Vpower, or normal 95 petrol |
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m3sport
Senior Member II Joined: 27-February-2007 Location: Cork Status: Offline Points: 194 |
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Posted: 06-March-2007 at 17:18 |
Guys & Girls, i just want to find out how many of you use vpower verses normal unleaded. I have a new engine in my m3, and was wondering should i only use vpower. Just interested on any comments ppl have on this one.
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fozzymandeus
Really Senior Member II Joined: 01-February-2006 Location: Sunny Rhyl Status: Offline Points: 607 |
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use premium fuel in an M3 I reckon.
I'm running a 323 and I find that it revs more smoothly with higher octane petrol... therefore your M engine should definitely see the difference! And my car never sees supermarket petrol either. |
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Sporty1
Really Senior Member II Joined: 18-October-2006 Location: Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 2297 |
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That one's a no brainer..........V Power all day long.
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Kin Mak
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 09-April-2005 Location: Dublin, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 1691 |
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V Power just has some cleaning additives and is not higher octane. Our cars are built for 95 fuel anyways and you are not going to notice the difference day to day. Only time I bothered with 99 is when going to the ring. €1.56 per litre if I remeber correctly in Belgium, over €100 for a full tank. |
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Dergside
Really Senior Member II Joined: 16-May-2004 Location: Mid West, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 4000 |
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The e36 M3 has 98 octane as the recommended fuel but it also indicates that it will run without modification or damage on 95. PS - running on 95 will result in a slight drop in power from factory specs as they would have all been calculated based on 98 octane. Edited by Dergside |
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Sporty1
Really Senior Member II Joined: 18-October-2006 Location: Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 2297 |
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WRONG....... it's 99 octane fuel.........over here it is anyway. Optimax was 98. something , V Power is 99. Edit ; M3's is 'tuned' to run at least 98, it will run on 95 but will not produce same power. Believe it also has knock sensors so will take advantage of higher fuel octanes. Edited by Sporty1 |
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Kin Mak
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 09-April-2005 Location: Dublin, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 1691 |
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Yes but we are over here... so 95 for us Irish folk. |
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Sporty1
Really Senior Member II Joined: 18-October-2006 Location: Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 2297 |
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Didn't know that........... so how is it you guy's don't get the same as we do? Thought you guy's were across the stream not the pond........ In which case use normal 95 octane......but stay away from supermarkets. Do you guy's not get BP Ultimate either? Sorry chaps. Edited by Sporty1 |
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thehat
Groupie Joined: 16-January-2007 Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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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. |
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Kin Mak
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 09-April-2005 Location: Dublin, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 1691 |
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Yeah no high octane here... turbo cars will see a big difference in higher octane. 95 is fine though, it is the recomended octane in the BMW manual anyway. I just give my car a bit of a treat when I can get my hands on some of the sweet stuff, won't go out of my way though. |
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Rossi
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 07-May-2005 Status: Offline Points: 3311 |
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@ 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.. |
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larzyh
Really Senior Member II Joined: 25-February-2007 Location: Limerick Status: Offline Points: 633 |
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First post, long term BMW driver. My philosophy is "the best isn't too good for my car". I always use original spare parts, buy my oil from BMW (SLX changed twice a year) put good tyres on my car. Even if it only makes a minimal difference in either performance or longevity I am willing to pay 4-5 cents extra per liter. Larzyh Limerick '02 E46 Touring, Sapphire Black. |
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larzyh
Really Senior Member II Joined: 25-February-2007 Location: Limerick Status: Offline Points: 633 |
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Second post! Just in case it wasn't clear: V-Power on every fill-up! |
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Kin Mak
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 09-April-2005 Location: Dublin, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 1691 |
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There is being sensible and wasting money. I don't buy my oil from BMW, it costs €22 per litre from them. I get mine imported from Germany, about €14 a litre, same oil cheaper price. BMW don't make the oil, Castrol does. Same goes with any other part, if I can get the same thing for cheaper I ain’t paying more for no reason. A lot of people think more expensive is better which is nonsense, research and find out why something is better. Only if it is worth it then spend the money. |
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beemerchris
Really Senior Member I Joined: 08-December-2006 Location: Dublin city Status: Offline Points: 388 |
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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 |
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Chris
3rock-Car-Electronics-Services Cars.: e34 540t 6sp e24 635csi |
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Coasting
Really Senior Member II www.TOTALTORQUE.net Joined: 05-February-2005 Location: Not with the two-faced bloke. Status: Offline Points: 2125 |
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I wouldn't even contemplate running an M3 on anything less than 97 RON, and would use VPower or the Optimax forerunner everytime. I once had to use 95 RON in my first E46 M3 Coupe - and I swear I felt dirty for the remainder for the week... V-Power is proven to give a marginal power gain and marginally better MPG. Its fact. So the marginal price difference is worth it. Why bother with anything else unless you're stuck? Expensive cars running on cheap fuel - it doesn't make any sense at all. |
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Kin Mak
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 09-April-2005 Location: Dublin, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 1691 |
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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. Edited by Kin Mak |
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kdevitt
Really Senior Member II Joined: 27-February-2003 Location: Ireland Status: Offline Points: 904 |
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My M3 runs perfectly well on 95 octane... BMW design it to be run on 95 octane, waste of money using anything else imo. All the V Power stuff over here is meant to do is help clean your engine - its still 95 octane. Used it on occasion in my 328ci and noticed absolutely no difference - to performance or MPG for that matter! |
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larzyh
Really Senior Member II Joined: 25-February-2007 Location: Limerick Status: Offline Points: 633 |
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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. |
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m3sport
Senior Member II Joined: 27-February-2007 Location: Cork Status: Offline Points: 194 |
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Guys, i found my m3 to rev a small bit rougher with 95,is this physiological i wonder, but i could swear it does. I also though it to have less power running on 95, thats for sure. Anyway, is it only shell in Ireland that sell vpower, as i cant find any other stations that have it. Also guys, thanks for the comments, im even more confused than ever now lol. But as larzyh said, it buys if anything at least a false peace of mind, and for that i think i will keep mine on vpower.
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I miss my m3.......
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