Just thought i\'d share my experiences with the new Optimax rival.
First off, as i live near Basildon, the only place i could\'ve got Optimax was at Rayleigh, where it was around 96p a litre. Now there are 2 tesco\'s nearby who sell their 99RON for c.92p a litre.
I\'ve just finished my first tank of the 99RON stuff, and i can safely say its better than Optimax. The Rex runs smoother, boosts better, and certainly goes better than it ever did on the Shell stuff.
The fuel economy also seems about 1mpg better which, as you know in Rex-land, is good news!
Add in the bonus of it beign cheaper, plus an extra 5p a litre off if you do a big shop in Tescos (as i did), its the best thing to happen to jap cars for a long time!
Full list of stations selling it here:
http://www.greenergy.co.uk/products/99_octane_locations.html
Enjoy!!
Good to see you had a good experience with it, i\'ve heard a few bad reports of it clogging up fuel tanks etc, even the starlet gts in japan has had problems with it. Strange. Only rumors but on the GTiR OC they seem to have no probs with it, lets hope it stays like that! :D
They have tescos in Japan?
Might have to pop up to sandhurst and get some next time im over that area if its good stuff. At 92ppl and 5p a litre off if you buy in store (usually over £100 of goods i think), its a bloody good deal!! :chat
Might invest in a large container to keep some in :rollin
Adam
Sorry i should read what i type before i post it, it was meant to say FROM japan, and that was just on some forum but thought i\'d mention it so people were aware that there MAY be problems with it, like i said i dont know how true it is and most forums seem to have had great success with it :D
I\'ve been using it for about a 8 months now - I really rate it, plus with the 5p off tesco give you per litre for shopping over £50 - Shell can go swivel :)
Something strainge going on here........ are you guys keeping it on your side of the border???? Please share!!! The closest I get is the 97 ron super plus from my local tesco and I\'m being taken up the rear on the price of that: 93p was 101p mind!!
Jono
It\'s all I\'ve put in since I got my car a couple of months ago. No problems here :)
Rob.
tesco\'s 99 is good ... had no problem with it at all .
and with 5p off a litre .. its even better .
whoohoo, they just started selling locally here, filled up this lunchtime, and its cheaper, I even might start shopping a Tesco to get the extra discount
I filled up at Dereham (16 miles from Norwich) last weekend. The car certainly seems to like it, driving more smoothly etc and was a few p cheaper than Optimax. The round trip is a bit long just to get some petrol though!
Cheers,
Alex
Alexb,
They have it in Dereham !!!! Why not Norwich !! Bizarre.
Gareth
Just a thought - has anyone got any knock figures from the PFC to compare Optimax against Tesco 99 ? You might expect any significant octane difference to show up there.
I have been using it for a couple of months now and I can\'t fault it. Cheep too.
Think the boys on Fifth Gear are doing a survey on different suppliers of fuel. Supermarket versus big oil companies, covering differences in price, mpg and performance. So maybe the Tesco 99 ron will be featured.....cheers Leigh.
Quote from: gmogleAlexb,
They have it in Dereham !!!! Why not Norwich !! Bizarre.
Gareth
Hi mate,
Apparently the Hall Rd store took out their Super Unleaded underground tanks a while back, don\'t know about Blue Boar lane, aren\'t they refurbing the place at the moment? Maybe once the petrol station opens up it\'ll sell it. Would be better for me as only 2 mins up the road!
Cheers,
Alex
If anybody watched Fifth Gear last night, they did a test on petrols - supermarket 95 vs bp ultimate vs optimax. on a new tuned scooby optimax performance figures were quite a bit better than the bp, and obviously the supermarket 95 did not have a shot. would have been interesting to see what tesco 99 would do against them. personally i have gone back to optimax - my local is now 96ppl so not really a massive saving going to tesco, and i\'d rather buy the tried and tested good stuff. :p
Jodypamlin....
Any idea what the difference in figures were? did they do a power output if so was there any difference?
Reason I ask is I did a rolin road day the weekend and I used super plus instead of optimax. I find with optimax my car for some reason overboosts = 1bar :3gears-lh but on the super plus it ran standard 0.8bar :xconfused ? better for my slipping clutch mind :cheers !!
Jono
just call me mooseman :cool
yeah sure, if I can remember rightly:
supermarket - 235
bp ultimate - 245
optimax - 258
there or there abouts i think, it was that kind of difference. personally i find bp the worst - lose about 25 miles a tank on the optimax and its more expensive. i\'d go with tescos any day if optimax was not around, which did happen not so long ago when i could not find 97 petrol for 4 days ...
Was the idea of filling up with optimax not down to it using minerals that help keep internals cleaner ? As well as higher RON rating ?
Does anyone have any concrete evidence its better? I.e knock sensor readings, power readings, intake temp readings, EGT readings?
When your talking fuels and how the car runs, its not just how smooth the car drives...you have to look at EGTs, boost pressure, knock readings etc. This car is mapped to run 100RON fuel, and i wouldnt chance putting anything less in it (Even though its more than optimax) without proven results and safety testings...
Quote from: BobfishDoes anyone have any concrete evidence its better? I.e knock sensor readings, power readings, intake temp readings, EGT readings?
When your talking fuels and how the car runs, its not just how smooth the car drives...you have to look at EGTs, boost pressure, knock readings etc. This car is mapped to run 100RON fuel, and i wouldnt chance putting anything less in it (Even though its more than optimax) without proven results and safety testings...
In truth Bob if you get the car mapped to run Optimax it will be cool, other than that i watched 5th gear\'s review on optimax / bp ultimate / normal unleaded and the result very briefly was that tuned high performance cars react much better to optimax than the other two.
Something like (Impreza tested) 19 more bhp made on optimax as can run the engine harder more safely on optimax ron
thats my point, as standard these cars ARENT mapped to run optimax. And tuned high performance cars do react better to optimax, but if mapped for it would react better to 100 ron fuel.
You can run the engine harder and more safely on optimax, but this is my point - you dont know how hard you can run in in normal road conditions until you do some damage. Some high octane fuels are refined to be high octane fuels, others are standard petrol with an additive to up the octane. This settles over time and does not mix properly with the fuel...in any case - id rather have a high quality proven fuel that a standard fuel with an additive to make it higher performance.
Understand what you are saying Bob,
I had my car mapped on optimax by Pip thus it should be fine running hard on optimax as thats what its geared for ?
Sometimes if i am doing a long steady run on the m-way i will fill with super unleaded and drive conservatively as i know it will be fine, but 95% of the time we have optimax in the tank.
Gearing has no effect on what fuel you use.
The lower the RON fuel you use, the more prone you are to detonation. In a rotary this sounds a bit like walking through some woods in summer (Dried leaves and sticks breaking under your feet)
The higher the RON Fuel you use, the slower the burn and the more heat generated. When you start to use race fuels you actually have to be careful about very high octant level fuels because these can still be burning when exiting the exhaust ports and can toast your turbos if your still using them.
Using lower RON fuel is fine on long smoooth runs, but i wouldnt do it without some kind of aftermarket knock sensor.
I read on here that higher rated RON fuels burn cooler :confused: Which is it? :confused: :confused: :confused:
As I generally pootle around I may as well just use the normal 95 stuff (Uk Car) if this is true and have the cooler temps? I have been using Optispax cause I thought it ran cooler, was cleaner for the engine and to gard against detonation?
I\'m not trying to cause an argument, I am genuinely confused and want to know! :)
Higher octane burns hotter and more slowly, lower octane burns cooler and more quickly. Add quick burning fuel to a boost/advanced engine timing situation and you have detonation.
Detonation is basically the fuel exploding rather than burning. This is detonation. Higher octane fuel burns more slowly so does not "explode" in this way, but it burns hotter.
read this:
http://member.rivernet.com.au/btaylor/BMWText/technical/FuelOctane.html
Thanks Bobfish - just having a read now! :wave
Without being too much of a swat - interesting :p
According to that link, if you are detonating then use a higher RON rated fuel otherwise it\'s a waste of money. And as for cleaning they say "virtually all detergent packages are alike in all fuels within a given gas companies line these days."
I am using Optispax purely cause I thought it would benefit the carbon issue and also for det protection. I have no mods and being standard UK car I guess I should just use 95RON and save 6p per liter when I fill up (£4.56)
Mmmmmmm :rollin
well its up to you if you want to take the chance!
No matter what the cars designed for (100 RON, 80 RON, blah blah) using a higher octane fuel is ALWAYS going to help stop detonation. I would use it purely for that reason alone. Just think - its what, 3p per mile for that extra safeguard...
I\'m using Optimax at the moment. Just thought as the car was designed for 95 Ron fuel then Det wouldnt be an issue cause thats whats it\'s designed to run - even says 95ron fuel on the filler cap.
I shall continue with Shells finest! :chat
Is yours a UK car Ricco?
Bob
Yea mate, UK car :D
Quote from: Bobfishwell its up to you if you want to take the chance!
No matter what the cars designed for (100 RON, 80 RON, blah blah) using a higher octane fuel is ALWAYS going to help stop detonation. I would use it purely for that reason alone. Just think - its what, 3p per mile for that extra safeguard...
ok I understand so far that it\'s fairly easy for Uk cars spec\'ed to run on Uk fuel, and the situation is clear if you have had your car mapped for a certain fuel, but I\'m still confused / stupid regarding standard spec JDM imports: should we keep with Opti for better cooling or go for the tesco99 since it\'s closer to Japanese 100 RON?
As I read this at the moment, if there is no detonation then Opti
should be better due to the detergents etc and cooler running but then it is still more expensive and according to the above, we don\'t know if there is damage until it\'s done, unless you have Apexis and knock sensors and the like?
So to my simple brain would it best to just alternate between the two? I\'m not planning on remapping JUST yet (peeps over shoulder to see if beloved is reading this.....), or just go for tescos as it\'s cheaper (until the rebuild :eek: caused by build up in the engine etc) and closer to what the car was designed for?
Sorry about the long post, just interested really to keep my newly rebuilt 13B TT happy for as long as poss!!! :3gears-lh
You can do what you like to be honest mate, i cant help you with your fuel choice as i have no facts to base my advice on. I however, will be sticking with optimax for the foreseeable future - but may consider running half a tank of tesco\'s through my car just to see how it runs.
oh, and yes - UK cars are fine to run on UK Fuel as they are mapped for it. However - excessive carbon buildup in the engine increases your compression ratio and compression ratio is a very important factor relating to detonation. How do you know your engine doesnt have carbon buildup?
Its the same as the age old argument - OMP injectors versus premix oil in your fuel. How do you know your oil injectors are working? You dont. Some people choose to add extra oil into their fuel just incase. Its all about how cautious you want to be with your car.
Thanks for the reply, there should be no build up as the engine is newly rebuilt.
Probably will go for Opti but may try Tescos, good to know it\'s an option.
Just seen a mention elsewhere of "New Optimax premium, allegedly 100RON", but nothing about it on shell website although Austrian Shell website mentions that their Opti equivalent is 100octane (same as 100RON?)
Quote from: Bobfishexcessive carbon buildup in the engine increases your compression ratio and compression ratio is a very important factor relating to detonation.
Bloody good point well made!
why thankyou ;)
Ooh, have some rep points, I always forget about them! (not sure what they do - maybe you can cash them in for beer money! :guinness )
Might also suggest, that UK models may well have been mapped to UK fuel - but it was fuel available at the time, presumably pre-91! Thats a good 14 years ago, at least. Fuels have no doubt moved on significantly since then, and if there is a better one available now (rather than then), then it may be a good idea to use it. Thats not to say std unleaded hasn\'t been improved from the point of view of detergents etc anyway?
Quote from: Mark IdeJust seen a mention elsewhere of "New Optimax premium, allegedly 100RON", but nothing about it on shell website although Austrian Shell website mentions that their Opti equivalent is 100octane (same as 100RON?)
I asked Shell about 100 RON Optimax last week, this was there response:
Dear Sir,
I am writing further to your email enquiring whether there are plans to bring 100 RON V-Power to the UK.
Shell do not currently have any plans to introduce 100 RON unleaded petrol to the UK market. Shell Optimax was developed for those UK motorists who seek increased performance and protection for their car. In determining which fuels to offer to our customers in any given market we undertake extensive research in order to determine which is the most appropriate portfolio to make available. Markets will vary in many ways and we seek to supply the fuels most appropriate for our customers in each market given current customer needs, emerging customer needs, and manufacturing and logistical capabilities and constraints. With Shell Optimax we feel we have struck the right balance for now in the UK market and we are delighted with the customer response that we have experienced since launch.
We do however take on board requests from our customers and do note the interest there is in higher specification fuels, such customer feedback will form part of any future premium fuels initiatives.
Thank you for taking the time to contact Shell.
Kind Regards,
Matthew Wagster
Customer Relations - Retail
Shell U.K. Oil Products Limited
Rowlandsway House, Rowlandsway, Manchester M22 5SB, United Kingdom
I\'m sure I\'ve that same response elsewhere!! Would suggest it seems to be a std reply they send to people asking about higher octane fuels.
Trev Thanks for that. It\'s a shame but there you go. I wonder why they sell it in Europe then? Lots of Ferraris over there :) ???
just looked again on the 99 ron tescos fuel webiste and there is still nowhere in a 50 mnile radius of me that sells it... I am in bheltneham half way between bristol and brum and 45 miles form oxford...
I am in a RON blackspot uinless i missed something...
still optimax suits me fine at the mo
You could tyy checking out http://www.petrolprices.com they have all the uk petrol stations, prices and you can even search by postcode.
btw - has anyone seen the article in this months Evo magazine about BP Ultimate being better than Optimax??
Another good thing too think about at the moment is that if you only use your car from time to time in the winter, after 2 weeks BP and Optimax will loose its octain rating and drop to 95 Ron.
But apparently Tesco 99 Ron does NOT drop off. There is a article about these fuel\'s in the latest EVO mag and the Tesco fuel does well.
All i know is that my Rotorbike is consistently over 1/2 a sec quicker down the 1/4 mile on Optimax 98 RON than on standard 95 RON :D
Is Tesco 99 really 99 RON?? i might have to give it a try.
All Shell garages around the South West have ran out of Optimax now, so I guess It\'s time to try the Tesco stuff.
I used optimax for the first few fill ups, since I started using Tesco 99 ron I\'ve seen an improvement in general driveability, acceleration and economy.
HTH
Will
Quote from: TrevrxAll Shell garages around the South West have ran out of Optimax now, so I guess It\'s time to try the Tesco stuff.
Same round where I live. No optimax or super at all - just 95 Stuff :Grrr I did ask when there would be some more and she said - well you know that big fire :rollin
Oops! :Hammer