Vpower, or normal 95 petrol

nn_dd wrote: ...We also do not have so many high performance motors on the roads...

....but there are a lot more now than on my last visit!

and we are notoriously tight when it comes to maintaining cars ....

....evidenced by the reluctance even to wash a car! Same goes for maintaining roads - they don't!

Guys, in Southern Ireland we 100% can not get anything higher than 95RON, because it will not sell in high enough quantities for any garage to make it viable. The government has loaded so much extra tax on the higher RON fuel that it makes it prohibitively expensive...which is strange because cars are generally more fuel efficient on the higher grade stuff. We also do not have so many high performance motors on the roads and we are notoriously tight when it comes to maintaining cars (obviously not on this board), so why would we, in enough numbers, put really expensive fuel in when it works perfectly fine on the cheaper stuff - disregarding ROn numbers. It amazes me that people spend 70-80K on a car and skimp on the servicing........

Also, the Shell VPower stuff only has some sort of additives, but not extra Ron's as in the UK. Car manufacturers always reccomend the higher grade fuel, but it is of no consequence over here, as we only have 95.....the timimg on modern cars will adapt to the fuel. But, I don't think we have any of that crappy supermarket stuff, Tesco has maybe 5 outlets in the country, but I think that they buy it off of a mainstream supplier.........won't even get on to fuel additives to bring the rating up.

Kin Mak wrote: So even though BMW says to use 95 RON you think it is not good enough? What do you think will happen to the engine running on 95 RON?

Except that BMW's E46 M3 specifies a recommend RON rating of 97.

Its in the manual.

Unless the Irish cars are different I am mystified.  The E46 M3 manual clearly states a recommend RON of 97.  Where does this 'designed to run on 95 RON' come from? 

Kin Mak, thank you for the welcome.

I didn't mean to imply that I think a part is necessarily better just because it is more expensive. I used to buy Castrol RS and I am aware that Castrol supply BMW with their oil, however I am not sure if it is the same formulation as the oil in the shops and BMW are very particular about SLX being the only oil suitable for the valvetronic engines. It buys me a degree of (perhaps false) peace of mind.

There are lots of spare parts supplied to BMW sold under other brand names (brake pads, clutches etc) but again, I get a degree of satisfaction and peace of mind by using BMW parts.

I do however use an independent mechanic mostly because of the somewhat arrogant attitude of my local BMW dealership.

Back to the original subject: I can't honestly say that I feel any difference in performance using V-Power but I don't feel any difference when I fill up with 98 ron when I drive to UK and Denmark. Mind you I still fill up using 98 when there, for the reasons above.

So even though BMW says to use 95 RON you think it is not good enough? What do you think will happen to the engine running on 95 RON?

Power gain is not noticable from 95 to 97 RON, not on the public road anyway driving like a sensible person.

I am not saying higher RON will not produce better results from the engine, but what I don't want m3sport to think is that 95 RON will do any harm to his car which is what people seem to be suggesting.

The ECU is mapped to intake 95 just fine, anything much lower and the engine will go into retard mode. 

So 95 RON and up good... higher better... up to a certain point.

p.s. also the comment on why use anything else unless you are stuck? Unfortunately we are stuck, we only get 95 RON here. Unless we resort to smuggling from the north.

Fully agree with you there just ordered my clutch and Flywheel in the Uk and safed hundreds on the BMW dealer quote is still the same LUK stuff.

Next up will be cats and exhaust where the differencew is even bigger. Except I go for an Eisemann cat back system that is 

These parts are never prduced from BMW anyway so way not cut the middle man

Second post!

Just in case it wasn't clear: V-Power on every fill-up!

@ m3sport..V power all the way, deffo a difference in car response.

I tend to think of it as a choice of tango fizzy juice or Red Bull..deffo gives my car wings..

I have had jap cars over the years, they have always run better and had more MPG on V-power. or is that gone and its now called optimax. Which means it has to have a higher octane rating.