Octane Gas Question?

[Alex4747]

I just found out that I can get 100 octane racing fuel by my house and was wondering if this will help performance on my 03 X50 TT Coupe, should I mix it to 93 or would it hurt to use 100? Any suggestions are welcomed. Price is not a concern. Only interested in performance and benefits or disadvantage to the vehicle. Thanks,

Alex

[geza]

General rule of thumb - if the difference in performance is less than 5%, the average street person at the wheel can't feel it. Higher octane means less propensity to detonate prematurely - but a TT has a lower compression ratio anyway - so any real benefit, even though it would most likely be less than 5%, would only be felt when the engine was at high boost/revs. If you drive between 5K & 6.5K rpm most of the time - then you might notice the difference. The factory built the car for 93 spec gas anyway, so 100 was not really part of the design criteria at the outset.

[dliggy]

I found a great article on www.howstuffworks.com . It explains octane and why you do not gain performance with higher octane. High octane does not make your car go faster. Octane exist in fuel to prevent pre-ignition under compression forces. I believe it would be a waste of money and follow the owner manual to be safe. Copy and paste this link if you would like to read more about octane http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question90.htm

[GaryFB]

I just found out that I can get 100 octane racing fuel by my house and was wondering if this will help performance on my 03 X50 TT Coupe, should I mix it to 93 or would it hurt to use 100? Any suggestions are welcomed. Price is not a concern. Only interested in performance and benefits or disadvantage to the vehicle. Thanks,

Alex

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is the fuel NO LEAD, or does it contain LEAD ? If your knock sensors are retarding the ignition spark on your present fuel, then adding higher octane fuel could theoretically improve performance. How about trying it and tell us what you feel? Thanks-Gary