Premium or Normal Unleaded

[MySV6]

I did a test on the VZ - after I ran the car for an initial 20,000km on unleaded (and logged every fill), I ran for 20,000km on nothing but caltex Vortex, and then another 20,000km on BP's premium, before returning to Caltex unleaded for another 20,000km. Each distance, fill volume and total cost was logged on a spreadsheet, and litres/100km, real running cost for fuel, & a bunch of other things were calculated

When running premium the car idled nicer, had more power & accelerated a little better. It also cost more, and the car did not get better economy at all. While it's hard to compare exact trips, the average cost of running the car on premium was more as I never got a noticeable increase in fuel economy, and certainly not enough to offset the increased cost of the fuel.

The VE will probably get the same treatment next year - a year or so on Premium once it's clocked up 20,000km, but for now I'm happy with the performance of the SIDI engine on standard unleaded

 

[eddiemonster]

Hi all have a stock ve ss and i c no difference in economy at all as (MY SV6) said car idles so much better compared to normal unleaded agree totally as people have already said cars are tuned for normal unleaded unless u get it tuned for premium but saying that i still use premium cause idles so much better and is cleaner for my car (so they say).
What i have written down normal unleaded 14.5/100km ave speed 39kph distance 472km
Premium 14.9/100km ave speed 36kph distance 457km
Half a litre more per 100km but runs smoother
Cheers

 

[nathanVY]

so I opened up the old manual last night and it said, use 91 octane fuel or higher. so I gather that my car is not tuned for premium, but premium does make it run better (is it actually better for the engine or not?).

my next question is, where/how do I get it tuned to premium? is it worth it with my engine (v6 buick)?

 

[JonnyDe]

Now in the old days, (days of dizzys) you could advance your timing manually. You could put Premium in the tank. advnace the timing (or dwell angle) and it would run better as you have "tuned" it or premuim fuel.

But now days the ECM does that. So in my VE, using Premium fuel would just mean the ECM will advance the timing just a little more before it detonates, then put it back a bit, then advnace again, then go back............yeah yeah you get the picture.

All premiuim fuel does is burn slower and cleaner, hence the need to advance the timing. And you probably wont notice the difference driving around town. As your not getting into the higher enough RPM range to really make a difference. Premium is performance fuel, kinda pointless buying it if you just drive around town all day.

 

[WogBoyz]

ive had mine tuned on 98, all i use is bp ultimate runs much better then when it was on standard unleaded

 

[nathanVY]

right so. where would I go to get it tuned?

 

[affinity]

Just like "oils aint oils".... I believe that a branded premium fuel has got to be better than plain old unleaded. Anyway as I said before, I am using Vortex 95 for now (done my first tank fill Wed after having the car for 5 days); Vortex 98 _might_ be better again, but 95 is good enough for me.

 

[Hsv is king]

Caltex is second on my list of fuels. i find that BP fuels are the best weather it be 91,95 or 98 shell fuel is the worst perfoming fuel for me.

 

[SV666]

I have the dec 09 ve sv6 (SIDI), only had it for 3 weeks now running it on regular im averaging 12.4L/km being a brand new car i dont think my stats will be much of help at this point but i was told every 3-4 tanks run some premium in to clean the injectors, fill up today will let you know what it running by weeks out.





666.

 

[OCO0012]

I have been documenting my fuel usage with 91 and 98 for over two years now.
With 91 I get an average of 11.93L per 100km
I have not used 95
with 98 I get an average of 9.74L per 100km
For my VZ Berlina it works out that I save about $1.10 per 100km using 98
Also the car idles better and runs better