What's the best petrol in Ireland?

Zheiko

Hey,

I could not find any recent similar topic, and the one I have seen was from 2009 so I didnt want to resurrect that one, as its very old.

I was trying to get some information directly from petrol stations, but no luck to avail, all I got was 'check our websites' but there is very little to non information of what kind of petrol you can get.

As far as I am aware, Applegreen has 97ron petrol, which is however mixed with Ethanol, so performance wise its same as 95ron, Some maxols should have E5, which is very similar, but shows 99ron, but again, gain in performance none. I am however not sure if Maxol still delivers these.

Could you guys elaborate a bit more on what petrol stations have the high octane petrols? Are there any petrol stations that have pure non-ethanol 98/99 octane? As I am driving Jap car, I would really be happy to make sure I am taking the best for my car

Thanks

pudzey101

i noticed big chance when i switched from applegreen/tesco petrol to MAXOL and iv a dc2 type r

Banjoxed

Fiery, with a certain insoucicant je-ne-sans-quious.

That would be the best petrol in Ireland.

Chris_Heilong

maxols dont have E5 anymore, everything in Ireland is Ron 95 with Ethanol mix. So you are getting around 97 Octane which drops the longer the petrol is sitting around. A lot of Japanese cars run fine on our fuel and its only imported Evo and subarus I have heard having knock issues when using low octane fuels.

Kenny Logins

I have noticed a difference when changing from Amber to Applgreen and finally Texaco, but TBH it could be all in my head. I don't know... Would love to see some test results though.

jimgoose

I likes Texaco. That Techron additive brew of theirs is mighty stuff, be all accounts.

Zheiko

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

maxols dont have E5 anymore, everything in Ireland is Ron 95 with Ethanol mix. So you are getting around 97 Octane which drops the longer the petrol is sitting around. A lot of Japanese cars run fine on our fuel and its only imported Evo and subarus I have heard having knock issues when using low octane fuels.

Funnily enough, I have Subaru:P and I do indeed have knocking sensor issues, that it sometimes puts off the power, hence why I am doing this research

Special Circumstances

Zheiko wrote: »

Funnily enough, I have Subaru:P and I do indeed have knocking sensor issues, that it sometimes puts off the power, hence why I am doing this research

Irish/uk or import? What horsepower? I stick with maxol as much as possible, seems to be least likely to cause funky things with the timing. (irish/uk spec 200ish bhp)

Zheiko

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Irish/uk or import? What horsepower? I stick with maxol as much as possible, seems to be least likely to cause funky things with the timing. (irish/uk spec 200ish bhp)

Its EJ204 NA, supposedly Irish brand, but hard to say, since it was 4 years a display car at Subaru Retailer. Still however having knocking issues from time to time, happened to me twice in 10 months time. The second time it happened after I got full tank in Applegreen, which supposedly has 97ron as far as I have been told, but there are no official figures at any petrol stations. Usually I was happy when I took petrol at Texaco, and I felt that the car was running smoother a bit, but it might be placebo. I got also recommended Maxol, but according to latest research they dont have e5 any more, which is shame. The saddest thing of all, is that we dont have a choice. I believe if there was at least one chain of petrol stations with pure 98ron petrol with slightly higher price than 95ron, they would have plenty of customers in line of Car enthusiasts

Zheiko

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Irish/uk or import? What horsepower? I stick with maxol as much as possible, seems to be least likely to cause funky things with the timing. (irish/uk spec 200ish bhp)

Its EJ204 NA(160hp 2.0l DOHC), supposedly Irish brand, but hard to say, since it was 4 years a display car at Subaru Retailer. Still however having knocking issues from time to time, happened to me twice in 10 months time. The second time it happened after I got full tank in Applegreen, which supposedly has 97ron as far as I have been told, but there are no official figures at any petrol stations. Usually I was happy when I took petrol at Texaco, and I felt that the car was running smoother a bit, but it might be placebo. I got also recommended Maxol, but according to latest research they dont have e5 any more, which is shame. The saddest thing of all, is that we dont have a choice. I believe if there was at least one chain of petrol stations with pure 98ron petrol with slightly higher price than 95ron, they would have plenty of customers in line of Car enthusiasts

Dartz

I'll have to give Texaco a whirl...

So far, the RX has given its best economy running on Applegreen. (I think modern Applegreen might be biopetrol). Topaz seems to make it less happy.

CiniO

As far as I know higher octane petrol will let engine run quiter and smoother, but when it comes to performance, to get the most power you should use petrol with as low octane as possible without causing knocking.

YbFocus

CiniO wrote: »

As far as I know higher octane petrol will let engine run quiter and smoother, but when it comes to performance, to get the most power you should use petrol with as low octane as possible without causing knocking.

What! I honestly think your trolling these days cinio!
Higher the octane the better, once the car has been mapped etc to accept it.
That's why the Americans need huge displacement to make feck all power!
Low grade petrol.

Special Circumstances

Zheiko wrote: »

Its EJ204 NA(160hp 2.0l DOHC), supposedly Irish brand, but hard to say, since it was 4 years a display car at Subaru Retailer.

Shouldn't have knocking on a NA "native" car*. Sensor or a spark problem maybe?


*maybe on a rare tank if you had to fill up at "fillup phils fly by night fuels"

Edit: http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=59112

Firmware upgrade?

jimgoose

YbFocus wrote: »

What! I honestly think your trolling these days cinio!
Higher the octane the better, once the car has been mapped etc to accept it.
That's why the Americans need huge displacement to make feck all power!
Low grade petrol.

He's right! The way he describes it is a bit arseways, but he's basically saying the correct octane rating for your particular engine's compression. And the Americans' main problem is emissions regulations, not fuel quality. Octane ratings over are in the form of the Anti-Knock Index (AKI), as opposed to the Research Octane Number (RON). The AKI is the average of the RON and the Motor Octane Number (MON), which is obtained under different test conditions from the RON. The AKI is typically around five points lower than the RON for exactly the same petrol blend.

YbFocus

But then why do modified/race cars run 98/102/+ fuel?
I'm lost :eek:

Sorry CiniO if I'm incorrect now, I was overly sure of myself!

jimgoose

YbFocus wrote: »

But then why do modified/race cars run 98/102/+ fuel?
I'm lost :eek:...

Mad high compression. 'Tis that that provides more power, and the high-octane fuel is needed to cope with that compression without pinking.

YbFocus

jimgoose wrote: »

Mad high compression. 'Tis that that provides more power, and the high-octane fuel is needed to cope with that compression without pinking.

Ok I'll run away with my head between my legs

CiniO

Well, I haven't read about it for a good while, maybe something changed since, but thats just what I remember.
Say you have simple petrol engine designed to run on 95 octane petrol. If you put 98 octane (or higer) into it, you won't get any power increase. Engine might just work quiter and smoother, but thats about it.
However if you have more sophisticated motor, then case might be different.
F.e. some engines might have knock sensors and in case of higher octane fuel used, increase the compression (f.e. by valve timing) and therefore produce more power.
On the other hand, if you use standard 95 octane fuel, with increased compression there would be knocking, therefore compression is reduced so less power provided. So in that case it actually seems to be that higher octane gives more power, but its only due to fact that vehicle is designed to work at higher compression on higher octane fuel and in case of lower octane fuel it just reduces compression.

But as I said its only from what I've beeb reading some time and I'm not sure if I'm right.

jimgoose

CiniO wrote: »

Well, I haven't read about it for a good while, maybe something changed since, but thats just what I remember.
Say you have simple petrol engine designed to run on 95 octane petrol. If you put 98 octane (or higer) into it, you won't get any power increase. Engine might just work quiter and smoother, but thats about it.
However if you have more sophisticated motor, then case might be different.
F.e. some engines might have knock sensors and in case of higher octane fuel used, increase the compression (f.e. by valve timing) and therefore produce more power.
On the other hand, if you use standard 95 octane fuel, with increased compression there would be knocking, therefore compression is reduced so less power provided. So in that case it actually seems to be that higher octane gives more power, but its only due to fact that vehicle is designed to work at higher compression on higher octane fuel and in case of lower octane fuel it just reduces compression.

But as I said its only from what I've beeb reading some time and I'm not sure if I'm right.

You're nearly right. The function of a knock-sensor is to enable the ECU of a higher-compression engine to retard the ignition timing and adjust the mixture until the knocking stops. There isn't anything much a knock-sensor can do about too high an octane rating of the fuel in a lower-compression engine.

ION08

When I got my Golf GTI remapped by Joe Power it was running on Applegreen and he said it was knocking.

He recommended Maxol, which I went to fill the rest of the tank with and came back.

It made a huge difference.

Caliden

CiniO wrote: »

Well, I haven't read about it for a good while, maybe something changed since, but thats just what I remember.
Say you have simple petrol engine designed to run on 95 octane petrol. If you put 98 octane (or higer) into it, you won't get any power increase. Engine might just work quiter and smoother, but thats about it.
However if you have more sophisticated motor, then case might be different.
F.e. some engines might have knock sensors and in case of higher octane fuel used, increase the compression (f.e. by valve timing) and therefore produce more power.
On the other hand, if you use standard 95 octane fuel, with increased compression there would be knocking, therefore compression is reduced so less power provided. So in that case it actually seems to be that higher octane gives more power, but its only due to fact that vehicle is designed to work at higher compression on higher octane fuel and in case of lower octane fuel it just reduces compression.

But as I said its only from what I've beeb reading some time and I'm not sure if I'm right.

And our 95 octane fuel is why JDM import Imprezas gained the myth of having chocolate engines.
People drove the rag out of them without remapping them to cope with our 95 octane fuel instead of the 98+ they're built to.

Zheiko

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Shouldn't have knocking on a NA "native" car*. Sensor or a spark problem maybe?


*maybe on a rare tank if you had to fill up at "fillup phils fly by night fuels"

Edit: honestjohn

Firmware upgrade?

well, it seems that the newage imprezas, with compression ratio 11:1 are very prone to this issues, and as the honestjohn link says, the threshold is too low and every little bit of change will eventually trigger the issue.

One thing I am afraid of, is that even tho, that I get that new update, that will allow me to put the more ****ty petrol into my car, and in a long run, it might have negative impact on my engine. If I had a choice, I would rather go with the super strict firmware and pay more for high quality petrol, making sure that car will run in 10 years.

Special Circumstances

Yeah, I see where you are coming from. Go with maxol, if that still gives trouble look for spark/sensor problems.

Zheiko

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Yeah, I see where you are coming from. Go with maxol, if that still gives trouble look for spark/sensor problems.

I just picked up car from mechanic, everything checked, all good, no faults... I have rang authorised dealer and asked for that update, he quoted me 50e for update, but he aint even sure if its the one, as he said they are getting updates every 3 months...

Special Circumstances

Check your battery is properly strapped down and terminals are tightened right. Maybe even disconnect and clean the terminals. Ive heard dodgy battery connections can cause real head scratchers of problems.

Del2005

YbFocus wrote: »

What! I honestly think your trolling these days cinio!
Higher the octane the better, once the car has been mapped etc to accept it.
That's why the Americans need huge displacement to make feck all power!
Low grade petrol.

The Americans don't use lower grade petrol they just use the other method of measuring RON, IIRC it's slightly higher grade then ours.

Del2005

Zheiko wrote: »

Its EJ204 NA, supposedly Irish brand, but hard to say, since it was 4 years a display car at Subaru Retailer. Still however having knocking issues from time to time, happened to me twice in 10 months time. The second time it happened after I got full tank in Applegreen, which supposedly has 97ron as far as I have been told, but there are no official figures at any petrol stations. Usually I was happy when I took petrol at Texaco, and I felt that the car was running smoother a bit, but it might be placebo. I got also recommended Maxol, but according to latest research they dont have e5 any more, which is shame. The saddest thing of all, is that we dont have a choice. I believe if there was at least one chain of petrol stations with pure 98ron petrol with slightly higher price than 95ron, they would have plenty of customers in line of Car enthusiasts

Nearly all fuel sold in the EU is E5 at least,was just over in France and they have a lot of E10 pump. . Stupid green idea to get 100% of vehicles using 5% than 1% using E85.

CiniO

Caliden wrote: »

And our 95 octane fuel is why JDM import Imprezas gained the myth of having chocolate engines.
People drove the rag out of them without remapping them to cope with our 95 octane fuel instead of the 98+ they're built to.

I wonder actually why 98 octane petrol isn't widely available in Ireland.
In any other EU country I've been driving through, 98 is available on nearly every petrol station.

ardmacha

In South Armagh we've been experimenting with various additives, a wide range of formulations are available.

Special Circumstances

CiniO wrote: »

I wonder actually why 98 octane petrol isn't widely available in Ireland.
In any other EU country I've been driving through, 98 is available on nearly every petrol station.

TAX.
And
SPEED KILLS. (have you seen whats regarded as "high performance" by irish insurers haha)

Zheiko

Special Circumstances wrote: »

TAX.
And
SPEED KILLS. (have you seen whats regarded as "high performance" by irish insurers haha)

oh yea, I have to say, these made me laugh... 2.0l turbocharged 220hp WRX is considered High Performance car with huge insurance, while 2.0l turbocharged 220hp Legacy is considered as standard car... because **** the logic

dgt

Zheiko wrote: »

oh yea, I have to say, these made me laugh... 2.0l turbocharged 220hp WRX is considered High Performance car with huge insurance, while 2.0l turbocharged 220hp Legacy is considered as standard car... because **** the logic

That's a rocketship for race drivers with a super licence.

I was told by liberty that my old diesel 406 was a high performance car. 90bhp of utter fury. I sh*t you not

Zheiko

dgt wrote: »

That's a rocketship for race drivers with a super licence.

I was told by liberty that my old diesel 406 was a high performance car. 90bhp of utter fury. I sh*t you not

Well what pisses me even more than this, is the god damn taxes... 229g/km CO2 for 2000yoyos, in UK for exactly the same, 550yoyos...

Special Circumstances

Zheiko wrote: »

oh yea, I have to say, these made me laugh... 2.0l turbocharged 220hp WRX is considered High Performance car with huge insurance, while 2.0l turbocharged 220hp Legacy is considered as standard car... because **** the logic

I'm coming out the right side of this so I don't complain!
They asked me 5 times was it import or irish, no problem with irish car. Ohh wait, you say you're in limerick now, yeah that'll put up the quote...