Petrol Brands comparison

[adperrak]

Which is the best petrol brand according to your experience and car performance? Racing fuels and other mixtures to be excluded.

[matek]

Well according to EVO best value for money as in you get highest octane per litre Tesco 95 won. And the rest i cant remember of the top of my head.

[adperrak]

Well as you may know, not all brands are available worldwide... For example, I live in Greece. Here the most popular petrol brand is the Shell Vpower Racing 100+ octane (a very expensive road use fuel). Its closest rival is the BP Ultimate 100+ octane (similar characteristics). Yet, due to the Greek idiosyncrasy and exorbitant pricing, fuels are often adulterated. Hence, I seek advise for the best petrol brand I can get in terms of performance and reliability.

[jaromull]

I´ve got quite a good experience with ARAL 95 octane petrol. It seems to be quite a good value for money.

[McReis]

Originally Posted by matek

Well according to EVO best value for money as in you get highest octane per litre Tesco 95 won. And the rest i cant remember of the top of my head.

Yes. And the second best was BP ultimate 100. That's what I'm using presently. I won't say I feel any differences in the drive. I'm not even used enough to my car to notice anything. But since my mechanic, who is very experienced, says the advantages are easily noticed when an engine is open, I'm happy to pay the little extra for each litre.

[mclaren_crazy]

what kind of car do you have, because evo also said that if your car is sophisticatred enough even a lower octane fuel shouldnt make much of a difference

[McReis]

Originally Posted by mclaren_crazy

what kind of car do you have, because evo also said that if your car is sophisticatred enough even a lower octane fuel shouldnt make much of a difference

I have a '92 Mazda MX-5. The question for me is not so much the octane level, but more the quality of the premium fuels. They are purer and they keep the engine cleaner. There seems to be a noticeable decrease on the dirtiness acumulated in the engine.

[PerfAdv]

Originally Posted by mclaren_crazy

what kind of car do you have, because evo also said that if your car is sophisticatred enough even a lower octane fuel shouldnt make much of a difference

Not understanding the reasoning behind, "if a car is sophisticated enough even a lower octane fuel shouldn't make much of a difference." Higher compression engines require higher octane, if it's equipped with knock sensors then it automatically retards timing, so the engine basically detunes itself to run on a lower octane fuel. Running a sophisticated engine that requires higher octane fuel with low octane fuel does affect its performance.

[PerfAdv]

Shell V-POWER (only 91 octane available in California)

What is the advantage, if any, of using a higher octane gasoline than your engine requires to run without knocking? Better mileage?

http://www.smithtex.com/products.html

[McReis]

Originally Posted by PerfAdv

Shell V-POWER (only 91 octane available in California)

What is the advantage, if any, of using a higher octane gasoline than your engine requires to run without knocking? Better mileage?

http://www.smithtex.com/products.html

If you have the ignition timing clocked to deal with the higher octane level, it can better your milleage and slightly improve your performance.
On your car (NB) the ignition command is electronic. On mine (NA) it is manual and therefore easier to set.
But as I said before, I use the premium fuels more because of their quality and less because of their power increase. Having said this, I was surprised to see the variations due to fuels on the power output measurement of the cars tested by EVO.

[PerfAdv]

Originally Posted by McReis

If you have the ignition timing clocked to deal with the higher octane level, it can better your milleage and slightly improve your performance.
On your car (NB) the ignition command is electronic. On mine (NA) it is manual and therefore easier to set.
But as I said before, I use the premium fuels more because of their quality and less because of their power increase. Having said this, I was surprised to see the variations due to fuels on the power output measurement of the cars tested by EVO.

Does the NA have knock sensors? Or is that part of the electronic ignition as you pointed out?

I use premium fuel, because the NB requires 91 octane to run best. I've never put anything but 91 octane but a couple of gas stations I've filled at might not stick to octane requirements, as the car tended to hesitate under load at low RPMs.

Also, at least in the States, octane and additive cleansing agents are independent. So, you can get lower octane gas and still get the benefit of the additives. It's just that only Shell, Texaco, Mobil, and the like(premium) gas brands advertise having these additives. ARCO and AM/PM are budget fuels that don't advertise having it but I don't know if this is just a marketing thing.

I still just get Shell mostly.

[McReis]

The NA has no knock sensors as it doesn't adjust automatically the timing.

You premium fuel (US) has a very low octane degree. Our normal fuel is 95 octane and the premium goes from 98 to 100.

I don't know any "normal" unleaded with cleansing additives. But anyway, my car used to work on premium with the previous owner so I kept using it.

That hesitation you noticed might be in fact related with the lower octane level.

[Matra et Alpine]

Grangemouth in Scotland is our major refinery.
Esso, Shell, BP, Tesco and everybody elses petrol comes from the same pipe at the refinery Some get an extra additive - some of THEM get the SAME additives but call it something else at the pump
octane is octane is octane !!!!

[Zytek_Fan]

Shell and BP have been the best for my family. Especially with diesel.

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by McReis

The NA has no knock sensors as it doesn't adjust automatically the timing.

You premium fuel (US) has a very low octane degree. Our normal fuel is 95 octane and the premium goes from 98 to 100.

I don't know any "normal" unleaded with cleansing additives. But anyway, my car used to work on premium with the previous owner so I kept using it.

That hesitation you noticed might be in fact related with the lower octane level.

Yeah, it sucks. We can't own any Radical SR8s