RON 95 or 98 fuel?

[longshanks]

When I was researching the RS (petrol model) everything I read said to use RON 98 petrol only. This is not a big deal to me as (a) a do low KMs and (b) I'm used to the price after running my old GTI exclusively on 98.

However, the other day I noticed the inside of the fuel cap says min RON 95?

If RON 98 is even 5% better for the engine I'm more than happy to keep using it. But am curious what others are using?

[dArK5HaD0w]

mine (mk2) says 98 recommended, min 95.
in the 5 yrs (since new), i've only filled up with 95 twice.

[Rambo]

I went through a phase of 95. I'm pretty much back on to 98 now. No reason. Just my perception of performance and economy. Probably quite ok to stick with 95.


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[brad]

98 - because when I experimented with 95 there was less noticeable torque & the economy suffered.

On a cents per kilometre basis they work out about the same - the 98 is a beezdik cheaper.

[donweather]

98 as the price difference is sweet FA and I just find it's better on the engine (also Stage 1).

[woofy]

Always ran 98, it says 98 with min 95 as someone else mentioned. I'm assuming the Mk3 is tuned for 98 but can run on 95 if needed the same as the Mk2. When we got ours 98 was harder to find (except for Shell that boosted it to 98 with benzene) but these days its everywhere. Same with the higher end diesel.

[Gerrycan]

I mostly run on 95 RON on 1.4tsi and tried a few successive tanks of 98 RON and could not detect any improvement in power, smoothness or economy. The recommendation for my car is 95 minimum.
98 Octane does not have a higher calorific value and unless the engine is designed to detect a higher Octane then it will not run any differently.
VW/Skoda does not promise any more power for using a higher Octane unlike Holden who published (at one time at least) different figures for 91 and the higher octanes for the V6.
Tuned engines are different matter entirely.

[h100vw]

I mostly run on 95 RON on 1.4tsi and tried a few successive tanks of 98 RON and could not detect any improvement in power, smoothness or economy. The recommendation for my car is 95 minimum.
98 Octane does not have a higher calorific value and unless the engine is designed to detect a higher Octane then it will not run any differently.

I bet if you logged the timing there'd be a different story to tell.

Gavin

[woofy]

I know the original preFL RS were setup to run 98, and 95 was the fallback. Not sure if they changed that with the FL beyond. My fuel door says 98 with 95 min. Back then though even Mazda dropped their 6 back to using 91 from 95 due to the public complaining. The quality between a 95 and a 91 is pretty substantial, the premiums have better QC so Mazda liked them using 95 as it meant less fuel related issues down the track.

[Gerrycan]

I bet if you logged the timing there'd be a different story to tell.

Gavin

Possibly, but I could not measure any improvement at all in average or steady speed consumption, and I was really hoping and expecting there to be some.
I don't mind donating to charities but I object to giving to oil companies.