What grade of petrol do you use?

[Blackthorn]

When I picked up my 1.4 TSi (122PS) the dealer said that VW recomended 98 RON Super Unleaded petrol. He said that only by using this would I maximise performance and economy. Although it wouldn't cause any problems as such by using 95 RON fuel, the car would not be running optimally. He also suggested that alternating tank fills between 95 and 98 may be a suitable compromise.
However, having read the manuals that came with the car, it simply says 95 RON minimum. Nowhere does it suggest that 98 should be used.
Did any other members received similar advice? If so what do you use? And in particular, if you do use 98 RON, how you noticed the benefits? A performance benefit is perhaps understandable, but an economy benefit?

[iallen1@btinter]

i run my 1.4tsi on normal unleaded and it seems fine, but you can always use super unleaded but ive never tried it, so dont know if it runs any better on that

[jjh]

The benefit of using a slightly denser higher octane fuel is greater resistance to pre-ignition resulting in slightly improved fuel economy.
However, follow the manual and the engine will be fine, any difference in fuel economy will be balanced out by the lower cost of 95.

these engines are built for the whole european market and in many european countries 98 isnt even readily available.

I drive a deisel at the mo (with company fuel card) but always use Shell 98 unleaded for my motorcycles even though I have to pay for it.

In a nutshell, eithers good; enjoy your new car.....

[kjg-kj]

I have a Mk5 diesel, and I ocassionally use super diesel from BP. When using this I find I do more miles on a tank of fuel, however you pay more for it in the first place.

My dad has always reccommended using a better fuel every now and again as a bit of a treat for the engine as apparently it does do some good! Wouldn't use it to top up every time though.

[jonfun21]

Put a tank of 98 RON in my 1.4TSi (122) the other week, hard to tell the difference. Fuel economy was much the same (I average 48 - 50 mpg as I do a lot of motorway driving).

Going to put a tank of it through now and again, but based on this evidence struggle to justify the 6 - 7p premium.

[Alabama978]

I've heard that too for the diesel engines. Supposedly if you use the high performance diesel fuel once in a while it helps keep the injectors clean.

[mrchiggles]

Which? had an article in recently about the "posh" petrol and diesel you can buy to determine if it make a difference.

The conclusion was for diesel it made no real difference in all their test cars.

For petrol, it made no difference in all of the cars except the VW 1.4 TSI where it made a noticeable difference, they thought because of the advanced engine. You can probably dig the article out online.

[Foxtrot Oscar]

I have a 1.4 TSi (160PS) and it specfically says in the manual that using 98 RON fuel will provide zero benefit over and above using 95 RON fuel.

[ptolemy]

You are assuming that the salesperson knew what s/he was on about which is seldom the case. They will doubtless have been told this in connection with one engine and accepted it as fact for all turbo engines. Go with the manual because you can be pretty sure that the salesperson hasn't read it.

[KABKAT]

As a VW technician only use a well known brand of fuel but if you plan to keep the car beyond approx 70000 miles then an alternate tank of e.g. Shell V-Power definitely keeps the fuelling system cleaner than 'normal' 95RON.

VW have removed the early FSI issues running on 95 RON with an improved design so you need not worry should you opt for exclusive 95RON and who would argue with current prices.

Everyone, please, please check your oil weekly on all VW engines particularly in the first 20000 miles as oil consumption is generally at its highest. I see too many coming in for their first long life service with oil levels too low - I can tell from the idle sound now before checking.