Premium...?

[andytlr]

Hi All,
I've had a Mk4 Golf for two or three weeks now and I'm a little confused about the petrol I'm supposed to put in it. On the petrol cap door it says Premium. But petrol stations seem to have Unleaded 95 and Unleaded 98. Some places will call 98 'Premium' and some places will call 95 Premium. And some places don't even say the octane they just say premium.

I suppose I just want to know if it really makes any difference. I'll put 98 in all the time if I need to but if it makes no difference I'll just put 95 in.

Thanks in advance.

[Lukev85]

You shouuld be ok to use regular unleaded petrol. To get better performance use the premium stuff.

98 Octane refered to as Vortex @ Caltex or Ultimate @ BP is the good stuff.

If you get confused just stick to either one (BP or Caltex) and use them.

95 means regular unleaded. Not 100%

Think i may have confused myself lol

[andytlr]

I thought 95 was regular as well but plenty of places have:
Unleaded
Unleaded 95
Unleaded 98

So I suppose it's just 95 or 98 depending on how much cash I've got if it doesn't make a difference.

[BlackVr6ix]

As far as i know it goes something like this:
regular unleaded is 91
Regular ethanol blend 93
Premium 95
Premium 98
premium ethanol blend 100

[Mario]

Hi there...

I always use Premium (where possible)....... In my opinion the small extra cost is nothing in comparison to the benefits of premium over regular....

Your car will like you for it!!!... Runs smoother, no Or considerably less "pinging" ie: detonation... which can & does stuff the piston rings...

and you will save on fuel too..... Do an experiment and see for yourself...

fill up one week with regular and drive normally..... note the distance travelled before needing to fill....
the next week fill with premium and do the same....

When i did this a few years ago i found that i got a good 50klm further with the premium..... Anybody else here tried the same??

give it a go.... mario

[Lukev85]

I always use Premium (where possible)....... In my opinion the small extra cost is nothing in comparison to the benefits of premium over regular....

Your car will like you for it!!!... Runs smoother, no Or considerably less "pinging" ie: detonation... which can & does stuff the piston rings...

and you will save on fuel too..... Do an experiment and see for yourself...

fill up one week with regular and drive normally..... note the distance travelled before needing to fill....
the next week fill with premium and do the same....

When i did this a few years ago i found that i got a good 50klm further with the premium..... Anybody else here tried the same??

give it a go.... mario

Its true, you will get better economy from premium, lasts longer then regular.

[andytlr]

That's exactly what I'm doing. I suspected that might be the case. I put in $20 of premium 95 and did 100k's with it (I do a lot of peak hour driving) and I put in $20 of premium 98 last night. See how it goes.

[The_Hawk]

That's exactly what I'm doing. I suspected that might be the case. I put in $20 of premium 95 and did 100k's with it (I do a lot of peak hour driving) and I put in $20 of premium 98 last night. See how it goes.

How did you go with your tests?

A better test would be to run to empty then fill up with one, run a full tank, then fill up with the other. You will get a much more noticeable difference over a tank. If you don't, well there is your answer. $20 is only about 15l or so you may not notice a difference, even if there is one.

(well technically it would be best to run a few tanks of one, then a few tanks of the other and average them, but lets not nit pick).

[andytlr]

98 Premium seemed to get a bit further and the car seemed to run a bit smoother. BUT in regards to it running smoother, this could be a placebo. And $20 did an extra 40ks with 98 instead of 95 but I did different driving so that could also be put down to that.

[The_Hawk]

Last time I tested premium over regular I came to the conclusion that YES I did get better economy, but it cost me more. End result was that in $/100km terms I was about the same, maybe a little better. This is increased with more freeway driving and decreased with more city driving.

In terms of looking after the engine, premium is better for it since it burns hotter and cleaner that regular keeping the engine cleaner.

In short, run Premium, you car will like it.

[nick1234]

RE: Petrol at Caltex

G'day chaps,

was wondering if anybody knows what ever happened to unleaded 95 at Caltex petrol stations around Sydney. I purchased it there several times at the beginning of the year but now have to fill up with the more expensive Vortex. Took me a while to realise ...

Cheers,

- Nick

[WEDEL.1]

We ALWAYS use Premium (95) in the T4 Transporter and the Golf CL (1.8L single point injection). We did an experiment with Shell 98 but found no added benifit around town. I believe it will be better on a l o n g run.

When we bought a Mk 3 Golf new in 95, I used 2 tanks of 91 RON, 1 tank was the worst fuel economy I got with the car in 2 years of ownership.

(5 & 98 RON have more detergents in the fuel to help keep the injectors clean (much cheaper than injector cleaner), fuel also burns at a higher temperature keeping the inside of the cylinders cleaner.

I hope this helps.

Maris

[burtybear]

I've always used premium unleaded for all my cars since the big ol' Calais of 1996. How does the ethanol affect the FSI engines, though. Save the environment okay, but I'm not swapping my GTI for a Toyota Prius, because Al Gore can't get over losing the elction against Dubya Bush! Maybe a Honda Civic Hybrid, but I love my GTI and that's the moral to my question.

[DIDZ]

I always use 98+ octane petrol.

Can't say I realise the savings, because the darn foot stays down just a tad longer just after filling up.......

[balkanac]

i have always used BP 98 Ultimate i all my cars (all of them had a 95 octane minimum requirement) and i love it. You can notice the difference, im not after saving $2 a week if it hurts the engine