3.0R EX30R Engine & Fuel RON

dlaloum · Post by **dlaloum** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:05 pm

Hi Folks,

I am new to the 3.0R (2 days now) - and am trying to work out what the best fuel to run it with is...

According to my reading to date, the 3.0R produces several kw and Nm more when running 98RON, and may do better with 100RON.

There seem to be very variable opinions as to the benefits (or lack thereof) of running anything over 95.

There is pretty much no information on what happens when running 100RON - although on the turbo models there appears to be concencus that they were made to run 100RON in Japan - no information out there about the 3.0R engines though...

I have for some years used United PlusULP (95RON E10) in my previous car, and have filled the tank (first fill) with United 100RON. (on the basis that given I don't know what the previous owner ran it with etc... 100RON E10 will do a reasonable job of cleaning it up - I hope)

Thanks for any advice etc...

P.S. my driving style ranges from "smooth and sedate" (when the other half is in the car) - to "Spirited"

(on my own, when road and environment allow).

bye for now

David

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 7:25 pm

Does it say 95RON on the inside of the fuel filler door.

The higher the octane, the more power the engine will produce because the ECU can increase the ignition timing thanks to the increased knock resistance of the fuel.

I just fill my 2.5L Outback with 91 E10 at my local servo because although I can get more kms out of a fill if I use 95 or 98 fuel, the extra price of the premium fuel outweighs the few extra kms I would get out of it. This may be because I live in a small town, the price difference may be less in a bigger city.

Your best bet is to spend one fortnight using 95RON and record kms, litres and $ and then do the same the following fortnight using 98 or 100 and do the sums

littlewhiteute · Post by **littlewhiteute** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:22 pm

Gannon wrote:Does it say 95RON on the inside of the fuel filler door.

The higher the octane, the more power the engine will produce because the ECU can increase the ignition timing thanks to the increased knock resistance of the fuel.

I just fill my 2.5L Outback with 91 E10 at my local servo because although I can get more kms out of a fill if I use 95 or 98 fuel, the extra price of the premium fuel outweighs the few extra kms I would get out of it. This may be because I live in a small town, the price difference may be less in a bigger city.

Your best bet is to spend one fortnight using 95RON and record kms, litres and $ and then do the same the following fortnight using 98 or 100 and do the sums

Some very good advice there.

I'm not, and will never be a fan of E10, in cars that don't have a fuel system designed for it.

All of mine run 98 for the fuel economy difference.

dlaloum · Post by **dlaloum** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:54 pm

So - a brief report of my recent experiences....

First tank with the car - filled up with 100RON E10 - engine running very smooth - but I have insufficient experience with it to know whether this is better or worse than 95RON.

Had the car one day before taking it for a long drive over a week in the Otways....

Drove to the Otways on a tank of United 100RON E10 - Melbourne to Geelong along the freeway, it showed 8.8l/100km.

The runs along the great ocean road, averaged around 11.4l/100km (Higher on the Beech forest track....)

Filled up at Apollo bay (twice) with Shell 98RON - did not notice any difference in smoothness or performance.

Trip home on Geelong freeway to Melbourne consumption was down at 8l/100km (!!)

I am not sure whether the ECU was getting used to the 98/100 fuel and was doing better on the way back (3 tanks is long enough to get used to things?) - or whether the car simply did better on the Shell 98 vs the United 100-E10.

Note - both freeway runs were with a thoroughly crammed boot, and 3 passengers....

so there you go for what its worth.... not exactly scientific, nor easily replicable...

bye for now

David