What petrol do you use?

[MisterBigglesworth]

BP 95 unleaded...only the best for my baby

 

[I am Penguin]

BP 95 unleaded...only the best for my baby

Sasol or any other 95 unleaded.

 

[I am Penguin]

No i mean is there a difference between 95 from Shell, or BP, or Total... I know its always better to go for higher octane... I see overseas they have 98 RON

Each company have their own "secret" additives. Just depends who or what you believe.

 

[Jabberwocky]

"its got electrolytes!"
Marketing BS

 

[Just_Ice]

"its got electrolytes!"
Marketing BS

But electrolytes are good for you!

 

[Hot_Chocolate]

shell 95

hubby prefers caltex, though he'd fill up at anyone

 

[Frankie]

Is there really a difference between the 95 fuels? I hear they all come from the same refineries anyway.

At the NatRef refinery I questioned one of the engineers about the bowser's of all the brand labels filling up there and he said that they only differ as far as a minute amount of their choice of additive.

 

[.Froot.]

I use just regular old 93... works fine and couldn't be bothered to pay 10 or 20-odd cents more for petrol just to add another R200 a month to my bills.

 

[Fazda]

Whatever is available when I need to fill up. Most of the fuel is a SASOL mix any way...if it was overseas, I might be fussy, as long as it's clean and it's the right octane I don't really care. I DO avoid SASOL only pumps though, as I then feel as if I'm feeding the green eyed monster that controls us and laughs all the way to the bank. If it has another name, at least it's not as bad!

 

[Claymore]

It does make a difference, turbo cars should use it on the highveld.
But NA cars can also gain more power, and a much smoother drive on the highveld! But I suggest use 95 on alternate fill ups. Most cars service book will advise to use highest octane available.[/COLOR]

Bear in mind that higher octane fuel is *less* explosive than lower octane fuel. The octane compounds are added in order to reduce the explosiveness, so that pre-ignition doesn't happen in the cylinders.

This means that if the engine does not have issues with pre-ignition at its standard compression ratio etc., then using a higher-octane fuel does absolutely nothing for power. That's the case for almost all naturally-aspirated cars in SA. It's a different matter for for supercharged or turbocharged cars, however.

 

[EchoZA]

Shell V Power

 

[Sting]

Hot_Chocolate shell 95

hubby prefers caltex, though he'd fill up at anyone

 

[JK8]

Bear in mind that higher octane fuel is *less* explosive than lower octane fuel. The octane compounds are added in order to reduce the explosiveness, so that pre-ignition doesn't happen in the cylinders.

This means that if the engine does not have issues with pre-ignition at its standard compression ratio etc., then using a higher-octane fuel does absolutely nothing for power. That's the case for almost all naturally-aspirated cars in SA. It's a different matter for for supercharged or turbocharged cars, however.

Yes correct. What I should have wrote was, smoother power delivery for NA cars.

 

[milomak]

which is closest when i decide to fil up. 95 thereafter.

 

[Waaib]

Geez talk about a thread not turning out the way you expect. All good though. MyBB rules.

I kinda expected to hear about quirks and superstitions about filling cars at certain places vs others.

 

[Sackboy]

BP

It's the only petrol without any HEAVY METALS.

 

[DJ...]

Couldn't care less - all smells the same to me...

93 unleaded though...

 

[Gnome]

I almost only use BP, apparently it's the cleaner fuel, who knows tho

Is there really a difference between the 95 fuels? I hear they all come from the same refineries anyway.

A normal car gets no benefit from the higher octane, a car that's meant to run on high octane fuels on the other hand will perform better.

If you chuck in 93 octane in a car with a 95 octane ignition map, it'll start knocking which damages the engine, but usually if you have a knock sensor the ECU will adjust by lower the ignition advance (cars with 95 octane ignition maps usually do have knock sensors).

Cars that are fitted with wide band exhaust O2 sensors can also benefit some from 95 octane because the sensor can detect that the car is running slightly richer and in response lean out the mixture.

Very few cars have 95 octane ignition maps and/or wide-band O2 sensors (most all cars use narrow-band O2 sensors which does not have the required resolution), most commonly the sensors are only fitted to modern turbo-charged engines or performance vehicles.

On a car with a 95 octane ignition map the car will lose performance because lowering ignition advance lowers performance, on a car with a wide-band O2 sensor you'll see no benefit save lower fuel usage, BUT it's unlikely to be more economical than just driving on 93 octane (not sure tho).

In terms of cleanness or freshness, both 95 and 93 are the same, 95 octane simply has additives added in order to boost the temperature of ignition, otherwise they are identical.

At coast 95 octane is standard because the air has higher density, which causes the engine to run leaner, to counteract that they use 95 octane. Using 93 octane on a normal car at the coast will cause the engine to knock heavily (and probably a shiny red hot exhaust).

 

[DJ...]

So how do you know if your car is meant to run on higher octane fuels? Is it reserved for sports cars?

 

[Gnome]

So how do you know if your car is meant to run on higher octane fuels? Is it reserved for sports cars?

Pretty much, you can check your cars manual, for example, the old Opel Superboss had a octane setting and the newer cars like a Mercedes SL will specifically say in the manual that they recommend "Premium" fuels (AKA Higher octane).

It's a bit of a rip-off actually because most of these "performance" cars have their specifications drawn up on high octane fuels, then in the manual of the car it will say something like: "For maximum performance premium fuels are recommended"

If your car does have a O2 sensor you can try and see if you benefit from lower fuel usage and if that benefit is enough to justify the price tag. My understanding was that higher octane fuels (IE. 95 octane in Gauteng and 97 octane at the Coast) have higher tax associated with them so I'm not entirely convinced it'll help enough to use the high octane fuel.