Super vs Normal

[shao_khan]

So since buying the A2 I have ran it for 6k miles on super / optimax and for my normal weekly use get around 300 - 320 miles per tank - mostly school run, plenty roundabouts and cold starts.

had to swap cars with Dad for a week or so - I needed a bit more space so borrowed his Zafira. He just used normal unleaded fuel, so when I got the car back I continued this and have now used several tanks, approx 1500 miles on normal. Result has been 350 - 370 miles per tank on same drive pattern.

How is this? I thought using the premium fuel should always give better results? 1.6FSi.

 

[spike]

Hi shao khan
Auto Express recently did a comparison test on premium fuels and concluded that in the short term they offered no apparent advantage in performance or economy. It's possible however their fuel system cleaning properties may in the long term keep the engine running at peak efficiency.
I'm not sure about the FSi but its generally accepted that performance engines tuned to run on high octane fuel will run best on premium grade petrol. On '2 star' the knock sensors detect the slight pre-ignition and retard the timing accordingly which in turn reduces the performance slightly.

Cheers Spike