed is not for me, but I must admit that I normally cruise at about 75 to 80 mph when conditions allow. I prefer bumbling along at that speed when I am on overnight trips best. But nowadays I notice there are more vehicles taking to night driving than in the old days. I guess in another ten years or so, there will be just as many cars on the road at 02.00 hrs as there are at 14.00 hrs.






As you say supermarkets are getting their fuel from the same places as everybody else but can sell it at lower prices because of bulk buying just like all their other products. Hundreds of small garages must have closed because of their tactics. But what can anyone do about it as it is legal. I must admit I have always gone for the cheapest products no matter what it is. Must be human nature. Mind you when it comes to drinking rum, then I always go for the good stuff such as "Woods" or "Pussers" It goes better with the same amount of "Jamaican Ginger Beer" Result a beautiful "Dark and Stormy" (Not when driving of course as it could be deadly and hasten my move through the door previously mentioned).

 

[bigsi07]

First tank of fuel from dealer was unleaded and I averaged 52.2 mpg. Have since filled up with V-power and average has gone up to 62.3mpg. I know some of the improvement will be engine bedding in but nearly 18% is pretty impressive I think. I am actually driving the car a bit harder now so I'm well huffed.This is the long term reading which has not been reset.Edited by: bigsi07

 

[Leif]

Just got 60mpg, down from 65mpg. I filled up with Total Excellium today, then back to ordinary Total at the next fill, and we'll see if it does any good. The problem is that changes in weather or traffic can make a difference of 3mpg or more.

 

[bigsi07]

Not all "super unleaded" has 99 octane rating. You need to check this out. Also with my son learning to drive, the revs sometimes drop low and on 95 octane you could hear the engine pinking. This seems to be far far less on 99 octane.

 

[vwild1]

First tank of fuel from dealer was unleaded and I averaged 52.2 mpg. Have since filled up with V-power and average has gone up to 62.3mpg. I know some of the improvement will be engine bedding in but nearly 18% is pretty impressive I think.

There is no fuel on this earth that will magically give you 18% better fuel efficiency. I would caulk the increase up to learning how to drive your new car and the motor loosening up as it goes through its break-in period.

 

[SiJ2000]

Hi,

The fuel will make a difference for a couple of reasons...

1) Quality of the fuel (additives etc)
2) Octane rating

The Super Unleaded/V-Power/Ultimate will give you better fuel economy. You will also find that the engine feels more powerful/responsive.

The quality of the fuel also makes a difference. I will only use ESSO fuel in my cars or Shell/BP if I can't find ESSO. It makes a huge difference to the smoothness of the engine and for Diesel cars, the DPF doesn't get clogged up as often (regenerates less often).

People will argue both sides, but I will only use ESSO Super Unleaded in my Up! when I get it!

S

 

[Leif]

My one fill with a premium fuel (Total) thus far does not support better economy. I'll do a few more fills with standard fuel before I comment in detail, but any increase is going to be swamped by natural variation due to e.g. weather conditions. I think we really need standard tests in a road simulator using both standard and premium fuels.