Sufficiently Good Fuel

[Anonymous]

Only about a month and a half or so until I receive my RCZ!!
I'm thinking about the fuel people use. Mine has the Petrol 1.6L 200BHP engine and I'm thinking whether to use the Octane 95 or Octane 98 petrol. In Gibraltar both are available, though the Octane 98 is not available in every single petrol station (not that it matters because Gibraltar is tiny anyway!). In my current old Ford Fiesta, I fill up on Octane 95 petrol at the Morrison's Petrol Station near my house. I don't know if I should change that habit with the RCZ. What do you think?
Also, I've already contacted a professional tuning company in Spain to get an ECU remap done on the RCZ for optimum performance. Would the remap change what fuel I should choose?
I'm just a bit confused. Is there any real difference or is it just a fad to get people to pay higher petrol prices for an undetectable difference that those who pay it fool themselves into thinking they notice?
Thanks for your guidance.

 

[RCZ1]

You may find the discussion in this thread useful on fuel.

viewtopic.php?t=5852

Following on from that particular thread, it led me to start using Shell V Power Nitro +. Previous to this I had ALWAYS used supermarket fuels and got very good fuel economy (around 40s mpg).

What I personally found with the Shell V Power was the performance was noticeably improved. The car drove better and certainly had more get up and go.

There is an item on this very topic in my blog. Click the link below to view my findings so far.




Blog: http://rczandme.wordpress.com/

 

[Anonymous]

I am an advocate of the better fuel being better for your engine and therefore is more cost effective. I believe as in many other scenarios it's a case of "rubbish in rubbish out" The car indisputably runs better with the higher octane and so in my mind it must be better. I believe that better fuel consumption is obtained too. The extra performance however is rather noticeable.

If cost is a big issue then a compromise would be only use branded fuel (not supermarket) and then fill up from nearly empty with the higher octane every 3rd or 4th tank full. This is help to clean and lubricate the engine.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information and the links. I will have a read. I drove a bit around Gibraltar earlier to locate the best petrol stations and most do not supply Unleaded 98 or if they do, they only do so at one or two pumps out of the lot. The price is currently about £1.20 per litre for Unleaded 98 and £1.10 for Unleaded 95 (it sure has gone up - 7 years ago when I started driving, Unleaded 95 cost £0.54 per litre!!).

Anyway, what I find odd is the disappearance of named petrol stations around here. All BPs have disappeared to be replaced with Petroli or something equally odd and all Shells have disappeared to be replaced with GibOil. I'm sure we don't produce our own petrol over here so I'm still unsure of what's up. There's still a Cepsa around as well as the Morrison's. Ironically these are the most "named" I've seen thus far, hahaha.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are going to remap the vehicle and up the boost you will have no other choice than to run 98. If you run 95 or the so called shopping centre fuels you can make yourself ready for head and turbo replacement.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are going to remap the vehicle and up the boost you will have no other choice than to run 98. If you run 95 or the so called shopping centre fuels you can make yourself ready for head and turbo replacement.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I just hope the so-called GibOil, an apparent distributor of Shell products in Gibraltar, actually sells what they should sell.

 

[Anonymous]

Just gave GibOil a call to enquire about the petrol sold here in Gibraltar and apparently they discontinued Shell's V-Power years ago and now only sell pure Unleaded 95 and 98 petrol as per European standards. No additives are put into either. All other petrol stations in Gibraltar are the same. So it seems in Gibraltar you should simply refuel at the cheapest one because it's all identical...

I'm a bit disappointed to be honest. Now I'm thinking about perhaps also buying a bottle of fuel additive for when I fill up the tank, just to add to the Unleaded 98. Hopefully I can actually find those, though in Spain it should be more available.

 

[frankvdb]

Just gave GibOil a call to enquire about the petrol sold here in Gibraltar and apparently they discontinued Shell's V-Power years ago and now only sell pure Unleaded 95 and 98 petrol as per European standards. No additives are put into either. All other petrol stations in Gibraltar are the same. So it seems in Gibraltar you should simply refuel at the cheapest one because it's all identical...

I'm a bit disappointed to be honest. Now I'm thinking about perhaps also buying a bottle of fuel additive for when I fill up the tank, just to add to the Unleaded 98. Hopefully I can actually find those, though in Spain it should be more available.

Why not go for the HDi?
With diesel the combustion process is completely different and fuel quality less problematic.

 

[Anonymous]

The HDi is a fantastic power pack :thumbup: With none of the inherent issues associated with the THP

 

[Anonymous]

Got my heart set on the Petrol 1.6L 200 BHP I'm afraid, plus I ordered it a month ago!
Always liked the instant response petrol cars give. That and the ECU remap can push me to about 230-240 BHP. I'll just use the Unleaded 98 petrol and ignore the whole additives deal. Should be fine and dandy.