335i N55 fuel grade

[stroberaver]

Well I've finally got myself a 335i, after well over a year of pontificating (and many more years of saving up!).

It's a 2012 model so will have the N55 engine. I was surprised to read in the handbook that the recommended fuel grade is 95 RON. I thought these engines were supposed to run on super-unleaded - 97 or 98 RON.

Which is correct, what do you guys run your N55s on?

[wax lyrical]

I use Shell V-Power almost exclusively in my N54 335i and IMHO there is a noticeable improvement in performance (especially torque) and slight improvement in fuel consumption.

[stroberaver]

Cheers, I'd have thought there were benefits too, but the handbook doesn't even mention it - unless I skimmed through the bit relating to the four-pot or lower-tuned engines.

I think I'll take a detour to find a Shell station on the way home from work today, though.

[E38Ross]

run it on VPower. even my M52TUB28 gets marginally better economy on VPower so your much more modern engine will certainly benefit. it's not just about that either, it does help keep the engine in better condition i think

[M888SXY]

I only put Vpower in mine.

[JNW1]

I've got a manual E92 335i with the N55 engine and have logged the fuel consumption the old fashioned way (i.e. not just relying on the trip computer!) in the 10k miles or so I've had it. The running average is just under 31mpg (was just above but the cold weather has taken its toll) and around September time last year I tried it on V-Power for several consecutive fill-ups. My conclusion? Total waste of money! It made no difference whatsoever to the fuel consumption and none that I could detect to performance and/or general running either.

I usually run it on the standard grade Shell fuel and I think that contains the necessary additives and detergents to keep the engine clean; I do tend to avoid supermarket fuel though. BMW themselves say that higher octane fuels like V-Power are a waste of time in anything other than an M-car engine and my experience would tend to confirm that. Perhaps a remapped 335i would benefit from something like V-Power but I'm not convinced it's worth it in a standard car (all IMO of course!).

[aeropilot]

I've only ever ran my N55 on V-Power apart from two consecutive fill ups when there was that strike a year or so ago, and Shell stopped distributing V-Power for a few weeks. It ran noticably weaker on 95RON IMHO.

[JNW1]

aeropilot said:

I've only ever ran my N55 on V-Power apart from two consecutive fill ups when there was that strike a year or so ago, and Shell stopped distributing V-Power for a few weeks. It ran noticably weaker on 95RON IMHO.

My advice to the OP would be to try his car on V-Power and see what he thinks; if he feels the extra cost is justified then use it, if he doesn't then don't! As I say, in my 335i it made no difference to fuel consumption (and that's a fact because I log it) and for me it made no difference that I could detect to how it performed either (although I appreciate that's more subjective). In fairness I probably don't drive especially hard most of the time so if your car spends a high proportion of its time above 5k rpm you may detect a benefit that I didn't notice!