E46 M3- V power vs regular unleaded
Discussion
After reading a thread in the BMW general section about a month or so ago about the rising costs of petrol and the difference between super/regular unleaded etc,i decided that after running my E46 M3 on regular unleaded for the last 3.5 years i would give V power a try.
My two previous cars were tuned mitsubishi evos which had to run strictly on Shell v power/optimax so when i finally grew up and bought an M3 i was quite relieved that i could now use (cheaper) regular unleaded.
My use of the car is strictly town driving,motorway journeys are very rare and £40 of regular unleaded was returning me about 120 miles max.
I have now filled with shell v power 3 times,putting £40 in each time and have found that despite getting 2 litres less for £40 than with regular unleaded,the miles it is returning is virtually identical and if anything a handfull more! On top of this the car does feel noticably smoother esp when starting from cold and it is obviously going to be better for your engine than the regular crap.As for any increase in power, this would probably only be proved with a dyno run.
So if you have been like me and tried to save money by running your M car on cheap petrol i would say it is worth giving it a go.Different driving styles and use of the car may give varying results but it has worked for me so,despite it being an extra 8p per litre i shall be sticking with it.
I've found the same. Used V Power in my Supra before this and then ran Tesco 99 after Thorney Motorsports recommendation for a few months when I bought the M3. Thing is the odd time I used V Power found I was getting better mileage. Switched over and have been using it since.
Edited by The Restorer on Monday 14th February 17:53
The Restorer said:
I've found the same. Used V Power in my Supra before this and then ran Tesco 99 after Thorney Motorsports recommendation for a few months when I bought the M3. Thing is the odd time I used V Power found I was getting better mileage. Switched over and have been using it since.
Thorney Motorsports are sponsored by Tesco 99 (or Momentum 99 as it's now called) Edited by The Restorer on Monday 14th February 17:53
ours returns 21 mpg - as the wife uses it for the run to the office, So where I can we have been using standard unleaded.....but it does run alot better on tesco 99 for me and Ive probably been running 1 in 5 tanks super unleaded....didnt know it had to be super all the time....super near me is 138 per litre....12p difference
Forgot to mention that my M3 is a convertible and is not really driven hard at all.(i have an insanely fast bike powered westfield for that!)
If the car was being driven hard on a regular basis then i would've been using 99 octane petrol from the word go regardless of the extra cost.Although it does state in the handbook that the engine is designed to run on the higher octane stuff,im told that the ecu will adjust the engines settings so it will run perfectly safely on 95 octane but the trade off will be a slight loss in performance/economy.
If the car was being driven hard on a regular basis then i would've been using 99 octane petrol from the word go regardless of the extra cost.Although it does state in the handbook that the engine is designed to run on the higher octane stuff,im told that the ecu will adjust the engines settings so it will run perfectly safely on 95 octane but the trade off will be a slight loss in performance/economy.
Nedz said:
Forgot to mention that my M3 is a convertible and is not really driven hard at all.(i have an insanely fast bike powered westfield for that!)
If the car was being driven hard on a regular basis then i would've been using 99 octane petrol from the word go regardless of the extra cost.Although it does state in the handbook that the engine is designed to run on the higher octane stuff,im told that the ecu will adjust the engines settings so it will run perfectly safely on 95 octane but the trade off will be a slight loss in performance/economy.
The ECU will retard the ignition, but it's not designed to operate like that normally.If the car was being driven hard on a regular basis then i would've been using 99 octane petrol from the word go regardless of the extra cost.Although it does state in the handbook that the engine is designed to run on the higher octane stuff,im told that the ecu will adjust the engines settings so it will run perfectly safely on 95 octane but the trade off will be a slight loss in performance/economy.
I've only put 95 in an M-car once and it ran so rough I thought I'd damaged something. Of course the older engines (S38 for example) didn't have a knock sensor so you could quite happily run them on boggo juice.
The reason you can run 95 is because of the knock senors (i think there's three in total) That's why modern engines can run on different fuels, E46 M3's will run on 95 all day, they will adjust themselves and just be down on power a bit don't think you would even notice the difference, If you where driving round the ring for the day then yes use 98/99 but for every day (unless your a total mad man and drive flat out every where)95 would be fine, As to mpg i think that's a hard one to confirm it must be difficult to drive the same during one tank to another just the odd quick blast would completely alter the results, This is all just my opinion of course,
Edited by api330 on Monday 14th February 21:01
Edited by api330 on Monday 14th February 21:03
CarbonBlackM5 said:
I've only ever used V Power or Tesco 99 but then I don't do many miles so I'm not bothered. I have a friend who has had 2 DB9 and a V12 DB7 all run on regular without issues.
Reading this months Evo's piece on the updated Vantage S they say that it is now mapped to benefit from 'Super plus' fuel and liberate a few extra BHP, so what you say re the 'older V12 in the DB9/7's does not suprise.Great Pretender said:
The ECU will retard the ignition, but it's not designed to operate like that normally.
I've only put 95 in an M-car once and it ran so rough I thought I'd damaged something. Of course the older engines (S38 for example) didn't have a knock sensor so you could quite happily run them on boggo juice.
Sorry, GP, but that is rubbish... The easiest way to damage a S38 is to run it on boggo juice. The knock sensor allows the Motronic in the later engines to retard ignition under load and thus to save you from knocking/detonating...I've only put 95 in an M-car once and it ran so rough I thought I'd damaged something. Of course the older engines (S38 for example) didn't have a knock sensor so you could quite happily run them on boggo juice.
Cheburator mk2 said:
Great Pretender said:
The ECU will retard the ignition, but it's not designed to operate like that normally.
I've only put 95 in an M-car once and it ran so rough I thought I'd damaged something. Of course the older engines (S38 for example) didn't have a knock sensor so you could quite happily run them on boggo juice.
Sorry, GP, but that is rubbish... The easiest way to damage a S38 is to run it on boggo juice. The knock sensor allows the Motronic in the later engines to retard ignition under load and thus to save you from knocking/detonating...I've only put 95 in an M-car once and it ran so rough I thought I'd damaged something. Of course the older engines (S38 for example) didn't have a knock sensor so you could quite happily run them on boggo juice.
Two respected specialists - one a BMW M Master tech, confirmed the same: the E34 can be run on boggo 95, with 97 Ron having no positive effect whatsoever.
Given that I drove approx 20k miles in three E34 M5's, I would hope that I might have been able to detect a difference also non?
ortontom said:
not found the tescos 99 to be rubbish, up until last year it had the highest octane - Shell was a mere 98 until a year or so ago....
lol
The difference being something to do with Tesco raising the octane by putting more ethanol it it, and thus reducing the calorific value of the fuel. I get an extra 20 miles from a tank on the shell stuff vs all the other supers, including Tesco.lol
I used V Power for 5 years in various different cars including the M5. It was good until rather than being 4/5pence more than normal unleaded it flew up to 10p more at my local station.
I switched to Sainsburys Super Unleaded two years ago and get EXACTLY the same mileage and it feels just as good..........
Food for thought.
I switched to Sainsburys Super Unleaded two years ago and get EXACTLY the same mileage and it feels just as good..........
Food for thought.
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