[baarish84]

Indian Oil BKC COCO Petrol pump (near the EEH connector entrance) has XP95 dispensers , checked today morning.

Curiously, they had some marketing banners proclaiming it green fuel (placed next to dispensers).

I wonder if it is because of higher ethanol blend of 15% to 20% in XP95?

Effectively they are using ethanol to increase octane rating?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by baarish84

Indian Oil BKC COCO Petrol pump (near the EEH connector entrance) has XP95 dispensers , checked today morning.

Curiously, they had some marketing banners proclaiming it green fuel (placed next to dispensers).

I wonder if it is because of higher ethanol blend of 15% to 20% in XP95?

Effectively they are using ethanol to increase octane rating?

Not sure of the ethanol blending part since IOCL has a separate E20 offering but the green advertisement for XP95 is to denote it's lower emissions and higher mileage factor and not because it has higher ethanol blending.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Not sure of the ethanol blending part

Please view the depot invoice from Hosakote of the XP 95 Petrol supplied IOCL Bunk near my
Place. It is E12.

[Yesterdaysnews]

I’ve got my hands on a 2010 Hyundai I 20 that I’ll be driving for the next few days. The engine is in decent shape, run about 1,10,000 Km and just serviced. I waited till the tank was almost dry - until I was running on fumes and then filled XP 95.

The difference can be felt immediately and quite obvious - unlike filling petrol with just additives (plain Speed or Shell V power) vs higher octane.

Engine knock on lower speeds on higher gears is much lesser and therefore ride quality vastly improves because of less vibrations and shakes. Also majorly impacts driving as you’ll be downshifting less.

Taking off from a standstill is easier and requires less throttle power.

Acceleration is much better - very perceptibly so.

Engine feels better at high revs, strains less.

Engine feels smoother at any speed.

Fuel economy seems to be higher. From about 300 kms covered so far on a tankful and quite a bit left, I reckon 2+ KMPL increase in traffic. I have to wait for the tank to empty and do another tank - to - tank refill to be sure - i.e full tank to empty and another full to empty cycle.

Points to note:

The cars recommended RON rating is not 95 but lesser. However there is an immediate positive impact.

The car has not been running on “premium” fuels with 89/91 RON and just cleaning additives. So no claims of engine soot or whatever being less in the 13 year old engine due to premium 91 fuels. V Power and Speed claim benefits after multiple tank refills and 1000s of kms of running - though research has shown it bogus, they still market it saying so. You really can’t feel much if you were to refill on those save perhaps a slightly smoother engine. However impact of XP 95 is immediately felt in knocking, acceleration, and mileage.

In my mind there is no doubt that XP 95 is superior and well worth the extra money.

Benefits of XP 100 may not justify the vastly extra price tag, unless you are running a super engine.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

I visited the HP petrol pump in Siruseri SIPCOT today. An advertisement mentioning that Power 95 is pasted as available and upon enquiring, I was told it will be available in a week or two.

Also was told the pump is going back to be COCO (originally it was COCO) from Murugan agencies in the next two weeks.

If this is true, it will be good for people at the fag end of OMR as most of the pumps are not good South of Sholinganallur.

Quoting myself - Power95 is available in Siruseri SIPCOT HP petrol pump for a month now. I am now filling up here regularly. Useful for those who don't like IOCL and still need 95 RON petrol at the end of OMR.

[shankar.balan]

My tank reached the half full point after a casual drive today so I tried HP Power Petrol.
Of course I also added my STP Octane Booster Juice as well. Let me see how the car behaves with HP Power after months and months of a diet of XP95 and XP100.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by shibulijack

I’ve been using XP95 in my City CVT and the car felt noticeably peppier.

I too have started using XP 95 from IOL. For the cars it's way ahead of the usual 91 octane + 10 % ethanol blended stuff we use. There was a marked difference in the performance of my Yamaha RX 100. Just short of the RD 350 feel, a tiger in the RX 100 tank is much sensed. Usually, the highs and lows are more perceptible on smaller engines that are more sensitive to such changes. Much like a child feeling happy and sad much, much quicker than any adult.

When I asked attendants about ethanol blending in the XP 95 fuel one said "there's no blending" while an elder one said "yes these too have the ethanol content." Can anyone comment about XP 95 and ethanol ?

[lapis_lazuli]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

I too have started using XP 95 from IOL.....Can anyone comment about XP 95 and ethanol ?

12 to 15% depending on depot or geographical location.

[flipflop]

Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli

12 to 15% depending on depot or geographical location.

Is there a map or more information on where it’s 12 and where it’s 15?

Can a car that’s designed for E10 or 10% mid take 12% or 15%?

[aerohit]

Originally Posted by kosjam

Unless your vehicle is specifically made for RON 95/97 (higher compression ratio engine), putting higher octane rating fuel will only have a placebo effect to the actual functioning of the vehicle.

Not really. Most companies tune cars such a way that ecu will adapt to higher ignition fuel timing if there is no knock detected.

Thats why there are 2 main ignition tables - one is base ignition and other is knock ignition high limit (which is tuned with super high octane).

[kosjam]

Originally Posted by aerohit

Not really. Most companies tune cars such a way that ecu will adapt to higher ignition fuel timing if there is no knock detected.

Thats why there are 2 main ignition tables - one is base ignition and other is knock ignition high limit (which is tuned with super high octane).

A great day to learn something new.

Can you give me the source of this information? And is this applicable to all new cars or only high end vehicles?

In a country where mileage per km matter more than outright performance to all but a few petrolheads such as those on this forum, this might not actually be the case...
Afterall, many India specific "enhancements" are already present in many global cars made in/for India.

[nagarjun]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

My tank reached the half full point after a casual drive today so I tried HP Power Petrol.
Of course I also added my STP Octane Booster Juice as well. Let me see how the car behaves with HP Power after months and months of a diet of XP95 and XP100.

Is the HP Power petrol with RON95 or RON97? I have been using XP95 due to its wider availability and explicit branding, which enables finding a pump with XP95 easier.

Recently, there was HP Power petrol available and it was almost a rupee cheaper than the IOCL XP95, but the attendant didn't know the RON value and just mentioned its their premium petrol. As it was late in the night, even the manager of the pump was not available to confirm.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by nagarjun

Is the HP Power petrol with RON95 or RON97? I have been using XP95 due to its wider availability and explicit branding, which enables finding a pump with XP95 easier.

.

The earlier power petrol was regular petrol with additives. Recently HP have started rebranding Power as Power95 and Power100 and the price of Power95 very slightly undercuts XP95 IMO. I recently tried a concoction of 95 and 100 just to try how it goes and the attendant was reluctant to let me do this. THe experience was good actually, with refinement and acceleration better than pure XP95

[Maky]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I recently tried a concoction of 95 and 100 just to try how it goes and the attendant was reluctant to let me do this. THe experience was good actually, with refinement and acceleration better than pure XP95

Out of curiosity, which vehicle did you experience this with?

I have tried a full tank of 97 and then yesterday I filled 95. I just have not been able to tell the difference. Thus I've been hesitant to try 100 octane. Although I've avoided pushing hard as it's a new vehicle (After 11 long years, we finally brought home a new car | Volkswagen Tiguan) and the engine still in the break-in period.
Does one only see the difference in refinement or acceleration when close to red-lining with high octane fuel?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Maky

Out of curiosity, which vehicle did you experience this with?

I have tried a full tank of 97 and then yesterday I filled 95. I just have not been able to tell the difference. Thus I've been hesitant to try 100 octane. Although I've avoided pushing hard as it's a new vehicle (After 11 long years, we finally brought home a new car | Volkswagen Tiguan) and the engine still in the break-in period.
Does one only see the difference in refinement or acceleration when close to red-lining with high octane fuel?

I have tried 95 on all cars and 95/100 mix on my Slavia 1.5 and Ninja 300. For the Slavia, the the RON difference is very easily felt. Here are the observations of each fuel:
RON91 from BP - Car had lost the acceleration and rush that it had to normally have and I had to push the accelerator harder for it to pick up speed. However, no deterioration in refinement or smoothness.

XP95/Power95 - Car is at its natural behaviour with good refinement and a rush of acceleration even with a light press of the pedal. However if you push hard you will feel an increase in NVH naturally with the acceleration rush tapering down as RPM rises.

Pure XP100 - Refinement goes up a few notches and acceleration rush is present throughout the rev range. It is very obvious that the vehicle is not struggling to put out all the power and the car is very rev happy.

Pure Xp100 in Ninja 300 - Bike pulls from 35kmph in sixth gear all the way to 13000 RPM redline like a rocket and no hesitation or knocking or vibrations.

On the other hand, I havent had such a great experience with Speed 97 on Slavia, compared to XP95. SInce I always fill when there is only one bar of fuel left which is 5L and add 40L of new fuel, the change in fuel type is quite easily felt within the first few minutes of running the car after refuelling.