i'm heading over to france in July (lucky chap) with a full car.
there are going to be 4 adults, 1 child plus luggage all crammed into a vauxhall vectra estate 1.8l towing a sunncamp 400se.
i was curious if 98 octane fuel would help the car perform better with the weight or simply cause overheating due to the engine igniting fuel at a hotter temp?
any advise or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.
the higher octane fuel would on benefit your car if it was designed to run on it, or it has a knock sensor to up the timing to benefit from the change. what vectra is it? Vectra B or C (mk1 or 2). Mk1s have trouble ajusting to different fuels, belive me ive been there lol. Mk2's will run on anything as long as its unleaded, if its a mk2 i would go higher to V-power which is 99 ron or that 101 ron stuff from tesco as i belive it would make some sort of difference on MPG
My last petrol car was a 2.0i Vauxhall Omega. I did try it on super-unleaded once. It certainly improved performance and mpg, but not enough to justify the extra cost over a long period (I had a longish commute then).
For a short period though, and if your engine can cope with it, it may be worthwhile going for the higher rating. Why not give it a try now and see if there's a difference? It will also make sure you're not going to have any problems.
its a Vectra C Estate SRI 1.8ltr on a 55 plate (December 05). does that make it a MK1 or MK2 ??? i believe vauxhall did a slight face lift in 06. was that the start f the MK2?
i definately want to try a tank full before going away but like Glen stated before is the cost really worth the extra performance? i'll be interested to see the results which i shall post once i've tried it out.
thankyou for everyones responses so far, excellent web site.
that would be a mk2, there are only two types really, the old old shape vectra and new shape, there was a facelift model which got rid of the sqaure headlights for a more japanese looking light. still a C, an SRi espically should respond well to a higher octane fuel, it may take a while to take effect though as the computer on board has to ajust the mix accordingly, its worth a go i think