You say you "get what I'm saying...then go of at a tangent, then go back & reiterate in a different whey what I'm saying & then disagree with that I'm saying....
Plenty of "95" RON marked MK7 Golfs like GTI have been dyno'd before remaps...many run on 98RON & many run on 95RON...& a general trend is that those on 98RON BEFORE remapping make MORE BHP than those just on 95RON...simple plain facts...98RON does make more BHP
If as you state that there is no benefit of running a 95RON marked car on 98RON & that it couldn't cope as it isn't built for it as the internal components are not as heat/strength resistant….then please explain the masses of cars & MK7 GTIs which are successfully running 98RON stage 1 maps (ECU end stops on data parameters opened up) with no other alterations to them & are making more BHP than your "98RON specific" R....& reliably...
VW will write the ECU data for both 95 & 98RON for a 95RON marked car......the car will make more use of 98RON under high load, high rpm conditions compared to using 95RON fuel...the ECU data parameters will allow this.....
UPTO the point that it causes problems with the engine due to high thermal load/damage & the safety end stops on the data intervene…….your 98RON "specific" as it has extra strengthening will have wider parameters written into the ECU as it can physically cope with the extra heat...…
Higher octane allows the ECU to use the full parameter range that is written in....
In simple diagrammatic terms to use as an example...say on a scale of 1 to 10....91RON fuel has ECU parameters in the range 1-3...95RON is 4-7...& 98RON is 8-10...….
The car with "91RON min" on the fuel flap will have values written unto it from 1-10 to cope will all the fuels knock & combustion responses in that engine...BUT the ECU will wind back/reduce from the "10" value in certain rpm & load conditions because the engine cannot physically cope with the heat etc...…
The car with "98RON" on the fuel flap will only have values from 8-10 written on it, but because the engine can physically cope with the heat etc there will be NO winding/reducing the values back as a safety net....
I don't know how much simpler I can make it for you to understand...
PS I never attributed the whole % gain in my car just to the fuel I stated that its just the drop in ITG filter & the fuel...but you state that it can't be the fuel...therefore the gain must be just the filter (according to you)...these filters don't make that much gain... & unfortunately these cars don't make a big % over book when run in on plain 95RON......so it is both the 98RON fuel & the air filter which makes the big % gain in bhp in my car.....
I know those filters make next to nowt - 1% if you're lucky - they're pretty pointless at stock power. The MAF ensures that stoichiometric air to fuel ratio is maintained and the stock filter is more than capable of supplying all the air needed, even at the end of its service life and partially blocked. So if you are attributing your 21% overperformance to fuel and filter and acknowledge that the filter is doing next to nowt, then the fuel must be responsible for almost all that gain.
There is no-one here in this forum with their RON95 optimised GTI PP who were putting in RON95 and are now putting in V-Power or Momentum99 and claiming TCR rivalling performance. At best they claim slightly smoother running and marginal gains that are small enough to be placebo effect
No way is your unmodified (save for the filter) 140ps 1.4 making 167ps because of your use of RON98/99. I doubt it's making more than 150-155ps, and that'll be due to a good run in and VW conservative stock figures.
The fact that 230ps GTIs are remapped to 300ps without failing immediately (apart from manual clutch failure) means nothing to your argument. VW maintain an engineering standard relative to stock power, to ensure it can cope, with some margin. If VW thought that their stock 230 PP could make 20% extra power simply by switching from RON95 to RON99, they'd ensure it had the same internals as the R and TCR. Otherwise, why do they make the R and TCR engine with hardier materials with better heat resistance? Why would they bin your warranty if they know you're remapping? Its because your stock car has been designed to run at stock levels (inclusive of some natural variance), and not at 20%+ of reported stock output.
An R puts out 22% more power than a 245 Performance because its using 20%+ more fuel at full tilt, not because the RON98 fuel is deriving 22% more power per volume than RON95.
Some simple questions for you to answer:
1. Why do 245 Performance GTI owners bother with a remap when (according to you) they can just put RON99 fuel in and one of your filters (which you admit does next to nowt) to get 295ps?
2. Why don't VW publish performance and economy figures for both fuel types if a RON95 optimised 245ps GTI can run like a TCR if you feed it RON99?
3. Why would anyone buy a 290ps TCR, running RON99 when they could buy a 245 performance and fill it with RON99 instead of RON95 to get 295ps?
4. Why aren't TCRs more economical than 245 GTIs on the WLTP testing cycle, with lower CO2 emissions to match, if you think that combustion of RON98/99 fuel is so much more efficient than combusting RON95 fuel (even accounting for slight weight differences between the 2)?
5. Why do VW. make the TCR/R/CSS engine variants with more robust and heat resistant internals, bigger intercoolers etc. if the 245 GTI is capable from stock of matching it for power if you give it RON99 fuel?
I'd like to know what your answers are to the above.
My answer to all of the above is that a 20% gain in power for using RON99 on a RON95 optimised car is bollocks and that a RON95 optimised car processes higher RON fuels the same way as it would RON95, with a timing setting to suit RON95. If there are any marginal gains, they will be because the timing is advanced to the top end of the RON95 range, with that RON99 fuel being combusted as an ideal RON95 fuel. Those gains will be tiny, like seeing slightly smoother running at the top end because the fuel is nowhere near the cusp of preignition when it is spark ignited, no meaningful bhp or mpg gains. Certainly nowhere near enough to justify the additional cost.
Your argument is based on the premise that your car would be running 140ps on RON95 fuel but is running 169ps/167bhp on RON99 and a largely superfluous filter.
You also assume that running under slightly higher temps/pressures as per a true RON98 optimised car is significantly more efficient. It isn't - it's a tiny step towards the way diesels operate under much higher temperature and pressure, a tiny step, whilst using fuel that is slightly less calorific than RON95.