paultan.org Mystery Fuel Test reveal – 2 out of 3 users felt more power and efficiency vs their regular RON97

Late last year, paultan.org carried out a RON 97 Mystery Fuel Test, in which a new fuel was evaluated under controlled blind-testing, the idea being to establish how it would shape up against existing competing fuels in the RON 97 segment.

The field testing was carried out over a period of three weeks, and involved a total of 124 cars spanning nine different vehicle types, the list including models such as the W205 Mercedes-Benz C 200, Toyota 86, G20 BMW 330i and FC Honda Civic 1.5 Turbo.

Over the course of the three-week period, participants evaluated the new fuel against baseline competitors under real world conditions, returning for refills at a specified refuelling point. To ensure that the test was carried out in proper controlled fashion, Sirim was present throughout the entire process to vet through everything.

Participants were asked to provide feedback and opinion on the new fuel. Results from the tests showed that two out of three drivers experienced more power, responsiveness and efficiency in their cars compared to their regular RON 97 fuel.

In the video, nine participants directly share their views on the new mystery fuel before it is finally revealed to them. Watch the video to find out the identity of the new RON 97 fuel.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Petronas Primax 97 Pro-Race the gamechanger,

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 22 Thumb down 10
    • Civic Turbo 2018 on Jan 20, 2021 at 11:51 am

      How it fairs against the best RON97? BHP 2xAdditive

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 3
      • Basher Dont Learn on Jan 20, 2021 at 12:34 pm

        U gotta try and test it urself. The clip does not share any solid fact nor telling U what another 2 brands they are comparing to.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
        • Why Tune Cars on Jan 20, 2021 at 6:00 pm

          Mileage (+10%)
          Performance (+20%)
          Acceleration (-1.0s)

          Simply jer LOLOLOLOL

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
      • emotional sentimental value on Jan 20, 2021 at 12:36 pm

        Have you watch the Video?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 3
      • Brian on Jan 20, 2021 at 1:36 pm

        Petronas fuels F1 multiple winning titles. What did BHP won?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 7
        • Mercedes won the F1 title, they did 100% of the engineering work for the turbos and aero. Petronas just got lucky when they signed to be their sponsor and fuel supplier.

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 13
    • Bbalingbiru on Jan 20, 2021 at 2:08 pm

      My own finding with my mody y15, morning cranking always a long one. Filling back with Petron 97 solves the problem.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 4
  • Bob Maa on Jan 20, 2021 at 12:50 pm

    Now Give us Euro 6 Fuel already and we will feel even more the POWAR!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 9
    • Chavez on Jan 20, 2021 at 3:21 pm

      Missguided thinking that higher Euro will lead to more power. Tht is not the case higher Euro level is for stricter emission.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 1
  • Ben Yap on Jan 20, 2021 at 12:57 pm

    Butt dyno is always not accurate.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
    • Everyman on Jan 20, 2021 at 5:46 pm

      There was a Fifth Gear automotive TV episode, where at different times, they filled the same car with different brands of petrol and put it on a dyno. Of course, at each time when they switched to a different brand, they drained out the previous brand first. That is obviously the more scientific method.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • Louis Loo on Jan 20, 2021 at 1:59 pm

    Great event and well organized. Thumbs up!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • azrai on Jan 20, 2021 at 2:06 pm

    Placebo effect?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
  • eeeriz on Jan 20, 2021 at 2:36 pm

    Yes, PETRONAS maju jaya!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • seancorr (Member) on Jan 20, 2021 at 3:35 pm

    Butt itchy so I went to try this new fuel for 2 full tanks. Smooth acceleration? Butt felt it. FC when you need it? No improvements. First full tank didn’t get me far but the second tank improved. Will I continue to use it on a daily basis? Counting the rising fuel costs….nope. It’ll be going into the weekend rempit car but not into the daily driven cars.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
    • 25yrsOld on Jan 20, 2021 at 5:29 pm

      Daily driven car – Ron95
      Weekend rempit – Ron97 Pro-race petronas

      Good review seancorr

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • If majority users could even tell some differences between this mystery RON97 and their regular RON97, does it disproves Paultan own research about the benefits of RON 97 vs RON95, baring in mind there should be an even bigger margin between these 2 fuel grades?
    https://paultan.org/2015/02/04/ron-95-vs-ron-97-fuel-test-use/

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
  • Heavy Footer on Jan 20, 2021 at 6:18 pm

    Petron 97 & 100 the best! Petronas always feel heavier

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 5
  • Pass By Only on Jan 20, 2021 at 7:10 pm

    If u have knowledge about what Octane, Knock Resistance and Advance Timing mean, U will understand why they believe thos fuel give them More Power Better FC.

    Higher Octane Fuel tend to provide benefit of Advanced Timing/Ignition. Advance Timing will provide more “complete” “faster” combustion which equal to faster power delivery, as the result, your car feel like more Power. But in reality, the burst only last for small moments because your engine is controlled by ECU. When Sudden burst in combustion efficient, Car ECU will reduce the amount of fuel injected into the chamber.

    Modern Car are tune to be fuel efficiency, therefore the benefits of higher octane fuel are neglectable as the boast in power is with 2-3% ranged(short burst) and result in below 2% FC improvement.

    But there is definitely cases where higher Octane Fuel will benefit your car

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
    • Pass By Only on Jan 21, 2021 at 11:43 am

      Ron95 sold in Malaysia is consider High Octane Fuel. While Ron97 is considered Higher Octane Fuel.

      In Majority driving or daily drive in Malaysia, Ron95 are sufficient and even consider more cost-efficient than Higher Octane Fuel. But these are some cases where U will get more benefits from Higher Octane fuel:

      1) If more than half of your commute required hill ascending or decending
      2) High compress ratio engine (Mazda Skyactive) – For this part, I will go until recommend using Ron97 for your engine coz the ROI u’re getting are higher compare to Ron95.
      3) High performance vehicle that requires Accurate Ignition – e.g “Real” Bi-turbo engine.

      Majority Malaysia Consumers Car are Fuel Efficient Car or Low Capacity Car. You won’t benefits much from Knock Resistance. But there is 1 things u can do to improve Power and FC of your car, which is Clean your Air Intake, Change Air filter regularly or clean Intake Valves, coz 10% increase in Air quality are better than 10% increase in Fuel quality.

      All those information are not some coffee talk, thses are tested by European Commissioner of Energy

      As for me? I driving an Honda 1.5TCP, and the fuel I am using – 10L Ron97, the rest Ron95 each time I refill.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
  • Want to kira like this then drive myvi lor, why drive BMW?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • Khairul on Jan 20, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    Yeah.. felt the difference compare to previous Ron 97 or other Ron 97…the previous Petronas Ron 97, I really can not tell the difference fron Ron 95

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Leonardo on Jan 21, 2021 at 9:07 am

    In an F1 car, a 2% power difference could be translated between a win and a loss.
    However, for 99% of the Malaysian users, RON 95 fuels is good enough for the day to day activities.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
    • Bel Jin on Jan 21, 2021 at 12:48 pm

      correct. especially if the car has an EFi engine with knock sensor

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • JS5570 on Jan 21, 2021 at 9:43 am

    In such a controlled parameters, the result would be manipulative. It is like I am covering the brand of the car, and ask you to try between a 2.0L NA engine with another 2.0 turbo charged engine and ask you which one is more powerful.

    At least reveal the other 2 fuels (eg Fuel V97, or Fuel P97).

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Kran Kumar on Jan 21, 2021 at 4:06 pm

    I will still say those test should be done with Malaysian cars e.g. X50, X70, Myvi, Bezza etc…
    Then the feel will be more real…
    .
    If you guys use powerful cars to feel difference then how to differentiate since the cars are already powerful..
    .
    Whoever the project manager is, they have to know percentage of National Car users are apparently very high than foreign car users..
    And of course, if they’re are selling this to Malaysians, you should take this into consideration…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • intermilan on Jan 22, 2021 at 6:18 pm

    If the other RON97 petrols were BHP and Petron, which IMHO are the two best RON97 petrol out there (I am excluding the pricier V-Power Racing), then finally maybe Petronas have a competitive product.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Mazlan on Feb 04, 2021 at 11:37 am

    Terbaik petronas. I have used their 97 for year, I believe this one is really good.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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