95 versus 99 octane petrol

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Here in New Zealand i began using 98 RON in my 2009 Holden Utility SSV V8 6.0litre (Chevy alloy engine) after hearing about the chance of performance increase or a possible reduced consumption figure. The only supplier is BP and i do pay more for it over 91 or Ethanol mixes but i find on a lazy big V8 that it has a heap more low down torque, fantastic when driving lots of steep hills... On long highway (motorway) trips I'm finding the vehicle runs further before refill on 98 than when it was using 91 but the saving is only a few litres, hardly a whole lot of cash.

Likewise, when i last had the chance to race it on a drag strip i was doing 14.1sec 1/4mile at 99.9mph for an off the car-yard no modifications vehicle yet my friend who was running the exact same vehicle on Ethanol mix just could not do any better than low 16s.
 
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size isn't everything of course. How much power does your v8 put out?
 
grim said:
size isn't everything of course. How much power does your v8 put out?
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In the UK the Govt taxes every car on the displacement of its engine so people naturally spring for a size. Combine that with seriously high fuel costs, which the UK Govt also taxes the death out of you see the reason the whole car industry market is mostly small 4 cylinder things. Another option too is that they are diesel...

I lived in the UK from mid 1980s to 1990s. The only V8s i ever saw were in luxury high quality cars like the RollsRoyce and Aston Martin or Range Rover...

Downunder here in little New Zealand (right by Australia) my new-this-year ute is an Australian build from Holden. GM USA were about to release it onto the American market as the Pontiac R8 but we all know with the Economy that Pontiac disappeared. Sad really because i meet so many USA tourists who ask what my car is because they reckon it's be just perfect back home... a car that's little longer wheelbase than a car but with a large tray yet not a big pickup.

I can get it's motorway fuel consumption (on the computer readout) down to as low as 10litres per 100kms but it normally sits on 12.5l/100kms. Round town and really hammering that 6000cc V8 it changes to as 'bad' as 35litres/100kms under hard acceleration! The tank holds a total of 73litres so range is good. (Sorry NZ is a metric country so i'll let you do the math to turn those numbers to miles/gallon).

The spec for power output on this Chev engine is 270kw. It's the L98 series3 which i'm told is also used in the Corvette...

Of course, it's not my daily driver. Such a vehicle in my part of the country can attract attention for the wrong reasons not to mention it's a pig to find a carpark for it at my work. My daily driver is a sad old 1995 Japanese Toyota station wagon that's done over 300,000km now on it's little 2.0litre diesel engine. A tank full of diesel will cost me around NZD$50 run me about 780kms before refill but our Govt slaps us Road User Charges on us oil burners so there isn't really much of a saving against petrol at the moment... Convenience i know i can run so far for a single tank is the best thing. I do my own maintenance on my cars too which is a $ saver...
 
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peterb2 said:
In the UK the Govt taxes every car on the displacement of its engine so people naturally spring for a size.
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Not any more. For any car made since about 2001 is taxed on CO2 emissions / km, which is closely related to fuel consumption.

BTW, the 1.5 litre diesel car I just bought is somewhat low geared, doing 2500 rpm at 60 mph, but it still manages 60+mpg, and it's done 140,000 miles.
 
For my life experiences factory built Vs aftermarket performance built makes far more difference for engine fuel efficiency than size.

My old pickup had the stock 5.8 l V8 that was dismally underpowered (195 Hp stock)and also got horrible fuel mileage to boot ( 6 -8 highway cruising).
I replaced it with a performance built heavy towing application designed 7.6 l 400+ hp engine.
It more than doubled the horse power and fuel mileage at the same time. It was consistent with a 12 -14 MPG highway mileage and could do more at times as well.

If simply changing from a small inefficient to a large efficient engine can make that much more power while using half the fuel that seems to point to bad manufacturing practices being far more of a fuel consumption factor than the actual engines displacement.

My last car was a 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis (big four door family car) with the stock 4.6 l V8. It was consistent with the low to mid 20's MPG numbers. After gutting the catalytic converters and rerouting the EGR system to draw fresh air from the intake and not dirty air from the exhaust it ran consistently in the upper 20's to low thirties.

Not all vehicles have the same efficiency of engine design. Small is not necessarily more efficient in fuel usage. Pound for pound comparison of work done per unit of fuel used is. My pickup may only get 14 MPG but if you factor in that it has 4 times the aerodynamic drag and weighs three times as much as a car that gets 28 MPG the big engine is in fact a more efficient user of fuel. The vehicle its in is its handicap.

There is also the safety factor. Tonight on my way back from town I hit a good sized deer with my pickup at about 65 MPH. I simply kept driving and have some creases in the front bumper and one light knocked out. No severe damage that will affect the actual drivability of the pickup.
In small cars deer hits like this at this speed more often than not total out a car and make it at the least underivable in an instant.

I am inconvenienced but likely my damages are going to be below my $500 deductible.

I once drove small vehicles and for many years. But now I drive big vehicles for a reason.
 
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tcmtech said:
It more than doubled the horse power and fuel mileage at the same time. It was consistent with a 12 -14 MPG highway mileage and could do more at times as well.
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But you're not paying £1.079 per litre for petrol!
 
Well 1.079 l equals $4.10 a gallon. We were paying far more than that not to long ago.

I admit I dont like the high fuel prices either.
Thats why I chose to modify my vehicles to run on cheap propane. When gas was around $4.18 a gallon here I was driving around on propane that cost about $1.20!
The cost per mile equivalent at 14 MPG was equal to having a full sized pickup that got around 47 MPG!
Lets see your mini pull a 10,000 pound trailer while carrying 1500 pounds on it back and still average a cost per mile equivalent of 24 MPG or better.

For me the work I do and the environments I live in have far more relevancy to the size of my vehicles than fuel economy ever will. But still I do put forth an active effort to cut down on fuel usage and cost in every practical way I can afford or justify.

Given a enough spare cash and a good reason to do it I could likely set up a small vehicle to push well over the 150 -200 MPG cost per mile equivalency mark and still be fun and practical to drive!
 
Pommie said:
That would be Gordon Brown. The biggest idiot ever to have been given a position of power. Gordon really is a moron.
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I never pay any attention to him, and I can't even remember the name of the opposition leader?.

My MP is the famous "Beast Of Bolsover" Dennis Skinner - not that I've ever voted for him, but I would say he's probably the only honest MP.
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
I never pay any attention to him, and I can't even remember the name of the opposition leader?.

My MP is the famous "Beast Of Bolsover" Dennis Skinner - not that I've ever voted for him, but I would say he's probably the only honest MP.
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yea I'm pretty much there with you Nigel, most politicians are crooks and on the whole incompetent which is the more worrying side to it. the car scrappage scheme for example is the biggest BS ever, the car that I proudly own is actually a candidate, its done just 80'000 miles and apart from some repairable rust has nothing wrong with it, but I could get X3 its value off another car, no way I'm keeping it, I don't need to get into debt buying a new car just because the perfectly good car i have will get me a discount off a car which will probably give me no end of trouble being cheaply made in times of economic crisis, time of crisis in which we are being warned about not getting into more debt that we can handle, brilliant !!!
 
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We (Australia) seem to have ignored the rest of the world and not gone into recession. Guess it must be all that surfing or somert that helped. I'm just so glad I'm not in the UK, everytime I speak to someone there it is all doom and gloom.

Just sack the moron.

Mike.
 
agreed, thing is no one is competent enough and/or got the balls to do the job, nobody wants to tell people things they don't like to hear, if the goverment stopped mollycodling people and told them how life really is and started expecting a decent society out of people we may get somewhere but then the person saying these things will not be popular. For starters I'd stop making school such a joke:

question from the science test: what powers a garden solar light ?,

we have created the world around us with our own hands and knowledge we have gained over years and years, what a pity there will be no one left soon who will remeber how to do all the wonderful things we can or could do today, I think we will soon return to the middle ages, a nation of ignorants because we are allowed to be so and left to beleive that its good.
 

Yes, there will be a nation full of ignorant people but, my kids will flourish because they have been taught by their parents to be independent and knowledgeable. They will in turn teach their kids and so my genes will be passed on and be the saviour of the human race.

I like that.

Mike.
 
yea problem being mike they will live their live alone amonst the scum because everyone is becoming scum, I have even seen over 50 year olds commit antisocial acts in front of their children/grandchildren, basically no one cares anymore, we are so wrapped in our wonderful technology the workings of which we hardly comprehend but take for granted and think that it can replace human contact and being genuinely part of a good society, personally I'd ban all social networking sites for starters, people should have hobbies,

I remember someone at work saying it was sad that i know that NiCd batteries have a 3 year shelf+working life, why is this sad ? it means I will not go and buy obviously old batteries (like the 1600 mA ones that are on "offer") because I have knowledge, but no the scum don't see it that way, its too much effort to worry thinking about, fine he can buy batteries that don't even work and waste money and then compalin he is broke and needs a payrise, i on the other hand will have a lasting product because i was able to make an informed choice !
 
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