high octane fuel?

Hi everyone, I've owned a 06 K12 Micra (1.2 petrol) for the last 4 years. Like many of you I've had my problems, the main one being the replacement of the throttle body, fortunately under an extended warranty. I've always tried to use "proper fuel in the car and on speaking to the owner of the garage where I get my servicing done, we got talking about fuel quality. He said to try Tesco 99, now called Momentum. I was always under the impression that higher octane fuels were only for high performance cars, with ECU's that adjust according to fuel grade and it would make no difference to the running a normal car. Well to say I noticed a difference would be an understatement! Car was much quicker, the difference in torque was really noticeable. Was just wondering if anyone else had tried it and noticed a difference?
 
Weirdly, it makes mine feel torquier but no faster. In mildly moist or wet weather in 1st and 2nd gear (and occasionally 3rd) it will SHRED the tyres pulling off with high octane but doesn't actually feel faster day to day. So I don't bother :).
 
Tried it in my mg , ran rough , tried it in my Peugeot , no difference . Tried the micra , got less mpg ??? Probably just me .
 
Peugeot is a 60 plate , surely has 1 ?
you would think so eh.
higher octane fuel will only give gains if you raise the compression or advance the timing, and a car without a knock sensor will have a fixed spark map i believe
 
would only work on cars equiped with a knock sensor eh :)
That's what I thought, performance cars, Subaru's and the like, were the one's that had knock sensors but the garage owner said all cars have systems that advance or retard the ignition according to fuel octane to stop pinking. On the odd occasion I have used supermarket ordinary unleaded, I notice a definite decrease in performance compared to using Shell or BP.
 
Just had a look at the Nissan parts website thingy and the HR16DE has a knock sensor.
 
Whenever I use it in mine I can feel a bit of difference in torque and also get about 50 miles extra per tank compared to normal 95 octane fuel
 
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