Fuel

[Hairyarse]

The S2 is setup for 95 RON so regular unleaded. People will often say that the car will feel a tiny bit more responsive with super but MPG wont improve as far as I'm aware. That said, supposedly you should have the timing set up for a particular fuel so in reality the biggest difference you'll notice is in your wallet! I ran my S2 on 95 with no problems, my square dash spec is 98 RON so I use super although have filled with regular a couple of times and noticed no difference Cheers Andy

 

[sawood12]

Yes, your car as will any, perform better on Super Unleaded. Not necessarily because you're exploiting all those extra RON, but because you have a better chance of your fuel actually having 95 RON's in it! Though you are buying 95 RON fuel, you're actually probably getting something slightly less. This is due to the dilution of the fuel due to contaminants in the distribution network and with older fuel in your tank. So if you buy 98 RON you will probably end up either 95-ish RON and therefore be running more optimally with regards your ECU mapping. Wether or not it is worth the extra pennies is another matter and will be upto the individual and how much of a difference they perceive.

 

[Lowtimer]

I wouldn't bother with Super on most normally aspirated 944s which have 95 RON in the handbook. On a Turbo, especially a tweaked Turbo, yes, I use 98.

 

[lookingfora944]

More of a generic question really, but is there any value in using Super Unleaded in a 944 S2. Will it do more mpg and be cheaper in the long run. The car certainly feels smoother when I am using the high octane stuff but is this in my mind. Is the engine management unit able to detect it is high octane and adjust things accordingly?

Cheers

 

[944 man]

Most 944s built state '98 RON' inside the filler cap. They dont require lead, but they do need the the higher octane. Simon

 

[Lowtimer]

My mistake then, I thought it was just the early N/As that required 98.

 

[944 man]

My 1987 had a 98RON sticker in 1992, long before unleaded was common..... Moving forward twenty years I have a 1989/1990 which also wont run on 95RON. 924Ss ran on 95RON, until their final model year, IIRC. Simon

 

[lookingfora944]

Some interesting responses. The question only came about as I have a 5p off a litre voucher from Tesco which effectively makes super the same price as normal. I need to put a full tank in as I'm driving down to Dorset next weekend. So maybe I will fill it completely with Super and see if I really do notice a difference

 

[Wardy 944]

My car runs far better on super, I won't use regular unless I really have to.

 

[Fat Albert]

I've been running mine on super for about a year, but due to my higher mileage and stuff, I have started putting ordinary in, 2 observations: 1. There seems to be no difference in MPG 2. It has lost a lot of it's top end punch and smoothness, as well as a bit of mid-range eagerness But as much of my driving is currently motorway cruising i will be sticking with the cheap stuff

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: The Game My car runs far better on super, I won't use regular unless I really have to.

Exactly my experience. And, as Fatty said, with the normal stuff it is less smooth, has less in the mid range and runs out of puff earlier. I also see a noticable increase in MPG on the more expensive stuff, so it pays for itself. (Yes, I am sad enough to monitor fuel consumption with geek-like accuracy. And, interestingly, the pence difference between 95 and 98 has remained pretty much the same despite the recent - huge - fuel price hikes, making the percentage difference in price much smaller.) On this basis, I can't see any reason not to use the expensive stuff. Oli.

 

[Northern924]

My 88 2.5 states 95 on the back of the filler flap, and for me I agree with everything Albert says for all the same reasons

 

[lookingfora944]

Had a look at the inside of the filler cap and yes, it does state 95 RON Well, I may fill up with the super stuff anyway. Looking forward to a nice long drive from London to Minehead at the weekend. Going to take the A303 instead of the motorway, for some pleasant country road driving

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Fairly sure its only the square dash cars that need 98, they changed the compression ratio on the oval dash cars to allow them to run on 95, as all non racing / homologation special Porsche cars were in the mid '80s

 

[chrishak]

Ignoring the perceived performance benefits from using high octane fuels such as V-power, these days the biggest arguement in their favour is that in the near future they will contain a lower percentage of Bioethanol than regular fuels - and this might be the case already. Bioethanol is hydroscopic and appears to have other properties that can be damaging to "older" cars. For this reason alone, I will continue to use premium fuels as I don't want to be replacing the fuel lines on my car as a regular servicing item, not to mention fixing inconvenient potential fuel injection blockages etc. Besides, at under 5000 miles a year, the difference in outlay is hardly noticable.

 

[Northern924]

I think that is a big part of your decision as to which fuel to use, I normally use 95 as the 944 is my daily drive and these days that means £60 a week, that extra 6-10p per litre makes a huge difference to me over the year, where as those here who have theirs as a 2nd/weekend car won't notice much difference. Saying that I do put around £20s worth of 98 every month, don't know if its detergant properties are really that beneficial but I do it in place of using the likes of Redex, could be proven wrong on the theory but there you go []