Premium fuel?

[Flatcoat]

Given a hybrid is often also running on petrol, do any owners use premium fuels such as Vpower and noticed any benefits? For diesel I am convinced the extra costs bring smoother running, better mpg or power and cleaner exhaust.

 

[Lovemyev]

Given a hybrid is often also running on petrol, do any owners use premium fuels such as Vpower and noticed any benefits? For diesel I am convinced the extra costs bring smoother running, better mpg or power and cleaner exhaust.

I ran my previous VW Golf GTE PHEV on Shell V Power.
It definitely liked it better than bog standard unleaded super market fuel, that’s for sure.
The transition from EV to ICE was a lot more smoother, running on the higher grade of fuel.
This was before that horrible E10 muck that is being produced now with ethanol in it.
Note :- Anybody running small engines, like lawn mowers / blowers etc will be requiring carb cleans done on a regular basis, if they don’t remove the fuel from the tanks and don’t let the fuel sit the carb either at the end of the season.
A lot of small engines in America suffer badly from this problem.
You can remove the ethanol from the fuel at home, but it’s a bit of a “faff” to separate it.

 

[Flatcoat]

Thanks, guessed that would be the outcome. What did you replace the Golf with?

 

[Lovemyev]

Full BEV of course !.
ZS EV - The ride height is much better to get in and out of, after a total knee replacement.
Nice car the GTE - Well ahead of its time in 2015.
VW had to detune it, because it had the potential to faster than their GTI.
I did fancy a e.Golf - But that did not resolve the low ride situation.

 

[Flatcoat]

I was looking at the new Tiguan eHybrid but to get decent spec takes the price north of £40k…… we need hybrid to suit our car use needs.

 

[Lovemyev]

I was looking at the new Tiguan eHybrid but to get decent spec takes the price north of £40k…… we need hybrid to suit our car use needs.

My son has a Tiguan oil burner that is which is now about 4 years and covered about 32,000 miles from new, it is a brilliant family car to be fair.
For family holidays, it takes the family of four and a top box on the roof and a bike rack with four bikes on the back !.
About two weeks ago, the clutch suddenly failed on a return trip from Harlech.
They managed to get the car back home, just about !.
The clutch slave cylinder had failed and all of the hydraulic fluid had been lost from the system.
Then the bad news, the slave cylinder is located INSIDE of the gearbox bell housing.
So, to replace it, the gearbox has to be removed.
One new complete clutch assembly latter and over a £1,000 spent, was not a good out come.
Apparently, this is a common problem and the same garage had replaced the clutch on three Tiguan's in the last month.
The clutch had very little wear, but the hydraulic fluid had contaminates the fiction lining and renders it useless.
The earlier Tiguan's had the slave cylinder on the outside of the bell housing, therefore a fifteen minute job and about £100 !.
"Stop - Start" function is part way to blame for this problem I think, excessive use of the clutch pedal does not help the situation.

 

[Flatcoat]

The eHybrid is automatic….. I would never have a manual again. Auto much better for towing too.