My 'About me' used to once state: "The butcher with the sharpest knife has the warmest heart&qu...
My 'About me' used to once state: "The butcher with the sharpest knife has the warmest heart" (from "The Prisoner") ... Given my recent Op, I think I'll instead say: "The Razor with the Sharpest Blade makes for a Happier Morning!"
Member since:29.03.2004
Reviews:12
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INTRODUCTION Well, Perhaps we've seen these kinds of 'performance' fuels before ... haven't we!?!! For those of you who match or exceed my 36 years of age - you'll no doubt remember when Shell in the mid 1980s produced the 'Formula Shell' product which, if my memory serves me right had some kind of a combustion chamber cleaner additive as well as a 'spark aider' that ensured more efficient combustion. It worked for me (I was only 18 years of age in 1986 .... and as a young driver, penalised from an insurance point of view as a young driver - I sought every possible extra BHP from my 1,000CC engine that my then pitifully insipid econo-box possessed) .... but there were those who apparently had problems with it., such as those who maintained that the 'spark aider' apparently caused 'pinking'/pre-ignition problems. The product was no longer available a while later - but at least it seemed hence forward that other fuel companies had thereafter seemed to endorse the idea that detergents in petrol had something to offer as a benefit to motorists.
WHAT IT IS Shell Optimax contains a detergent
which is of course intended to remove sooty deposits and other residues from "stop-start" driving .... but I understand it differs from 'Formula Shell' in that it contains a special additive that boosts the Octane level in the fuel. Although it is not 100% clear to me exactly what Octane level this fuel is at ... I understand from the internet forums I have checked out that it is about 98.6 Octane. This means that along with the cleaning feature of the detergent in the fuel that it also has a higher Octane level than the average Super Unleaded 97 Octane fuel available from other companies ... and if like me you own a high performance car ... well, you will be glad of the benefits:
BENEFITS As a rule, I understand that the higher the Octane level in the fuel, the more the protection that your car's engine's combustion chamber has from detonating / pre-igniting /' pinking' ... these apparently are the 'tinkling' sounds you might hear from your engine if you go up a hill under full throttle load which may occur from too weak a mixture or too far advanced ignition timing for the grade of petrol being used. Higher Octane levels therefore can protect your engines from these sorts of symptoms. I am informed that Higher Octane levels in the fuel used can prevent the internal 'knocking' in the combustion chamber that can occur from using a lower Octane fuel.
WHERE THE BENEFITS DID NOT SHOW: My wife's car is a 1.8 Litre Automatic Toyota Avensis5 door family hatchback. Whilst the engine is Double Overhead Cam and 16-Valve ... with a Multiport Fuel Injection and quite brisk in its nippy performance .... it is nevertheless (although 'Hi-Tech' ) a family car. When I used Optimax in this car I found no appreciable gains in either performance or fuel economy. But then again this did not surprise me as the car was (so I understand) designed to run normally on the basic 95 Octane grade of fuel that is freely available in the UK, and of course this grade of fuel is usually at least 5p per litre cheaper than a 'Performance' Fuel like Optimax .... so there was, from my own experience, no noticeable change in the car's performance or economy that compelled me to keep using Optimax on this car.
WHERE THE BENEFITS UNQUESTIONABLY ARE: In October of this year I bought a Nissan Skyline GTS 2.5 Turbo (Oh! do let me 'plug' the fact that I've recently done an Op on this car!) which most who know about cars to any considerable degree would undoubtedly consider to be a high performance car: the car insurers for one do ... as they put it firmly into a group 20 rating along with Ferraris and other such cars. When I picked the car up from the dealer and drove it home from Hampshire to North London I noticed that whilst it had awesome power capabilities ... when it came to accelerating hard up certain steep hills near where I live, that there was a very, very slight 'pinking' sound. I checked on a few Skyline Owners website forums and found that in Japan (from where these cars get imported) that these cars are supposed/able to be run on 100 Octane fuel. Therefore if I didn't want to have the timing retarded I would have to use a fuel that assisted in preventing the 'pinking' when (only sometimes) climbing hills under load. Needless to say I did my research and friends who actually race cars on the tracks themselves extolled the virtues of Optimax above other 'performance fuels' on the market so I gave it a try.
THE RESULT Story so far .... NO PINKING .... NOT A SAUSAGE !!! This car runs perfectly since I have ensured that I always use "Optimax" in the tank (i.e. no other fuels have been used at intervals since I resolved to use it singularly as my fuel of choice). For a Turbo-Charged car the GTS 2.5 Turbo has a high compression ratio (9:0 to 1) so protection against 'knocking'/'pinking' is even more important. Those who also have performance cars may well also benefit from the consistent usage of this fuel. Let me know if you have similar or different experiences but for now I will continue to use Optimax - besides my mechanic, who is reputed by many to be one of the very finest Skyline specialists in the UK, absolutely advocates the use of this fuel in my car!
AFTERNOTE: I have been asked to judge certain attributes at the foot of this report that I dont feel are relevant for describing a petrol, such as: "Speed Of Response" "Cost", "Level Of Cover" and "Customer Service" ... given what I perceive to be a lack of relevance of these criteria I have merely responded with an "Acceptable" rating!
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You've said it solves the pinking but any difference in the performance/ fuel economy?
Sweary 30.06.2005 14:28
Afterthought! Having said I'm not 100% sure it made a big difference to my car's performance, I still put it in when I get the chance and would definitely use it more if I had more cash and had access to Shell garages as often as I used to (my nearest one's about 13 miles away).
Advantages: Increased performance(esp mid range) and economy, quieter and smoother idling Disadvantages: Cost 89.9p per litre eye-wateringly expensive (at time of writing) availability-not too many Shell stations around these days,may need a couple of tankfulls to be effective, benefits only for those with performance cars/modded engines
peterkinxl5 07.04.2005 (08.04.2005)
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Review of Shell Optimax Petrol
Jan 5th, 2005
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