After an sti but 20 miles from v power station. Any help?
Discussion
If you're only driving 40 miles a week (8 miles x 5 day daily commute) and enjoying it at the weekend why not just fill it up at the 98ron place regardless if it's 20 miles away.
Or are you only going to drive it local at the weekend too?
I appreciate you want to learn as much as possible but this is borderline weird.
Or are you only going to drive it local at the weekend too?
I appreciate you want to learn as much as possible but this is borderline weird.
I know the nearest v power station as my mate fills up there for his weekend car. And yeah I can nip to the v power station it isn't the end of the world as its only 20 miles but I wanted to know if there was a way I could use one of the 4 petrol stations within 5 miles of me that do 97 Ron fuel as it is extremely more convieniant to do so. I work six days a week so it's nice to fill up on the way to and from work and chill out on my day off. I know fuel talk is a very dry and tedious subject I had just heard some horror stories about engines going bang and people saying you should only ever use v power so wanted to make sure I was okay to buy the car knowing it wouldn't be able to be filled with v power all the time.
Good suggestions already:-
1. Take the occasional trip to the Shell station.
2. Use your local station (97) and add the Octane booster which should give you 99 RON.
Quite of the Shell stations around me are temporarily closed so I've had to mix BP 97 and Tesco 99!
I might try some of the Millers stuff and see if it works (£18 from Amazon - so that works out under £2 per tank).
1. Take the occasional trip to the Shell station.
2. Use your local station (97) and add the Octane booster which should give you 99 RON.
Quite of the Shell stations around me are temporarily closed so I've had to mix BP 97 and Tesco 99!
I might try some of the Millers stuff and see if it works (£18 from Amazon - so that works out under £2 per tank).
Edited by fido on Wednesday 14th September 13:06
Sam k said:
people saying you should only ever use v power so wanted to make sure I was okay to buy the car knowing it wouldn't be able to be filled with v power all the time.
You can use any fuel you like, as long as the octane rating is correct for the map/car. Most Impreza owners manuals (forget what you are reading on the internet) state 98 ron or above, if it's a standard UK spec car it may well say 95 ron is acceptable. Try reading the manual. Hell, it might even say on the fuel filler cap! IF you run anyform of aftermarket ECU or mods, you'll want 98.If you are worried about things going wrong... guess what the solution is? Make an effort and fill up at shell or a filling station with the correctly rated fuel for your car
I don't understand how you are not able to fill with Vpower (Or equivalent) all the time. Perhaps an impreza isn't for you if you are concerned about a 20 mile drive? They need decent fuel, and they use lots of it. Maybe look at a nice diesel VW mate? You'll have no problems with that.
OR if you really have to, map the car for 95 ron. The Subaru ECU is not remappable, so you need to replace the whole unit, total cost will easily go over £400, more once you include dyno time. Or, just drive 15 mins down the road
Edited by Jazzy Jefferson on Friday 16th September 12:39
GravelBen said:
Blobeye has a remappable Denso ECU doesn't it?
Not as far as I'm aware, but happy to accept I'm not the be all and end all when it comes to Subaru knowledge 
I was under the impression that in order to do any serious level of mapping, new ECUs are required. On my 55 plate STI (blobeye) I had an Ecutek map. Wonderful it was too
MDMA . said:
R8Steve said:
I used to run octane booster in mine if I couldn't get the correct octane of fuel where I was. No issues at all and mine was running over 500bhp.
the odd time will be ok. as long as you are not WOT all day in it It was a bit of a pain tbh, constantly filling up with 99 ron, octane boosters and meth (the liquid kind ha ha!), to think I commuted 80 miles a day in that car as well.
R8Steve said:
Anyone running that car WOT all day would have bigger problems than fuelling issues I suspect
It was a bit of a pain tbh, constantly filling up with 99 ron, octane boosters and meth (the liquid kind ha ha!), to think I commuted 80 miles a day in that car as well.
a few fill ups per week then ! i'm shamed to say I have only put fuel in mine 5 times ( in just over a year ). V Power each time, just little use It was a bit of a pain tbh, constantly filling up with 99 ron, octane boosters and meth (the liquid kind ha ha!), to think I commuted 80 miles a day in that car as well.
Ok, reading some of that was seriously confusing.
UK cars, none STI, will run on 95 ron happily
UK cars, STI (newage) need a minimum of 97/8 ron as stated in the handbook, it DOES state that you can use 95 ron in emergencies, it ALSO states NOT to push the car with 95 ron in.
JDM cars, pre 1999, so STI's upto and including Version 4, and upto and including MY98 WRX's, can use 97 ron fuel, DO NOT run them on 95 ron, it will kill them.
JDM post 1999, so Version 5 STI's onwards, inc new age STI twin scroll models require a MINIMUM 100 RON FUEL, no if's or but's, ive owned 2 new age Blob Spec C's and you saw det if you were not running v power/optimax without octane booster (both on a knock link and a Phormula KS3 which is more sensitive imho).
Other none (JDM) Impreza (FSTI/Legacy etc) will require 100 ron fuel, I really would not run these without octane booster or some form of knocklink/Phormula KS3 as you wont hear what kills your engine in most cases until it lets go.
Best method is a remap, 2 maps, 1 for the likes of Vpower and another for 95 ron in case of emergencies.
NOTE:- the P1 uses Broquet tablets, those are good for 100k+ miles and sit in the tank to increase the octane rating, 97+ is recommended on a P1 but as its an MY99 car (yes that is correct), its map is for 100 ron, I would suggest a remap on any P1 now).
22b, its an MY98 car, 97 ron is fine
UK cars, none STI, will run on 95 ron happily
UK cars, STI (newage) need a minimum of 97/8 ron as stated in the handbook, it DOES state that you can use 95 ron in emergencies, it ALSO states NOT to push the car with 95 ron in.
JDM cars, pre 1999, so STI's upto and including Version 4, and upto and including MY98 WRX's, can use 97 ron fuel, DO NOT run them on 95 ron, it will kill them.
JDM post 1999, so Version 5 STI's onwards, inc new age STI twin scroll models require a MINIMUM 100 RON FUEL, no if's or but's, ive owned 2 new age Blob Spec C's and you saw det if you were not running v power/optimax without octane booster (both on a knock link and a Phormula KS3 which is more sensitive imho).
Other none (JDM) Impreza (FSTI/Legacy etc) will require 100 ron fuel, I really would not run these without octane booster or some form of knocklink/Phormula KS3 as you wont hear what kills your engine in most cases until it lets go.
Best method is a remap, 2 maps, 1 for the likes of Vpower and another for 95 ron in case of emergencies.
NOTE:- the P1 uses Broquet tablets, those are good for 100k+ miles and sit in the tank to increase the octane rating, 97+ is recommended on a P1 but as its an MY99 car (yes that is correct), its map is for 100 ron, I would suggest a remap on any P1 now).
22b, its an MY98 car, 97 ron is fine
Edited by tonyb1968 on Friday 16th September 19:38
Some people are a bit too paranoid I think, people have been running JDM Subarus on 95 here in NZ for decades because for a lot of that time it was the best you could get.
My GTB is JDM spec (but imported by Subaru NZ as a brand new car), I've had it nearly 8 years/over 60k miles and its spent the majority of that time on 95 with no issues. I guess its possible that Subaru NZ had it remapped on import, but there are plenty of other Legacies and Imprezas doing the same thing. The GTB is 9:1 CR and nominally the same 280bhp as an STi, so I would expect the engine to be under similar stress?
Of course use higher octane fuel when you can for the reasons discussed, but personally I don't think there is any need for a nervous breakdown if you have to run it on 95 or 97 from time to time. Do your research and make your own choice, but thats how I see it.
My GTB is JDM spec (but imported by Subaru NZ as a brand new car), I've had it nearly 8 years/over 60k miles and its spent the majority of that time on 95 with no issues. I guess its possible that Subaru NZ had it remapped on import, but there are plenty of other Legacies and Imprezas doing the same thing. The GTB is 9:1 CR and nominally the same 280bhp as an STi, so I would expect the engine to be under similar stress?
Of course use higher octane fuel when you can for the reasons discussed, but personally I don't think there is any need for a nervous breakdown if you have to run it on 95 or 97 from time to time. Do your research and make your own choice, but thats how I see it.
Edited by GravelBen on Friday 16th September 22:45
GravelBen said:
Some people are a bit too paranoid I think, people have been running JDM Subarus on 95 here in NZ for decades because for a lot of that time it was the best you could get.
My GTB is JDM spec (but imported by Subaru NZ as a brand new car), I've had it nearly 8 years/over 60k miles and its spent the majority of that time on 95 with no issues. I guess its possible that Subaru NZ had it remapped on import, but there are plenty of other Legacies and Imprezas doing the same thing. The GTB is 9:1 CR and nominally the same 280bhp as an STi, so I would expect the engine to be under similar stress?
Of course use higher octane fuel when you can for the reasons discussed, but personally I don't think there is any need for a nervous breakdown if you have to run it on 95 or 97 from time to time. Do your research and make your own choice, but thats how I see it.
No paranoia, just basic facts.My GTB is JDM spec (but imported by Subaru NZ as a brand new car), I've had it nearly 8 years/over 60k miles and its spent the majority of that time on 95 with no issues. I guess its possible that Subaru NZ had it remapped on import, but there are plenty of other Legacies and Imprezas doing the same thing. The GTB is 9:1 CR and nominally the same 280bhp as an STi, so I would expect the engine to be under similar stress?
Of course use higher octane fuel when you can for the reasons discussed, but personally I don't think there is any need for a nervous breakdown if you have to run it on 95 or 97 from time to time. Do your research and make your own choice, but thats how I see it.
Edited by GravelBen on Friday 16th September 22:45
The first MY02 UK STI's that suffered engine failures were due to the owners running them on 95 ron fuel, there is one guy who killed his 2015 STI (2.5 UK) by running it on 95 ron, numerous accounts of v5/6 STI's dying due to the same reason, the 98 and below were a lot better due to them not being mapped for 100 ron fuel, some of those could run 95 but it wasn't recommended.
My first MY03 JDM STI Spec C ran on the standard JDM map, I always used octane booster with shell optimax and a knocklink before adding a Phormula KS3 (due to that having an audiable alarm), even that detected det on the odd occasion.
My 2nd Spec C limited was mapped for 97 ron, the garage I picked her up from (a Skoda dealer) had put some 95 ron fuel in there, oh you could hear the det, luckily I had 2 bottles of octane booster with me, put those both in and quiet as anything.
Fuel is the biggest killer of these engines but the easiest thing to sort out, either with a remap, octane booster or just running the correct grade fuel
GravelBen said:
Some people are a bit too paranoid I think, people have been running JDM Subarus on 95 here in NZ for decades because for a lot of that time it was the best you could get.
With respect GravelBen, on the basis of the above and that you've been saying for years that your GT-B comfortably averages 30 mpg, I can only conclude that 1 gallon of 95 RON in NZ is equivalent to 1.5 gallons of 99 RON in the UK.plenty said:
With respect GravelBen, on the basis of the above and that you've been saying for years that your GT-B comfortably averages 30 mpg, I can only conclude that 1 gallon of 95 RON in NZ is equivalent to 1.5 gallons of 99 RON in the UK.
I challenge you to find one single time that I said that. Or stop talking out your ass and misquoting people to try and make yourself look clever.
Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 18th September 08:59
Thanks for all the responses guys, you have been a great help. Thanks to your suggestions I have decided to go for a uk spec sti and will start the hunt in a few weeks once my Mercedes is serviced and sold. I'll go for a mixture of a nice drive to the v power station and 97ron with octane booster when I'm caught short of time and fuel.
I know some people find questions like this abit silly and weird even from some responses pointless, but you don't know these things unless you ask sometimes and the knowledge of people on this site is second to none whenever I have a motoring dilemma or are unsure of something. Reading the owners handbook is obviously the first thing I would normally do but strangely never owning an wrx sti I don't actually have a owners handbook to hand to answer these sort of questions.
Thanks again everyone.
I know some people find questions like this abit silly and weird even from some responses pointless, but you don't know these things unless you ask sometimes and the knowledge of people on this site is second to none whenever I have a motoring dilemma or are unsure of something. Reading the owners handbook is obviously the first thing I would normally do but strangely never owning an wrx sti I don't actually have a owners handbook to hand to answer these sort of questions.
Thanks again everyone.
all three of my jdm Sti cars an 01 an 04 and 05 where fine to be run on 97 before being mapped and ran well on super unleaded 97 and with no issues , the re map improved things , in simple run any Subaru on 97 or higher octane or higher , you get more power better running better fuel economy and less chance of engine issues
tonyb1968 said:
Fuel is the biggest killer of these engines but the easiest thing to sort out, either with a remap, octane booster or just running the correct grade fuel
Don't forget the P1, which reputedly had a "chocolate engine." In reality, problems were had by those running 95 Ron, despite the car being mapped for 98 and above. Although I appreciate, it's an older model than those we're discussing :Gassing Station | Subaru | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff