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Which petrol should I buy?

38K views 66 replies 23 participants last post by  Anonymous 
G
#1 ·
Hi all, Just after some info ahead of collecting my car on March 1st. I'm having a 1.4 petrol Astra Sports Tourer SRi (150bhp) and am unsure which fuel I should put in when I buy it.
I spent two decades working in the fuel industry up until 2000 and know my octane ratings and in theory I should be using the Super Unleaded as it's Octane level is closer to that of the old four star leaded, whereas the 95 octane unleaded fuel is only equivalent to the old 2/3 star petrol which people used to put in Mini's and low powered engines.
I'm likely overthinking this but I know the tank will be near empty when I collect my car and I will have my head full and forget to ask the dealers and won't have time to read the book and I'm certainly not asking cashiers in petrol stations.
When I first worked in the fuel industry, there was no unleaded so learnt about the phasing out of four star and engines pinking without lead and being on crap petrol etc...
My husband's former Subaru Impreza was always ran on Shell Super Plus Unleaded (98) and I want to run my Astra on Shell as much as possible, but which one?.
Knowing the ordinary Unleaded (95) caused engines to run irregularly i'm unsure whether to use it or are the new engines now built to run on it? I keep telling myself it's not a sports car so it should be ok on 95 (then I think "well it's 150bhp so should be a little feisty"- I never tested a demonstrator car) but I don't mind spending a bit more on a tank of fuel if it'll run smoother and I want to protect it from day one, hence wanting to use Shell because I know how good the additives are in their fuel and my vehicles have proven themselves to me, both on the road and circuit as running smoother and with more get up and go when on Shell.
Any informative answer welcomed (or just tell me what you use in your 1.4)

Cheers
Gena
 
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#52 ·
I think so too. A specialist also confirmed to me that higher is okay and lower than 98 is not recommended!
 
#54 ·
Hey everyone, sorry to bump a post from last week but I've been trying different fuels in my 1.4T 150 over the past few weeks and have definitely noticed a difference in the way the engine feels. I have long been an advocate of the "super" fuels and ran my Astra H 1.9CDTi religiously on BP Ultimate as it seemed to like it the most and it didnt clog up the EGR every 5000miles....

I fully expected my 1.4T to run like silk on BP Ultimate too but it made the engine feel rough and lumpy. After two tanks, I tried Shell V-Power and found that it ran much smoother than before but it still felt although it wasn't happy. Yesterday, i ran the tank as low as i dared and have filled it up with standard shell unleaded and it seems to be running like a dream. Maybe its me but I genuinely think that the 1.4T 150 prefers the bog standard 95ron Unleaded despite it not being as "clean" as the more expensive (some would say overpriced) premium stuff. I've seen a couple of posts from 1.6T owners but was wondering if any of the 1.4t owners have found the same thing?
 
#55 ·
la_sri150 said:
Hey everyone, sorry to bump a post from last week but I've been trying different fuels in my 1.4T 150 over the past few weeks and have definitely noticed a difference in the way the engine feels. I have long been an advocate of the "super" fuels and ran my Astra H 1.9CDTi religiously on BP Ultimate as it seemed to like it the most and it didnt clog up the EGR every 5000miles....

I fully expected my 1.4T to run like silk on BP Ultimate too but it made the engine feel rough and lumpy. After two tanks, I tried Shell V-Power and found that it ran much smoother than before but it still felt although it wasn't happy. Yesterday, i ran the tank as low as i dared and have filled it up with standard shell unleaded and it seems to be running like a dream. Maybe its me but I genuinely think that the 1.4T 150 prefers the bog standard 95ron Unleaded despite it not being as "clean" as the more expensive (some would say overpriced) premium stuff. I've seen a couple of posts from 1.6T owners but was wondering if any of the 1.4t owners have found the same thing?
Well, 95 octane petrol is the recommended fuel for 1.4T. But for the 1.6T the 98 octane petrol is recommended in the manual.
 
#58 ·
Since I'm about to recieve my Astra K any moment now I went to the dealer to do some final stuff like giving them winter tires, some letter of attorneys and other stuff and asked them about the fuel. They said to me that it's mandatory to use 98 or above octane fuel. EVEN for the 1.4Ts despite the manual is pointing towards 95. Just sharing what my official dealer told me. I will be using 100 for sure! Cheers.
 
#59 ·
I think I'd favour more what's written in the manual, rather than what a dealer says. The manual is effectively a legal document, and has been written with the input of VX/Opel's chief engineers. A dealer can say anything verbally, with little comeback ... ("Oh we no, we would never have said that"). :)
 
#60 ·
ipettkov said:
Since I'm about to recieve my Astra K any moment now I went to the dealer to do some final stuff like giving them winter tires, some letter of attorneys and other stuff and asked them about the fuel. They said to me that it's mandatory to use 98 or above octane fuel. EVEN for the 1.4Ts despite the manual is pointing towards 95. Just sharing what my official dealer told me. I will be using 100 for sure! Cheers.
Hi

Yet my dealer told me it didn't matter.

I use Shell V Power anyway as the manual says 98Ron for the 1.6.

Cheers

Paul
 
#62 ·
1.4T definitely seems happier running on Sainsbury's 97 super and for an extra 4p per litre, it's not a financial burden. Car seems to pick up from lower down without grumbling, seems keener to rev and therefore I imagine that the LPSI incidents have been minimised. Car''s just cleared 10,000 miles so that could have something to do with it but if it ain't broke....
 
#63 ·
Significant measure against LPSI. Higher octane ignites harder and this is important to prevent premature ignition. These engines ignite the fuel with sparks and that way the burning process is more controlled. The combination of dexos 1 gen2 and higher octane fuel is the best prevention against LPSI
 
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