[winther1]

glad I asked, thanks for the advice! I'm officially on 98 from now on.
I only put on 40-50 miles a week, so petrol prices were never my concern, just habit and convenience having Asda near me

[Alscoob]

I've started to use 98/99 in the 340i (not mapped) and it feels a little sharper, not by a great amount, but I'll see after a few mor tanks.

When we had a UK spec Integra Type R anything less than the best and you would really notice, it felt flat even when the V-Tec kicked in, couldn't believe the fuel made such a difference, but that was NA old school tuning

[Pizzaeatingking]

Always used 99 in mine from new, or 102 in Germany. Performance car need performance fuel, might as well get the most out of it, even more so with a tune.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by winther1

glad I asked, thanks for the advice! I'm officially on 98 from now on.
I only put on 40-50 miles a week, so petrol prices were never my concern, just habit and convenience having Asda near me

You'll struggle to put 98ron in it as "super" is either 97ron or 99ron (Tesco/Shell) in the UK either is fine I've found.

[2CRO4TV]

Always used shell v power in mine. The MPPSK at full chat made my mind up not to change 😂

[winther1]

Originally Posted by Wills2

You'll struggle to put 98ron in it as "super" is either 97ron or 99ron (Tesco/Shell) in the UK either is fine I've found.

So running the BM3 stage 2 (98 RON) is suitable for both 97 and 99?

[t5pilot]

Originally Posted by winther1

So running the BM3 stage 2 (98 RON) is suitable for both 97 and 99?

Only use 97 if vpower or momuntum isn't available. They're both 99.
Don't make it a habit though.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by winther1

So running the BM3 stage 2 (98 RON) is suitable for both 97 and 99?

Dunno but it'll be a lot better than that supermarket sludge you've been putting in it

It's a funny thing though as 98ron is the recommended fuel grade for many BMWs for best performance yet it isn't available in the UK, 99 will be fine but I have to say I've never noticed a difference between that and using BP super which is 97 but my car isn't tuned but I guess there must be.

[KRS_SN]

Im a bigger sinner. I only use v power diesel or bp ultimate diesel or esso synergy diesel.
Im worse off by around £200 a year over 10k miles by doing that.
My justification is I run ok with eating tesco essentials but somehow feel nicer after eating tesco finest so feel obliged to apply the same logic to my trusted steed

[Ennoch]

One thing to note with the various higher octane fuels is that they're not all created equal. For some reason the BP Ultimate stuff runs like a bag of nails in my Impreza, and Andy Forrest who mapped it basically said not to touch the stuff unless in an absolute emergency. He reckoned a bottle of booster and their stock fuel was safer for knock. As it's always the most expensive fuel out there anyway I just stick with either V Power or Momentum (which it was mapped on). With the V Power diesel I did notice a little improvement in fuel economy but not enough to offset the cost over Tesco standard stuff which seems decent quality. In the Honda it's pretty low powered and old so I'm never too fussed about what fuel goes in it other than to always avoid the local Morrisons which just seems to make it run like a bag of old nails on the various occasions I've stuck a tank in, forgetting my past experiences.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

Im a bigger sinner. I only use v power diesel or bp ultimate diesel or esso synergy diesel.
Im worse off by around £200 a year over 10k miles by doing that.
My justification is I run ok with eating tesco essentials but somehow feel nicer after eating tesco finest so feel obliged to apply the same logic to my trusted steed

I always put super diesel in my oil burners when doing 30-40k PA, so you're not alone.

PS your local market is cheaper and better than anything Tesco's sell.

[trangofarm]

When I had mine on the dyno (after getting it mapped) it was apparent that the 95RON fuel I was using was causing the ignition to retard the timing. Since then I always use 98/99RON fuel.

[Racing Teatray]

I'm clearly going to be controversial here by saying I've never noticed the blindest bit of difference on my car between running on 95 or 98.

What I do notice is that the premium charged for 98 over 95 in this country has shot up. Around here it can be 12-14p/litre. Never used to be that much.

[winther1]

Originally Posted by Racing Teatray

I'm clearly going to be controversial here by saying I've never noticed the blindest bit of difference on my car between running on 95 or 98.

What I do notice is that the premium charged for 98 over 95 in this country has shot up. Around here it can be 12-14p/litre. Never used to be that much.

You pay a premium but seems Shell has some sort of rewards scheme app which combined with (alleged) better mileage might balance it out

[BBri89]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

Im a bigger sinner. I only use v power diesel or bp ultimate diesel or esso synergy diesel.
Im worse off by around £200 a year over 10k miles by doing that.
My justification is I run ok with eating tesco essentials but somehow feel nicer after eating tesco finest so feel obliged to apply the same logic to my trusted steed

£200 a year?

I don't think it's that much of a difference over 10k?

I work it out as about 5% more expensive... which at 15p per mile, makes it less than 16p per mile, or under £100 per 10k.

[KRS_SN]

Originally Posted by BBri89

£200 a year?

I don't think it's that much of a difference over 10k?

I work it out as about 5% more expensive... which at 15p per mile, makes it less than 16p per mile, or under £100 per 10k.

super diesel is at least 15p more expensive than normal diesel so over 10k miles it is over £200 expensive. My x5 does between 28-30 UK mpg on average.

[winther1]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

super diesel is at least 15p more expensive than normal diesel so over 10k miles it is over £200 expensive. My x5 does between 28-30 UK mpg on average.

It's weird why diesel was always cheaper than petrol in my home country Denmark

[Racing Teatray]

Originally Posted by winther1

You pay a premium but seems Shell has some sort of rewards scheme app which combined with (alleged) better mileage might balance it out

When driving on the continent (and I reckon as much as 2/3rds of the mileage on my car has been clocked up abroad), the price difference is much smaller and so I do use the 98...or sometimes even 100 if eg in Germany where that's available.

But here it just seems a rip-off.

When I had my E60 M5 some ten years ago now, obviously I fed the V10 98-octane and I certainly don't recall it being more than 4-5p/litre more than 95 octane back then.

[Racing Teatray]

Originally Posted by winther1

It's weird why diesel was always cheaper than petrol in my home country Denmark

It's the same in most of Europe - the UK is the outlier where diesel is more expensive. In Italy, where both my father and my in-laws live, most people run diesels because it's a good 10-15 eurocents per litre cheaper than petrol, if not more.

[winther1]

Just read up on fuel price and came across this - what a bloody ripoff, and likely to get worse now that they want to force ICE cars off the roads. As it will "save the planet" nobody will dare speak out against it

UK pump prices overall are some of the world’s highest because 60p in every pound spent at forecourts is tax. This means that in the UK the cost of filling up an 80-litre diesel engine of a Ford Transit van – known as the staple of small business transport – amounts to £108.74 of which £63.79 is tax.

The equivalent cost of a Ford transit fill-up in other developed countries ranges from £49.43 in the USA (of which £5.93 is tax), £68.76 in Australia (£16.31 tax), and £86.55 in France (£37.07 tax).

[KRS_SN]

Originally Posted by Racing Teatray

It's the same in most of Europe - the UK is the outlier where diesel is more expensive. In Italy, where both my father and my in-laws live, most people run diesels because it's a good 10-15 eurocents per litre cheaper than petrol, if not more.

The government are good at ripping us off.

[BBri89]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

super diesel is at least 15p more expensive than normal diesel so over 10k miles it is over £200 expensive. My x5 does between 28-30 UK mpg on average.

I guess if you're only getting 30mpg...


I found that after several tanks of V Power Diesel the mpg increased by 2, on average, once the injectors had cleaned up a bit, which balances some of the greater expense of the fuel.
I've not payed much attention to how much more it is since I started using premium diesel 15 years ago when it was 8p/litre more at Shell. So thought it was around that still, maybe it is 15p now.