Cooper S Works - What fuel?

[bandad]

Hi everyone,

I've been a regular viewer on the Lotus Elise forum, but the MINI forum is new to me. However, I have just agreed to buy a 2003 Cooper S John Cooper Works. One question. What fuel does it need?

The last time I had a supercharger it was on a Jaguar V8. Does this little 1.6 need 97RON?

BTW I still have the Lotus

[Big Al.]

We have used 99 RON, since we bought ours in 2003.

[Hughesie]

99 here too...

[bandad]

Looks like all my pre-purchase claims for low fuel costs may have been unwise. Still, committed now so best just keep quiet

Does anyone have experience of standard fuel in their S works?

[Raify]

When I picked mine up from the JCW garage, they recommended 98+ but did say that it wouldn't harm it if you had to fill up with normal every now and again.

[okgo]

Makes almost no difference.

Do what you please..

[jcwuk]

Big Al. said:

We have used 99 RON, since we bought ours in 2003.

+1

[Hughesie]

It has a knock sensor so it works out what fuel is in there so you canm pretty much use anything from 95 up, i personally find it pops and bangs less on 95 than 99

[snorkel sucker]

only had mine a few weeks but apart from one tank of tesco 99RON i have been using standard unleaded. Cant say i noticed a difference, but i would say it depends how you drive the car - for hooning and working the engine hard i would fill her up with a high octane fuel. For me - motorway journeys and short urban commute into work during the week, normal unleaded is perfectly fine.

that said, i think i may treat her to a tank of vpower over the christmas break...

[snorkel sucker]

only had mine a few weeks but apart from one tank of tesco 99RON i have been using standard unleaded. Cant say i noticed a difference, but i would say it depends how you drive the car - for hooning and working the engine hard i would fill her up with a high octane fuel. For me - motorway journeys and short urban commute into work during the week, normal unleaded is perfectly fine.

that said, i think i may treat her to a tank of vpower over the christmas break...

[Rags]

I have used both kind of fuels, no adverse effects in fuel economy or performance.

I have been keeping my eyes on most cars for sale, which one did you buy?

Rgds

[killinginblack]

I mostly run mine on 95. A few tanks of v power made no real difference save for a few more pops and bangs.

Strangely, it seems to munch bp regular much quicker than any other fuel i've tried.

[bandad]

Rags said:

I have been keeping my eyes on most cars for sale, which one did you buy?

Interesting story. It was on Autotrader and is from a Jaguar dealer in Slough. It is the max I could afford and doesn't have a very convincing history, but it drives nicely and they agreed to get it serviced, MOT'd, and taxed. They even agreed to take my 1994 Toyota MR2 for a notional value. Unfortunately they will scrap that I expect. I just can't justify the expenses that are stacking up on it when it has limited cash value. It has been a brilliant car - I bought it from my own son!

Today I was having a coffee with a friend and suggested he looked it up on his iPhone. I was amazed to find that the price was £600 less than when I had been negotiating for it earlier in the same week! I rang them up to find out what was going on. They told me that it was now sold - I knew that. I asked the salesman to call me back and explain. His story was that the price now advertised is what I actually paid for it! Basically, if you add the tax, mot, service to the new advertised price you come to the figure I had negotiated - £400 off the previous advertised price. Why didn't they just say "SOLD"? Apparently they have had lots of enquiries today on the new price!

[richard_abra]

You might this an interesting read

http://www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk/tuning/October_...

regards

[mrdemon]

What fuel does it need


er petrol works well :-)

dont use water or wee

[Garlick]

Hughesie said:

i personally find it pops and bangs less on 95 than 99

mine mostly runs on V Power, and it definitely pops more on the potent stuff.

[RKDE]

the JCW run in procedure and guide states minimum 97 ron - just took a look in my pack I got with the car. this is R53 don't know about the new one.

[jayxx83]

Have had mine since late Sep this year and run 95 no problem. They are all fuelled rich in any case so wont make any difference. I have used super before and did notice a slight 2-3mpg improvement in fuel consumption, but the higher price negated this so pointless imo.

[RKDE]

its not all about the extra performance from the fuel. though as far as I am concerned it should make no major difference but the car was tuned to 97 and not 95 even though it can adapt. as personal preference I always try and put the best fuel, also I see a return of 40mpg most of the time and 30mpg on hard driving so long term it has kept the car happy.

Edited by RKDE on Sunday 28th December 17:19

[bandad]

Thanks for all the input here. I have followed RKDE's advice for the first fill up and put in the expensive stuff. Of course I have no idea what previous owners chose to do. The mpg so far looks very encouraging, and performance is extremely adequate for normal roads. So I am happy with that.