What Petrol To Use

What Petrol To Use

Author
Discussion

Wills2

22,868 posts

176 months

Wednesday 26th September 2018
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aeropilot said:
bad company said:
Wills2 said:
bad company said:
Nothing there or in the handbook to indicate that the car would run better on 98 RON.
My F80 M3 says 98ron at the top and 95 as a minimum, the handbook states all performance data achieved with 98ron fuel, I would have though the 340i would be the same, but clearly not.

Looks like it's not tuned for it but of course can run on it.
Mines a 540 not 340. Think they call it a G30.
No, its a B58, and they are all the same engine. Just 3 differnt states of ECU software depending on model application. The B58 comes in 3 states of tune, 240kw (the one in the 340i), 250kw (the one in the 540i) and 265kw.
I think he was referring to the chassis designation not the engine, the new 540i is a G30 generation with a B58 engine as you say but in a different state of tune to the F3* 340i B58.







david-j8694

483 posts

49 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
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So the only proof we have then, aside from user calculations and testimonials, is gizlaroc's image showing his 335i (N55 engine?) consistently developed more power on 98RON, whether tuned or stock.

Can't believe BMW don't spell it out in plain English.

Armchair_Expert

18,343 posts

207 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
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Fifth gear ran a test on fuels, its on their youtube channel.

Only ever ran my VXR and now my B58 on Tesco 99 or V Power. Silly to run on a low grade fuel unless you don't give a toss about your engine or performance.

gizlaroc

17,251 posts

225 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
quotequote all
david-j8694 said:
So the only proof we have then, aside from user calculations and testimonials, is gizlaroc's image showing his 335i (N55 engine?) consistently developed more power on 98RON, whether tuned or stock.

Can't believe BMW don't spell it out in plain English.
They do.

They say in the owners manual that all figures are when using super unleaded, the car will run on regular unleaded but mpg and power will be reduced.

I even posted a page of the manual a few pages back showing that they have been saying that as far back as the E3x era of cars.


Edit: different thread. It was thread about using 99ron last month. wink

gizlaroc

17,251 posts

225 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
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Here the manual from as far back as the E36 based Z3.....



Of course, just as many cars are not set up to take advantage of 98/99ron.


CrgT16

1,968 posts

109 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
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When I had my 340i I ran it mostly on 98, when on 95 mpg would drop, it was noticeable.

I run V Power even on my Honda not because it will benefit from the anti knocking properties of higher octane but because other additives in the fuel will do my engine no harm and I can afford it.

Use what you fancy, overall extra cost for me is around £190 in a year... easily spent on other useless crap so I spent it on better quality fuel. Each to their own.

Mr Tidy

22,394 posts

128 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
quotequote all
gizlaroc said:
Here the manual from as far back as the E36 based Z3.....
Of course, just as many cars are not set up to take advantage of 98/99ron.
Super Plus only for me.

The handbook for my 2005 3 Series recommends using at least 98 RON whenever possible so 99 RON Tesco Momentun is what it gets even if it can run on 95 or 91 as a last resort. eek

My other BMW that I won't bother detailing thanks to the grief I've had on here recently tells me to use 98 RON whenever possible and 95 RON as a minimum.

Still there is a simple answer - RTFM!


pault76

24 posts

76 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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I always thought it was a bit of a con, filling up with super unleaded or the diesel equivalent. However that was when tanks cost upwards of £70 to fill - you could really feel the difference in your pocket.

For the past few years I’ve used Asda or Tesco standard diesel, and since getting the 30e I’ve continued with standard petrol. However with only a 40 litre tank, and that tank lasting for well over a month, maybe now is the time to try out Super unleaded without a massive hit on the pocket. Has it been disproved that you get more miles out of the equivalent tank? Thanks to the hybrid power it’ll be another 3 weeks before I’m filling up again, but will probably give 98 a go...

wax lyrical

883 posts

242 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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I always use Shell V-Power when I can. My 335i gets better fuel consumption and better performance too.

Having turbos help with taking advantage of the premium fuel though. Apparently less of an impact in NA cars.

njw1

2,072 posts

112 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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gizlaroc said:
They do.



I even posted a page of the manual a few pages back showing that they have been saying that as far back as the E3x era of cars.

Yep, my old e39 runs pretty much entirely on Super Unleaded from the local Esso, on the odd occasion that I have to put regular unleaded in the throttle response is noticeably worse and the mpg is even more diabolical than normal! I find supermarket fuel even worse for it. I have an 'oomph' card too which means that super unleaded in the Esso garage is cheaper than the regular stuff. smile

g3org3y

20,639 posts

192 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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Super for the N52 engined cars. Regular for the M54 engined 330Ci.

I'll be using Super in the N62 V8.

gizlaroc

17,251 posts

225 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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I had the E350 estate a couple of cars back.
It was the 306hp NA 3.5 litre petrol, that car used to throw a EML using supermarket petrol, well Sainsburys, which was annoying as I was often late to my appointments in London and it was just ff the A11.

So I started using the 99 stuff from Tesco as the Shell was 10 minutes off track, and strangely the car just felt better, now this was a car that said 95ron to be used.
However, it was quite noticeable, so much so I got my mate to rolling road it, fist on 99ron which gave 304hp and then on 95ron, which dropped down to 282 or something like that (I can't remember exactly what they were without digging out the results). but I was quite amazed there was 20hp in it for a NA engine.

I started doing some digging, and after getting hold of a German brochure it said that the E350 Petrol should use Super Benzine Plus, 98ron to achieve the stated figures for mpg and power.

The MPG also went up, I got around 27mpg from it for the first year and then it went up to 30 something once I started using the 99ron, and stayed at that for for the next 18 months.


Funnily enough the guy I sold it to called to ask if I had issues with the NOX sensors, as the EML was on, he again was using supermarket fuel and 95 ron.
I explained I had this and when scanned it said 'misfueled or unknown additive in fuel' and to run it on Shell and even better 99ron.

Mercedes had been swapping out NOX sensors on these cars constantly in the UK, in the states they adjust the parameters so they were not as sensitive.


But that was a NA engine that made a big difference.

My old 2.8i Z3 used to purr liek a sewing machine on 98/99 and sound almost tappety on 95ron, that made a big difference passed 3000rpm on power too.




Sticks.

8,770 posts

252 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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If I use anything other than V Power in my (04 3.0) Z4 the fuel pump hums. No idea. I think it's recommended for cars which might not get much use over winter too.

bad company

Original Poster:

18,636 posts

267 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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I used V Power rather than unleaded for a couple of months in my BMW G20 340i but didn’t notice any difference in performance. According to the cars computer there was no difference in consumption so I went back to the cheaper fuel.

helix402

7,875 posts

183 months

Wednesday 25th November 2020
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I used to help a friend in a single seater racing series a few years ago. Regs were very tight and pump fuel had to be used. He used Shell fuel, on the basis that it gave the highest power and a fellow competitor who worked in the oil/petrol business recommended it.

On a personal note my car was mapped on supermarket fuel on purpose. I add some higher cetane stuff once a month and BMW fuel system cleaner every 6 months.

MitchT

15,877 posts

210 months

Thursday 15th February
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Does anyone know if E10 might have any detrimental effect on the B58 engine? I'm thinking of an F32 440i and will happily spend the extra on super unleaded if it's better for the engine, even if there's no noticeable benefit to fuel consumption or performance.

Magnum 475

3,549 posts

133 months

Thursday 15th February
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MitchT said:
Does anyone know if E10 might have any detrimental effect on the B58 engine? I'm thinking of an F32 440i and will happily spend the extra on super unleaded if it's better for the engine, even if there's no noticeable benefit to fuel consumption or performance.
B48 / B58 will run fine on E10 in standard tune. Some re-maps may require 99E5 to get the best out of, and some 'hardcore' remaps may be totally unsuited to anything less than 99RON.

I've got a higher performance version on the B48 "30i" tune from the factory. What I do notice is that E5 gives me 5 - 7% better fuel economy than E10 (not surprising really), and of course premium fuels tend to have more / better detergents in them. So I run mine on E5 pretty much all the time. My 987S is even more sensitive - fuel economy is a good 10% better on E5 than E10.


911Spanker

1,226 posts

17 months

Thursday 15th February
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V power only for me in all my cars.