Thank you for your e-mail regrding "Optimax."

Optimax is a high octane fuel (99 RON) that is currently available in
Germany but not in the UK.

Shell UK is constantly reviewing how we can best meet consumer needs in the
UK and part of this process is looking at the variety of high quality fuels
we offer to ensure that our customers will always have the widest and best
possible choice on the forecourt.

As such please forward your address details to me and I will ensure that any
literature relating to our fuels in the future is forwarded to you.

I'll send them my details and if get anything interesting I'll post a note up here.

Cheers,
Darren.

 

Thanks for keeping us posted Darren.

Speaking of Optimax which is 98 Ron in OZ, I had a call from a friend of mine in OZ who said that alot of the Aussie STI's had blown their engines due to the Optimax not always having the correct octane rating. The engines were rebuilt by Subaru under warranty.

WREXY.

[This message has been edited by WREXY (edited 08 June 2001).]

 

Curious about your post Mr. Wrexy - here in NZ i use BP Ultima that is refined in Perth and claims to be 98 RON - why would it cause engine damage if the RON varies (normally here it's either 91 or 96 RON)?

 

They didn't say whether 99RON fuel would be available here in the future or not though.

 

So not only is our petrol cheaper, but it is also better than your's

Did they say why it is not sold in the UK ?

 

Hi Philc,

I haven't sourced the info my self. My m8 told me over the phone. Apparently one of the Subaru dealers in Sydney told him. To be exact it was Arncliffe Subaru who also have the Hyundai dealership, so I thought I'd post it here to see if anyone else had more info.

WREXY.

 

Few weeks ago Shell started to sell this 99RON fuel here in Iceland and it´s called Shell V-Power 99+. Very expenisive, 1 litre costs about 0,88 pounds (£) (which is 127 ISK) and it´s okay to say that the demand isn´t very high and that is mainly because the fuelprize is rising each month.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Knight Rider:
<B>Few weeks ago Shell started to sell this 99RON fuel here in Iceland and it´s called Shell V-Power 99+. Very expenisive, 1 litre costs about 0,88 pounds (£) (which is 127 ISK) and it´s okay to say that the demand isn´t very high and that is mainly because the fuelprize is rising each month. [/quote]

Alas 0.88 pounds a litre is what we're used to for paying for normal 95 RON fuel. It's a little cheaper at the moment because the government have lowered the tax in time for the election but i've no doubt it will rise very soon.

As for Shell. I'm not sure they'd do it for economic reasons. It costs a lot to prepare and put the right additives in to make high octane fuel. It's one of the reasons why they dropped to 97 RON from 98. Lead replacement petrol is the same fuel as super unleaded but with the anti knock additives in. Therefore they just make SUL and stick in the required additives at the end.

It would cost a lot more to produce 99 RON fuel and seeing as they dropped to 97 RON for cost and ease of use reasons I doubt they would do this

I also think they they sell very little SUL and so economies of scale would be less either.

 

I can understand getting more 'power' via a turbo performance car with a high octane fuel, cos that's what the cars were designed to run on in Japan, but unless the fuel is dodgy, then so long as it doesn't drop below about 96RON, I would assume there'd be no damage.

Just as an aside, we only have one oil refinery in NZ and last week they stuffed up refining a country-load of diesel fuel (some additive that clogged up the filter) - it's brought the diesel element of the travelling public to a grinding halt (cars, trucks, tractors, fishing boats, etc).

The oil companies reckon it will take two weeks to get back to normal.

Probably not getting much publicity beyond the NZ shores.