Regular vs Premium Petrol

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ayjay1, Jan 20, 6:25pm
At the risk of appearing stupid! Where is the best place to find out what the recommended octane is for any particular car!

irn, Jan 20, 10:07pm
This is a no brainer---you are never going to have the vehicle running better than it was designed to by changing the fuel octane rating. Use what the manufacturer recommends and be satisfied.
Only a top mechanic who knows what he is doing, should be permitted to retard the ignition on your car to allow you to use lower octane fuel."Even then" to do such a thing should be questioned.
------Sweet driving-----

wrong2, Jan 20, 10:28pm
& another TM user gets it right

marcos1, Jan 21, 4:46am
Just out of interest.are you an immigrant!
Or are you born and bred!

ambo11, Jan 21, 4:53am
Got a 2000 Pulsar, when I picked it up it was "pinking", following two fill ups of 95 it runs nicer and no pinking whatsoever. Handbook says to use 95 octane "minimum". Our useless and arrogant Mobil service station here does not have 98, will start filling up at BP soon using 98.few bucks difference does not matter if it is better for the engine.

johnf_456, Jan 21, 4:59am
Yup problem!

marcos1, Jan 21, 5:04am
No problem.just wondering.
So where ya from then!

mel_nz26, Jan 21, 6:49am
Isnt 91 really 83 and 95 87 octane respectively- and why over xmas does caltex 91 pink and a couple of months later it doesnt- do we have crap supplies over the summer months!

cybertao, Jan 21, 8:35am
If it runs without any problems on 95, why step up to 98!

Reminds me of an incident when I lived in Whangarei.I was at the BP where some boyracer from Auckland was desperately trying to find a station that sold 98.The closest place that did was probably Auckland.

bob1088, Jan 22, 4:11am
the higher the octane the better they go - so my full of knowledge mechanic tells me, and he should know.False economy to skimp at the pumps IMO.

thejazzpianoma, Jan 22, 4:31am
No, at least not here in Tauranga when last checked. The BOP Times used to commission an octane rating test of the local suppliers, from memory the octane was usually one or two points above. Gull usually had the highest rating above what they claimed.

thejazzpianoma, Jan 22, 4:35am
If you really wanted to make a car run well on low octane fuel and save some cash you can always go the water injection route. But what you are doing there is actually increasing the effective octane of the fuel.

Plus to do it well is generally going to cost a bit in time and/or money. Its a fun and rewarding project if you are that way inclined though.

Its also not just the water injection setup you need to install, you then of course need to alter the cars ignition timing, fuel mixture (and ideally most probably compression ratio) to get the most out of it.

It can do a lot for older style engines and turbo's I am not sure you would drag much more efficiency out of some of the newer ones.

thejazzpianoma, Jan 22, 4:44am
LOL, you would have also noticed the nice shiny clean state of the affected cylinders too!

While that was probably not the most scientific or even close to ideal test more torque/power on hills would be exactly what you would expect to see.

It also reduces and almost eliminates some of the nasty's in the exhausts that the greenies don't like. In countries with strict emissions testing people have fitted good water injection systems to cars from the 60's and found them to comply to even the latest rules for new cars!

johnf_456, Jan 22, 6:02am
I thought hes mida's or pitstop!

pat56, Jan 30, 3:52am
Always used 95 in my '03 Benz C240. Would get down to 8.9L/100km within 40k's (open road). Thought I'd try Gulls 98 blend. Took 130k's to get to that & return trip didn't get down that low at all. Driving similar speed and type of roads.

likit, Jan 30, 4:42am
WRONG ,USA (87),Aust.(91) & UK (91)

wrong2, Jan 30, 4:52am
do you know where our fuel is made , & what goes in it compared to japanese & american additives !

people here are not completely clueless with you being the only informed one

wrong2, Jan 30, 4:58am
sounds like a guy who knows what his car runs best on

its not just the higher octane

cybertao, Jan 31, 9:48am
More like a jafa worried if his car will make it home again!

pnh4, Jan 31, 9:53am
Contrary to popular belief 95 works out cheaper than 91 as the engine runs more efficiently.

vtecintegra, Jan 31, 9:56am
That is only true IF the car is designed with 95 in mind.

Read the rest of the thread.

wrong2, Jan 31, 10:22am
well i think you should

the premiumfuel isnt better on octane alone. hell even my mid-90s 1300cc get-to-work hatch runs better on 98 compared to the "reccommended" 91

our 91 isnt the same as elsewhere in the world. we get lower quality additives in our fuel

vtecintegra, Jan 31, 10:25am
[citation needed]

socram, Jan 31, 10:31am
Local fuel as stated in an earlier post is indeed crap.I use 98 in an older car as it still has a cast iron head without hardened inserts and an occasional run of leaded fuel to maintain the lead effect.

Also run the more modern on 98 as it sometimes sits for a while and fuel deteriorates quite quickly, so by the time I get to the bottom of the tank, the octane is probably lower anyway!

tshop, Feb 1, 2:00am
Ticket need by you too & throw some qualies in while your at it.