Optimax/BP Ultimate etc. Worth it or not?

[NewMB]

One of the car mags tested ordinary fuel against the ultimate brands with a Fiesta, Golf GTI & Subaru Impreza.

Conclusions were that the humble Fiesta and the fuel injected Golf showed no difference, the Subaru did see a power increase. Highly tuned engines with an engine management that can differentiate between grades of fuel will show some increase, as for the rest, you are wasting your money.

Russ

Have you tried with the V-POwer Diesel?

I did in my C320 Cdi and it did not make any difference at all. But with a petrol engine, it's different.

 

[boohoo]

yes i agree 100% but sometimes my wife has filled up at asda which is on our doorstep....even she noticed the difference in the e55 and will only use v-power now bless her!!

 

[NewMB]

yes i agree 100% but sometimes my wife has filled up at asda which is on our doorstep....even she noticed the difference in the e55 and will only use v-power now bless her!!

My wife wouldn't go anywhere near the drivers seat on my E55.....

 

[rf065]

Have you tried with the V-POwer Diesel?

I did in my C320 Cdi and it did not make any difference at all. But with a petrol engine, it's different.

Tried it on mine too, only difference was it cost more

Russ

 

[NewMB]

Perhaps the MB Diesels are efficient enough??

I only think it's worth it as I pay only 7% higher price for a 9% increase in mpg. If it would be the other way around.... well, no.

 

[amwebby]

I only think it's worth it as I pay only 7% higher price for a 9% increase in mpg. If it would be the other way around.... well, no.

At today's prices that works out to 0.169 pence per mile on Optimax against 0.173 pence per mile on regular. Or 0.004 pence per mile saving. About £5 per tankful.

I have recorded no difference in mpg on my W215. I have also recorded no difference at all in performance, via Tempes GT, which shows exactly the same acceleration times on either fuel.

 

[NewMB]

At today's prices that works out to 16.9 pence per mile on Optimax against 17.3 pence per mile on regular. Less than 1 pence per mile saving. About £5 per tankful.

Sorry, I am lost.....

 

[amwebby]

Sorry, I am lost.....

What your figures show is that a 9% increase in mpg, at a 7% differential in fuel costs, amounts to a saving of 0.004 pence a mile at today's prices.

 

[BTB 500]

Highly tuned engines with an engine management that can differentiate between grades of fuel will show some increase, as for the rest, you are wasting your money.

Not necessarily. The additives should have long-term benefits for any engine:

While driving, deposits can develop around a car engine’s inlet valves, impeding the air flow and reducing power. Shell V-Power is designed to reduce the build-up of deposits and help remove existing ones, enabling the fuel to burn more effectively. This effective deposit control can help keep a new engine running like new for longer. Shell V-Power can also help rejuvenate older engines.

http://www.shell.co.uk/home/content.../on_the_road/fuels/v_power_pkg/tech_spec.html

That's why I use V-Power in my SL, not to make it go faster.

 

[andy_cyp]

Try using shell v power after having an ecu upgrade its even more mental, but i luv it...:bannana:

 

[amwebby]

"It’s not just fuel. It’s the feeling of driving with Ferrari fuel for your car."

As I said earlier, and this from someone who works there, marketing. You pays your money...

 

[andy_k]

I've noticed a big difference between normal unleaded and the high octane stuff with the E55. We put one tank of 95 RON in it just to see if there was a marked difference - that was enough and after that we were back to "super plus". There's no great difference on the E320 although it is slightly more economical and it feels a bit crisper - maybe that's just psychological

No Shell stations around here that are easy to get to or en route anywhere so we use BP, Esso and Texaco

 

[popuptoaster]

people complain about "cheap supermarket petrol" not giving as much power, my mate works at the Coryton refinery and they fill up the tankers from the same tanks as the big garage chains, the fuels not cheaper for them to buy cos its crap, they sell it cheap cos its subsidised by the supermarket.

The aditives in the super fuels may well be good for the engine but 90% of cars wont get any performance benifit from higher octane fuels as the ECU is NOT SET UP TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT.

The higher the octane rating the higher the fuels anti knock (pre ignition) properties, so an engine can run more advanced timing which in turn gives more power, this is why when cars were being modified when unleaded first came out the fix was to retard the timing a little, less advance gave less chance of preignition (often called pinking or knock) as the lack of lead gave the fuel more chance to ignite early.

I dont know about mercedes specifically but most manaufacturers dont go to the expense of making the ECU sophisticated enough to tell the differnece when its cheaper to just make different versions for the various grades of fuels where the car is sold. For instance the ONLY Fords with an ECU that could do this up till about 10 years ago were the Cosworth versions of the sierra, escort and granada, from then till now i dont know as i have been out of the loop for a while.

I would expect the proper AMG tuned cars to be able to do this, but i doubt any of the others can.

Most of it is in the mind, same as a placebo works on most people if you dont know about it, you imagine your car is faster or using less fuel, even with a trip computer you can still be fooled as well all know our minds will remember things how we want them to and thinking our cars are faster can actually make you drive smoother as you imagine that you have the extra oomph if you need it rather than having to keep speeding up and slowing down to keep up, improves your fuel consumption without you noticing.

 

[blueserenity777]

Shell Optimax is 99 octane while BP ultimate is 98 octane..Optimax is the better fuel..think ESSO Synergy is also 98 octane..
Wished the difference between 95 and 99 octane for Shell were about 4p..7 pence is a lot for a full tank..once in awhile is fine

 

[BTB 500]

Shell Optimax is 99 octane

Optimax was 98 RON. It was replaced by V-Power, which is 99 RON.

 

[blueserenity777]

Optimax was 98 RON. It was replaced by V-Power, which is 99 RON.

yup,you are right..

 

[MangoMan]

I have used Super Unleaded since I knew you could get it, in the cars I have had it has seemed to improve performance generally, other than my Jeep. In actual fact my Celica, being an import, it is recommended because in Japan they are tuned to actually run on 100 Octane.

And really, there isn't much difference in price. It's like you going to the pub for a Guinness because you like it, but no, you would rather have the House Best because it's 4p cheaper...... Yeah-right!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I'm a bit rusty, but here's my simple understanding. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will correct where necessary!!

Really it's forced induction cars that will benefit most - and modified turbos most all - as pinking or detonation is more likely to occur at hight boost.

As has been alluded to, the engine must be equipped with Active Ignition Timing in order to continuously adjust ignition timing to best meet the demands placed upon it: power, emissions, fuel consumption, etc.

There's a 'base' ignition map configured for the lowest octane rating fuel the car is set up to run on, ie in the UK this is usually 95 RON except for relatively modern very high performance cars. This has the least advanced - or most retarded ignition timing the engine will run on.

There's an 'advance' map which then overlays on top which offers additional advance should it be deemed appropriate by the ECU. The value in the base map plus the value in the advance map will determine the limit to which the engine can advance timing, and as such a limit may be reached with regards to benefits derived from higher octane fuels.

There's usually a learning cycle which the ECU uses to identify the best choice of timing to use for the quality of fuel available. It will progressively advance or retard timing depending upon how the engine responds to the adapting map.

Throughout all this the knock sensor is monitoring the engine, and if it detects detonation or pinking, it will intervene and back of advance to the base map to avoid damaging the engine.

 

[BTB 500]

Some of them (certainly V-Power) also have friction-reducers though, which are likely to yield a small improvement regardless of timing. I assume multi-cylinder engines would benefit most from this, the NA V6 in my VW certainly gave improved torque on Optimax / V-Power. No idea about bhp as I didn't have any way to gauge that.

 

[boohoo]

Just filled up with v-power 99.9p litre :bannana: