Hi folks,

A mate of mine has just bought herself a Focus RS. She's planning on running it on normal unleaded. Not Optimax or even SUL. Is that safe for RSs? My background is tuned Imprezas, and I wouldn't even think of running normal unleaded. Her car is standard and will probably go on a race track once in a blue moon. Is she OK with normal U/L ?

 

I don't know much about the focus rs, probably since there isn't a single one here in iceland .. but most people I know who have turbocharged cars run them on 98/99 octane gas.

So that's what I'd do, just to be on the safe side.

 

Thanks ses. Yes, I would run a higher grade fuel regardless.

I'm hoping that an RS owner will pop up and let us know for sure. There's probably a note in the owners guide to indicate which fuel should be used.

 

There should be something in the owners manual but as far as I know the engine is setup for higher octane fuel ONLY!
Basically DO NOT use normal Unleaded unless its an emergency and you cant find any optimax or super unleaded! I think Ford recommends 97RON or above!

Rich

 

97RON and Above

 

I've spoken to her b/f, and he's going to make sure she runs decent fuel in it. I've offered octane booster in the meantime! Thanks for the advice chaps.

 

If she runs the car on 95Ron she will bugger the engine over a period of time. I have seen another lady near me do this 3 times now and its breaking my heart

 

Thankfully she's had the car less than a week, so there's (hopefully) little damage done. She also ran her old ('97) Prodrive-tweaked Impreza on 95-RON . I *do* hope she's learned now. Leave the cheap fuel for the cheap cars! Decent car? Give it decent fuel.

rs: hasn't she wondered why her cars keep going bang? They're not all RSs, are they? Buy her a bottle of octane booster for her birthday. Even if it's not her b/day in the near future it's a good opportunity to lay heavy hints that her car needs proper attention!

 

As high an octane level as possible!

 

the higher the better

 

do you people have shell V-Power 99 octane fuel in the UK?

 

95 - unleaded (Which most cars use)

97 Super unleaded

98.7 Optimax (Super unleaded - by Shell)

 

yeah opti is sposed to be the best to run it on!! my m8 won't use anything else as his FRS just lags if he does

Mike

 

Optimax all the way

 

what does the handbook say?

 

The Handbook Clearly states in the RS Sup "97Ron" Most of the FRS Owners in the UK use "Shell Optmax"

CheeRS
SG
Chairman FRSOC

 

97 ron and above

 

i use tesco 99ron

could try some of the BP 102Ron

 

Tescos 99ron for me as well, had to use normal u/l in emergencys. with the 99ron it felt a tad more responsive. Maybe a placebo effect though

 

Mine gets what it's given... sometimes 95 sometimes 97/98, I don't believe it does that much harm running 95 ron then running 98 ron every 3rd or 4th fill up.

 

i work for ford and the rs are ment to be run on 97 ron and above
95ron tents to mess them up

 

read the focus rs book, it tells you to use the higher octane 97+

 

You have only got your self to blame when it melts a piston then!

The FRS has no knock sensor to advance or retard the ignition dependant on the RON of the fuel being used!

That is why inside the filler cap it states 97+ RON!

In other words the lowestst RON value fuel you can use is BP Utimate (97 RON) & Shell V-Power is now increased to 99 RON from the existing Optimax which was 98.6 RON.

 

I don't even like running mine on Ultimate these days, I wouldn't even consider running it on Supermarket 95 piss juice I'd rather run out of fuel!

V-power is the ONLY option for these IMHO