Just noticed that the 2.8 superbs recommended petrol is 98 ron.Does anyone know if there is any benefit in performance/economy for the extra cost of using 98 ron???I have been using normal 95 ron and this seems fine.

Forgive me for asking this question in the middle of your question but how uneconomical is the 2.8? I have the 1.9tdi and I just don't like diesels (this is my first). Obviously economics pushed me towards a diesel but I miss the smoothness and quietness of a petrol. The 1.8 was no good as I wanted Elegance trim so i am wondering about the 2.8. Sorry again for the question, it's just that I noticed that you were a 2.8 owner.

95 will be fine for a standard car. Using a higher octane value will do nothing for the car. If you're concerned you could use Shell Optimax or Tesco SUL 97 RON, but to be honest I'd save your money and use a decent non supermarket standard unleaded.

I doubt Skoda will have recommended 98RON just for the hell of it.

If the engine is designed to run on 98RON, you will see a small loss in power (typically 5%) and small increase in fuel consumption if you use 95RON. But, you won't damage your engine by using 95RON - the engine management will detect & compensate by retarding the ignition.

For example, my other car, a Nissan 350Z is designed to run on 98RON, but Nissan themselves say that it's power will drop by about 15hp if using 95RON.

Forgive me for asking this question in the middle of your question but how uneconomical is the 2.8? I have the 1.9tdi and I just don't like diesels (this is my first). Obviously economics pushed me towards a diesel but I miss the smoothness and quietness of a petrol. The 1.8 was no good as I wanted Elegance trim so i am wondering about the 2.8. Sorry again for the question, it's just that I noticed that you were a 2.8 owner.

I used to have the 100tdi classic before I bought the 2.8-I had it from new for 18 months/40,000 miles and averaged 45mpg.I was so impressed with it and my job changed so I wasnt doing as many miles so I bought the 2.8 Elegance tiptronic.The 2.8 feels completely different to drive from the 1.9 100tdi-it is much smoother,quieter and torquier.The diesel is fantastic and really economical(I averaged 59mpg over a 200 mile trip following a Land Rover Series 1 on the motorway one day),but if you are doing an average/below average mileage then try the 2.8 petrol tiptronic.My mpg average on the 2.8 is about 28mpg over 14000 miles,so 17mpg less than the diesel but I do more round town work nowardays.I did try the 2.5tdi tiptronic,and I dont know if there was something wrong with the particular car I drove but it did not seem to suit the tiptronic box.Like I say there could have been some fault with the car I dove because owners of the 2.5 who post on here mostly seem to be very happy with them.

I prefer manual gearbox anyway, but my 2.5 v6 TDi is super smooth, and has a nice growl when the turbo kicks in. awesome overtaking power, soon run out of road before you will power.

I note it only has 15Nm thnigies less than a 911. BP ultimate diesel makes it unnoticable from a petrol, and economy on last m-way trip grom glasgow to chester was 52mpg, at speed limit whole time.

Pretty happy, only niggle is knackered ashtray that pops up on cobbles, will get fixed next time i'm near garage

As Puddenchucker has said it was designed to be run on super so if you run on 95 you'll get less power and poorer fuel economy. So the extra cost you mention probably doesn't exist as the higher price per litre will be offset by the improved economy.

I prefer manual gearbox anyway' date=' but my 2.5 v6 TDi is super smooth, and has a nice growl when the turbo kicks in. awesome overtaking power, soon run out of road before you will power.

I note it only has 15Nm thnigies less than a 911. BP ultimate diesel makes it unnoticable from a petrol, and economy on last m-way trip grom glasgow to chester was 52mpg, at speed limit whole time.

Pretty happy, only niggle is knackered ashtray that pops up on cobbles, will get fixed next time i'm near garage[/quote']

Had the same ashtray problem with my car-was replaced under warranty no problems.Also one of the tones stopped working on the horn-this has happened on both the superbs I have owned.Again replaced under warranty no problems.

I prefer manual gearbox anyway' date=' but my 2.5 v6 TDi is super smooth, and has a nice growl when the turbo kicks in. awesome overtaking power, soon run out of road before you will power.

I note it only has 15Nm thnigies less than a 911. BP ultimate diesel makes it unnoticable from a petrol, and economy on last m-way trip grom glasgow to chester was 52mpg, at speed limit whole time.

Pretty happy, only niggle is knackered ashtray that pops up on cobbles, will get fixed next time i'm near garage[/quote']

You should hear the 2.8 petrol revving on the road...

My 2.8 has averaged almost 30mpg, but drops a lot on short, cold start trips. Starts at 5 mpg and the average rises as the temperature comes up, by the time I get to work its reached 17! If I'm doing some long A-road runs it keeps rising to maybe 34. All on the cheapest supermarket petrol I can find. There is much more power than the car needs in normal use, so I'm not too precious about the possibility of losing a few horses, the ASR would probably have strangled them anyway!

The whole economy picture needs to take account of how cheap it is to buy a big petrol engine secondhand, mine was