Premium Fuel vs. Standard Fuel

[Chris7]

Has any owners of a ZS Hybrid noticed a performance or fuel efficiency difference when using premium fuel?

 

[mick78]

Given that the engine is setup for 95, and the general complexity of the hybrid setup not making you feel that much of the engine directly, I doubt you would feel a lot if at all;

It makes occasionally though sense to use higher octane as it typically also comes with less ethanol content, thus having a bit of a cleaning effect, and if for whatever reason you park a car for over say 2 months, more ethanol can be an issue occasionally.

 

[Lovemyev]

We owned a VAG PHEV for over four years and 30,000 miles before going full BEV in 2019.
It 100% liked running on the higher grade of fuel alright !.
When the car demanded the assistance of the ICE the introduction of the engine had a lot smoother uptake, when running on the higher grade of fuel.
It actually returned better MPG figures also.
Was it enough to cover the extra expense of the more costly fuel ?.
Maybe not, but you could certainly tell the difference when we were running on the lower grade of fuel alright, it never as smooth or responce somehow.
At first I thought it was just my imagination, but over time I did try alternating the fuel grades and you could easily tell after only a few short miles.
I would run the tank fairly low and then try half filling the tank with the higher grade fuel, as an experiment.
It was noticeable every single time !.
The Golf GTE did have a performance 1.4 TSI engine from the factory, not the standard 1.4 unit found the standard Golf TSI.
We had a Shell station very close by that offered the higher grade of fuel.
I did try using the Tesco Monument higher grade of fuel also on a couple of occasions, just as a comparison.
I personally feel that the Shell fuel had the edge though.

 

[mick78]

Thing is, the VW engine is a turbo, unlike the MG'S NA engine, and most VW group turbos are happier with 98/100 octane fuel.