Came across this the other night when it was raining (yes it rains occasionally in Vancouver) [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4boT3iwgZKI[/ame] Stands to reason that if you have car such as the MINI it should benefit from better performance as well. I always use the 94 octane (E-free) Chevron stuff but I have no way of measuring if I'm getting any power boost from it. Perhaps if any of you have access to a dyno you could post some results for the rest of us opcorn: PS why can't I embed the Youtube image to start the video?
Can't get Chevron where I am. They need to come out with a bottle of "E-Eliminator" or :E-Free". Pour it in the tank and it gets rid of the Ethanol. Jim
It's pretty simple, if your car was designed to run on high test as ours are then yes run it. :yesnod: If it doesn't require high test save your money no gains for the extra cost. :nonod:
Good article. Being that I drive a Justa, I doubt there is any horsepower difference. I have done my own "testing" though and I have found that I get 1 to 2 more mpg using the MINI-recommended octane.
Higher octane will help more in the summer months, when the intake temps are higher and the air is less dense. Less oxygen will cause the car to retard timing, especially on normally-aspirated engines. Increasing the octane will allow the car to advance the timing again. (I think I said that right - advance=good/retard=bad - it's one or the other, but the point remains)
It always confused me that America and Britain use different octane numbers, at least as displayed on pumps - and you had already guessed that that was a Brit TV programme, hadn't you? They don't speak like that even in Rhode Island. Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia gives some equivalents. It seems 95 RON (standard UK fuel) is 91 AKI and 98 RON is 94 AKI. I believe you have to multiply both figures by your grandmother's age to get the answer.
I have done the different grades in my Cooper and can attest that you will get better mileage with the higher octane than you would with the lower stuff. I did notice a dramatic performance difference with using the different grades, but have no hard data to back up any claims...all I have is that FEELING when you know the gas is crap...and thats good enough for me. I will only use the good stuff. A
I agree, my justa ran like crap on regular, MPG went down, and anyone that states otherwise does not motor in a spirited fashion. Mark
I also put 94 Chevron in my Justa, just feels better, and it's the only ethanol free gas I can find in Victoria. I haven't done any strict MPG comparison, but the "butt dyno" says it runs better on the "good stuff," and the price difference isn't enough to risk feeding my Cooper corn, when it's designed to run on dinosaur bones.
On the same octane level, the name brands do produce more HP. On NA cars, the difference is less noticeable. But on forced induction vehicles (SC or Turbo charged), the power difference is more noticeable. Here in Cali (and the West Coast for that matter), we found Shell V-power to be one of the best ones tested (note: I don't own any Shell stocks shares and am not affiliated with Shell in any shape or form)... And this is the gas of choice for my MINI. My 2nd choice is Unical 76... Some prefer Chevron or other Tier 1 brand, but my MINI never did like it so i stopped using it. Every engine is different so use what works for your car. cheers.
Next thing you know your goona say he's wearing high heels. Your all starting to scare me. Up here in the mountains of Colorado I always use the highest I can find. Usually only 93 but I agree I get better mileage with Prem. than Reg. up here.
Have you ever seen an engineer try to do math in his head? No, he pulls out a calculator. Sometimes I forget which way it goes and feel like a retard...
I get better performance on Shell 93, I also seem to get more "burble and pop" with it, could just be my imagination...or not.
The spousal unit is a mechanical engineer and he wanted to know why I was laughing so hard at 7:30am on a Sunday morning...so I read back to him your original comment and your followup explanation. He started to laugh too..."Once you get out of single digits, you bring out the calculators." Then he fell back asleep. He's SUPPOSED to get up and make me breakfast! I picked 16# of blueberries yesterday (with the help of my daughter & her friend) and I want some blueberry pancakes!