Do people actually see much difference in the two fuel types? is it worth the extra you pay at the pump? how much kinder to your engine is it? Are there big performance gains or better fuel consumption?

Would be interesting to hear peoples thoughts

Do a quick search, multiple threads/arguments and i'm sure we don't need another debate going in another thread.

Simple answer is yes and no.

Some will use 98 and others 95. Both swear they each do the car good.

I personally used 98 no issues.

My harris says tesco momentum (99 ron) helps a little

According to my dealer using 95ron fuel ruined my spark plugs and coil pack and skoda refused to do the work under warranty so I had to fork out £300 for the work to be done which I'm still not happy about. But as a gesture of good will they didn't charge me labour and I get my next service free

I have only ever run 99 from Tesco, it usually retails at the same as every other garages standard unleaded and makes for a couple of quid difference per full tank.

Ultimately it is down to personal choice.

According to my dealer using 95ron fuel ruined my spark plugs and coil pack and skoda refused to do the work under warranty so I had to fork out £300 for the work to be done which I'm still not happy about. But as a gesture of good will they didn't charge me labour and I get my next service free

Biggest load of cobblers I've ever heard!

Tell them to refund you all the money of not escalate to SUK level. If they say something like that they simply do not understand what RON number means...

The sticker inside the fuel flap says "98(95)" - and the manual backs this up that 98 is preferred but 95 is OK for use.

Agreed - tell them to refund it. If they refuse, escalate to SUK (and tell them this - some dealers don't seem to like it..).

According to my dealer using 95ron fuel ruined my spark plugs and coil pack and skoda refused to do the work under warranty so I had to fork out £300 for the work to be done which I'm still not happy about. But as a gesture of good will they didn't charge me labour and I get my next service free

Sounds to me like the dealer put in a warranty claim, told you it wasn't covered and took your £300 - effectively getting paid twice for the job....

pee81,

you need to challenge that and look for a refund.

The dealer should have been finding out about a warranty claim, there have been Spark Plug and coil failures and its a known fault.

Your car can be run on 95 ron fuel without invalidating your Manufacturers Warranty.

Skoda are the one that have put the Spark Plugs at the service interval of 40,000 miles and have not changed that to inspecting the Spark Plugs before 40,000 miles.

Anyone with a Twincharger should really get the Spark Plugs checked for their own peace of mind at the 2nd service or by 20,000 miles, IMO.

Too many owners and second owners have not been told if the car got an ECU update, plugs or coils changed from the vehicles that had faulty ones fitted.

Just this week i have heard of 4 more vRS that have new engines, from owners that are not on this Forum.

george

My dealer told me I didn't need to run it on 98 which I found strange as mentioned before - inside of the filler cap states 98(95) and so does the manual.

I run on momentum or vpower nitro. To me the extra couple of pounds per tank is worth the piece of mind you are giving your 'performance' car good quality fuel.

I ran my mk1 solely on bp ultimate diesel and it loved it.

Why is that strange? The filler cap states 95 Ron is fine.

I think you might sacrifice a few horses if only running on 95, but we're probably only talking 5 or (at worst) 10%? The 160PS version of the same engine was listed as being 95RON suitable (yet mine went better and did more mpg on 99RON).

95 won't kill it - the knock sensors will make sure of that.

Why is that strange? The filler cap states 95 Ron is fine.

Yeah strange was the wrong word to use,

I guess I went into the dealership thinking that the mk2 only ran well on 98.

But that was only my own assumptions from reading a few threads on here.

It does IMO run better when using 98 ron or above.

It should run fine when on 95ron without mechanical damage,

and any dealer blaming that as being the cause of known problems needs to put that in writing and then the customer can bring that up with Skoda/VAG while enquiring about the Warranty if the Dealer is not going to.

george

I worked out that using super unleaded worked out marginally cheaper per mile than regular due to better fuel consumption. So that fact, the manufacturers specific recommendation and the cleaning properties of super make it an obvious decision.

I've noticed no difference between 95 & 98 RON fuels , only to my bank balance.

Also when chatting to the dealer at 1st Service,they said that they had always run it (mine was their Ex-Demo) on unleaded only and they 're are no issues

I've noticed no difference between 95 & 98 RON fuels , only to my bank balance.

Also when chatting to the dealer at 1st Service,they said that they had always run it (mine was their Ex-Demo) on unleaded only and they 're are no issues

I'd be surprised if there was any dealer who didn't put the cheapest fuel in....because they don't have to worry about the longer term effects.

RazeVRS,

i am sure that a dealer will say there are no issues, and there should be none.

Next time you are at that dealer, maybe point out to them that it must be getting near to every Demonstrator mk2 vRS registered

in the UK between July 2010 and early 2011 has had High Oil usage issues and will have had the Engine replaced, rebuilt or modified, before they are 3 years old. (if the owners have been lucky enough to have the problems resolved before the Warranty Expires.)

Nothing to do really with using 95 RON, but just shows that often they will say just any old thing.

george

Better fuel consumption stems from the fact that higher RON will allow for more spark advance before detonation and therefore make more power from the same amount fuel or to put it the other way round the same amount of power will require less fuel.

With it ruining your sparks thats utter rubbish, its all ive run 95 ron and took sparks out after 13k and were still looking okay wee bit of build up on them but have seen worse

Definitely found no perceptible improvement in performance or economy when using 98RON in either of my high powered cars.

I understand the science involved,just not feeling any benefits!

Modern cars come with enough electrickery & sensors & computers to eliminate any ignition issues!

Blue line = 95 ron

Red line = 98 ron

Car is a Ford Focus RS, completely stock.

I've only put 95 in once and I was nearly greeting when I had to - it was my own fault for bypassing the Shell on Junction 23 of the M6 and then the Shell just outside Carlisle (again M6) - thought I'd try Tesco 99 in Lockerbie, except it turns out it must be the only Tesco Superstore that doesn't sell fuel (I'd previously noticed the Tesco from the train and assumed that it would have a filling station). Pulled into BP at Johnstonebridge services only to find all the Ultimate pumps out of commission - stuck 20 quid worth of 95 in to get me home - can't say I noticed a difference but that's only a small amount over a relatively short distance.

The only perceptible difference I can tell is indicated on that Focus pic - loses a bit at the top end (10% or so?). Feels like the 160PS Scirocco I had before rather than the 180PS vRS it is. Its marginal though - and I do see a drop in mpg (normally a couple of mpg on like-for-like journeys).

If people do not notice any difference or their vehicle does not benefit, then there is no reason for them to spend more on higher octane fuels.

There are reasons that there no longer is 91 ron available in the UK,

& there is, available, 95, 97,98,99 even 102 ron.

Its not just a case of Modern Vehicles can adjust to the lower Octane fuels but give the same performance when designed or set up to have optimum performance on a higher octane.

(a lower figure given in the likes of '98(95)' is 95 being the lowest Octane you should use.

just as '95(91)' is 91 ron being the lowest Octane thats recommended without possible damage or poor running.)

If only using the engine at less than full performance it may not matter to most.

george