Turns out the answer is yes it will. At 18500 mile I took my car in for its 2nd service and reported to the dealer that the car took a long time to start in mornings and would idle funny when cold, they said that the spark plugs had burnt out and the coil pack had gone and this was down to not running the car on super unleaded.

I've just spoke to skoda UK and asked the woman what effect would using the lower octane unleaded have over using the good stuff? And her reply was "it would just affect the cars performance" so a case file has been opened and I'm hoping I can get my money back because this is turning out to be one very expensive service.

Has anyone else had any experience of this?

Why oh why oh why did you not put super in it?

If not :

You can have serious engine issues,as you have now found out.

You will be down on power...pointless in a model whose main attraction is the power of its engine.

You will get less mpg...which rather negates the penny pinching approach of putting cheap fuel in anyway.

Sorry,this is no help to you now,but others take notice please.

I'd just like to point out that swmbo shares the car with me and so she fills the car up not me I have since told her NOT to put crap fuel in the car again.

I think dealers should make you fully aware of what can happen to the car if you don't use the correct type of unleaded

Mine runs fine on Tesco Momentum 99 which is not so much of a price premium compared to non-supermarket low octane unleaded.

Momentum has a better reputation than other supermarket fuels.

I'd just like to point out that swmbo shares the car with me and so she fills the car up not me I have since told her NOT to put crap fuel in the car again.

I think dealers should make you fully aware of what can happen to the car if you don't use the correct type of unleaded

It does state 98 octane inside the fuel cap...but I agree dealers should make the point better.

The problem is no salesman is going to emphasise the need for super at point of sale in case that puts the buyer off.

I feel sorry for people who buy 2nd hand because how are you supposed to know what fuel the previous owner has been using? Not every one with a vrs is going to think "oh I must put v-power or momentum 99 in my car" regardless of what the handbook or petrol flap says.

It does state 98 octane inside the fuel cap...but I agree dealers should make the point better.

The problem is no salesman is going to emphasise the need for super at point of sale in case that puts the buyer off.

I know but I didn't think for one minute it would have this much of an effect on the car. There was one case when I had some warranty work done and the dealer to the car over the road to fill the tank as a good will gesture and the garge he used didn't have a super unleaded option!

The dealer is talking rubbish, lower octane fuel wouldnt do that

The fuel cap may say 98ron, but the manual states that 95 ron maybe used with the caveat of slightly lower engine performance. 95ron is perfectly fine, it will run since there are countries in the EU where 98ron is not even readily available. In India 95ron is even a rarity. Running 95ron will not cause the damage reported by the OP, and chances are the dealer is trying it on.

From page 141 of the current Fabia owners manual

Prescribed fuel - unleaded petrol 98/(95) RON

Use unleaded fuel with the octane rating 98 RON. Unleaded petrol 95 RON can

also be used but results in a slight loss in performance.

In case of necessity, you can refuel with petrol with the octane rating91 RON of

unleaded fuel with octane rating 98 RON or 95 RON is not available. The journey

must only be continued at medium engine speeds and a minimum engine load.

Why would you have to pay. If it states that you can use 95ron with only loss of performance then it should be done under warranty.

Just get them to get the Warranty claim into Skoda.

They know fine well that the plugs and coils are going on some cars that are always run only on 99 RON fuel.

Recommended 98 Ron, 95 RON Minimum.

(The Polo GTi twin charger brochure does not even mention 98 RON fuel.)

george

The dealer is talking rubbish, lower octane fuel wouldnt do that

May be,to avoid a warranty claim,but pre-ignition due to use of low octane fuel burns out spark plugs does it not?

Whilst on modern engines the management system should adjust settings for different fuels this does not always happen with total success.

Yes utter bollards; the VRS will run all say long on 95 ron fuel; ran ours on Super for several K to then take the car on as my company vehicle with a fuel card which stipulated 95 only; noticed no performance difference and not a single mechanical problem several k later.

I have added the relevant quote from the manual (page 141) above, here it is again. The current 2012 says the following.

https://mediaportal.skoda-auto.com/resource/documentation/manuals/en/Fabia/05-2012/Manual/A05_Fabia_OwnersManual.pdf

Prescribed fuel - unleaded petrol 98/(95) RON

Use unleaded fuel with the octane rating 98 RON. Unleaded petrol 95 RON can

also be used but results in a slight loss in performance.

In case of necessity, you can refuel with petrol with the octane rating91 RON of

unleaded fuel with octane rating 98 RON or 95 RON is not available. The journey

must only be continued at medium engine speeds and a minimum engine load.

The dealer said that he has had 2 vrs cars where this has happened and told me that each time he contacted skoda for a warranty claim they rejected them both straight away hence the reason why I've been in contact with skoda customer service already so I'm waiting for them to get in touch and hopefully refund me the money I've had to fork out for the plugs and coil pack.

I'm currently running around in a courtesy car as they broke a pipe trying to put my engine back together lol. But from now on the car will only be getting v-power or similar from now on.

They have that 'prescribed fuel' bit in the Owners Manual but they really need to say similar in vRS brochures or on the MPG Sheets in Dealership framed notices etc.

Very few people read Owners Manuals before buying a car or look in the Fuel Filer cap.

Salespeople never mention Super Unleaded IME.

I was surprised to see the latest VW brochure saying 95 RON for the Polo GTi.

No cause for Skoda to bring the matter up when considering some of their faulty parts.

george

EDIT.

My owners manual for a 2010 vRS says different things from the other post.

Page 162 'FUEL' Petrol, Grades of petrol.

*the term 98 RON appears no place.*

on page 163, it says.

"the correct grade of fuel for your vehicle are stated on a sticker affixed to the inside of the fuel filler flap. further information on fuel> page 162

You may have been lucky.In my experience with many turbo cars I've generally noticed a performance reduction on lower octane fuel than that recommended,Skoda state there will be loss of performance.As for engine damage ,it depends how hard you drive.

I have a 350z for which super is recommended.Various engine failures happened and the tuners analysed the standard map and found that the fail safe adjustments,retarding the timing,etc for lower octane fuel actually ceased at 5000 revs,so regular use of high revs was highly likely to have a bad outcome.

I will always use super.

So do i, and if needs must it has been Sainsburys 97 Ron Super which was fine.

Luckily with a vRS using 95 RON will not be a genuine reason to reject a warranty claim where Skoda/VAG know of their faulty Coils and other associated problems..

george

The dealer said that he has had 2 vrs cars where this has happened and told me that each time he contacted skoda for a warranty claim they rejected them both straight away hence the reason why I've been in contact with skoda customer service already so I'm waiting for them to get in touch and hopefully refund me the money I've had to fork out for the plugs and coil pack.

I'm currently running around in a courtesy car as they broke a pipe trying to put my engine back together lol. But from now on the car will only be getting v-power or similar from now on.

Didnt your dealer get in touch with skoda as per your warranty claim or did they just assume they would not do under warranty?

My spark plugs went at 19k miles and they are surpose to last 40k and I use shell VPower,

The dealer never spoke to skoda they just assumed!!!!!

Vrs fletch,did you have to pay for your spark plugs?????

No, I refused to pay for them as they are surpose to last 40k and I phone SUK and told them that I'm not paying for something that has not lasted the desired time they say its surpose too. I also have a on going problem with oil consumption, had the dreaded engine light and limp mode kick in so phone skoda a assistance and the mechanic show me the spark plug out of cylinder 3 and told me to take it to the garage,

No, I refused to pay for them as they are surpose to last 40k and I phone SUK and told them that I'm not paying for something that has not lasted the desired time they say its surpose too. I also have a on going problem with oil consumption, had the dreaded engine light and limp mode kick in so phone skoda a assistance and the mechanic show me the spark plug out of cylinder 3 and told me to take it to the garage,

they are not right, i took my standard plugs out at 40k and the looked like this...

plus as others say it should run on 95RON, it shouldn't wreck your engine....

ohhhh spark plugs...

which of my 5 sets would you like to see?