I've just bought my first Porsche - Boxster 2.7. '03. I've had conflicting advice on what petrol to use.
Is it best to use the 'super' unleaded or just the bog standard. My dealer says just use any unleaded but the manual seems to infer that the higher RON is better.
Does it really make the difference that the petrol companies say in fuel economy, efficiency and power?
I'd be interested to hear your opinion.
Mike
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 10/10/2007 at 10:51
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I believe any car on sale in the UK has to be capable of running on 95 octane. Some will run better on superunleaded. My Legacy Spec B says 95 octane on the filler cap but the dealer said it'll be much happier on super so that's what I use. Usually use Tesco 99 octane where I can (cheapest too) or any of the other main brand supers. I can't comment on your Porsche, but I'd want the best I could buy if it were mine.
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Currently running diesels and can't tell the difference between supermarket / petrol company standard and the super dooper stuff :o/
When I ran petrol motors I used super most of the time, the cars ran smoother, performed better and still got the same amount of miles per £s when compared to the regular brew - the improved economy paid for the extra cost of the fuel ;o)
Nice car, treat it to the good stuff but shop around for the best price
TTTTHHHHHHHWWWWOOOOAAAARRR, TTTTHHHHHHHWWWWOOOOAAAARRR, TTTTHHHHHHHWWWWOOOOAAAARRR...........................:o)
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Fifth Gear did a comparative test of supermarket and premium fuels in terms of power and torque but not economy or longevity using a Renault Clio, a Golf GTi and an Imprezza WRX STI as testbeds. The conclusion was that there was a marked improvement in both power and torque but only on the most highly tuned engine. Thus there was no difference on the Clio, only a small improvement on the Golf but a marked improvement on the Imprezza. If these conclusions are correct you would doubtless see a marked improvement in both power and torque on the Boxster. Details below.
tinyurl.com/287hhe
Its a lovely car so good to get the best out of it.
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AFAIK any car with a knock sensor will advance ignition timing with higher octane fuel and as the guy above pointed out this shd be most noticable with a tuned / performance engine.
However I use both types in my Boxster & can't say I notice much difference. The difference in my Golf GTi turbo (chiped) was more pronounced especially regarding consumption which averaged 2-3mpg better on 98RON.
A confusing reply!
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Use Shell V Power or Tesco 99 octane
Even our non-turbo Forester goes much better on these (especially torque)
MVP
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Thanks for the input everyone.
Have you noticed how hard it is to check the price of the super-unleaded in many garages? The price is not posted on the main sign and if the pomps have a single digital readout, mostly the price does not crop up until tou remove the pump handle.
It makes price comparisons harder. It would be good if there were some centralised place to check all current prices of all major brands, but I dont think anyone has done that - a thankless task for someone maybe.
Anyway I notice that Jet sell 'super' at around 106p/l about 10p extra per l. Going to Tesco it is around 98p/l, and 5p/l less if you get a shopping voucher first! Big difference. Several others seem to sell it at a premium of between 5p and 11p/l.
All this brings me to something I have just thought about. Would it actually be useful if i made a website with the weekly updated prices of all the major petrol / diesel variants. Would the companies give the info happily, and would it vary with the area - in which case one could not keep an accurate idea of pricing for anyone.
Any opinions on this?
Mike
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>>Would it actually be useful if i made a website with the weekly updated prices of all the major petrol / diesel variants.<<
Would this be in the form of county by county nationwide? then maybe divided into sub divisions of that county (i.e towns/cities) then maybe sub divisions of them to individual cheapest outlets? - would be a lot of work but useful, but would have to be kept "up to the minute" to be of any use. what exactly do you have in mind?
Billy
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You are right, a lot of work to be accurate and a massive range of possible prices, so I think I'll knock this on the head before it goes any further. Maybe someone will eventually do it but I think it will be beyond my capabilities. Lets hope.
Mike
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www.petrolprices.com/ ?
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When I bought my 2003 986 Boxster S, the (Porsche) dealer said I would only need to use standard unleaded, whereas IIRC the handbook and labels on the fuel filler said 97/98 RON. I used the better stuff and felt the performance was definitely better.
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It'll be OK on cooking unleaded but I'd use the SUL the engine was designed for.
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