Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

should i be using Vpower or similar?

real benefits or marketing bollards?

I use tesco 99ron, basically cos there's one just down the road from me. I cant say whether my car goes any better with it as that's what I've always put in. I think im right in saying that the turbos have a knock sensor so can adjust the timing to suit the fuel being used so the higher octane you put in will give you better power.

In all the tests i have seen done on these 'super duper fuels' its always the turbo charged cars that see the biggest gains BHP wise.

I wouldn't use supermarket fuel, the blends are classed by the industry as average.

A quality 97/98 octane fuel should return an improved mpg, which will pay for itself.

I use Tesco 99 Ron or Shell VPower in the 968. Can't tell the difference on either.

Stick with the octane rating on the inside of the filler flap and you'll be OK.

You won't be able to feel the difference on tank by tank performance, but your valve stems will be heavilly coated with carbon if you continue to use supermarket fuel.

I use fuel injection system cleaner every few thousand miles which ever fuel i use. But your probably right. Il travel further to get some shell in future.

I use Esso super unleaded and the car seems to run smoother and it's a little more responsive too or so it seems at least.

Mine gets fed V Power now it's not my daily driver & it feels smoother but it could be an illusion, it makes damn all difference to the fuel consumption. V Power diesel in the Jag has exactly the same results

Ah,I allways presumed it was just marketing tosh...I'll give it a whirl then!

thanks chaps

I might agree that the cheaper Supermarket fuels are lacking some of the detergent qualities of the better fuels (even though most of them originate from the same refineries and travel in the same tankers!) but the 99RON Tesco stuff is high grade and has all of the same additives as the better 'branded' fuels.

I use Shell V Power in mine and I find it does run smoother and picks up slightly better when on boost.

The Knock sensor will retard the ignition to allow for lower octane or poor quality fuels, but it cannot advance it indefinitely to allow for 98/99 fuels (standard RON for the cars was 95) so I think it is down to the bigger bang per buck that comes with the higher octane levels rather than the car adjusting itself above the stock 95 RON settings.

when i had company petrol engined cars i found a definate improvement in mpg and performance when i used super unleaded by mistake (BP ultimate as it was a BP fuelcard) thro' a range of astras, rovers and mondeos

My old 944T used to pick up slightly better on shell v-power.
Wish I'd still got it
It had 343 horses instead of the 163 I have now.