Hi all,

Bought a Felicia in June and have only used 99 Octane Momentum from Tesco, wondering if 97 or even 95 RON is fine to use for my 1998 GLI. The fuel cap states 95 RON minimum but saw a few people on here say 99 needs to be used.

Guidance would be appreciated - thanks!

95RON is what these engines were built for. The 54HP variant of 1.3 could run even on 91.

The reason people recommend higher octane fuel is, because most of these fuels have lower amount of ethanol in them. Ethanol can potentially cause issues in older cars - in Felicia, it depends on engine, 1.6 should be fine, 1.3 MPI should be fine after change of injector seals from Fabia, I'm not sure about the SPI - you didn't write which engine you have.

Edit: found more precise info, distributed by Skoda - the problematic part are fuel regulator seals, PN 047198031 - it's not available from Skoda, but there are alternatives.

Edited 20 August, 202520 Aug by Papez

The OP is in the UK where all 95 ron Unleaded sold is E10 so might have up to 10% Bio-ethanol.

Skoda / VW says OK to use.

the 97 or 99 ron Super unleaded is E5 and might have up to 5% Bio-Ethanol.

Some might have 0% bio-ethanol like ESSO Synergy in a very small amount of the UK.

Up to the person buying what they want. Sainsbury 97 ron min Super Unleaded or Tesco Momentum 99 might be no more than the Branded companies E10 95 ron.

Edited 20 August, 202520 Aug by Ootohere

4 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

Unleaded is E10 so might have up to 10% Bio-ethanol.

Skoda / VW says OK to use.

As I stated above, it's not OK.

For Felicia, only the 1.6 is fine to use it.

1.3 MPI - E10 may damage the seals on the fuel pressure regulator and Skoda recommends replacement.

For all other variants of the Skoda OHV engine in Felicia and older models, the E10 fuel is not recommended - but the concern is around the rubber/plastic parts in the fuel system, not the engine itself, so YMMV.

Edited 20 August, 202520 Aug by Papez

Sorry for my bad. thanks.

.

Edited 20 August, 202520 Aug by Ootohere

Thank you very much both of you! I appreciate it, will stick with RON 97 & 99 E5 @Ootohere @Papez

The higher octane fuels also have greater additive cleaning packages. Attached list (already posted by Ootohere) is from 2023 but gives you the idea. - petrol.pdf

ETA: UK Government website confirms Felicia 1.3 is not suitable foe E10. Its particularly not good if you don't use the Felicia frequently as t likes to pulling moisture, I can't remember if the E10 petrol it goes off quicker or not, certainly a PITA for petrol 4-stroke garden tools.

https://check-vehicle-compatibility-e10-petrol.service.gov.uk/manufacturer/%C5%A0koda

Thankfully no E10 here in Greece.

Here we have E5 and 95,98,100 RON.

E10 are for engines after 2011 so not for Felicia 1.3

no ethanol on felicia say goodbye to seals

On 20/08/2025 at 18:54, nta16 said:

The higher octane fuels also have greater additive cleaning packages.

As a ''general idea'' here is to use them (in a car like Felicia 1.3) when you are going to travel (Highway-Mountain) so you will push the engine in higher rpm so those ''clening'' additives will do better job.

Of course it's an unofficial view of the matter although some drivers report betetr performance, one click cleaner valves etc.

36 minutes ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

As a ''general idea'' here is to use them (in a car like Felicia 1.3) when you are going to travel (Highway-Mountain) so you will push the engine in higher rpm so those ''clening'' additives will do better job.

Also helps if the engine air filter and airbox and tubing are clean to get as much petrol and air through and out of the engine to take any muck with it - although if it's a diesel and not very regularly run on "cleaner" diesel fuel and maintained well you would not want to be behind it, or in the general area (especially a VAG product, the cheating, lying . . .).

what about cleaning additives in fuel? are they present in fuels, or we can add it manually in gas tank, example. can this be benefit in any way or just scam?

https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/pro-line-gasoline-system-cleaner-p000062.html?srsltid=AfmBOooYywt91xCFlCaI71UDQzRh5fQQFB0Zj04H1nDOvqyNRa-yJOSV#5153

Edited 25 August, 202525 Aug by imart143

I don't believe the "one bottle of ABC product" can to almost everything inside an engine, there are no magic solutions as the Magic Potion of Asterix.

I have a bitter experience from additives in my coolant.

On 25/08/2025 at 10:44, imart143 said:

what about cleaning additives in fuel? are they present in fuels, or we can add it manually in gas tank, example. can this be benefit in any way or just scam?

You don't want to be mixing too many additives together. Note the application of the product you linked to -

"Applic­a­tion

To be added directly into the fuel tank. As a preventive measure, add during each inspection, after repairs on the fuel system and after each JetClean cleaning operation. The product mixes with fuel automatically. Contents of can are sufficient for max. 70 l of fuel.mm"

So it is doing the same sort of thing as the additional cleaning additive packages in the higher octane lower ethanol petrols (in UK at least), if you can only buy petrol without the additional cleaning additive packages already in the petrol it could be a substitute for that.

There are lots of different products about for different tasks offering different levels of success depending on what you are aiming to achieve, just two examples more.

Cleaner and octane booster (not ethanol protection) - Millers Oils Petrol Power ECOMAX Fuel Treatment. - https://www.millersoils-shop.co.uk/petrol-power-ecomax

For ethanol protection, but as far as I know it won't remove or deal with existing moisture in the tank or perhaps carb bowl - Classic Etha-Guard Plus. - https://www.classicoils.co.uk/additives

nothing of that products i dont have in shops in my country.

even not have non additive gasoline.

we have adittive added 95 and 100 octan fuel.

and quality of fuel is also suspicious.

thats why i use those additives, maybe twice a year, for example LIQUI MOLY 5153

Fair enough. Can you not trust the Shell petrol stations and use Shell V-Power? - https://www.coralenergy.hr/en/services/shell-retail-stations/

Twice a year is better than nothing but if you may be getting rough petrol and even if not you may need or want to use it more frequently. In the UK where generally the petrol is always good I suggest for modern cars that usually run on 95 (E10) petrol and don't do a higher mileage that at least 2 tankfuls of the higher octane (E5) petrol with the higher cleaning additives packages are used and a, or a few good blow-out Italian-tune-up runs are done to get as much of the fuel and air through the engine and exhaust before, at time of and after servicing and MoT.

When you've added your Liqui Moly 5153 if you don't already do so I suggest you all use the Liqui Moly 5153 on a few blow-out Italian tune-up runs particularly before, at and after the engine air filter has ben replaced and its airbox and tubing cleaned inside and change of spark plugs, same for engine oil & filter changes.

Bumping this topic, has anyone had any issue when putting petrol into the car - the pump constantly stops / stops pumping fuel into the car, as if the car were already full. Any way to sort this?

Hello, welcome to the forum.

There was a post about a year ago with a similar issue - it turned out there was an obstruction lodged in the filler tube; it was the end of a fuel syphon device!

Definitely not a common problem or even uncommon problem, when did this first start, is this at different petrol pumps, are you trying to overfill the tank (not a great idea), is there a lot of grit/debris at the petrol filler bowl (under the screw end of petrol pipe cap).

ETA - If there aren't any obstructions then if the car is still under warranty get them to test out fuel tank. - Sorry I forgot which forum I was in.

Edited 20 September, 202520 Sep by nta16
ETA

23 hours ago, Luck said:

the pump constantly stops / stops pumping fuel into the car, as if the car were already full. Any way to sort this?

Happened to me only once in a specific gas station with an old employee, the tank was almost empty (in purpose) and i was surprised when i heard the ''clack'' after a while and again another one few seconds later.

I asked the employee ''what's happening?" but he turn his body so i couldn't see what's happened, that day this incident ruined my fuel consumption measurements (i didn't had the TC-6) and i never visited this gas station again.

In other gas station this never happened.