Premium Unleaded

No. Not for Shell Premium Unleaded anyway. (95 octane)
The additional cost (8c/l) was NOT made up for in better fuel economy in testing I did over 3 months or so.

It may be possible for something like BP PULP (Ultimate) which is 98 octane rating but without a discount fuel voucher I'm reluctant to try them.

Interestingly, Shell also flog "Optimax" which is 98 octane, but only in Vic, NSW and SE QLD. So bugger them.

Check the owners manuel. I had a camry and in that it specifically advised NOT to use premium

Years ago I owned a 97 Pulsar from new - running it on 98 octane at the time worked out the same cost per km as regular, with a bit of extra power. So no fuel savings, just better performance. Assuming they have a different engine now - mine was only a 1.6L. Do a couple of test runs after the engine has a few thousand km to run it in a bit - do a dozen fills on ULP, then do a dozen on PULP, and compare the consumption.

Conversely I'm finding PULP in my Pajero to be a much better proposition for hwy use, and break even or more expensive around town.

My wife has a 2000 model N15 Pulsar, and changed from regular unleaded to the BP premium unleaded 2 years ago. Hasn't looked back. The thing ran well before, but runs even sweeter now. Fuel consumption is about 10% better, so running costs are even or maybe less. We recently did a run to Melbourne, and it did 700km on 44 litres.

They are great vehicles - two of my daughters have them now as well.

Cheers
Phil

I ran my old Barina on Premium in order to stop the 'pinging' that no mechanic could fix. Ended up putting it into holden who told me that that particular model was meant to run on premium. Worked a treat and finally offloaded at nearly 300,000km. Now driving a new civic (well about 12 monthys old now) and use normal unleaded. Decided to try premium to see if it made a difference. Can't vouch for fuel economy (simply have not monitored it) however I noticed a marked improvement in power and and runs far smoother when idling at lights etc. In the Barina I definately got more km out of 30litres.

I can only offer this.. I have a 120 series Prado V6 and only run it on PULP, despite the initial fill cost, I find it to be more economical and delivers slightly more power. I think it probably varies from one car to the next but check this out..

http://www.lcool.org/technical/prado_high_octane_fuel.html

I can only agree with the findings in this article.

Cheers

I run Caltex Vortex (96) in my patrol and found it made a difference of approx 2/100 k's over normal unleaded. I found that Premium Unleaded (Optimax etc , 98) made about the same difference.

The difference being that, for example, with your woolies voucher, I was paying about the same as regular unleaded , but, getting slightly better economy and power, and no pinging. I found paying an extra 6 to 8c a litre ABOVE the 96 unleaded (about 12c more then stanard unleaded), I didn't see any more then using 96 RON.

TO Exploder. Mate as you lot dont believe what I an trying to help you all with, why would i not pay to get an indipendant report on my pump. I was probably fixing cars before all the experts who bag me were born,but remember when the so called experts on this product get to appraise its effect on their vehicles I will look forward to see your appolagies posted. So what I suggest is that you all desist from comments untill you know what you are talking about,thank you for your efforts.

Regards BILLS