Shell Optimax

[mercenary]

I thought I would give it a go, will it really make my car go faster? Will it really allow me to travel the globe on one full tank? Lets see

What they say

Clean your engine as you drive

Shell Optimax is specially designed to clean your engine as you drive. It helps remove deposits on inlet valves and ensure fuel injector nozzles are kept in tip-top condition. This is one of the reasons Shell Optimax can begin to improve your vehicle’s responsiveness from the moment you use it.

Developed with Ferrari

Working with the Shell supported Ferrari Formula One team has given our scientists a unique insight into engine performance. With the focus on optimum responsiveness and track reliability, we have been able to apply that knowledge to the development of Shell Optimax.

What people say

"My car goes wicked fast now, faster than before"

"I get an extra 80 miles out of a full tank"

How it works

The main thing with Optimax and other super fuels is its RON (Research Octane Number). Octane is the thing that really makes your car go. Sure all the other stuff in your tank plays a part but the octane is what gives a car its punch and power.

Here in the UK most unleaded fuels have a RON of 95. BP Ultimate has an RON of 97 and Optimax 98. Ever wondered why petrol is so expensive in the UK? Sure we pay more tax on it than the US but most fuels in the US only have a RON in the 80's, whilst there I noticed they have about 3 grades for sale, even the highest grade didnt have a RON above 87. So what does this mean? Well there gas eating machines tend to burn off more of the other stuff in a tank to try and get a bit of movement.

Testing

You cant just fill up with a tank of this stuff and expect to get instant performance. You have to remember you proberbly had a tank full of petrol with a RON of 95, putting the new stuff in is just going to dilute with this. So... I ran my tank down as low as I could, then filled up with a tank of Optimax. Used that up, filled up again, used that up then filled up again. 3 full tanks.

Part way through the final tank I did an ECU reset so it would learn my new tank and began testing.

Now, without a rolling road, test track or anything like that I had to just do it the old fashioned way and use the car every day for my normal work commute, mainly motorway with some country driving.

What I found

Hmmm, not much. Cant say the car seemed any faster on acceleration, no higher top speed and no improved fuel economy.

Fuel Economy

Ive read the forum posts and spoke to people who use it and they all say they had a higher fuel economy, according to the shell web site they say "We have designed Shell Optimax to give you better responsiveness, by cleaning your engine as you drive. It is well known that lack of deposits improves the efficiency of the engine, so using Shell Optimax should help fuel economy when compared to regular unleaded fuels." Read it, it says should. So does it? Not by much if it does. The only way to tell is on a rolling road. On each fill up I reset my milage and see and everytime the ammount I get from a tank can vary by as much as 100 miles. With or without optimax. How much you get depends on how hard you accelerate, traffic, wind direction and im sure the angle of the moon can too. My view... It hasnt made any noticable difference.

Performance

Again, people say they get a better performing car. Cant say I noticed anything though. Acceleration seems the same, top speed no different. Car just felt like an IS200 on normal fuel. As with the fuel economy all sorts can affect this, wind, traffic, weight in the car etc.

Conclusion

I noticed no benefit from using Optimax what so ever. Car handled and performed the same. I have no doubt however that in tests it would perform better, on a test track with the exact same conditions each time. But as most of us use our cars to get around day to day its all the same. In theory this stuff should be better though. Your engine should be cleaner, produce less emmisions and help the environment. But hands up all those that use it for that reason alone?

Please give your feedback and views on Optimax and BP Ultimate (both have the exact same claims on their website) . I personally feel there are too many factors in the real world to say for sure you do notice a difference in performance or economy.

[Anees]

Excellent Review! :D

As far as I know Optimax is 98RON and BP Ultimate is 97RON.

I have tried Optimax and havn't noticed any performance or economy improvements - but my car did have a stuttering problem when I accelerated and by filling up with Optimax it has reduced it dramatically!

[mercenary]

You are right, my mistake optimax is 98.

Somthing I didnt mention, I used to use it in my Corsa :D and started having stuttering engine problems shortly after. Back to normal fuel and my Corsa was all good again

[Anees]

You are right, my mistake optimax is 98.

Somthing I didnt mention, I used to use it in my Corsa :D and started having stuttering engine problems shortly after. Back to normal fuel and my Corsa was all good again

←

You got me worried now! :o

[mercenary]

I used it in my corsa for about 3000 miles and it didnt improve. changed back and it was fine.

I think that just proves though that this stuff isnt suited to EVERY engine, after reading the corsa manual it says the engine is tuned to RON 95 but higher grades can be used.

I think the lexus with its ECU though handles changes better as it can learn, the corsa had no such option.

[mercenary]

Check the forums on the optimax site, again some people say its great, some say normal fuel is better and other say nothing changed.

Still no conclusive evidence that its made any changes, or maybe its just certain cars :D

[Jiberjaber]

I used to use it in my Megane (that was a 16v IDE engine) and there was a noticable difference in perfomrance and MPG.

I have been useing it in the Lex since new (bar about 8 tanks work of BP SUL) and dont notice any difference between the two fuels to be honest.

I switched to Optimax mostly because it is cheaper than SUL at most of the places I have been when I have been filling up. BP SUL is usualy around 89ppl, Optimax is about 86ppl Still a lot of money though!

[mercenary]

So is this 'magic' fuel actually any good, or is it all in our heads?

[Ally]

I've tried Optimax a couple of times and the car actually felt more sluggish than using normal unleaded. The mileage from a tank was exactly the same as well. I am now back to using normal Shell unleaded, car is running better and i am paying 5 pence less a litre. :)

[mercenary]

ive been reading the shell forums and most tend to say it is faster and gives better mpg but as I said above. my mpg varys by as much as 100miles a tank, all depends how you drive and the conditions your in.

[Scorpion]

Dont you think its a clever marketing tool to sell more petrol,and at a higher rate too.....to make us believe that its better for our cars ?

After all we'll buy/spend anything on our cars to make it look/go better.

wouldn't we?

:D :D

[chib1177]

well ive just finished using shell optimax,

i used it for 6 tanks worth and i definately noticed a difference.

the only problem was the difference was in the feel of my wallet, it felt a lot lighter than before, in my opinion it made no other difference and ill keep the 35-40p a gallon in my wallet thanks

[mercenary]

now theres a good question, assume it does actually make you go faster. Is it worth the cost. You then have a choice. Pay more, have a questionable performance increase, Pay less, your car still goes and gets you to where your going.

Shell and the other makers also claim their regular stuff has additives to clean your engine.

[Brettster]

I used optimax in my IS for over a year

I do mostly the same driving every day

very little motorway driving mostly stop start hevy traffic in an auto SE, I ended up getting about an extra 50 miles from a full tank, Ive just started using it in my GS300 now, after 5 tanks worth i'll reset the ecu and give it another 5 tanks worth and see if i get any more from it, at the moment im getting around the same amount of miles from a full tank as i got in my IS200 not bad for a much heavier car with a 3L engine.

but Nice Review :)

[Whitebeam]

I use Optimax and supermarket 95 & have found Optimax gives me a couple of extra mpg on a long trip (usually enough to justify the extra price) but no difference around town.

[Wosket]

the only benefit i got from optimax was better mpg on longer journeys, other than that it was a bit of a waste IMO. i dont do motorway journeys very often so its just not worth it, im sticking with tesco for my clubcard points!

[nwc100]

Tesco for me too.... clubcard points and 5p off a litre when you spend more than £50.00 spend that a day in tescos easily

Nick

[Wayne3940]

I found the lex feels smoother at high revs on the optimax but can't say it gives better MPG. My friend runs a Civic R and he noticed the same thing but only between 5 - 8 thousand rpm. Don't think there was any performance gain the engine just felt a little better at high revs.

[bitonw]

thanks to this optimax, shell made the biggest profit since... read http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4231693.stm

[mercenary]

somthing new happend this weekend. I decided to do another ECU reset and now the car is smooth. I mean real smooth. Gear ****fs are now nice and smooth, no more twitchyness.

Cant say its smoother in any other way. How could it be?

Very strange

[Anees]

somthing new happend this weekend. I decided to do another ECU reset and now the car is smooth. I mean real smooth. Gear ****fs are now nice and smooth, no more twitchyness.

Cant say its smoother in any other way. How could it be?

Very strange

←

Remember in my previous post about the stutturing problem? I said before that I filled up with Optimax and it reduced it dramatically. Well a few weeks ago I got a K'N Air Filter and that made a lovely improvement to the car . No stutturing at all and REALLY smooth - very little ***** between gear changes etc.

Anyway. I dropped my car off at a garage and they had it for almost a week. In that time they had to drive it a few places and when I picked it up my fuel warning light came on. So i just went to the closest petrol station (It was Texaco) and put in £15 worth of petrol. Car was still smooth on the motorway on the way home. But about two days later I noticed that the car was being unrefined and jerky when changing gear and stuttered as before when accelerating. I didn't know what it was and was abit worried.

I resent the ECU and filled up with Optimax again and the stutturing/jerkyness was still apparent. But since the start of this week the car has gone smooth again! :D

All I can think of was the the period where it was being rough and jerky was when the Texaco petrol was working its way though the system and then back to Optimax where it became smooth again.

Could just be a coincidence? But happy with the way it is running at the moment! :)

[squarehead]

I tried Optimax for a couple of months last year and it didn't make any difference what so ever, now back to Shell standard unleaded.

[mercenary]

OK, this is intresting, all have the same car. Should work the same be it an SE, auto, manual etc.

But some say no difference at all, some say they did notice. Very strange.

[minted_aye]

Higher ron rating is really suited to import cars that are use to 100 ron as for most UK cars I think its personally a waste of money, I have tried it over the years and have noticed no real diffrence, stick to the cheap stuff and add some redex now and again

[Mr Morse]

Time to resurrect an old post....

Having worked in the oil industry for 17 years for an oilfield services company (we supply the majors with equipment & service), I was always sceptical of the performance claims of their products. And also their obscene profit margins

Anyhow, having filled up with 97 RON from my local Sainsbo's, since new 15 months ago, I thought I'd give Optimax a try. I filled up with 45 litres and did an ECU reset.

Result: My motor normally takes up immediately the key is turned. Now it takes 1 second to take up, and until the engines reaches normal working temperature I'm getting a bit of a judder. It's early days yet, but paying an extra 5p a litre is not looking like VFM