Octane booster?

[S3 Paul]

Morning all. We are off to see friends in France again soon and i want to do the trip in the RS3 ... from the previous years i saw that Higher octane fuel was not available at all fuel station. 95 is everywhere but anything higher is quite hard to come by. The filler cap says 95 is fine... the car is stock.
I did wonder if there was an octane booster that works well or if it would even be needed? The trip is about 550 miles either way with about the same distance added while there. Obviously will not bee driving on the limit as it is a family road trip but i do want the car to be safe. Any opinions / experiences?

 

[flybynite]

Perfectly safe on 95 octane the car is built to run on it and will adapt and protect itself just fine. You just won't get 400bhp that's all. Many don't even notice.

One of the benefits of the 98/99 octane petrols are the cleaning and detergent packages which the octane booster will not give you anyway. Personally I would run it close to empty then run a tank of good petrol through it when you get back, that's all.

The only time you have to be careful is if you have a fixed 99 octane map, even then you should be OK as long as you don't lug or thrash the engine.

Don't worry about the car and enjoy the trip

 

[S3 Paul]

Thanks. The random chats you see always cause worry. There are a few shell garages along the way and will use the V power when its there but out in the sticks you get what you get i guess.

 

[XPOWER]

For the past 3 years I use Millers Oil "Petrol Power EOMAX – Multi-Shot" with every fill up of Shell V-Power to use with the Revo 102 map.
I haven't had any issues so far using octane booster regularly and the performance has been real good on that map.

But Infinit Performance has two videos they advised not to use Octane Booster for every fill up.

 

[Spencer589]

For the past 3 years I use Millers Oil "Petrol Power EOMAX – Multi-Shot" with every fill up of Shell V-Power to use with the Revo 102 map.
I haven't had any issues so far using octane booster regularly and the performance has been real good on that map.

But Infinit Performance has two videos they advised not to use Octane Booster for every fill up.

I know I'm off the thread topic (sorry) but I'm currently running Revo stage 2 myself. Have you not had any issues with engine timing being pulled? Always wanted to try the 102 map but I've always thought I needed to buy race fuel, I tend to use Tesco 99 most of the time with the general concensus from most tuners being Tesco 99 seems to be the most consistent in terms of it's claimed octane rating.

 

[XPOWER]

I have never noticed that the timing being pulled. I used to switch maps when it was warm but the car felt slow and not as responsive I just left it on 102 map.
When I had my car dynoed they refused to do it unless I switched the map from 102 to 98. I wasn't running 102 race fuel he didn't want to risk the engine damage due to the strain during the run.

I've looked at getting race fuel delivered at home but the headache of the paperwork having fuel stored at home isn't worth it.
Harry covered storing fuel in a Q&A session about sustainable fuels


As a comparison this is the difference between stage 1 98 map and stage 2 102 map.
There was a 7% increase in acceleration up to 120mph then 8% from 110mph to 170mph.
Top speed remind around the same at 171mph (178mph on the clock) compared with 173 (181mph on the clock).

MPH Stage 2	Seconds Stage 2	Meters Stage 2	Difference	MPH Stage 1	Seconds Stage 1	Meters Stage 1
10​	0.49​	1.2​	-0.02​	10​	0.51​	1.21​
20​	0.96​	4.3​	-0.03​	20​	0.99​	4.4​
30​	1.43​	9.48​	-0.06​	30​	1.49​	9.97​
40​	2.03​	18.83​	-0.11​	40​	2.14​	20.22​
50​	2.71​	32.65​	-0.18​	50​	2.89​	35.33​
60​	3.55​	53.32​	-0.27​	60​	3.82​	58.14​
70​	4.49​	80.81​	-0.36​	70​	4.85​	88.26​
80​	5.66​	120.08​	-0.42​	80​	6.08​	129.61​
90​	6.97​	169.93​	-0.53​	90​	7.5​	183.66​
100​	8.49​	234.53​	-0.65​	100​	9.14​	253.35​
110​	10.29​	319.23​	-0.82​	110​	11.11​	345.82​
120​	12.36​	425.46​	-0.97​	120​	13.33​	460.29​
130​	14.76​	559.84​	-1.23​	130​	15.99​	609.07​
140​	17.73​	739.32​	-1.51​	140​	19.24​	805.11​
150​	21.37​	975.37​	-1.78​	150​	23.15​	1058.82​
160​	26.13​	1305.82​	-2.32​	160​	28.45​	1427.01​
170​	32.89​	1805.62​	-2.83​	170​	35.72​	1964.12​
173​	35.47​	2003.52​	-1.19​	171​	36.66​	2035.5​