Grizzly8

I have been using the new 100% octane Shell v power and have seen an improvement both in throttle response and over 420km per tank in spirited driving form .

I know the fuel argument will continue no end but i wanted to let you guys know


Michael

timbo

Sorry Michael, but "per tank" is a virtually meaningless metric

dbb

Is that the one with the added Ethanol?

labrat

Given the price differential between V-Power and 95 RON, you would be looking at a fuel economy improvement of about 1L/100km to justify it on that basis. At the time of the really high fuel prices earlier this year, I changed down from 98 to 95 RON, and I must confess I haven't detected any difference in performance. I remeber reading in this forum once that the only criterion for fuel in a rotary motor is that it must have sufficient octane rating so that it doesn't ping.

However, it would be interesting if someone was prepared to conduct an experiment on V-Power. Monitor fuel consumption over say 5 complete tank fulls with V-Power (toping right up at each fill, and noting km on the odometer), then swapping over to 95 RON and doing the same thing.

LittleJohn

go easy guys... not scientific in any way, but good enuf..
I've been going between V-Power and Synergy 8000 for about the past 6 weeks or so, and I can say that with V-Power, I get ~430kms and to fill up is approx 54L.
On Snyergy 8000 I get ~400 maybe 415ish, but to fill up is 57+L
I pretty much always fill up until I see fuel either just below or above the flap inside the receiving nozzle.

Just food for thought.

labrat

....so doing the maths, you're saying you get ~12.6L/100km with V-Power and ~13.7L/100km with Synergy? What's the respective RON's of V-Power and Synergy?

LittleJohn

let me ask you this.... is the RON the only factor in determining how good a fuel is?

Just re-read your first post... I might just try out your lil experiemnt... ;-)

WhiteRain

V-Power and Synergy are both 98RON.

I've found that a fair few of my tanks that have given me the best fuel economy have been from Caltex Vortex 98 (the final calculation ranged between 13-13.5L/100K over about 3 tanks). Maybe I just had good travel patterns those weeks.

Anyway, trying out V-Power at the moment and I look to be on track for about 14L/100k. All you other fuel analysts (or should that be ****-ysts?) should probably know that you can kinda guess what ur gonna get as the final figure when you check how many k's you've racked up by 3/4, 1/2 or 1/4 tank.

Grizzly8

Theres SHELL V -POWER 98 RON ......and V-POWER.... Racing 100 RON . it contains 2 % ethanol

Caltex has given a few members on this board nothing but problems


Michael

Rotor Convert

So the VPOWER Racing is still only 98% RON and 2% ethanol?? Why bother unless it's cheaper than the 98??

INHO, unless you put a car on a dyno and use the same revv patterns etc. you can't judge how much or better economy you get on the road in normal driving conditions.

Anyway how many tests have to prove that the improvement is only minimal over 12 months. We drive a rotary for gods sake why are we so fixated on economy???

FYI I am sitting on 430kms of city driving, various styles from sedate to revv the crap out of the engine and I have about 20lts left in the tank. I use BP or whatever is closest when the light comes on.

I am not buying in to this marketing hype for petrol.....geez!

Revolver

I'm with you Julia.

I've been happy with 95-98RON from all the usual providers and couldn't give a crap about economy. The way I drive the thing, it'd be pretty silly to worry about whether or not I'm getting another 20-30kms per tank.

takahashi

Get your fact straight guys

V Power racing is 100RON with 5% ethanol - the new Optimax Extreme

V Power is 98 RON with 0% ethanol - the new Optimax.



More info from the Shell website

timbo

I just draw everyone's attention to the excellent work completed by Brettus recently

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/octane-performance-tests-100573/

I am skeptical about any measurable effect -- power or economy -- in the Renesis or any NA rotary.

I think this may be explained by some fundamental differences in the physics of the combustion process in the rotary engine, relative to a reciprocating cylinder engine. I'll leave it to others to delve more deeply into this.

However, I have discovered that my little Polo GTI is not very happy on 95RON at all...but purrs on 98. Never noticed such a difference with the RX-8. Might try this V-Power Racing to see if there is a further improvement, but I am doubtful this will be the case, unless I have a racing fuel map added to the ECU

Grizzly8

I am certain even your butt dyno will feel the difference .

Michael

Rotor Convert

OK just to satisfy you I am going to try this new fuel.....then I will report back my thoughts. I am a sceptic on this and will remain one. However to be fair I will try....

As for that type of Dyno I don't think we have that type here in Adelaide.....???

Grizzly8

Julia

My butt comment was addressed towards Timbo as a J/K because as we all know, and he is brave enough to admmit ..... he is quite **** .

Glad to see you have taken up the challenge

Cromax

Mike, I don't think everyone wants to know about Timbo's fetish with his car ...

... next thing you know you're going to mention to everyone about his testing probe!

Rotor Convert

I was only joking....and now I have read TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!! LOL this is so wierd.....

Revolver

I've tried the V Power ( does anybody buy this dorky marketing schlock?) a couple of times and didn't notice any difference whatsoever in power or response.

I'm still of the view that 95RON is all you need but there may, just may, be some longterm benefits in running higher octane.

Grizzly8

The variables in the state of tune on different rotaries may corespond to individual cars getting better response from various octane levels .

The BP station were i normaly fuel up has closed down so i thought id drive to the 1 and only Shell station on the Gold coast that sells 100% octane V -POWER and to my suprise i certainly have noticed a big difference .

I AM FITTING MY RACING BEAT REVI air intake tommorow together with the home made cold air ram duct so it should be interesting if i notice further improvements

Michael

Revolver

Yes, you've posted similar comments before Michael. I suppose its a possibility but I still prefer the argument that octane ratings over 95RON don't offer much gain due to the manner in which the rotary works.

I also really wonder as to the actual content of the fuels we buy. Without regular, independent and random testing (or does this actually happen in some states??), it must be tempting for the fuel companies and servo proprietors to occasionally (regularly??) 'water down' the octane rating and/or add stuff like ethanol.

Cromax

I think I've mentioned my findings before ... being that I get about 50k more out of a tank of re-branded Optimax as compared to its lesser equivalent (the 95RON one). I also found previously that Shell petrol gives better economy as compared with Mobil and BP ... but as I am one of the fortunate people who is eligable for one of those wonderful shell cards, I only buy shell petrol anyway.

But when I used Optimax Extreme (or whatever it's called now, if they even sell it still) I found a very marginal difference between performance and petrol economy. If there was a difference in power delivery I'm sure it was mostly mental, and economy wise it wasn't really all that much better than the 98RON equivalent.

In any case, I am no so worried about the cost of filling up at the bowser, as I can comfortably knock off about 20% off the price on my docket whenever I fill up, but I am concerned when I fill up more than once a week. It's not really my most enjoyed past-time and I'd much rather see the petrol station less often then more.

So ... if I can set up a routine where I fill up every week on a wednesday afternoon ... I say hat's off!

But ... working it out, if I paid retail ... and if I get 50k more out of a tank of Optimax/V-Power as opposed to other alternatives, I'm saving money (marginally), I'm producing less harmful emissions which means my car's not clubbing as many baby seals to death.

The thing is, we drive rotaries so when we bought our cars we basically threw away our right to complain about the cost of a tank of petrol when we bought our cars.

Rotor Convert

AMEN TO DAT.........this is so true.......Rotor = fun = who cares about fuel economy...

I try not to think about the baby seals.....