I'm sorry if this has already been done to death but I'm wondering why Skoda have changed their own advice in the Fabia and Roomster user manuals. Although the label on the filler cover reads as follows:

 

Prescribed fuel - unleaded petrol min. 95 RON

 

In the user manuals from 2009 to 2011 (there are several editions) the advice on using higher octane fuel is as follows:

 

On vehicles with prescribed unleaded petrol min. 95 RON, the use of petrol with a
higher octane number than 95 RON does not result in a power increase or a lower
fuel consumption.

 

However, in the manual dated May 2012 the advice changes to the following:

 

On vehicles using prescribed unleaded petrol of min. 95 RON, the use of petrol
with a higher octane number than 95 RON can increase the power and reduce
fuel consumption.
 

 

Is anyone aware of any technical change to the engine from 2012 - the specifications look identical but I may have missed something.

 

Does that statement not cover all petrol engines in the range that have Prescribed 95 Ron, and not only the 1.2 TSI

 

or is it in a section specifically for the 1.2 TSI?

 

It only says, 'can'  not 'Does', or 'Will'.

and testing has probably been done enough to show that it 'Possibly Can'.  

 

Never sure with Skoda and their Translation to English, so often worth checking the VW Owners Handbook for the same engines and see what words they use.

They might use 'May' instead of 'Can'..

I would only use 95 fuel,that is what Skoda have designed the engine to use. 

I believe these engines can be re-mapped to 130 bhp...then it could be appropriate to use Super fuel. 

Continue to use 95 RON, you'll not see any difference in using Superplus unleaded, Shell Nitro or any other higher octane fuels on a 1.2 TSI engine.

It's not a performance engine so doesn't benefit power wise from using 97 RON or higher fuel.

I tend to use 95 octane as I don't think the gains, if any, of using 97 or above justify the increase in cost. The section of the manual this came from is just a further explanation of the label on the fuel filler flap and covers all models - there are three variants for prescribed fuel, unleaded petrol 95/91 RON, unleaded petrol min. 95 RON and unleaded petrol 98 (95) RON.

 

For the 1.2 TSI the prescribed fuel is unleaded petrol min. 95 RON and previous advice was that using higher octane fuel provided no benefits. However just wondering why Skoda changed there own advice (in both Fabia and Roomster manuals) from May 2012 to suggest that those engines with prescribed min. 95 octane fuel would benefit from using a higher octane.

There are no Prescribed 91/95 engines in Europe /EU Type approved cars,

 that is for Other World Markets,  those Engines and fuel systems are different.

 

Skoda use Stickers that are confusing,  & Skoda use Translations from CZ to English with says different things sometimes from VW and German to English.

 

If you can have Sainsburys Super Unleaded 97 ron for the same price a Shell 95 ron Shell Saver, then its worth the trying.

It's either a type / poor translation, or owners complained that using Super didn't turn it into a VRS slayer.