Despite the change of ministry leadership, the proposed restructuring of fuel grades and pricing will go ahead as scheduled. The new Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has announced that the price of RON97 fuel will be increased to RM2.00 per liter from the 1st of September 2009 onwards. That is an RM0.20 increase from the current price. We’ve paid RM2 per liter for RON97 before as that was the price during the period of the 18th of November 2008 to the 2nd of December 2008. Also on September 1st, RON95 and Euro 2M diesel are expected to be introduced into the market. RON 95 petrol will be available at all petrol stations nationwide retailing at RM1.75 per litre. This will replace the RON92 petrol, and push RON97 petrol as premium product to RM2 per litre, 20 sen more than the current price. You might have seen numbers like RON97 and RON92 at your neighbourhood petrol station. Fuel with a RON97 rating is more expensive, RM1.92 per liter at time of writing with the lower RON92 rating going for RM1.88.
Have you ever wondered what they mean? Why is RON97 more expensive than RON92, and can you use RON92 to save on fuel costs? The following will give you an idea what is the differences between RON92, RON95 and RON97 :- Many said that RON92 oil is the older oil, only suitable for older cars or for cars that uses carburetor only. There are also some that said that RON92 oil will make the engine dirty and also said that that RON92 oil is less powerful compared to RON97 and RON99.
Before you make any false assumptions, let us see what the real meaning of RON is. RON stands for Research Octane Number. Octane number or octane rating refers to the gasoline ability to withstand auto ignition (knocking) inside the engine. Higher octane number refers to higher ability of the oil to fight auto ignition. In other words, it means that RON95 is harder to ignite compared to RON92.Different vehicles are designed to be use with different octane number of oil. Higher octane number oil is basically designed for high performance vehicles such as sport vehicle and racing vehicle. Why is that so? This is to avoid premature ignition of oil inside the engine because of auto ignition, which happens before the spark plug ignite the fuel. This phenomenon is known as knocking. Knocking is not wanted because it reduces the performance of vehicle. The right usage of octane number based on design and adjustment of engine will maximize the performance and effectiveness of the vehicle. Modern vehicles are equipped with knock sensor which enables it to adjust its combustion timing automatically according to the oil octane number to avoid knocking or premature ignition of oil.
Not all vehicles require high octane number petrol.
You can check your vehicle fuel requirement inside the guide book of your vehicle or you can simply check the minimum Octane Rating at the back of the fuel lid cover of your vehicle. Most cars can still use RON92. Higher RON number does not means that it is more powerful. It means that it is harder to ignite. It is also cost you more. It is a misunderstanding to think that RON97 fuels produce more power than RON92 fuels, even more so with the fact that in reality a higher RON number means the fuel burns less easily! RON refers to the ability of the fuel to resist knocking and nothing else. By pumping the RON97 into a car which engine only requires the RON92, all you are going to get is an emptier wallet hardly counts for performance gains via weight reduction!
If you find that your engine can use RON92 petrol and decide to save a bit of money, do check out if a petrol stations RON92 petrol is leaded or unleaded. All RON97 petrol is unleaded, but some RON92 petrol might be leaded although this could be very very rare today.