Fuel in Europe

[arcamalpha]

I'm off to Europe for a road trip in the summer and wanted to know about European fuel brands. In the UK, I use only V-Power but I'm not sure what is available on the continent. There are various brands I don't recognise and want know which are considered decent.

Thanks!

[Ice White Socks]

Last summer I took a boxster to the UK to Hungary and back- pretty sure I managed V-Power all the way there and back with the exception of one in France.

I also bought a Garmin Sat Nav which lets you finds all the petrol stations within the area and also along the route- it tells you the brand too to so it was never a case of having to hunt around to find one.

[cayman-black]

Plenty of shell garages through out europe.

[Martian O]

And plenty of other stations selling 102RON (mainly Germany) for only a few cents more!

[RiccardoG]

In Italy, Germany and Austria you will find 100 Octane fuel. Not so in Switzerland (max is 98). Cost is high though at ~€1.98 /Liter!

If you have an iPhone you can download the Shell app to find your nearest station of display all the stations along your selected route.

[rdjohn]

Unless you are travelling from trackday to trackday, I am certain that you will not find a significant drop in performance even if you have to use a tankful of 95ron a few times.

I am certain that you will not find that you are travelling prolonged distances much above 4000rpm - a very long way off peak performance. The ECU will easily compensate.

[arcamalpha]

Thanks all. I'm not so worried about the octane, just that it's a quality brand. Sounds like Shell will be easily available and I have the iphone app, so all good :-)

[Rockster]

rdjohn said:

Unless you are travelling from trackday to trackday, I am certain that you will not find a significant drop in performance even if you have to use a tankful of 95ron a few times.

I am certain that you will not find that you are travelling prolonged distances much above 4000rpm - a very long way off peak performance. The ECU will easily compensate.

The octane comes into play at lower rpms lower speeds, higher loads. Use a lower octane only in an emergency and never go below the minimum octane grade recommended by Porsche.

[Richie200]

If you are in Germany, buy ARAL 102RON, it is far better quality than the Shell fuel (I have a knock meter and have tested both, the ARAL was far superior).

[FisiP1]

There's plenty of BP ultimate around too, should Shell decide they don't like the specific area you are travelling in.

[rdjohn]

Rockster said:

The octane comes into play at lower rpms lower speeds, higher loads. Use a lower octane only in an emergency and never go below the minimum octane grade recommended by Porsche.

Exactly what I was thinking. Porsche ECUs are perfectly capable of dealing with 95 octane fuel sold thought Europe, you cannot buy less. All fuel produced in Europe is to a high standard. I would have thought that a bigger risk is a higher octane fuel lying unsold in the tanks of little used garages.

In France, for example, most cars are Diesel powered, and relatively few are high performance, so I tend to only buy at a hypermarket that sells more fuel, because it is cheaper.

i do not think that Shell is refining any longer in France. What comes out of the pump is refined by a third part, but presumably has some additive mixed-in at the garage. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/uk-petrop...

Refining in general throughout Europe has gone down this route because there is so little profit in the process, so what you buy at the pumps may actually be a large slice of marketing guff.