Tag Archives: premium unleaded

Fuels – which should you use?

Posted on by
22
petrol pump

Which premium unleaded fuel do you find the most efficient and cost effective?

Motorists can be forgiven for being confused about the fuels available and what their car needs.  There are five types of petrol now available (standard unleaded, 95 premium, 98 ultra premium, E10 and E85) as well as Diesel and LPG.

This blog is the first in our series on fuels to help clear up the confusion about which fuels are the best to use. We begin with premium unleaded.

Premium Fuels – is there a benefit?

Petrol vehicles are designed for a specific octane fuel and normally do not benefit from using higher octane fuel.

If the manual says you can use more than one type of petrol or blend, you may get the advantage of reduced fuel consumption (but only if your vehicle’s engine automatically adjusts its parameters to take advantage of higher octane).  Conversely, you may be able to save money by using a lower octane fuel, if the manufacturer states the vehicle will run normally on it.

As a rule of thumb:

  • 95 premium can give around 4% lower fuel consumption than 91, assuming the engine computer adjusts to take advantage of the octane difference.
  • 98 might give 3% reduction over 95, again assuming the computer adjusts the engine parameters.

The overriding recommendation is to consult the owner’s manual for your vehicle and use fuel of the octane listed.  Some motorists report lower fuel consumption using higher octane fuel.  If you wish to check this for yourself, be sure to record your fuel consumption for at least 10 tanks before you make the change, so you have a good baseline.  Try and check your baseline under normal conditions – if you have an unusual country trip in the middle of your test period, for instance, it will result in atypical figures.  Conversely, if your driving is normally on highways, a week of city driving will bias your figures.  Then change to the higher octane fuel and do a check for the next 10 tank fills and compare the figures.  If the savings from any reduced fuel consumption are outweighed by the extra cost of the premium fuel, it is obviously not economically sensible to use the higher octane.

In our next blog, we’ll look at ethanol in petrol (E85 and E10).

Which premium unleaded fuel do you find the most efficient and cost effective?

Unleaded to be phased out in 2011

Posted on by
62

Many motorists are still unaware that 91 RON unleaded petrol is to be phased out in NSW by 1 July 2011. Its place will be taken by the existing E10 ethanol blend.

In February 2007, the State Government made several commitments “to promote renewable biofuels in New South Wales.” Part of that commitment was to introduce an E10 mandate, which implies that all regular unleaded petrol sold in NSW from 1 July 2011 will contain 10% ethanol – specifically, from that date, “a primary wholesaler must not sell regular unleaded petrol unless the petrol is E10.”

Many service stations across the state are already not selling 91 RON. Before using E10, vehicle owners must check if an ethanol blend is suitable for their vehicle – this information can be found in the owner’s manual, by contacting NRMA Motoring Advice or on the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries website.

For cars that cannot use E10, premium-grade unleaded petrol will continue to be available.

What are your thoughts on E10? Will you use E10 or switch to a premium-grade unleaded petrol?

Using Premium Unleaded Petrol

Posted on by
85

Have you ever used Premium Unleaded petrol in your vehicle instead of Regular Unleaded? Did it seem to go further, dollar for dollar? Did it have any noticeable effect at all?

If your car is optimised to run on Regular Unleaded 91 RON (Research Octane Number), then using PULP may have a marginal effect on the fuel consumption and cost saving.

So if, hypothetically, a vehicle was designed to operate on any octane (which is never the case), using 98 RON would give a seven per cent increase in power or a seven per cent decrease in fuel consumption compared with using 91 RON. Cars that are designed to run on PULP 98 RON may still run on 95 RON but you may lose around three per cent of power, or increase fuel consumption by this amount.

Therefore, if ultra premium fuel costs more than seven per cent more than 91 RON, is it economically unwise to use it?

Have you used Premium Unleaded and noticed any improvements in your vehicle’s fuel economy or performance?