madmelon

How Much difference in power is there (if any) between using regular unleaded and something like optimax or premium of some sort.
I have been told that premium has a rather good effect on injectors etc. Is this true and is it worth the extra 6c/litre or whatever it is.

Thanks
DM

EL2 XR8

I'm trying the Premium thing at the moment and my car has had little if any increase in power. The reponse is better. I'm after better fuel consumption figures. Time will tell.

EFXR62

The difference between regular unleaded and premium, is that premium has 98% octane, which is meant to be better for performance, cleaner, and more economical.

It's upto you to decide if it's worth it for your vehicle.

Cheers,
Yagz

TS50

I started using the premium in my wifes 99 Mazda 626, and she noticed. Said the car pulled better and was smoother. And my wife is not a car person. Thinks the TS 50 is a waste. "shakes my head"

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NCGhia

In some case I think it acts as a placebo, it also depends on your driving style.

We made a run down to Albany with a 5L Fairmont & 5L Fairlane, the trip down was using premium and the trip back was just regular. Neither car performed better or had better fuel usage. Both cars managed around 800km on each tank full.

However I have now advance the timing in the fairlane and if I don't use premium it pings under the slightest accelration. But I have also heard that the real benefit comes from constantly using it as it clean's out your system. City driving I'm averaging around 500 to 600Km (avoiding peak hour traffic and hoon like driving style).

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Zomwit

I've tried to see if it made a difference a few times and i've come to the conclusion that on a 3.9 MPI it makes no difference. I tried running my car exclusively on optimax for a few months and nothing. I tried advancing the timing while it was running on optimax and still nothing. However, when I switched back to regular unleaded it SEEMED to be slightly more responsive. Go figure...

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PHoeNiX_EB

I use premium unleaded in my 5L Fairmont. The Power difference is minimal but I get alot better fule economy. With regular unleaded i can watch the fule guage go down as i drive where a tank of premium seem to last alot longer but doesnt show much difference on the trip computer. Unleaded gets me 16L per 100ks and Premium gets me 14l per 100ks. (I think its actually a littel better than that) Optimax however is a poor excuse for a high octane fule. No noticable power increase and no improvement in fule economy on the trip computer or from self testing. (Chucking in $10 to see how far i can get)
My car also pings under hard accelleration on regular unleaded and optimax due to the chip. More so on regular tho, but its nothing a bottel of Octane boost doesnt fix.

PHoeNiX_

TopGhia

If you have an I6 with a knock sensor, there doesn't seem to be much point in using the more expensive stuff.

I use Caltex Vortex (mid-stength) only because it pings on standard, and the V8's don't have a knock sensor.

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antigravity

A few months ago, I decided to go premium and at the time I thought there was a slight increase in performance, and maybe an extra 50k's per tank..

Neway, as the prices rose, I thought stuff it, so I went back to regular unleaded and I didn't notice a single difference at all. The slight increase in performance and economy continued after going back to the regular stuff..

Therefore, either premium unleaded on a EA 3.9 CFI either cleans the engine/fuel lines or i was under the influence of good ol' placebo..

I do infact believe that on newer cars, or cars with an upgraded computer management chip, that premium does improve performance noticebly, but I doubt it would make a difference on a 14 year old engine with 230,000k's on the clock.

Quasi

For the sake of about $5 per tank extra I use Premium. Since I purchased the car I've not used anything else.

The only thing I get particular on with it is that due to some stories I won't use what some call 'Craptimax'. Normally I use either Ampol, or Mobil.

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