I Tried...v-power... :-(

[dazz32]

Had a few tankfulls of the 100RON stuff on the LOC Nurburgring trip last year. Yummy :D

must be yummy with a supercharger and 100 ron petrol

[Yeldarb]

At the moment my IS gets whatever I can get away with, to save a few £'s so tesco's own brand every time!! I don't think it really matters on an N/A car. Our Boxter gets Tesco super fuel because it runs badly on "normal" fuel.

Once all the work is done it will only get high octaine fuels.

[kenfoxy]

Never mind Germany, last time I was on a Greek island (2007) it was 100 RON as super unleaded AND it was the equivalent of 10p per litre cheaper! Makes my blood boil especially when the Greeks have no oil of their own AND they have to get it from the mainland to an island.

[Rapidone]

Do the higher ron fuels give better 0-60 times or only better mpg?

[aido]

Technically if the ECU adjusts accordingly it should be both?

Think it can advance the timings instead of retarding them - doesn't work out to be a massive amount I wouldn't have thought though? Think it's all to do with the way the ECU monitors the engine - if it sees detonation or pinking it retards the settings which results in you losing a little bit of power.

This is most important for modified cars though - like has been said if the car is mapped to use 95 RON then it should be fine with any at all - it's when you go lower than what they recommend that you get more of these problems!

[Rapidone]

I've run 3 full tanks of Total 97 ron fuel in the car to test it, been getting slightly above 30mpg extra urban.

I changed back to Total 95 ron today. The car was running on fumes and was filled when I left work. It made 35mpg on the way home.

I know it's not possible to draw any conclusions from a single 18 mile run, but after watching carefully for the last 3 tanks, its immediately obvious to me that the ecconomy is significantly better with the 95 ron.

The car made 37mpg driving home from the showroom (200 miles), had a puncture after that which dropped the mpg for a while. I had assummed the low air temperatures were causing the lower mpg whilest using the 97 ron, but now I doubt that.

I'll report back again when this tank is finnished, but I doubt the conclusion will be any different.

[kenfoxy]

In general terms I have found that the higher the octane the more advance is put on the timing and an upward shift in the really useful power band takes place. This means that the higher the octane the more revs you need to make it really go. Usually it does. However, this would worsen fuel economy.

Just a theory but it could explain the anomolies between drivers of the same model. That is if the driver wants out and out performance at whatever cost in terms of money and revs then the higher octanes will be best. Conversly, if the driver wants smoothness and power at relatively lower revs with good fuel economy then the lower octanes will be best.

However if your car is demanding of high octanes then you have no choice.

[jsj24uk]

I tried V-Power in my old GS300 and it made quite a difference in performance. The engine note sounded slightly more angry when reved but it did make a difference. I have put a good three thankfull's of it in my LS430 and it makes no difference what so ever in terms of performance and fuel economy. I have been running it on BP Ultimate 97RON for the past year. Again, no increase in performance or fuel economy but it does do the Nectar points a world of good.

I also ran my old Nissan Micra driving school car for a year on BP Ultimate and again, there were no performance or MPG increases. I now run my new Micra on 95RON from Sainsbury's. I have put some V-Power in the Micra and as you can imagine, it made sod all difference. Being a 1.2 and an automatic are the main things against it I suppose.

Jim.

[Robertb]

It may be my imagination, but there is a hill on the M40 where the car usually shifted down to 5th with the cruise set to maintain speed. Since I've started using the v-power it doesn't shift down.

No noticeable change in fuel econ, but the car feels a bit more eager.

The main thing with the 'super' fuels is the extra engine cleaning additives etc so I reckon it could be many fills on a car that had been run on boggo supermarket fuels before one begins to feel the benefits.

[S Face]

i never believed the talk of using these 'better' fuels until i tried them.

i honestly didn't find any difference in tesco, saisbury's or BP ultimate higher RON petrols, but V-Power was bloomin obvious!!

the car feels so smooth and there is no 'juddery' pull aways when in 3rd or 4th at low rpm with the s/c!! you really can notice a difference in smoothness/performance. when i 1st had the s/c fitted, at low rpm in a higher gear, there was a horrible judder/lag that i couldn't get rid of. tried v-powr a month later and to date, its done the bizzo, so i'm a happy chappy, lol!! not so sure on the economy factor, but that's not what is the most imprtant thing for me - it was getting the smoother more refined ride.

Have to agree totally, I love V Power, worth the additional LSD every time. Power delivery is beautifully smooth until you want a big handful then hang on!

[chandru]

vpower all the time for me too..think the car has abit extra performance with it..feels it

[aido]

I just got 30 miles to a quarter of a tank on V-Power - now I've stopped drinking my car has taken over the mantle

[Painkiller]

I've been using v-power for ages and after resetting the ecu with it I reckon its giving me roughly 30 miles a tank more. The performance increase is largely a myth though. To benefit performance wise from higher octane fuel you really need a remap to alter the air/fuel ratios and such. I know the IS200 ECU can make adjustments itself in this vane but an aftermarket one would yield fuller results.

The main benefit from using higher octane fuels is that it offers more protection for the engine because a small amount of any fuel will be sub-par so if your using 95 RON and your car accepts 95 RON as a minimum some of this will be slightly less and this sub-par fuel causes knocking and overtime can cause damage / pitting of the cylinder walls. Therefore when your using 97 / 98 RON fuel it acts as a buffer because none of it will be under 95 RON and thus it prevents knocking.