Okay so I've never even bothered to consider premium fuels before (vpower exillum etc.) But my local fuel stop have just given me a tank of vpower for normal petrol price as part of a trial promotion and I have to say my engine has never run so smooth, I'm sure I could be imagining it but it's running really smooth.

What's everyone's experience of the premium fuels, do they genuinely help?!

my pickup runs like **** on normal unleaded so i only use it if i'm going long distance to save a few notes.. but generally i always use super-duper unleaded

Interesting, I've found my engine running rough as a badgers bottom recently but as soon as I popped this stuff in its smooth as the day it was made.

my pickup runs like **** on normal unleaded so i only use it if i'm going long distance to save a few notes.. but generally i always use super-duper unleaded

Play fair though Tom, yours doesn't exactly have the normal engine under the bonnet though. ;-) :-p

Mine runs quite happily back and forth on the M25 on Sainburys (which I believe it supplied by BP) bog-standard petrol (currently at 127.9 per litre). Super was at 132.9.

I took a Felicia to Banjul, and on the way there was a variety of petrol available, including "super", which was basically leaded.

It ran on everything we chucked at it, didn't complain and even managed to average over 40mpg on the whole trip.

I really don't think that a standard 1.3 Felicia gives a monkey's what it runs on!

My bike-throttle bodied 1.4 Fabia-engined Felicia rally car will run OK on normal unleaded, but was mapped on V-Power, and I discovered that unless it's run on V-Power, it runs a lot hotter when used in competition. I've stopped running it on normal unleaded.

Play fair though Tom, yours doesn't exactly have the normal engine under the bonnet though.

yes fair point, the compression ratio on mine is just under 11:1, so on normal unleaded i get pinking low down in the rev range. obviously with the higher octane fuel comes higher knock-resistance

On the general point, "premium" fuel will make no difference unless your engine is designed for it.

My bike-throttle bodied 1.4 Fabia-engined Felicia rally car will run OK on normal unleaded, but was mapped on V-Power, and I discovered that unless it's run on V-Power, it runs a lot hotter when used in competition. I've stopped running it on normal unleaded.

Key words "was mapped on V-Power" - you'll be running the wrong advance for normal fuels, and risking high revs detonation. You've already noticed the engine running hotter in competition.

yes fair point, the compression ratio on mine is just under 11:1, so on normal unleaded i get pinking low down in the rev range. obviously with the higher octane fuel comes higher knock-resistance

Correctamundo - the higher CR needs higher octane and/or more advance.