Superman001

It makes more of a difference to performance if its a forced induction engine but im happy paying a little bit more for premium fuel knowing its keeping the engine cleaner.

Welcome

A few years ago, when I went back to Poland for over two weeks, I rented a car and decided to test my dad's theory on these different "premium" fuels. I did about 2.5k miles over the course of 16 days and "tested" 4 different fuels (full tank each, filling from almost empty) on petrol engine (then brand new, 2009 Yaris 1.33 VVT-i ~ 102 bhp):

• Basic cheap fuel that was pre filled when I picked up the car: !Removed! as ever, compared to what I put in later.
• Orlen Verva: this is a flagship Polish uprated fuel, with some nice additives. It performed oh so much better than stock stuff, had more response, smoother revving.
• BP Ultimate: very renown for its cleaning properties. Not much different to Verva, didn't feel the difference to be honest.
• Shell V-Power Racing (we used to have this in Poland, like a more punchy version of V-Power): this was really noticeable difference. The small 1.33 VVT-i really liked it and was more keen to rev higher with a nicer noise and much better response to pushing it.

Now, from what I'm told by a chemist, the octane content is pretty much the same on all premium fuels (differences being measured in 0.1—0.2 of octane), and the only real point to them are additives which all have different purposes, mostly adding cleaning properties by making sure the fuel burns thoroughly, without leaving nasty carbon-based residues around engine components, such as injectors, etc.

Now, I'm not an expert (just assembling common sense with widely available knowledge), so I might be wrong, but I see the point in running premium fuel on my BMW. I don't need any standalone additives, etc. Just keeping the engine safe and clean from the inside by using better quality fuel.

Obviously, those cleaning properties need time to start working, so a few fill-ups are required to feel the difference on an older vehicle. What are your thoughts on this guys?

There was a test carried out about 10 years ago by one of the big car magazines and they inspected the heads and valve assembly of 2 cars (1 was a Civic Type R) and after 1500 miles on the higher octane fuel they re-inspected to find the engine a lot cleaner and a lot of the carbon deposits were gone.

They also tested the cars 0-62, 0-100mph and in gear times before using the fuel and after the 1500 miles on the premium to find that the cars peformed better on the higher octance fuel.

Headers usually get heat wraped when new before they go on the the car so if you were intending on wrapping the OEM header you would need to remove it first.

Might beworth 2-3bhp on an unmapped car but more like 5-7bhp when remapped.

Just placed an order to carparts4less for the front brakes.

I used their promo code and got a tenner off so the total for Pagid front discs, pads and wear sensors came to just 89.90, very happy with that!

The obc is usually a bit optomistic so with a full tank reset the trip computer and after lots of mixed driving take note of the milage and brim the tank and note how many litres it takes.

Only way to know for sure.

The theory is sound, alot of Jap cars heat wrap the headers/mainifolds to keep engine bay temps down so the engine is kept at optimum tepm and produces as much power as it should.

Hope you get the job mate.

Thanks i'll keep that in mind.

Guess who might have bagged a top job at EuroCarParts ?

Hmm I don't know, would that be you Jack?

I'm not a fan of M badges unless it has a 3 or a 5 after it.

I do like the German-flag M badges though. Like the one I have on mine (Below). Dunno, find them quite fruity :rolleyes:

Yes the German flag colour M bages look good, seen them for a fiver on Ebay.

Have a look on Eurocarparts or Carparts4less.

Cheers Daz, think i'll leave the 525i badge alone.

There are quite a few, obviously I love my E39 525i and I like the E39 M5. Also like the E28 M5 and the E38 740i.

Welcome

Welcome.

Nice, must be the same engine as the 550d xDrive.

Just wondering how easy it is to remove the M badges from the car and do you guys think it would look better without the 525i badge?

Will this be an all new engine or a variation of current 3.0 twin/tri turbo diesel straight six?

To be honest you need to do more frequent oil changes than what the service shedule indicates.

If it was my car I would be changing the oil and filter every 7-9000 miles.

Welcome

Welcome

A higher octane fuel won't do much to increase performance on a naturally aspirated car however it does make a small difference.

Also im led to believe that the higher the octane rating the cleaner the petrol burns so it results in less deposits building up in the engine so your engine peforms as it should do.

Welcome

Not sure about the dpf to be honest. I think some people get them removed by tuners just before a remap as a preventative measure because if they go wrong its an expensive part to replace.