BP Ultimate 102

[Caelum Blue]

Has anyone tried BP Ultimate unleaded 102 yet?
Did you notice any difference over normal Ultimate?

http://www.bp.com/genericsection.do?categoryId=662...

[jonny5]

Slight emptying of one's wallet , apart from that not vastly . I like Tesco 99

Edited by jonny5 on Sunday 28th October 10:53

[Troesma]

In reality, if the ECU is not tuned to take advantage of the extra RONs then, as Jon said, it's just making you lighter...

Not worth it IMHO.

[XXVIII]

A recent (ie within the last 18 months) comparison test in EVO of Optimax/V Power, BP Ultimate and Tesco 99 fuel showed that all three were within a scratch of each other in a very wide range of comparative areas.

Effectively, the fuels were all a superior alternative to 95 octane petrol (shock!) for almost any car running on petrol and performed as well as each other, or there abouts in most areas. Crucially, not one of them always more than the others or always less than the others...

As far as I could see, (and certainly noticed in a highly unstructured test series (ahem) in my daily drive Toyota and also in 'erself's Civic), they all made driving our two daily cars that 'bit' more amusing on occasions. I use the best I can actually drive to in order to fuel my Lambo and Castrol lead-rep. additive with octane booster - 1970's Lambos were made for 5 star gas!!

The main difference in the higher octane fuels was the simple and obvious one: the Tesco fuel is always cheaper to buy and you get Clubcard points (yahoo...not) to turn into really useful things like subscriptions to home tarting-up magazines full of things you'd never want near your own house unless there was a court order forcing you to have them...

[jon-]

Very noticeable - but only if you've the ability to either increase the MAP (ie more boost) or advanced ignition.

[jonny5]

jon- said:

Very noticeable - but only if you've the ability to either increase the MAP (ie more boost) or advanced ignition.

So turbo cars

[Ultra Violent]

On my 911t I gained almost 60bhp going from 97 to 99. Although the ignition timing was right on the edge. didn't leave it there for long. With 102 you'll get more detonation protection but that shouldn't be an issue on NA factory cars. So as already stated a complete waste of money unless you are going to remap.

[jon-]

jonny5 said:

jon- said:

Very noticeable - but only if you've the ability to either increase the MAP (ie more boost) or advanced ignition.

So turbo cars

Yep, turbo cars where you have either boost control or a trick ecu.

[MOD500]

Tried it in the 993tt, and felt a big difference once the ecu 'learnt' the new fuel.

Boost came in sooner and harder, and revved much harder especially towards the red line.

[neil-f]

My understanding was you need to run the same fuel for approx 1000mls to get the ECU's to learn the fuel octane am I wrong?
Neil

[MOD500]

No idea, but the 993 quickly found and exploited the more potent juice on board.

[jon-]

It will depend on how the cars ECU is programmed so will vary from marque to marque.

[neil-f]

Yes jon seem to remember when I looked at my handbook (360) that it said somehing about if you have to put in 95 as no super around it would take the ECU's about 1000mls to recalculate to Super. Presume the change down to 95 is instant!!! or you will be stuffed anyway.

[jon-]

neil-f said:

Yes jon seem to remember when I looked at my handbook (360) that it said somehing about if you have to put in 95 as no super around it would take the ECU's about 1000mls to recalculate to Super. Presume the change down to 95 is instant!!! or you will be stuffed anyway.

From a purely amateur understanding on how these things work in high compression NA engines I would presume the ECU would detect knock instantly and retard the ignition until it was happy then engine would be safe. As knock kills engines it probably wouldn't want to advance it quite as quickly as it retards it so would take it's time readjusting to better fuel.

Of course, as with most things on a Monday morning, I'm probably well off the mark!

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

jon- said:

neil-f said:

Yes jon seem to remember when I looked at my handbook (360) that it said somehing about if you have to put in 95 as no super around it would take the ECU's about 1000mls to recalculate to Super. Presume the change down to 95 is instant!!! or you will be stuffed anyway.

From a purely amateur understanding on how these things work in high compression NA engines I would presume the ECU would detect knock instantly and retard the ignition until it was happy then engine would be safe. As knock kills engines it probably wouldn't want to advance it quite as quickly as it retards it so would take it's time readjusting to better fuel.

Of course, as with most things on a Monday morning, I'm probably well off the mark!

Suprisingly, most supercar N/A engines don't have knock sensors (and some turbo ones don't either).

[jon-]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

Suprisingly, most supercar N/A engines don't have knock sensors (and some turbo ones don't either).

That is interesting. What does they use to gauge whether the engine is knocking? I'd have assumed like a large boosted turbo engine knock would be an issue.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

jon- said:

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

Suprisingly, most supercar N/A engines don't have knock sensors (and some turbo ones don't either).

That is interesting. What does they use to gauge whether the engine is knocking? I'd have assumed like a large boosted turbo engine knock would be an issue.

They map them for around 95 or 97 ron and that's it! Sounds crazy but it's true.

There's the odd car coming out that has wideband lamda sensors, and if the AFR goes too wild it shuts down for a bit, but that's about it. No doubt knock sensors will make it into the cars in time, but currently it's rare.

If you ever wondered why older supercars have a reputation for going pop a lot, you now have one of the reasons! A driver with some mechanical sympathy would hear and feel heavy pinking and think 'ooo, better be very light on the throttle until I get that sorted', where as the stereo typical supercar driver might have thought 'just needs a good thrashing, that'll sort it!'.