E30 Zone

Hi All

I just filled my tank with Sainsburys Premium 98 petrol and now she runs really sweet! has anyone else noticed this and will my consumption go down? ('83 323i)

thats actually old skool BP super you got there..

n its 97 RON btw

Filled my 316i with Optimax for the first time today, only done 5 miles since then but by the weekend should find out whether it was worth it or not... it was in the back of my mind anyhoo...

I only skimmed through another thread like this but what it was basically saying (I think) Optimax has addictives in to make it '97' but BP and Esso's SUL are more natural so therefore a better option.

Edit: That's only the way I've interpreted it so I may well be wrong..

I don't know if your Shell Optimax and BP Ultimate are the same as here (Australia) but I just got a standalone computer on my car and got it tuned on BP Ultimate. Now it doesn't run very well on Optimax so I think Ultimate might be better. Also depends on where you get it, I think the retailer can "water it down" if they want anyway?

Aston

Jimbob wrote:I only skimmed through another thread like this but what it was basically saying (I think) Optimax has addictives in to make it '97' but BP and Esso's SUL are more natural so therefore a better option.

Edit: That's only the way I've interpreted it so I may well be wrong..

that is correct.

esso and bp are refined to 97
whereas opticrap is regular 95 with additives to bring it up to 98.8 (which it then deteriorates down from unlike SUL which is stable)

i filled my 93 e30 touring with shell optimax the results where dissapointing. with unleaded i get about 300-330. optimax was 250-270. not good

There's little point using higher RON petrol in a car without a knock sensor, or set-up for the fuel...

well you might get better fuel atomisation but no real gains unless you indeed have been mapped or MAP sensor yeah

davetouring wrote:There's little point using higher RON petrol in a car without a knock sensor, or set-up for the fuel...

I know the knock sensor will retatrd the timing but will it advance it in stages in some kind of self tuning way to take advantage of the higher grade fuel?

I had Optimax in my car the last time I had it remapped so I feel I'm stuck with premium grade fuel - never had the guts try the bog standard unleaded. Interesting to read the thread tho as I've had a vague feeling that the car runs better on Ultimate. Haven't tried the Esso version or Sainsbury's OB. Petrol consumption on mine has been slightly worse if anything but only a mile or maybe two per gallon.

I cant help but think back to when EVO magazine tried Optimax in all their Fast Fleet cars and used a firbre optic probe to look inside the engine. After 1000 miles of Optimax compared to its usual diet of supermarket 95RON their Z3M had significantly less carbon deposits on the valves.. so with 146,000 miles on my 316i I dont think the odd tank here and there is going to do it any harm...

Interesting to read about Ultimate tho, might have to try some of that too!

I used optimax since i got the car as the hand book said use 98 and 3 years ago that was the choice.

I then moved to France where 98 is equally avaible as 95 and is a mere 0.7 pence a litre more. (98 is marginally denser so requires more energy to distill).

I have been back in the UK for a while now and have been using 95, why is optimax 6p a litre more???

I did have the car rolling road tuned when the FPR failed and the car was running optimax in that tune up.

I have done approximate 3000 miles with 95...and here are my seat of the pants verdict.

On motorways obviously difficult to say anything perhaps margingally low fuel economy and i do feel like i am using more throttle.

A/B roads yeap there is a difference.

Overtaking hell yes, with either 98 but more so with optimax hit about 3500rpm and the car distinctly swats. 95 no distinct swatting.

I have always had the car on 0-40W so oil drag can be eliminated as a varriable. Please do not tell me i am wrong stupid or otherwise each to there own WRGT oil.

Running 98 i rountinely got around 34 mpg on a trans france 300 mile N road and 200 mile Autoroute road drive.

Best ever was 440 miles on 1 tank (53l) from Grenoble to Bordeaux =37.7 mpg on Elf evolution. It was all i one direct so may have had a favourable breeze.

Could those that have tried the other higher octane suppliers please report the differences in price between the suppliers 95 and >95 variant.

Cheers

My car runs very noticeably better on BP Ultimate. Here in Australia it is 98 RON. But then again my compression ratio is 10:1. I have trouble with knocking if I use Optimax. I think Caltex Vortex is better than Optimax, but still not as good as Ultimate. Just my 2 cents.

Jhonno wrote:thats actually old skool BP super you got there..

Actually, its not.


Im surprised and Sainsburys sites have Super at the moment!

Russ wrote:

Jhonno wrote:thats actually old skool BP super you got there..

Actually, its not.


Im surprised and Sainsburys sites have Super at the moment!

i was told that BP supply the fuel to Sainsburys

Jhonno wrote:

Russ wrote:

Jhonno wrote:thats actually old skool BP super you got there..

Actually, its not.


Im surprised and Sainsburys sites have Super at the moment!

i was told that BP supply the fuel to Sainsburys

Its funny you should mention that.

Im the guy that is responsible for scheduling fuel deliveries to every Sainsburys site in the country

So obviously we (BP) do supply Sainsburys - the base product is the same but the additives that are used are slightly different, creating a different final product.

hahaha yeah forgot that was your job - is the sainsburys super any good then?

Jhonno wrote:hahaha yeah forgot that was your job - is the sainsburys super any good then?

I feel it would be innappropriate for me to comment on a public forum.

PM?

YHM.