Facts about high octane petrol

[Genie47]

It is already in general agreement that high performance cars need higher octane. However, most of us drive fv

[Chevycavy]

I understand that bro...

 

On the other side of the spectrum, I've also haf fren who drives performance car (turbocharged) and complain abt the lack of performance. When queried on the fuel he pumps, he said 92... Why? To save money... lppl Lots of ill-informed ppl out there.

[Carndablues]

So can my super-duper Altis take 92?

[Miketow]

I agree with the blatant discreprecy in Octane ratings between Asia & North America. If you open the fuel cover of a BMW 325i in the US, it will say Min Unleaded 93/91 Octane. In Singapore the label says min is 95 Octane - BUT of course, if its an SG driver - must pump 98 Octane! (b/c SE says so!) - btw I think SEs are the biggest shallowheads in the showroom. No offense if you are one. But its just MO.

 

Disclaimer - I think someone said b4 that the rating system is slightly different between here and the U.S. So if its 87 Octane in the US - its 91 equivalent rating here. Dunno if its true. Higher Sulphur content? Dunno also.

[Genie47]

Wah lau! Turbo pump 92?! In Cantonese, chok chong yup see futt!

[Genie47]

Altis timing optimized for 95. 92 can, if you drive accelerate like bus.

 

Actually, with 92, the car will retard the ignition and in the end you get poorer fuel economy. Save somewhere to spend somewhere.

 

Use 95 for best results.

[Carndablues]

Hey,

Some of those buses have turbo! I swear! Out accelerates me all the time!!!

[Miketow]

Perhaps a good example would be rental cars in the USA. The rental car business is huge over there with millions of cars rented out every year. Anybody with half a brain who rents a car will only pump regular unleaded - 87 RON.

 

Do the rental cars engines which range from our everyday Toyota Corollas to bigger executive Chyrslers & GM cars with the requisite V6 engines whom live and breathe 87 RON petrol and rake up huge mileage in their lifetimes - fare any worse then regular privately owned cars? I don t think so lor.

[Genie47]

US use different rating. Their octane is actually Anti-Knock Rating.

 

We use RON. Research Octane Number. This is octane that is tested with an engine with variable compression ratio.

 

Then there is MON. Motor Octane Number. This is a better measure at how the fuel behaves when the engine is under load. MON is 8-10 points lower than RON

 

Europe, Australia and over here, we use RON.

 

US on the other hand is the Anti-Knock Rating, or Pump Octane Number (PON) or Road Octane Number (RdOn) and (R+M)/2 and yeah, fv

 

So 87 octane in the US/Canada is actually 91-95 in Europe and the rest of the world.

[Eddymerckx]

Excerpt from http://www.carbibles.com/fuel_engine_bible.html

 

Measuring octane - RON, MON and the difference between America and the rest of the world.

Just so you know, the octane number is actually an imprecise measure of the maximum compression ratio at which a particular fuel can be burned in an engine without detonation. There are actually two numbers - RON (Research octane number) and MON (Motor Octane Number). The RON simulates fuel performance under low severity engine operation. The MON simulates more severe operation that might be incurred at high speed or high load and can be as much as 10 points lower than the RON. In Europe, what you'll see on the petrol pumps is the RON. However, in America, what you'll see on the petrol pump is usually the "mean" octane number - notified as (R+M)/2 - the average of both the RON and MON. This is why there is an apparent discrepancy between the octane values of petrol in America versus the rest of the world. Euro95 unleaded in Europe is 95 octane but it's the equivalent of American (R+M)/2 89 octane.

In America, low altitude petrol stations typically sell three grades of petrol with octane ratings of 87, 89 and 91. High altitude stations typically also sell three grades, but with lower values - 85, 87 and 89.

[Eddymerckx]

From my own personal experience:

 

The higher grade petrol does seem to give more 'power', at least thats what my BUTT DYNO tells me..

 

As for FC, I did perform (a totally unscientific) experiment on the different brands and grades. V-power did best by at most, 0.5km/l as compared to the others. The difference is way too small and can be attributed to built-in errors (I DID say it was unscientific) and doesnt justify the costs.

[Genie47]

Yep. The thin air up there makes your engine perform with lower grade petrol. Quick! Lets all go up Genting!

[Atlantis_boi]

Hey,

Some of those buses have turbo! I swear! Out accelerates me all the time!!!

 

If u r talking abt SBS buses, it's not possible even if u r riding a Chery QQ. TIBS buses r more faster & powerful compared to SBS.

[Zyrofillica]

OK so now tt we know 98 does not give more power compared to 92 on a car tt can take 92. but what about FC? isnt 98 going to give better FC compared to 95? or does it work in the same way? As in if ur car can take 95min and u put 98, there wont be any fc differences?

[Atlantis_boi]

No noticable difference in FC for my lau pok car

[Myprecious]

Anyone knows what's the minimum fuel rating required for Verna?

[Biccat]

Many bros in clubhyundai are using 92 Octane rating without any problems. I myself have owned 2 Hyundais in the past:- the Cats' Eye Elantra and Matrix. Never encounter any knocking, misfiring, pinging, loss in power whatever as a result of using this grade of petrol.

[Myprecious]

But the verna is currently using a new engine, CVVT. I wonder if it can still take the low fuel rating as last time.