Has anyone had experience of using Shell v power or BP or Esso equivalent petrol as opposed to the standard 95 Ron in the 1.5 tsi dsg karoq, mines the edition but I assume the results would be the same for all the range with this engine. Is there any advantage in paying the higher price?

Sorry if this subject has been raised before but cannot find anything on this site about this subject.

You may find no difference in mpg or performance as the engine management system compensates for all fuel types used. Some fuels have additives to keep the engine clean but do they wash the oil from the cylinder walls?

What does you fuel flap say to use?  Does it say to use 95 Ron or does it say 95 Ron minimum. If the latter you may benefit from using higher octane fuel, if the former they your just wasting your money.

If you look at the fuel cover on your car it probably says 95 min RON.

 

Look in the user manual and it says that if the cap says min then using a higher octane fuel may increase power and or economy. But no guarantee. Implying the ECU can adjust to take advantage, but probably the difference is very small.

 

It's generally acknowledged that super unleaded fuels usually have larger doses of cleaning additives than regular and that's certainly claimed for the majors such as Shell vpower and BP ultimate (which is scarce where I live).

 

One point is if you are a low mileage driver and go weeks between top ups, petrol does age and deteriorates in car tanks, which can sometimes lead to rougher running and/or poor economy. Super fuels can help to keep the fuel fresher, longer and restore performance.

I have tried both higher octane and good old supermarket 95. No significant increase in performance, if any!

I always use Premium Petrol and Premium diesel.....

 

Years ago I had a Smart.................it went better on Super

 

The theory is Super is better...more power ..better economy as it has a higher Octane or Cetane value....sort of higher calorific

 

I will carry on spending......................

^^^ What do you mean by Premium Petrol, do you mean Super Unleaded? 

Do you know what you actually are getting for your cash?

 

BP, Esso, Sainsbury, Texaco, Gulf Super Unleaded are 97 ron minimum

& Tesco Momentum 99, Costco Super Unleaded & Shell V-Power Nitro+ are 99 ron Minimum in the UK.

 

Greenergy produce and supply the ESSO fuels as they do the Tesco 95 and Momentum 99 & others Fuels. 

http://greenergy.com/uk/independent

 

Greenergy & Royal Dutch Shell are partners in Importation & storage facilities in the UK.

1 hour ago, 33q said:

The theory is Super is better...more power ..better economy as it has a higher Octane or Cetane value....sort of higher calorific

 

Neither Octane number or cetane value have any relation to the combustion energy contained in the fuel.

 

The octane value refers to resistance to "pinging" in a petrol engine. As long as your car does not ping under heavy acceleration, a higher octane has no beneficial effect.

 

The cetane number indicates how quickly the diesel fuel starts combustion. As long as the cetane value is higher than that specified by the engine builder, further increases in cetane value does not have any benefit.

Edited 1 October, 20187 yr by Agerbundsen
spelling

17 minutes ago, Agerbundsen said:

Neither Octane number or cetane value have any relation to the combustion energy contained in the fuel

I even read somewhere that if the octane number is boosted by added ethanol, you actually get fuel with less energy content, for your extra cash.

39 minutes ago, Agerbundsen said:

 

The octane value refers to resistance to "pinging" in a petrol engine. As long as your car does not ping under heavy acceleration, a higher octane has no beneficial effect.

 

The first part is true, the last bit, not necessarily. Some cars ecu's  have the ability to alter valve timing as well as ignition and injection timing. This can be used with the knock sensor, to tune "on the fly" to use higher octane to increase performance and in some cases economy. Hence the word "min" on VAG fuel flaps. Differences are small however, rarely justifiable on cost grounds. If a significant difference exists, VAG recommends 98 RON on the filler flap.

 

20 minutes ago, Wino said:

I even read somewhere that if the octane number is boosted by added ethanol, you actually get fuel with less energy content, for your extra cash.

 

That's because ethanol has a lower energy density compared to "pure petrol".

 

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ethanol.shtml

 

EU at minimum 5% mandated in 95 RON, optional in higher RON fuels. Tesco Momemtum (and by implication Esso Supreme) has 5%, BP ultimate (which is possibly Sainsburys super), anecdotally has zero, Shell Vpower has zero AFAIK.

 

Moves afoot to increase ethanol content to 10%. From Oct 12th new EU regs mandate labelling of ethanol content on fuel delivery pumps. Not seen any labels yet though.

 

Edited 1 October, 20187 yr by xman

3 minutes ago, xman said:

That's because ethanol has a lower energy density compared to "pure petrol".

Err, yeah. Isn't that obvious?

Glad you're paying attention. 

Because higher RON fuels burn slower than lower RON, some engines can sound a bit smoother and quieter.

Edited 1 October, 20187 yr by xman

Well, buying petrol is one thing that is easier (choice wise!)  in Ireland. You can have Unleaded 95 RON or you can walk home.  The only competition is on the additives (keep your engine clean / get up to 3% more distance type of thing).   

In the UK Sainsbury 97 ron, or Tesco Momentum 99 or Costco Super Unleaded 99 ron for just 5 pence a litre more than Supermarket 95 ron and maybe cheaper than 

what some might call BIG Brand Unleaded say Shell FuelSave is not giving lower fuel consumption or less efficient running for maybe £2.25 -£2.50 a tank extra .

 

If you do not want to buy it, simply do not. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

 

There is obviously a bit of "religion" and marketing hype in the use and sale of higher priced fuels. If you pay more per gallon, it must run better, right?

 

To the best of my knowledge, higher octane number fuel does not burn differently than the fuel with sufficiently high octane number the engine is designed for. Ping sensors and other combustion sensors basically retard the ignition point to avoid the ping, and does not advance it beyond the original setting.  Ethanol does have a lower energy content per unit compared to petrol. At the same time, it has a higher cooling effect on the charge, so the cylinders fill with a denser mixture. At the typical Ethanol content of 5%, there is very little difference in engine performance.

Just you run some engines like 1.4, 1.8 or 2.0 TSI's on the dyno and see the difference with 95, 97 or 99/100+

Then maybe try a standard 1.5TSI Evo and see.  95 ron or 100 ron.

But in normal driving you might find no difference.

Continental 100 Ron & plus octane is lovely stuff in Summer or Winter Formulations. IME.

 

For EU testing & type approval it must run on 95 Octane.   Where do you see what it was designed to run on.

There are plenty Euro 5 & Euro 6 VW group engines with the Recommended 98 Super Unleaded. 

In the UK there is no sellers of 98 ron anymore.

http://volkswagen.co.uk/need-help/owners/Fuel

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 October, 20187 yr by Offski

From personal experience with premium fuels on my motorbike I can personally say that with a motorbike you can feel the difference in engine response with shell v power. This video is a well respected guy from Australia but his views on fuel work all round the world 

 

Thanks Karoqer130, that was one of the best explanations I’ve seen for someone who is not so tech savvy as many on this site, I recommend everyone to see it. It’s certainly helped in my education on the subject, and possibly saved me a few bob.

5 minutes ago, Rjaygee said:

Thanks Karoqer130, that was one of the best explanations I’ve seen for someone who is not so tech savvy as many on this site, I recommend everyone to see it. It’s certainly helped in my education on the subject, and possibly saved me a few bob.

Happy to help and I cant recommend that guy enough for his easy to follow explanations for things

Save you a few bob if you buy 95 ron Tesco, Asda, Morrisson's, Sainsburry's, Costco etc.

 

Costs you 23 pence a gallon more to buy Sainsbury 97 or Tesco Momentum 99 Super Unleaded.

 

Shell, Texaco, Esso, BP, Gulf etc 95 ron unleaded might cost more a Gallon (litres) at the filling stations in the UK than the Super Unleaded.

 

Then the Shell V-Power Nitro+ Super 99 Unleaded is just a crazy amount extra as can be the BP or Esso or Gulf / Texaco Super Unleaded's 97 ron.

On ‎01‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 09:13, Kenny R said:

What does you fuel flap say to use?  Does it say to use 95 Ron or does it say 95 Ron minimum. If the latter you may benefit from using higher octane fuel, if the former they your just wasting your money.

Indeed  says MINIMUM 95 octane. Skoda claim 370NM of torque for my engine on 95 ctane but I always use 99 octane (Tesco Momentum or V-Power). When on Shell on the rolling road it gave an extra 7bhp but 30 extra torque at 400NM.

12 hours ago, Karoqer130 said:

From personal experience with premium fuels on my motorbike I can personally say that with a motorbike you can feel the difference in engine response with shell v power. This video is a well respected guy from Australia but his views on fuel work all round the world 

 

Good video typical Aussie keeping it simple suck,spark,bang,blow and he was correct in saying the higher octane fuels prevent pinking at high revs and typically give about 3% increase in power. Surprised he didn't  mention the cleaning benefits or the torque increases which are often much greater than the power increases.

2 hours ago, Offski said:

Save you a few bob if you buy 95 ron Tesco, Asda, Morrisson's, Sainsburry's, Costco etc.

 

Costs you 23 pence a gallon more to buy Sainsbury 97 or Tesco Momentum 99 Super Unleaded.

 

Shell, Texaco, Esso, BP, Gulf etc 95 ron unleaded might cost more a Gallon (litres) at the filling stations in the UK than the Super Unleaded.

 

Then the Shell V-Power Nitro+ Super 99 Unleaded is just a crazy amount extra as can be the BP or Esso or Gulf / Texaco Super Unleaded's 97 ron.

Happy paying just over £70 to fill my 50 litre tank but appreciate others budgets are not so generous as SWMBO gives me £200 per month to fuel both our cars.

Nothing special with Shell V-Power Nitro + over Tesco Momentum 99 or Costco 99.

 

Just another 8 pence a litre extra maybe.

Now in Italy at some pumps near the Factories and Test Tracks the Shell V-Power Nitro + is a better formulation / octane.

 

Try your car on Hiperflo 250, 102 ron.

It will cost you that £88.50 or so for 25 litres, but for high days and holidays and remapped TSI's better fun than going to the Opera.

Really no more expensive than buying fuel for a V8 sports car and having some fun.  Cheaper even.

Edited 2 October, 20187 yr by Offski