What Does RON95/RON97 Stands For And What You Should Know About It

First of all, starting on 1st December 2014, the government will remove the subsidies on RON95 and diesel fuels. That would mean that instead of paying a subsidised price of RM2.30 per litre now at the time of writing, we will have to pay the full price which is RM2.43 per litre for RON95 and RM2.32 per litre for diesel. That will be an additional 13 cents per litre for the fuel that we use everyday! 

November 2014 petrol price.
Image from paultan.org

I don't want to complain about the subsidy anymore because it wouldn't make a difference anyway but since RON97 is just 12 cents short of the unsubsidized RON95 (RON97 priced at RM2.55 per litre now), should you pull the trigger and pump RON97 petrol into your car?

First let's take a look at what RON95/RON97 really means.

RON, the acronym for Research Octane Number, stands for the octane number in your fuel. Octanes are hydrocarbons that basically made up most of the petrol that you pump into your car every time you are at the petrol station (besides some other hydrocarbons and additives). That being said, RON95 means the octane number of your fuel is 95. Be mindful that RON95 does not means that the fuel is made out of 95% octane!

I believe that you can work out that RON97 has an octane number of 97, duh.

We often hear from our parents, friends and colleagues that using RON97 is better, and how the fuel will help to "protect" our engines, but do we really know how it works?

Do you even know what does those numbers behind RON stands for?

 Image by rakyattimes.com

A higher octane number means that the fuel has a higher compression ratio. The fuel will be able to withstand more compression from the piston before it ignites and burn perfectly to push the piston downwards again to generate movement. Technical aside, a lower octane number fuel cannot withstand a higher compression force from the piston and will ignite more easily (or explode!) which leads to pre-ignition and will usually cause engine knocking as well, and those two things don't do too good to your engine walls.

However, there are some cars that are only able to use RON97 fuel or any fuel that has higher octane number because 97 is their minimum octane number, just like how most of our cars have minimums too. We cannot pump lower than minimum octane number fuels into our engines or you have to pay for the consequences-lah. If you pump the obsolete RON92 into your car, you might hear some knocking noise coming from your engine. Each manufacturer has a different minimums, that being said, I am sure most of our cars have RON95 as the minimum.

But, if you have been using RON95 all the while and it does not causes any engine knocking, you really don't have any reason to change to RON97 at all. The main reason why people need to use RON97 is because their engines are knocking with the RON95. Why do you want to use a better fuel if the problem doesn't affects you? Maybe some speed? Apparently, RON97 fuel does not give you the extra power you need but if you change to a lower octane number fuel below the minimum standard set by your manufacturer, your power and speed will decrease dramatically (somehow caused by the engine knocking issue)!

Only those engines that are DESIGNED to work with high compression ratio fuels will be able to take advantage of the higher octane number fuels, leading to higher power output and speed. 

Yesterday my friend told me that we cannot mix RON95 and RON97 fuels together cause it is bad for the engine. I was unwilling to believe that because I myself have tried mixing them up and apparently my engine is still working just fine. I told my friend that I will do more research on it and here we are, the purpose of this post! Contrary to what my friend heard, we CAN mix them together. It will not cause any noticeable adverse effect to our engines and will also not cause any additional improvement as well (refer bolded words above).

Image by adrinis.com

So the next time you step into the petrol station, decide first which fuel is better for you and your engine (by you I mean your wallet-lah! HAHAHAHA).

TLDR version: If you pump RON95 your whole life, continue to pump it unless you got extra money for RON97 or your engine is producing knocking noise with the RON95. 

Discussion is welcome!

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating#RON
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_knocking
http://star-motoring.com/TipGuides/Your-RON-questions-answered.aspx
http://www.bmwclubmalaysia.com/forums/forum/the-bmw-range/-5-series/e60-e61/40456-ron-97-95
http://www.zerotohundred.com/newforums/car-talk/405494-mixing-ron95-with-ron97.html

How to Get Into an Accident!

After a few months of driving on a constant heavy traffic highway, I have came up with my very own methods on how to get into an accident! I am so thrilled to share this with you cause it seems like everyone is practicing it (well, maybe just 90% of them). It is apparent to me that my friends practice it too! They do seem pretty comfortable doing it. Anyway, here is a few ways on how to get into an accident. No, really, it is about how to get into an accident. 

Note: The numbering does not indicate the level of success rate of getting a car accident, only as a reference of the list. 

#1 Floor the pedal!

Floor the pedal means having to step your foot on the pedal and press it till it reaches the floor of your mat. What does that do? Well, that will increase the rate of fuel combustion, making your engine pistons to run in an extremely fast manner and increase the speed of your car. You shouldn't really care about the driving limit anyway, what can a board do to stop you? It's not like it will chase after you, really. And if an officer did caught you in action, there is always a way to settle. Oh right, do not mind the other drivers on road as well! They should be the one that gives you your way. After all, why should you care about others?

#2 Break the light indicator stalk!

It is not likely that you will be using it at all, so why put an extra weight to your car? Just break it off and tear it apart! Indicator sucks, boo!

#3 Troll others with your light indicator!

Doesn't matter if you are going to turn right, just keep your indicator blinking on the left! It is so fun to troll others sometimes and if they hit you, tell them you used the indicator. "I got use the indicator-leh" is the statement to win all statement. You win! Or or or, you can have your indicator blinking all the time and have others to guess which route you will actually turn while you were just gonna drive straight! Troll success!!!

#4 Drive with ego!

You are an egotistical person, and you gotta show it to others man. You are never wrong. Others are always at fault cause you are the man of the road! Show them a middle finger if they disagree. They can't step down of the vehicle and chase you anyway. If they did, just hit them-lah. Show them who is the boss. 

#5 Drive at the emergency lane!

I need to get back home early or my wife is gonna kill me. See? That is real emergency! I got to use the emergency lane and cut all of you off. What if an ambulance had to use the emergency lane? Oh it is alright, the patient is gonna die anyway. I am still very much alive and kicking and need to get back home to my scrumptious dinner! If the emergency lane is jammed, I will just cut back into the normal lanes by force and pretend nothing happen. Nope, I didn't use the emergency lane. No I did not, no no.

#6 Cut the Qcumber-lah (queue)!

Many of us do this. Everyone did this. Heck, I should do it too, right?! Why other people can do I cannot do? Where got fair, right or not? I am not killing anyone or setting people's house on fire, I am just cutting the queue-mah. Where got wrong? Give me chance-lah, tomorrow I promise I will follow the queue (fingers crossed). You don't give me cut, I force my way in-loh and make a poker face when you looked at me. My car Proton Wira 13 years old scrap declared by the government, yours is the new BMW 9-series. Who win? You don't give way then you die, I die, everybody die!

#7 Screw the double lines!

Got double lines? Screw them. I do not know what is the use of those lines anyway, I bought my ways in during the Undang test. Double lines means you may change to the other lanes, only slowly right? Broken white lines means you can just change to that line with your normal or top speed, right? Yes! If I'm wrong, refer #4.

#8 And yes, my father own the road!

"Your father's road ah?!?!" - Yes, this IS my father's road. You blow? I like to drive how then how-lah. Why should I even care about you or any other drivers. I drive gentle, people cut me. I drive rude, people still cut me. I gotta drive like its my father's road then only people start giving ways to me. 

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If anyone still hadn't realise what I am trying to convey here, you are probably a good driver. Probably. Please drive with courtesy and employ the spirit of giving way. It is not always bad to stop and give way to others.  

All photos are not taken by me, so the credits go to their rightful owner. This post serves as a reminder to all the drivers out there and should never be used as a guide to really get into an accident. If you cannot detect the sarcasm, it is not my fault.