Does RON97 make a difference in a 1997 Toyota Prado J90 Landcruiser?

 

My 1997 Toyota Prado Landcruiser 2.7 - it still runs...!

Old cars, especially those made by Toyota, seem to have an extremely long life. While performance is nothing to shout about (excluding the real performance models like the Supra, MR2 and AE86 that never made the mainstream here in Malaysia), Toyota's are known and proven for high reliability.

My Prado as above still runs (of course, having taken over the upkeep and taking good care of it does help), of course with some squeaks here and there, but then don't forget that this is, after all, a 20+ year old car with 400,000+ km on the odometer. Not gone for hardcore off-roading like my buddies in the Puma 4x4 club, but I do use it for getting out for light field-work and also to transport larger-than-normal stuff that would not fit into a regular car.

Now, the 3RZ-FE 2.7 liter engine at its heart was designed for a min RON 91 fuel, which is way below the RON 95 minimum fuel sold at the pumps in Malaysia today. Those of you from "my time" and before will know, once upon a time, we did have RON 92, which was the cheapest fuel on the market, but was discontinued (possibly as Proton's with their Mitsubishi engines, needed at least RON 95, while my Honda Civic FD2A could live with RON92, see my post from 2008 HERE and also HERE). So, as is general knowledge, there is no advantage to using fuel of RON higher than the engine was designed for. Or is it...?

Since as long as I can remember, driving the old Prado I always had to be a bit careful when shifting or when accelerating at low RPM's. There is a tendency to jerk just as the clutch was let out completely when changing gears and stepping on the gas. Same goes when the car is in gear, then you let off the gas completely and then stomp on the accelerator pedal. I always thought this had something to do with the age of the car, so anyway, even consciously adjusting my driving style, it was nigh impossible to avoid the jerks, which seem to be coming more from the engine or exhaust rather than the transmission.

Last weekend, went to my usual favorite Caltex gas station for a partial fill up. Normally I would always fill the tank up to full, but since the current COVID-19 pandemic had significantly reduced travelling, I only put in enough gas to go ~1 month between refueling. This was to avoid "stale gas" (will write another post on my experience on that topic soon). Back to the gas station. So happened that the pump that I was at could only dispense RON97, as the RON95 pump was under repair. Rather than drive over to the next pump or go to another gas station, I just decided to go with the RON97, which was priced at RM2.60 per liter. RON95 is currently capped at RM2.05. Partially filling RM41 worth of fuel (slightly overshot original target of RM40, hence round up to the next Ringgit), that get's me ~15.7 liters of fuel, as opposed to 20 liters if I had used RON95.

Starting up and driving away, I noticed that that the ride was now smoother and without the jerk at each gear shift. Also from complete foot off the accelerator to moderately depressing halfway to the floor, is smooth as well. After that, did some short driving around a few kilometers to confirm. Definitely not a placebo effect, and in the first place I was not expecting any difference.

Once home, tried to do some research online, but majority of what turned up is the usual "no need for premium fuel unless you have a <insert high performance car of your choice>". Only one Youtube video which a helpful chap described a plausible explanation. For old engines, the carbon build up in the cylinders could have artificially increased the compression ratio, which may cause detonation / knocking under heavy load / high temperatures. Since this is Malaysia, where temperatures are anyway always high, the heavy load situation could be as encountered during the initial stepping on the gas pedal.

Normally, I don't believe things without evidence. Here I have an observation, and am trying to find an explanation. So, where to go from here? Will continue to try out if this is consistent, until the next refueling run. Then, I could try to go back to RON 95 and see if the problem recurs (and then if RON 97 can eliminate the problem), therefore successfully being able to turn-on / turn-off the problem. If that is the case, then moving forwards there are only 3 choices - 1) Switch permanently to RON 97, 2) Revert to RON 95 and hope this does not impact the life of the engine, 3) Send in for cylinder decarbonizing and then start testing RON 95 again.

At least for now, decarbonizing will need to wait, as due to travel restrictions I'm not able to drive down to Desmond's place @ KL Auto to get it done. If indeed this is the actual root cause. Will post further updates on the situation.

Does any of this make sense? Anyone out there have any similar experience or opinions to share?

Weekly fuel price revision starts in Malaysia

After much debating and deliberation, the government has finally kicked off the weekly fuel price revision in Malaysia. How does this mechanism work exactly? Well, to you and me, the fuel prices will be announced every Wednesday, and take effect from midnight (that's 12.00AM, Thursday morning).

Of course, the calculation behind the fuel prices are still a mystery, so we can only guess based on the price of oil as a global commodity, whether or not to fill up by Wednesday or wait until the next day. Play this guessing game each week, and after awhile, everyone will just resign themselves to accepting this new system.

There's some talks that soon, petrol station operations will be able to apply to to offer discounts, but so far nothing official yet from the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism. This floating pricing is a far cry from the system we had before 2015, where prices were fixed by the authorities, but was subsidized by the taxpayers. Still not quite like what I've seen in several countries like Australia, China and Germany, where fuel prices are completely unregulated and set by the individual petrol station operations.

For me, my car was coincidentally running on fumes (zero bars left) by the time I refueled, but the good thing was a slight positive upside as the new price of RON95 this week was RM2.13 per liter (down from RM2.30 per liter). RON 97 was also down from RM2.60 to RM2.41 per liter, while Diesel is now RM2.11 per liter (from RM2.20 per liter). This is reflective of the current market conditions, or is to give a "good feeling" for the initial stages, we'll probably never know...

A step in the right direction, or are we better off adopting a different approach over here in Malaysia? If you have any views to share, do drop a comment below.

RON95 and Diesel up by RM0.20 per liter

As of midnight tonight, Malaysians will have to pay RM0.20 more per liter of Petrol (RON95) and Diesel. This increase comes in after holding fast for nearly 3 years since 2010, with the news travelling fast through cyberspace (testament to the power of social media). What timing for such news, following Merdeka (Independence) Day, which was just 2 days ago....

RON95 and Diesel prices are subsidized by the Government taxpayers' contribution to the IRB, and with the reduction in fuel subsidies to RM0.63 and RM0.80, the projected savings are estimated to be in the region of RM3.3 billion annually.

As mentioned earlier, news travels fast these days. My colleague showed me an SMS on his cellphone, and counter-checking on the internet at a reliable source (good practice to counter-check for hoaxes), I found that this was true : http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/09/02/ron95-up-20-sen.aspx

After work, on the way home, I passed by the Petron gas station next to the 24-hour McDonald's (at the Melaka Mall), and found a massive traffic jam made up of cars waiting in line to refuel. This was not something I had not seen before - as this reaction was triggered each time there was a price increase announced.

Makes no difference to me, as I just refueled 2 days ago on the way back from town after bringing my family to watch the annual Merdeka Day Parade. By a simple calculation, you would only save 50 x price differential (RM0.20) or RM10.00, with the following assumptions:-

1. You have enough space in your fuel tank to fit in 50 liters (mind you that 50 liters is the size of the fuel tank in many family cars)
2. Not factoring in the time and fuel spent driving to the petrol station and waiting in line (and really, really long line it is)

The ugly consequences from greedy traders will be coming up soon, as even insignificant fuel price increases such as these will serve as excuses for them to increase the price of goods, food and services.

There are always those who will complain (ironically, they can afford cars, but not the fuel). For the rest of us, life goes on, with this reminder that things that we often take for granted (just like water) can have a big impact on our daily lives.

Meanwhile, I remind everyone out there, to drive in a more-fuel efficient manner (driving slow like a road hog actually uses more petrol) and when appropriate, use public transport or skip driving altogether (walk / cycle).

Record high RM3.00 per liter for RON97 - 7 Sept 2012

Breaking records is almost always a good thing. Unfortunately, this time there will be lots of negativity accompanying this latest announcement by the Malaysian Petrol Dealers Association President Datuk Hashim Othman, as reported in The Star Online : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/9/7/nation/11984382&sec=nation

Now, some some strange reason, the increase of RON97 prices from RM2.60 per liter (effective 5 July 2012)  to RM2.70 per liter effective 10 August 2012 last month was very stealthy, as there was no news on this in either of the two popular Malaysian English news portals (perhaps there was something more important to report during that time...?).

So, the new graph charting the fluctuations in RON97 prices per liter:

Skyrocketing upwards at an all time high!

What devastating news, coming just a week after our Merdeka (Independence) Day....

To be fair, most cars in Malaysia are able to make do on with RON95, except for those high performance makes like the Civic Type R. My personal opinion is that while the effect of the minority can be seen by this, what we don't see is that the majority of consumers currently running on the RON95 will now eat further into the tax-payers' dollars, since RON95 is still flat at the subsidized price of RM1.90 per liter.

Well, with monthly fluctuations seen in the RON97 prices since June 2012, it's anyone's guess which way the plot will go come early October. Till next month then....

RON97 goes down further to RM2.60 - 5 Jul 2012

With the price of crude oil currently below USD90 per barrel, it's a much welcomed move from the authorities to reduce further the price of unsubsidized RON97 at the pumps to RM2.60 per liter.

This is a further reduction on top of the RM0.10 drop effective beginning of last month. Of course, RM2.60 per liter is still significantly higher than the subsidized price of RON95 which is currently holding flat at RM1.90 per liter.

This bodes well for owners of foreign-registered vehicles (due to Government sales restrictions) and high-performance cars like the Honda Civic Type-R and Suzuki Swift Sport (of course one may argue that the price of fuel is relatively negligible compared to the cost of these cars anyway). And of course too, to those of use who drive *normal* cars who choose, for whatever reason, to refuel with RON97. :)

Your experience and vehicle needs might vary, but previously, I had no issues running my Honda Civic FD2 on RON92 when it was available for sale some years ago.

Well, regardless of the price per liter of fuel, we should always make it a habit of driving sensibly and in an economical manner. For those of you who are thinking of getting a car, do include fuel efficiency as one of the factors for consideration, as in the long run, the savings will be substantial.

RON97 back down to RM2.80 per liter (7 Jun 2012)

A reduction in petrol prices is quite a rarity. Fortunately, a *Blue Moon* is upon us - from 7th June 2012 onwards (at least until the next price revision), the price of RON97 petrol drops by RM0.10 to RM2.80 per liter.

This latest revision announced by the Malaysian Government (read about here at The Star Online) is apparently due to the lower average global price of crude oil in May. This puts RON97 prices back to what they were since June 2011 last year, right before the increase to RM2.90 in April, just 2 months ago.

Well, that's good news for those of us with a) high performance imported cars like the Honda Civic Type R, and b) those of us who still choose to refuel with RON97 for whatever reason, even though majority of the cars here can run fine with RON95. My own Honda Civic FD2 ran fine on RON92, back when that was available.

Keeping fingers crossed that there will be a reduction soon to RON95 (which goes in to my car)...! :)

RON97 goes up by RM0.10 to RM2.90 per liter

After nearly a year of holding steadfast (~10 months, since 16 Jun 2011), the price of RON97 finally succumbed to market pressure and has now been increased to RM2.90 per liter. As RON97 is no longer subsidized by the Malaysian Government, this announcement was made by the Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM). This comes about, as expected, due to current global fuel prices, currently at USD120 per barrel.

Fortunately for those of use who are NOT using RON97, the Government has confirmed that there will be no price hike for Diesel and RON95, which remain at RM1.80 and RM1.90 per liter, respectively. Though, this means that a larger chunk of the tax-payers' contributions are going into the subsidies....

In my opinion, there should be no impact on the price of goods and food after this announcement, since commercial transportation does not run on RON97. Won't stop those hardcore-opportunists from trying, so do keep an eye out at your resident sundry shop or favourite mamak-stall, in case you might see things have suddenly become dearer.

Note : I realized in my last post on the topic that my graph could be misleading, as the diagonal graph between dates could be interpreted as a steady, day-to-day increase in fuel price. This, I've done some tweaking in Excel so that the graph is now shows a constant price except on the dates where the prices are revises. As it should be! :)

Present Petrol Prices (June 2011)

It's no secret that as of 16 June 2011, the new RON97 price announced was down RM0.10 to RM2.80 per liter. The graph below charts the trend that has until recently been going steadily up since the start of the year:-



Lucky it came down this month. From the trend, I was braced for the possibility of the per liter price of RON97 to exceed RM3.00. As of now, RON95 and Diesel prices remain fixed at RM1.90 and RM1.80 per liter respectively.

Unaffected by this development would be the typical Malaysian driver who by now has switched over exclusively to RON95. Owners of high-performance vehicles like the Civic Type-R will be the ones who benefit slightly.

Speaking of fuel, the Government has also banned foreign-registered vehicles from purchasing RON95 or NGV, though this ban does not apply to foreign-registered motorcycles. And the following day, the Government extended the ban, so now, even Malaysians who drive foreign-registered vehicles can no longer purchase the subsidized RON95 (though it's not clear if they can still purchase NGV). While I understand that by banning the sale of RON95 to foreign-registered vehicles, they can still fill up with RON97 to keep on going. What about cars that run exclusively on NGV? I hope that they will not be left high and dry because they are not allowed to refuel once they are in Malaysia!

Locals are also affected, as beginning 1st of June, the Government has withdrawn the super-subsidized diesel enjoyed by commercial lorries and trailers (RM1.45 or RM1.48 per liter, I'm not quite sure). Also, deep sea trawlers no longer enjoy the even lower rate of RM1.25 per liter. All these reductions in fuel subsidies will do well to add to the Government's coffers. I hope that the money will be well spent, and not squandered on some trivial, non-transparent stuff, like tourism promotion and setting up an e-mail account for every citizen.... :)

Well, with the small reduction in RON97 prices (unlikely to affect a significant portion of the population) and with rising fuel costs of commercial transport and deep sea fishing, we'll have to brace for the potential of price increase for related goods and services (not to mention more expensive sea food). Despite strong advice from the Government not to transfer the additional fuel costs downstream to their customers, it's too soon to say if those affected will increase their prices anyway, take advantage of the situation, go on strike, or simply give up the ghost and "close shop" if they really cannot afford to sustain the increased overhead costs.

Sources:-

• RON97 price down by 10 sen (16 June 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/16/nation/8912138&sec=nation
• Diesel super subsidy for commercial lorries abolished (2 June 2011) - http://star-motoring.com/News/2011/Diesel-super-subsidy-for-comercial-lorries-abolish.aspx
• Foreign vehicles to be barred from filling up on RON95 petrol and NGV (14 June 2011) - http://star-motoring.com/News/2011/Foreign-vehicles-barred-from-filling-up-on-RON95-p.aspx
• Govt expands RON95 sales ban (15 June 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/15/nation/8900828&sec=nation
• Re-look diesel subsidy reduction, says MCA (15 June 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/15/nation/8902143&sec=nation
• Transportation charges will go up without diesel subsidy (28 May 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/5/28/sarawak/8776996&sec=sarawak

RON97 is now RM2.90 per liter

Hmm, looks like my earlier post, "RON97 is now RM2.70 per liter", is now officially obsolete. After only 1 month, the petrol price of RON97 is up by RM0.20 effective today. Those driving cars which feed off RON97 are surely in for a nasty shock this morning....

This was reported on various online news sites, such as The Star Online : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/5/5/nation/8611879&sec=nation

Looking at the trend:-

• 2nd Nov 2010 - RM2.15 per liter
• 1st Dec 2010 - RM2.30 per liter
• 5th Jan 2011 - RM2.40 per liter
• 1st Feb 2011 - RM2.50 per liter
• 2nd April 2011 - RM2.70 per liter
• 5th May 2011 - RM2.90 per liter

Plotting this on a popular spreadsheet program, we can see a strong linear trend:-

You'd expect that with the strengthing of the Malaysian Ringgit against the US Dollar, prices should be coming DOWN, especially since the unsubsidized RON97 is supposed to float with market prices. Perhaps not enough to offset the rising cost of oil per barrel : http://www.oil-price.net/

Well, if things keep going the way they are, then by next month, the price of RON97 would surely breach the RM3.00 barrier. For now, there are no indications that RON95 and Diesel would follow suit, though announcements like these are only made hours before the actual price hike, so it's anyone's guess for now.

I guess that sales of RON97-exclusive cars like the Civic Type R might be affected in the long run, especially the 2nd hand market (you can buy a 2nd hand Type R, but can you afford to keep it running?).

I guess that on the bright side, the weakening US Dollar and the apparent increase in crude oil prices should benefit companies like Petronas, so hopefully some of the windfall comes back to the Malaysian public. Since freight transportation does not use RON97, there should be no impact on the cost of goods - nonetheless some unscrupulous people might take this opportunity to increase prices to make more profit.

Well, what can we do, but hang in tight and weather the storm, and pray that it doesn't get much worse....

RON97 is now RM2.70 per liter

Effective today, RON97 will cost us Malaysian motorists RM2.70 per liter. This is up by 20 sen from RM2.50 per liter (which was increased not long ago in February 2011).

So now, we have:-

• 2nd Nov 2010 - RM2.15 per liter
• 1st Dec 2010 - RM2.30 per liter
• 5th Jan 2011 - RM2.40 per liter
• 1st Feb 2011 - RM2.50 per liter
• 2nd April 2011 - RM2.70 per liter

This was reported on multiple sites, namely:

The Malaysian Insider : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/ron97-petrol-up-20-sen-from-tomorrow/
The Star : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/1/nation/20110401211546&sec=nation
Paul Tan's Automotive Blog : http://paultan.org/2011/04/01/ron97-up-by-20-sen-tomorrow-to-rm2-70-a-litre/
The New Straits Times / Business Times : http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20110401205521/Article/

At least for now, the price of RON95 fuel remains fixed at RM1.90 per liter. For how long, is anyone's guess.

I wish this was a collaboration on an April Fool's joke, but I don't think that these highly respected sources would do such a thing (especially when the price of fuel is already a hot topic here in Malaysia). Well, we'll see if there's any news on this later today....

RON97 is now RM2.50 (not RM2.40) per liter

Just updated, based on the latest developments. The following text in grey is no longer true.
Well, the title of this post says it all - effective today onwards (until further notice, that is), a liter of RON97 petrol will now cost you RM2.40, up from RM2.30. The previous increase in RON97 was on 1st Dec 2010, not that long ago, from RM2.15 to RM2.30. This was just 1 month after a RM0.05 increase from RM2.10 to RM2.15 on 2nd Nov 2010.

So, looks like for RON97:-
2nd Nov 2010 - RM2.15 per liter
1st Dec 2010 - RM2.30 per liter
5th Jan 2011 - RM2.40 per liter
1st Feb 2011 - RM2.50 per liter (Updated 1 Feb 2011)

Does this trend mean that by first week of February, RON97 will be priced at RM2.45 to RM2.50 per liter? I hope not...!

This increase was reported in the local online news portals, such as The Star : http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/5/nation/7736829&sec=nation

For now, RON95 remains at RM1.90 per liter. Incidentally, it was increased by RM0.05 from RM1.85 on 4th Dec 2010, just 4 days after the increase in RON97 price, as I mentioned in the first paragraph above. Hmm, does this mean that by next week, RON95 prices would go up by RM0.05 to RM1.95 too? Once again, I hope not...!

There used to be around the "Premium" fuel by Shell, known as Shell Vpower. Vpower always retailed for a slightly higher price compared to regular RON97. Hmm, I wonder if they are still selling this, and how much it costs now?

Well, so that's the way petrol prices will be going, regardless of whether RON97 or, to a lesser extent, RON95. After the Government has decided to "withdraw the subsidy later and subject it to a managed float, where the price will be determined by an automatic pricing mechanism". Surprisingly, since floating, the prices have gone only upwards....

How does this affect me? Well, for the time being, not directly affected, as my car runs on RON95 (previously I used RON92 with no ill-effects, so definitely not a problem).

For those who are driving high performance vehicles which require a minimum of RON97 (like a certain species of Honda Civics), I guess they already can afford to purchase their premium cars, so to keep them running and fueled should not be too much of a burden.

For the rest of us, other alternative fuel vehicles include:-

1. Diesel - it may still a little-known fact that a diesel engine are much more powerful and fuel-economical than a petrol engine (some 30%-35%, according to the US Department of Energy. See: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/di_diesels.shtml). Plus, car makers continued refinement of diesel engines have narrowed the gap in terms of performance, noise and smoothness (as well as emissions) compared to petrol engines - a far cry to what diesel-powered cars used to be like just a few years ago! Diesel comes from the ground (oil), but bio-diesel, which comes from vegetable oil or animal fat, can also be used to run your car (possibly with exhaust gas smelling like french fries!). Does kind of make it a renewable source of energy of some sort, compared to standard diesel / petrol.

2. Hybrid Electric - all things being equal, a small engine will use less fuel than a large engine. One of the ways to make up for the loss in cubic-centimeters (and hence, horsepower / torque) is to supplement the engine with an electric motor. Available now in Malaysia are the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and Honda Insight (from most expensive to cheapest). All of the hybrid vehicles that I see so far are Petrol + Electric, which makes me wonder how come no one has put together a Diesel + Electric hybrid vehicle, which would run on even much less $$$!

3. CNG / LPG - Compressed Natural Gass or less commonly, Liquified Petroleum Gas (also known as "Autogas"), this form of fuel became popular initially when the prices of petrol started to shoot up after the reduction of government subsidies. There are available conversion kits that allow your car to run on CNG, at the expense of some boot space and also a loss in power (compared to if you were using petrol). Unfortunately, CNG refueling stations are still a rare sight in this country, as prior to this, the main users of CNG were taxis. I believe CNG was only RM0.68 per liter - anyone know the current price?

4. Fully Electric vehicles and Hydrogen-powered vehicles - still far, far away over the horizon in terms of technical support as well as refueling / recharging infrastructure, as far as Malaysia is concerned. I just wonder, since over here, road tax is based on the engine capacity of the Internal Combustion Engine (example, road tax for a Honda Civic Hybrid with a 1.3 liter ICE costs the same as that of a Perodua Myvi, also with a 1.3 liter ICE), what about a Fully Electric vehicle with absolutely no real "Engine"? :)

5. Solar Power - Anyone in Malaysia can tell you that we live here in the Land of Eternal Summer, so a Solar Powered vehicle would be very effective here (unless it was rainy season, of course). Other than those funny shaped vehicles that university students keep building and using to break new records, I don't see any ready solar powered vehicles in the pipeline from any of the car manufacturers.

Well, looking at the way things are going, the next car that I change to would probably be a hybrid vehicle (once the technology seems stable enough), or perhaps a diesel. I wouldn't say that I've given up on petrol fuel - just that with changing times and advancements in technology, alternative powered vehicles are now beginning to appeal more to the masses....


UPDATE [1st February 2011, 6.38pm] : RON97 is now up RM0.10 to RM.2.50 per liter! See http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/1/nation/7913991&sec=nation

Fuel is now cheaper (again)

Hmm, I've still got more than 1/3 of a tankful of Vpower from my last refueling run, and yet, yesterday, the Government announced yet another drop in petrol prices!

So, with the global price of oil dropping below USD50 per barrel, it's only a matter of time before the next fuel price revision. Here in Malaysia, the price of fuel is still regulated by the Government, who was supposed to finalize any time now whether or not to float the oil prices, just like every body else is doing.

So today, at the pumps, the prices are:

• RON 97 - RM 1.80 per liter
• RON 92 - RM 1.70 per liter
• Diesel - RM 1.70 per liter
• Vpower - RM 2.18 per liter (information from the guys at 8GCC)

On a separate note, local fishermen are still on strike as their extra subsidized diesel is still RM 1.30 per liter (just reduced from RM 1.43). They were expecting to pay only RM 1.00....
That price also applies to holders of Fleet Cards and Diesel Discount Cards (for certain commercial clients with more than 3 vehicles and for those who are eligible under the Government's subsidized diesel control scheme respectively). Obviously, to apply you'll need an Official Approval Letter’ from Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA). For Fleet cards, only certain industries apply, for example, you will be entitled for one if you are with the Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association or Pan Malaysian Lorry Owners Association.

And the price of Vpower today is.....

As per the last revision in fuel prices, RON97 is now at RM1.90 per liter (refer to here for details). As usual, no one ever publishes the price for Vpower, so today, I went to investigate and found out that a liter of Vpower costs RM2.35.

It's reported in the front page of the Star Newspaper today that the Government is now making RM 16KK per day, instead of shelling out for subsidies as it was doing so just a few months ago.
See : http://www.thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2008/12/6/nation/2736651.asp&sec=nation

In any case, the Government will announce next week whether they will implement a floor price for petrol and diesel, as these days the price of crude oil is really, really cheap!

Petrol prices at an all time low!

It happens again. Just when you thought petrol prices are as low as they'd ever get - the Government announces yet another drop! Now:

• RON97 = RM 1.90 per liter
• RON92 = RM 1.80 per liter
• Diesel = RM 1.80 per liter
• Vpower = ??? (never announced anywhere, only one way to find out....)

Hurray? Petrol is now basically cheaper than mineral water. And just before the school holidays, too. I only hope that this will result in lower electricity tariffs and hence reduction in the prices of food and other essentials.

Source : NST, The Star, Paultan.org

Current price of Shell Vpower

Two days ago, out of curiosity, dropped by the nearest Shell petrol station to refuel with Vpower. Now Vpower is not available at all Shell stations, so I went to the one at Air Keroh (opposite the Mamee factory). Found out that a liter of Vpower now costs RM2.45. Hmm, compared to RM2.00 per liter of RON97 and RM1.90 per liter of RON92. Now, some time ago, RON97 cost RM1.92 while Vpower cost RM2.15 per liter. This means that there is now a much larger price difference between RON97 and Vpower, which makes it much less enticing than before....

Now, if you read the hype for Vpower, it's supposed to be slightly higher RON (in Malaysia, apparently it's at RON98, but normal cars like mine can do fine on RON97 or even RON92). The RON number really has no impact on fuel economy, so there is no advantage of using Vpower in that sense if all you are looking for is better fuel economy.

Now, Vpower also advertises to contain special additives / friction reduction, etc.. but then again, so does everyone else. So, which one you choose is really up to your personal opinion. Just like a fish burger at McDonald's, KFC and the Ramli Burger stall - everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

With rumours of another reduction in petrol prices just around the corner, it's anyone's guess what the new fuel pricing will be.

RON92 for RM2.00

Yep. Inevitably, the price of fuel is going down yet again.

Article at The Star : http://www.thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2008/11/17/nation/20081117183055.asp&sec=nation

Just gone halfway through my last refueling, now already fuel's cheaper by RM0.15 per liter.

RON92 and Diesel are also down by RM0.15.

Wonder how much Vpower is now...?

Fuel prices down again.

With dipping oil prices now in the region of USD60~70 per barrel, our petrol prices have gone down by yet another 15 sen for RON97, to RM2.15 per liter. This isn't actually at the same level it use to be (RM1,92), but since the price peaked at RM2.70 in the middle of the year, today's price can be considered "relatvely low".

Now, when petrol prices went up, soon to follow were prices of food and groceries - excuse given is that, well, the cost of logistics has gone up. Also, the tariff for electricity rose too, by roughly 25%. When petrol price hikes were announced in the past, in the beginning this sparked off some mass refueling at petrol stations. Long queues of cars were seen lined up at all petrol stations, and even some heated arguments and queue-jumping (motorcyclists being the major offenders). Now that the price drops are announced, there is an opposite effect of people refraining from refueling, until the price drop comes in to effect. Now the petrol dealers, who had to purchase their petrol at the old higher price, start to complaint, and thus appeal to the government to stagger the drop in petrol price, instead of letting it drop all the way down overnight. Never mind that only a few months ago, they could sell off their existing stock of petrol bought at a lower price for a much higher one after the petrol prices went up. Some dealers apparently closed their pumps and declared "out of stock", in order to capitalize on this. Evidently, people only remember bad experiences and forget the good ones (who was complaining when the prices went up?).

Well, now that petrol prices have gone down, we have yet to see any real evidence in reduction of food and groceries whose prices were increase as their prices were allegedly linked to the petrol increase in the first place. And now, these same people can offer and explanation as to why food prices WILL NOT go down with cheaper petrol prices (these people think of everything).

Quote from the Star (http://thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2008/10/29/nation/2387778.asp&sec=nation) :

Wednesday October 29, 2008

Restaurateurs explain why food won’t get cheaper

PETALING JAYA: Food at restaurants and hawker stalls will not be cheaper despite the price cut of consumer goods by hypermarkets.

“It does not make sense for us to reduce the price of food at restaurants unless the petrol price is reverted to RM1.92,” said Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Associa­tion president Jamarulkhan Kadir.

“All this while, we have been absorbing higher costs as we haven’t been increasing our food prices even after the price hikes. So I don’t see why we should lower our prices now,” he told The Star yesterday.

Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association president Datuk Ramalingam Pillai also felt that the petrol price reduction did not justify restaurants charging their customers less.

“The question of us cutting our prices does not arise as we have always maintained our prices,” he said, adding that it was only fair that restaurants made up for their reduced profits now.

Taiping Hawkers Association chair­man Tan Thian Kooi said it was un­­likely that hawkers would lower their prices because suppliers were reluctant to reduce the price of ingre­dients.

“It is difficult for hawker food prices to change according to petrol prices as they are also dependent on the cost of supplies,” he said.

Tan added that the high electricity tariff would deter factories producing the ingredients to lower prices.

Well, the downside of this petrol price reduction?

• People are returning to their old (bad) driving habits, driving fast and furiously with no regard to economical driving methods. In the past few days, I have been tailgated by nearly every form of road vehicle on four wheels (and also those with more than four will too). Banished from mention are the talks on fuel economy, MPG, hypermilling, hybrids and (dread) NGV that were the spotlight of talk and banter just a few months ago.

• Our country actually exports oil (Petronas), so our budget for next year, based on projected income forecast from oil sales (at the former high price), seems to be unworkable now. So, we have plans, but no money. Hope the government gets this one sorted out soon, otherwise everyone will rush to do their projects in Jan 2009!

• Public transportation use is declining as more people take to the roads in their own vehicles once again. This is evident in the increase in traffic density and jams when driving through the city.
  

Well, I hope that drivers come to realize that petrol is a non-renewable source of energy, that will continue to dwindle as time goes by. We should conserve our resources and take only what we need, less we leave nothing behind for our children to inherit!

Refueling after the 5th June 2008 price increase

This morning, went to the nearest Petrol Station to refuel my Civic, with no bars left on the fuel gauge. The roads were surprisingly empty and traffic was thin.

At the pumps, did everything as normal. Usually, one full tank of RON97 at RM1.92 would cost ~RM80. Today, the petrol bill came up to RM112.13!

Now, that's high by anyone's standards. Noticed that the actual fuel price is RM2.704 per liter, and not RM2.70 as announced. Where did the extra 0.4 sen come from?

Heading out of the petrol station and onward to the office, the lack of cars on the road is really apparent. Even just now, went out for a meeting at Avillion Hotel, traffic was light and smooth flowing. Looks like everyone is now using their cars sparingly (one of the advantages of this fuel hike, is that now people know how to conserve petrol, and not waste it!).

There are talks now that fuel price would soon be unsubsidized and recalculated on a monthly basis, so who knows what will the future bring...?

The greatest increase in Petrol Pricing ever!

In 19 minutes time, the price of petrol at our pumps will be revised as follows:-

RON97 - RM2.70 per liter from RM1.92 per liter
RON92 - RM2.62 per liter from RM1.88 per liter
Diesel - RM2.58 per liter from RM1.58 per liter

Came as a surprise as the announcement was made just this afternoon.

I was caught off guard. My Civic was dangerously low on fuel. Yet, unfortunately, it was not possible to refuel as all fuel stations were packed with long queues of cars lining up to fill their tanks - like it was going to make any difference....

End up they waste time and waste fuel waiting in line. While those of us who genuinely needed to refuel could not afford to do so.

I drove my wife and little baby girl back home from my mother-in-law's place, keeping an eye on the fuel gauge all the time. Just arrived. Fuel tank - zero bars left, but thankfully, we made it home. Tomorrow, need to go and fill up at the nearest petrol station. I guess it'll be empty, since everyone's busy filling their tanks tonight!

Sigh, doesn't look good for us....

RON92 - what it's like after 2 tanks full of the stuff....

First tank full was with BHP RON92, second tank filled up with Caltex Techron RON92. As I've mentioned before, my decision is to use Caltex for RON92 refuelling, because they are the only one so far who declare that they include their additive (Techron) in both RON92 and RON97 fuel.

I'll refrain from putting in my personal feelings from my "butt dyno" since this will be purely psychological. I do reiterate however, that there is no significant difference in terms of performance and noise.

Now, up to this stage, my average is 11.322km/l or 8.905l/100km. According to the spec sheet on the Australian Honda Civic Web Page, my FD2 should be doing 8.4l/100km on a combined cycle. So, my average is slightly worse than spec....

With the first tankful of RON92, I got 10.814km/l or 9.247l/100km. Second tank, due to my recent trip to KL and also the discover of Hypermilling (which should not be adopted 100% - just take the few key practical pointers), I got 13.382km/l or 7.473l/100km. This is significantly better than spec. Note that this is not my best ever FC record (I've achieved 13.703km/l or 7.297l/100km before). So, I can say that driving style and road conditions greatly affect fuel economy.

I am planning some modifications on my ride, which theoretically will not impact FC (actually, I plan to improve it). Unfortunately, Desmond could not get the stuff in in time (so now, instead of being "poisoned", it is actually the other way around!). Will write more about it once I get the mods installed....