Optimax Price Gripe....

[pmaths]

OK - maybe Im tight... Probably like a lot of 172/182 owners I will/tend to only put Optimax/Ultimate in my car. At 85.9p / 86.9p a litre respectivly "around Leicestershire anyway" is it worth it. Im sure Ill continue to put these brands in "Optimax prefered", but what f**ks me right off is the recent fall in petrol prices, some 4-5p a litre for 95ron, why has this reduction not been applied to OPTIMAX and ULTIMATE...

I feel Sainsburys 97ron Super may be used in the future. Like I said perhaps Im too tight...

 

[Funkyjahooner]

I did a similar thread about a week ago and im still wound up everytime i go to BP !!!

Everything else dropped in price but Ultimate is 8 f**king pence a litre more !

 

[matt the cat]

i use both sainsburys super and optimax - whatever im near to at the time and i cant tell ANY difference in performance....dont beleive the optimax hype my brothers!

your car will automatically adjust timing of ignition to suit the grde of fuel, even 95 ron, so you are not gonna ruin it by slipping 95 every now and then, and conversely always running optimax will not make it last longer either.

 

[jongsr4]

youre relatively lucky! its 88p where we are!

[Edited by jongsr4 on 18 July 2004 at 10:21am]

 

[blink172]

50% of people claim they see no performance difference in optimax and at an extra 5-8p I often wonder if its worth it. But at the end of the day, renault tell you to use 98ron petrol and if it does clean and protect then ill pay the extra. Never used anything other than optimuck since day one

 

[MikeC]

im just glad i dont need to use optimax for my bike too, id be bankrupt if i did!

 

[mxfuk]

I was nearly out of fuel yesterday and luckily a BP appeared. Didnt think about the price until the pump went click. £38!! Most Ive ever paid for fuel. Quite literally shocked!

 

[Matty]

Optimax used to always be 5p a litre more than normal shell unleaded. Now its 6p.

Filled up with SUL from Total the other day as tehy were doing 4p off a litre. Do get more miles out of a tank from SUL?Optimax for some reason and does perform better.

Not sure if octane boosters etc will work out cheaper as on a full tank will be paying 3 quid more for Optimax than normal UL.

 

[Mondial172]

Stop moaning about how much you pay for it northerns!

Its 88.9 down here! and rising!

 

[Decto]

My 182s now done 800 miles on a mix of Tesco and standard Shell fuel. Ive always been disappointed by how rough and lumpy the engine runs below 2000rpm which forces me to always use a lower gear to keep the revs up.

Put a full tank of Optimax in a couple of days ago and its a different car. Above 2000rpm I cant tell any difference but below it runs so much better so although it cost a fair bit more Im going to keep the Optimax in it now.

Pehaps its just the engine is tight or that Tesco fuel is rubbish but it now runs how I thought it should so Ill live with it.

6p a litre at 36mpg is just £91 over 12000 miles. After paying over 12k for the car Im not going to argue about £90 extra for some decent fuel

 

[Mondial172]

I notice no difference between any of the super unleaded fuels. I havent used 95 (normal) since first getting the VTR and it went miles better on super.

Isnt it because their french cars and designed to run on 97+

 

[edde]

The 182 is supposed to be mapped for 98+ RON fuel however if the engine isnt massively tuned so as long as low RON fuel dont make the engine knock then the same performance will be obtained.

 

[Mole]

tescos fuel is supposed to have cleaning agents in it, i.e for injectors, like optimax. I know this isnt really relative, but my Mk1 clio runs alot better on tescos stuff, than normal unleaded.

 

[jonnyboy]

you could try using 95 ron as it gives identical performance to 98 ron.

Sorry chaps but any performance difference is in your head I got identical 1/4 mile times on 98 and 95 ron and car felt no different. I tried optimax a few times and hand on heart I never felt any difference at all in the performance of the car.

 

[S2 PTH]

wot happens if u go to a garage that doesnt have optimax?

wots more, u do realise that the cars computer just remaps itself to wotever fuel u put in...?

fair enough, on earlier clios, like valvers, it mite make a diff coz they dont have such sophisticated comps, but noway on the 172s

jonnyboy has hit the nail on the head with the fact that 98/85 ron reproduced identical 1/4mile times.



having sed all that, i once put a full tank of optimax in my old r-reg 1.4 8v 306 and i managed to free up 10mph top end...

now it was down hill and i had a full car so i had all the momentum ect.. but 117mph in a crappy 306 cant be right!!!

 

[edde]

Quote: Originally posted by S2 PTH on 18 July 2004

wots more, u do realise that the cars computer just remaps itself to wotever fuel u put in...?
fair enough, on earlier clios, like valvers, it mite make a diff coz they dont have such sophisticated comps, but noway on the 172s

The ECU can adjust if the fuel makes the engine knock but (will do on valers or 172 no matter) but valvers arnt designed around 98 RON fuel so your loosing power using it.

Gains are minimal realy but since people stick panel filters on and go on about there gains (usually very small) then on the same scale high RON fuel will make a difference to the same degree without insurance implications.

 

[jongsr4]

Quote: Originally posted by jonnyboy on 18 July 2004

you could try using 95 ron as it gives identical performance to 98 ron.

Not technically true, but i see what your saying, it would be hard to tell the difference

 

[tumbleweed]

I agree there is no performance difference between 95 and 98 octane fuel..the only benefit i find is quieter engine, smoother and more miles per gallon using optimax.

 

[jongsr4]

if optimax gives more mpg, then i suppose that would cover the extra initial cost?

 

[J182]

Very surprised on saturday to find that the local shell is selling opti for 85.9 especially as the shell three miles down the road still charges 87.9!!

 

[TheCake]

Well heres a small test people. I do alot of motorway miles. Driving at a steady 70ish for 100miles yesterday and then the same back I used roughly half a tank. Thus working out to be 44.8mpg and more important, 400miles from a tank of fuel, this was with Optimax. Id never get that performance with 95RON.

 

[® Andy]

Seems to me Optimax prices have more inertia and so move about less ... probably coz its heavier petrol being higher RON rating

When plain old unleaded was on the way up, the Optimax price took longer to rise and so for a while was relatively cheaper. Once Optimax price went up, its now taking longer to come down. Most likely due to the them shifting less Optimax etc..

My car does (a) run nominally smoother on Optimax and (b) definitely runs more efficiently ... my average mpg is up 1.5 mpg since Ive been running on Optimax exclusively and I can assure my right foot is still just as heavy

 

[Liam]

People who pay more for optimax are more likely to buy it if it is higher priced, therefore they can afford to keep the prices higher for longer.

 

[badinvincible]

i use sainsbury SUL 97 RON, the reason being its the best compromise between price and RON rating, being 81.9 up here

 

[Slayer213]

The delay in price increases and reductions depends on how quick the petrol stations shift the petrol they bought at a given time. A lot of branded petrol stations arent owned by Shell, BP etc.

The stations buy petrol and the pump price would be 81.9. The world oil prices drop which mean that the petroleum companies prices would drop, but the price change is only reflected at the pump when the station receives it next delivery of petrol as station would be buying petrol at the new lower price on delivery.

This would explain why Optimax prices go up and down slower than normal unleaded since a lot of drivers dont use Optimax