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[geoffr70]

Hello, normally being the cynical and analytical person I am, I wouldn't succumb to 'gimmicks' such as premium or higher octane rating fuel. Anyway, I decided to try it in the Elite. I don't know what is meant to be good about it, or what octane rating it is, only that it is meant to be better, and that it costs more!

I seem to on target to get 330 miles from the tank instead of my usual 280 ish. This might however have something to do with my longer journeys cruising at a steady speed, and less round the doors.

Anyway, the party piece was when I had it in sports mode, turned left out of a junction and was doing 60 before I knew it! It seemed to be alot more responsive! I've got a bottle of cataclean to go in so i can't wait to see what it's like after that!

Incidentally, i took the MV6 out for a spin and gave it some (I normally prefer a more sedate driving style), the noise coming from it was absolutely amazing, it didn't half shift aswell. I still think the acceleration in my auto elite is faster 20-40 though.

What does anyone else think about premium fuels?

(I used shell fuel)

[Del Boy]

Shell V-Power diesel really made an improvement in the van, and the Mercedes when I still had that actually. Super unleaded/ Shell V-Power/ BP Ultimate Unleaded make a large difference in the BMW too 

[geoffr70]

Oh that's right Del Boy i think it was V power. I think I'll be sticking with that from now on!

[PhilRich]

I used Shell V Power a month or so after I first got my car due to there being a scare about the quality of Supermarket petrol at the time. I found it more responsive & slightly higher mpg too, but couldn't justify the extra cost over the long term
Since i've converted to LPG, it is now a moot point since I only use petrol to start the car from cold (30 seconds maximum per day) and then only on cold days as it starts on gas with no problems during normal summer mornings!

[V6 CDX-er]

Shell V-Power diesel really made an improvement in the van, and the Mercedes when I still had that actually. Super unleaded/ Shell V-Power/ BP Ultimate Unleaded make a large difference in the BMW too 

Yep. I'd add Total Excell to that list as well.

Improvement in fuel range and performance in the Seat and the Chim, and fuel range only in the Land Rover. (around 25-40 miles per tank).

[Del Boy]

ESSO super unleaded is quite good too 

[Rockhampton]

Used to use the Texaco high octane unleaded in my Saab 900 Turbo 16 - made a noticeable difference over regular unleaded - virtually no knocking, better economy (not that you'd drive that car for economy):-? and cleaner acceleration. Not tried it in the Omega yet, but might treat it to a tank to do the Pepsi challenge 

[Omega_Dan]

Ran Shell V-Power in my other cars but not tried it in the mig yet. all previous cars have been sub 1600cc so only ever noticed a slight increase in MPG.

Will tank with V-power up for the chester meet

[davethediver]

I thought that as the omega was designed to run on normal octane stuff that the higher octane stuff wasn't worth it.  :-/

[Lizzie_Zoom]

I thought that as the omega was designed to run on normal octane stuff that the higher octane stuff wasn't worth it.  :-/

..............and I have found you to be right, having "tested" super fuels in both my past Senator and all my Omega's.

[Kevin Wood]

As I've said before, I don't personally believe the Omega engines are in an extreme enough state of tune to make "Super" fuels worthwhile.

The only mechanism by which they can make noticeably more power or economy is if the engine was retarding the ignition due to knock on regular fuel beforehand.

If you see a genuine improvement with a premium fuel it's probably more of a reflection of the quality of the fuel you had in before you filled it up. Either that or the cleaning additives these fuels profess to contain have done their work.

That's not true for all cars, of course. With forced induction or higher compression engines it can be very much worthwhile.

I have also found that filling up with super at a village fuel station in the middle of nowhere can do more harm than good, because if it's been sitting in the tanks for too long, and only purchased by the odd passing exotic car, it can be in a worse state than the 95 RON that the locals buy. If you want to try it, buy it at a garage that does a good bit of trade. 

Kevin

[Jimbob]

Ive found our cars do run smoother on it.

Dont forget the premium fuels tend to have far better cleaning properties too, so on that basis alone a tankful every now and again is beneficial.

Personally, I do 'think' I get very slightly better performance / economy.

why not try it yourself on the 12th Nov...5p per litre of every purchase of Shell V-Power to celebrate the end of the F1 season 

[bluey]

Comparing the two fuels is a little bit unfair in some ways because in this country we don't have particularly good quality fuel.  The state of forecourt tanks varies considerably and the octane quality going in your tank can swing around. Most people will have seen the stories last year-ish where a spate of drivers had their cars breakdown soon after visiting supermarket forecourts, which should tell you something about how bad our petrol can sometimes be in this country.  Basically, if you go for a better spec fuel you will invariably notice a difference, not because the premium fuel is so much better but the standard stuff can be quite poor.

Two years ago I did a back to back test on full tanks comparing Shell's standard 95 RON to their V stuff and made a few basic notes on them.  My Mig's fuel consumption went down slightly by an extra 2.6 miles per gallon and performance increased, with a whole second chopped off the 50 - 70 acceleration figure, so it did make a difference, plus tickover was noticeably smoother with the needle holding rock steady instead of hunting across a small rev range. 

Because I don't do big journies anymore I tend to put in half a tank every fifth visit to the local petrol station (when I remember to do it anyway), mainly to use the better detergent properties.  Since the beginning of the year I've been putting in a squirt of Redex in every other trip to the Shell garage for the standard stuff too, so hopefully the fuel system on it is in decent nick overall and isn't gummed up. 

[2woody]

there are two issues here - neither makes any difference to the "super" fuel

octane rating. Kevin's right, the engine will be happiest burning the octane fuel it was designed to use - and that means 95Ron ( actually, probably 93ron ). So the use of a fuel with a higher octane will have no advantage, the fuel map will be established using the lower octane.

cleanliness. Omega has a fuel filter, so cleanliness isn't a problem downstream of that, provided, of course, that the filter element isn't burst.

the only time I tried it was during a "blind" test - the users only noticed a difference when told they were using a high-octane fuel.

[Phil]

I recently saw evidence that i believe high octane fuels are worth while.

A Mazda 6 2.2 diesel is supposed to produce 183bhp, the owner had it from new done iirc 20k in 9ish months and ONLY run it on V-power diesel, it recently went on a RR and produced 234bhp.

This was on the same day a totally standard Astra VXR produced bang on book figure, along with a 20 year old 525i BMW, a 9 year old Astra diesel van, a 15 year old 1.8 Vectra  and a couple of other standard cars. So although rollers can be out, on this occasion i feel they are very accurate.