It takes global crude oil prices to drop drastically to bring higher quality fuel to Malaysians. Now with oil prices at an all-time low……petrol retailers are finally offering Malaysians better quality fuel and just recently RON 100 was offered and many car owners from Perodua to Porsche rushed to fuel up with RON 100 without properly understanding the fuel. So we decided to ask and answer a few important questions.
- Do we really need this higher quality fuel…like RON 100?
- Which cars can use RON 100 and which should NOT use RON 100?
- Is RON 100 worth the extra money?
- Benefits of using RON 100 when I have been using RON 97 or RON 95 since the car was new?
Let us look beyond all the marketing talk that comes with offering RON 100 fuel to Malaysians.
What does a higher octane, like RON 100 mean? Well, it is a measure of how much the air-fuel mix is resistant to detonation in the engine.
Modern car engines are designed for some rather high air-fuel mix pressure, if the mix ignites before that pressure is reached the engine will not run properly because ignition will happen at the wrong moment of the engine cycle.
This is why only fuel with right “octane number” should be used for any engine, depending on how that engine is designed, otherwise your engine will just not run properly. Your car service manual usually specifies which “octane number” is right for your car engine type.
If you put RON 100 fuel in a “normal” engine which only requires RON 95, it may even have detrimental effects, since the engine will have a harder time combusting the higher octane RON 100 fuel.
Therefor there is absolutely no reason to use higher-octane fuel unless your car service manual SAYS that it is REQUIRED to run your car efficiently.
Even if your car requests a higher octane fuel, it may be possible to use a lower octane fuel because of variable timing. Your car service manual will state the details. However, it will not have as much performance, since the timing is being retarded to prevent knocking.
