95 RON or 98 RON unleaded?

[ollie j123]

So I tried asking this in another thread to save me making a million but I guess that this may be of interest for a few.

As many of you will know, the recommended fuel for Fabia 1.4 16v 100bhp is 98RON (and perhaps other models too).

I have been running it on 95RON since I purchased it (so for last 5k miles or so). There is no way of knowing what previous owners used too.

Anyway, to make the swap between 95RON and 98RON, do I just wait to the fuel tank is as empty as possible and then fill up next time with 98 RON?

It may sound like a stupid question but I just wonder whether switching fuels when the tank is half filled with 95, putting the other half of 98 wold cause a problem?

And to anyone using 98RON, which would recommend; shell, BP etc? I read Tesco super or whatever is called is 99+. Is this even better? I note that sainsbury's "premium" unleaded is cheaper than anywhere else. Is their stuff any good?

Any current users' feedback would be appreciated.

[WoodyES]

You can mix the two, it doesn't matter. You won't see any benefit from using premium though, Maybe a couple of extra MPG in the long run, but not enough to warrant the extra cost

[hussarman]

Shell for me everytime, Tesco when I feel like it, tried Texaco and Esso but they are both 97 Ron. Have'nt used BP as I dont like their prices.

[Mattovplymouth]

The gain of higher RON is less det in the engine, cleaner combustion and better power delivery. As your fabia was built to run on 98 Ron, 95 Ron won't massively harm the engine unless put in high load under hard acceleration. if you had a Det gauge/meter you can see the difference. I've tried this with my Fun car as I have a LED screen as part of my ECU and I found that sainsburys premium and BP ultimate still give me high det. Where as Shell optimax and Tesco Momentum give me half the det number in total.

This little box of tricks is a work of art. You can even map a car just using the controller even though plugging a laptop in is much easier. The screen tells you all parameters at a touch of a button

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Edited 6 May, 2012 by Mattovplymouth

[ollie j123]

Very concise answer Matt, thanks. Tesco or shell it is

[Mattovplymouth]

I tend to use tesco momentum most as its the best price and there's plenty of tesco's around me. Shell I tend to use less as they are 20 miles either way out of Plymouth so that's mainly used for special occasions lol. I'll be filling up with shell next weekend on the way to Japfest

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[hussarman]

No doubt at Shell, South Brent I assume

[ollie j123]

Thanks for your help guys.

You should venture over to the mk2 forum. I did a search and there are millions of threads there on the same topic buy every time, the answers are extremely vague.

But you've proved it with that Apex gauge/meter. Thanks again.

[Mattovplymouth]

No doubt at Shell, South Brent I assume

CORRECT 200 points

Or trerulefoot aswell. Which is great as you have Route 38 diner there and the grub is awesome

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[Mattovplymouth]

Thanks for your help guys.

You should venture over to the mk2 forum. I did a search and there are millions of threads there on the same topic buy every time, the answers are extremely vague.

But you've proved it with that Apex gauge/meter. Thanks again.

No probs :-)

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[Southy]

I would only ever use Shell or BP myself, never really trusted supermarket fuel tbh, my car (classic Mini at the time) never seemed to run right when I did use it, even when using Tesco 99 it seemed to misfire and just seem down on power, used Shell Vpower and didn't change the Carb setting's or anything and it ran like a dream,

This is also the reason why I like using VPower,

35k and only ever run on Vpower and the engine still look's like it's new with very little carbon build up on the piston's and next to nothing on the cylinder head and valve's

[Ad Lav]

I have a new vRS and it says: 98ron (95ron) on the fuel cap - as I bought it from new I have always run it on Shell v-power, costs more but I know it'll run fine. No missfire issues when hooning it either

A lot of other vRS drivers fill up every now and then with super, which is no good as it takes the ecu a good few tankfuls to change settings

to the higher/lower ron.

Edited 6 May, 2012 by Ad Lav