95RON in Polo GTI?

[kreuze]

Car dealer told me I can pick between 95/98RON. 98 will give me better performance but 95 is a fair bit cheaper.

Anyone got some thoughts to share? I haven't seen 95 mentioned anywhere on the VW website. Might have to take a look in the manual if no-one on here knows the answer.

[team_v]

It isn't worth the savings at the pump to use 95Ron.
It is not as clean and less efficient so you end up filling up more often, thus negating the cheaper bowser value.

Stick with 98Ron and you should have no problems.

[gerhard]

Why would you spend $30000+ on a car that runs best on 98, and then even consider putting 95 in it?

If you care about fuel economy and do high mileage, get the diesel.

[Guy_H]

Your carbon build up will also increase & ultimately shorten the life of the engine. They don't tell you that in the show room though.

[gavs]

Hmm, good point GUy, never thought of that. Seeing as you have posted here, I am guessing you might have been trawling through, looking maybe for questions of the APR stuff for th enew Polo GTI.... ?

[GTI mk6]

Car dealer told me I can pick between 95/98RON. 98 will give me better performance but 95 is a fair bit cheaper.

Anyone got some thoughts to share? I haven't seen 95 mentioned anywhere on the VW website. Might have to take a look in the manual if no-one on here knows the answer.

VW Polo brochure (tech specs) states recommended fuel type for Polo GTI
as being premium unleaded 98 RON.
If any Polo GTI owners read this, what does the inside of your fuel cap say?
For both Polo trendline and 77TSI comfortline models it recommends 95 RON.
As the issue of min, recommended has already been debated on the Golf thread, not
wanting to start the same thing here, just quoting VW POLO DEC 2010 brochure

FWIW I only use 98 RON in my GOLF GTI and if I do get a POLO GTI it will drink the same (BP Ultimate)

[Diesel_vert]

Fuel quality
The minimum quality for premium unleaded (defined as petrol with an RON equal to 95 or above) is laid out here - Fuel Quality Standards (link). Aside from the difference in RON, 95 and 98 are one and the same according to regulation, and fuel manufacturers are not obligated to make it any better than is required.

That said, fuel manufacturers often add higher does of additives into 98 compared to 95, which is higher again compared to 91. They also claim increases in performance and economy when compared to 95 or 91, though it depends from vehicle to vehicle.

Just don't ever use regular unleaded or regular unleaded E10 unless in an emergency. Sulphur content still remains at 150 ppm, which is 3x higher than premium unleaded (50 ppm) and an incredibe 15x higher than what is currently allowed in Europe! (10 ppm).



Cost
In Germany, the average cost of 95 is about $2.20 per litre, and the average difference between 95 and 98 is around 10c per litre. So 98 costs them an extra $5.50 per fill.

In Sydney, the average cost of 95 is about $1.35 per litre, and the average difference is only 5c per litre, so it costs an extra $2.75 per fill. IMO that's a very small premium to pay for 3 extra octane points and a higher additive dosage.



Performance and economy
The owner's manual should tell you if using 98 will result in a power increase and/or lower fuel consumption. If there is no mention, just do what motoring enthusiasts do - use whatever makes you feel happy.

And forget about driving economically because our petrol is just so cheap compared to the rest of the developed world. Bless our lagging fuel quality and emissions standards!



Maintenance
In a FSI/TSI engine, fuel is injected directly into the cylinder chamber. This bypasses the valves so it doesn't give the cleansing additives in the fuel much chance (if any) to do their work, leading to carbon buildup on the valves. I don't believe this is related to any differences between 95 and 98. You can reduce this somewhat by using 504 00/507 00 oils instead of 502 00/505 00 oils, but you won't be able to prevent it completely. Best to give it an Italian tune up once in a while (don't really know if this prevents valve buildup, but it's fun).


So don't worry about petrol - just enjoy your GTI, fill her up with 98, and drive it as it's meant to be driven while you still can.

[GTI mk6]

In Sydney, the average cost of 95 is about $1.35 per litre, and the average difference is only 5c per litre, so it costs an extra $2.75 per fill. IMO that's a very small premium to pay for 3 extra octane points and a higher additive dosage.

That's darn good, in Melbournes East around my area, it's more like 13-14 cents difference
Regardless, 98 RON makes my car happy hehe

[gerhard]

I'm in Melbourne East, and the difference between 91 and 98 is 13-14 cents. Don't know what 95 costs, never looked.

Many 95's are polluted with ethanol as well. Who knows what's in 91 - probably 88 with ethanol.

[Diesel_vert]

In Sydney, the majors (BP, Caltex, Mobil, Shell) don't have premium unleaded E10, but it's available at a lot of the smaller and independent servos.

I avoid E10 fuels simply because I don't see enough performance benefits at such a small concentration. E85 is where the fun starts (105 RON!) and Caltex has started rolling it out, but the list of compatible vehicles is unfortunately very small at the moment.

Regular unleaded E10 is just regular unleaded + 10% ethanol, nothing too mysterious about it. Typically varies between 93 or 94 RON, but is advertised as 91 RON so as not to confuse the consumer too much.

[GTI mk6]

I'm in Melbourne East, and the difference between 91 and 98 is 13-14 cents. Don't know what 95 costs, never looked.

Many 95's are polluted with ethanol as well. Who knows what's in 91 - probably 88 with ethanol.

Oops, had a brain drain! Was mentally comparing
between our own two cars and yep the other one runs
on 91 RON, doh
thanks gerhard