Which fuel do you buy for your Aston Martin ?
Discussion
ThelastNA said:
Hi Everyone,
I have a Vanquish S Ultimate (latest gen). Currently I'm using premium unleaded and have been since the car was made. Am I wasting money using high octane fuel and would standard unleaded make no difference?
here you are mateI have a Vanquish S Ultimate (latest gen). Currently I'm using premium unleaded and have been since the car was made. Am I wasting money using high octane fuel and would standard unleaded make no difference?
cheers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOxxPYLhBhM
V8 Roadster said:
I am sorry, looked at their website again and found the information, that no bioethanol is included in Ultimate 102. Probably I looked at Aral Super Plus 98, there it is included .....
I need new glasses probably .....
regards
Torsten
My apologies too for looking Torsten, but was amazed at 23 mpg (10 l/100km) across from UK to Germany to Bremerhaven with lots of convoy catch ups compared to my usual 18-19 mpg (12.5 l/100km) and it couldn't just be down to no hills between Calais and there I need new glasses probably .....
regards
Torsten
best regards
Reg
V8 Roadster said:
RL17 said:
V8 Roadster said:
JB65 said:
That’s Incorrect, Aral Ultimate 102 has no ethanol and on top if it offers 102 octane vs Shell only 100.
Sorry, but you are wrong. Look at the Aral Homepage in Germany, they say that Aral Ultimate has up to 5% Ethanol!I need new glasses probably .....
regards
Torsten
i live in california and i use regular 87 octane in both my vantage and cayman. both have 11.3/1 compression ratios and sophisticated knock sensors that adjust timing to avoid knocking (the sole purpose of octane in gasoline).
i suggest spending a couple hours reading up on octane, its purpose and/or necessity in gasoline.
note that octane ratings are like temperature scales. there are a few of them. e.g. fahrenheit and centigrade. they cannot be directly compared. like the same orange that can be purchased with a euro, pound, drachma, or dollar, the amount of change one receives will differ each currency. IOW, you may need to convert 87 into some other number depending on what octane rating scale you normally use.
i suggest spending a couple hours reading up on octane, its purpose and/or necessity in gasoline.
note that octane ratings are like temperature scales. there are a few of them. e.g. fahrenheit and centigrade. they cannot be directly compared. like the same orange that can be purchased with a euro, pound, drachma, or dollar, the amount of change one receives will differ each currency. IOW, you may need to convert 87 into some other number depending on what octane rating scale you normally use.
Edited by hueyhoolihan on Friday 27th August 19:48
i think you'll find that knock sensors will force the ECU software to retard timing under some circumstances, but can't and don't allow it to advance timing beyond its default value. the reason being that knock sensors do not detect the presence of octane or measure the propagation wave of the burn of the gases in the combustion chamber. they are in essence listening devices that detect sound and send a voltage to the ECU commensurate with the amount of noise (knocking) detected. the louder the knocking the higher the voltage. in turn the various subroutines in the ECU software can sample this voltage value as they go about their tasks and act upon it as dictated by the software engineers.
again, i would suggest arming oneself with a thorough understanding of octane, its purpose and how it works in the gasoline internal combustion engine. a forum (present company excluded of course), is a poor place, IMO, to start. OTOH googling "why octane" and following the yellow brick road for a few hours is not a poor place to start.
BTW, octane actually, everything being equal, reduces horsepower. let me explain...
there are many things that can increase HP in an internal combustion engine: turbocharging, supercharging, using fuel additives like nitrous oxide, using methanol, increased combustion ratio, etc. and as long as the increase in HP from one or many of those methods is greater than the amount of decrease by the use of octane, there will be a net gain of HP.
let me state that again. the reality is that though octane will DECREASE horsepower, as long as the increase in horsepower by use of one or a number of the methods listed above to increase HP is greater than that decrease there will be a net gain in horsepower.
so why the octane? and again it all boils down to the purpose of octane in gasoline...
it is used in all gasoline to some degree because a number of those methods used to increase horsepower will also increase the combustion ratio and the tendency to knock, which will quickly destroy the engine (due to the enormous amount of pressure it creates when the burn's propagation wave exceeds the speed of sound) altogether, it is absolutely necessary to decrease the knocking with octane despite the fact the it actually decreases horsepower. and octane does this by slowing the burn rate of the air/gasoline mixture in the combustion chamber.
again, i would suggest arming oneself with a thorough understanding of octane, its purpose and how it works in the gasoline internal combustion engine. a forum (present company excluded of course), is a poor place, IMO, to start. OTOH googling "why octane" and following the yellow brick road for a few hours is not a poor place to start.
BTW, octane actually, everything being equal, reduces horsepower. let me explain...
there are many things that can increase HP in an internal combustion engine: turbocharging, supercharging, using fuel additives like nitrous oxide, using methanol, increased combustion ratio, etc. and as long as the increase in HP from one or many of those methods is greater than the amount of decrease by the use of octane, there will be a net gain of HP.
let me state that again. the reality is that though octane will DECREASE horsepower, as long as the increase in horsepower by use of one or a number of the methods listed above to increase HP is greater than that decrease there will be a net gain in horsepower.
so why the octane? and again it all boils down to the purpose of octane in gasoline...
it is used in all gasoline to some degree because a number of those methods used to increase horsepower will also increase the combustion ratio and the tendency to knock, which will quickly destroy the engine (due to the enormous amount of pressure it creates when the burn's propagation wave exceeds the speed of sound) altogether, it is absolutely necessary to decrease the knocking with octane despite the fact the it actually decreases horsepower. and octane does this by slowing the burn rate of the air/gasoline mixture in the combustion chamber.
Edited by hueyhoolihan on Friday 27th August 19:48
you are correct... i did not say that.
what i did say, in part, was, "...octane actually, everything being equal, reduces horsepower."
and it does so by slowing the propagation wave of the fuel burn, which is its fundamental purpose in gasoline.
it should be noted that most manufacturers "recommend" a certain minimum octane but rarely "require" it. believe me, if they thought it would damage the engine to use an octane rating less than that they recommend they would make it clear in the owner's manual and warranty that it was in every way shape and form "required" and not "recommended". if they had even a suspicion that minimum octane would damage their engines they'd have a sensor in that gas tank, pronto. rest assured
and about performance...
i've never seen any numbers of any kind (probably because they don't exist) involving any percentages of power losses (or gains for that matter) involving preventative measures taken to stop knock. my sense of it is that they don't exist because they are not real or at least real enough to be detected by an operator or a time clock of any sort.
what i did say, in part, was, "...octane actually, everything being equal, reduces horsepower."
and it does so by slowing the propagation wave of the fuel burn, which is its fundamental purpose in gasoline.
it should be noted that most manufacturers "recommend" a certain minimum octane but rarely "require" it. believe me, if they thought it would damage the engine to use an octane rating less than that they recommend they would make it clear in the owner's manual and warranty that it was in every way shape and form "required" and not "recommended". if they had even a suspicion that minimum octane would damage their engines they'd have a sensor in that gas tank, pronto. rest assured
and about performance...
i've never seen any numbers of any kind (probably because they don't exist) involving any percentages of power losses (or gains for that matter) involving preventative measures taken to stop knock. my sense of it is that they don't exist because they are not real or at least real enough to be detected by an operator or a time clock of any sort.
Edited by hueyhoolihan on Friday 27th August 19:58
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