A few people came to me to better understand what RON actually is, and it is quite a nuisance nowadays, right after the fuel price went up, yet again. Oh, the fuel price is up? Has anyone notice it? Not really though, because it happened quite discretely few days ago. Hardly noticeable. Brilliantly, the RON issue is covering up the few extra cents margin from promised price, once ago.
I have no heart to bash the price hike today as I feel more technical. So let’s get going on understanding what RON is.
A lot of people have been complaining about their engines are rougher than ever, louder than usual, no initial pick up at the start, blabla here blabla there, when they started to use RON95 fuel. I think these are only psychological effects of being on the other side of the river from the government. I don’t mind people criticising the price though, but what came across is more people are complaining RON95 instead of the price.
What is RON? RON stands for Research Octane Number, technically is a resistance measure of fuel to detonate in a fuel combustion engine. The higher the number is, the higher the resistance of the fuel to detonate. This means, higher RON is needed for higher compression ratio vehicle, to avoid engine knock, or premature fuel detonation (explosion due to high compression, not spark ignition). So basically, lower compression ratio vehicles (surely, lower performance cars) won’t be needing such a high RON number. You can fill up with RON97, but there will be no significant result. You can use up to RON300 (if any) if you like, but there will be no improvement in terms of power or fuel consumption.
Let me put it this way. Imagine that you’re buying a bulletproof vest. You have two options. Option number one, a half inch thick vest which can take, say, a .35 calibre bullet, priced at RM1000. Option number 2 is an inch thick vest which can take maybe .45 calibre bullet, and the price is RM2000. And now imagine that in this world, the maximum calibre of the biggest gun is .30. Tell me now, why would you choose option number 2? To feel safer or you just have too much money to spend? This situation applies on the dilemma of RON95 (vest number one) and RON97 (vest number two).
Get it?
To sum it up, there is no pros and cons between RON95 and RON97. RON95 suits the lower performance vehicles, and RON97 for higher performance vehicles. Unless you mess it up. So there is nothing to blame on the fuel rating. The blame should go to you as a car owner. You should start reading the vehicle’s manuals (I can bet only 5% of Malaysians read the manual book provided by the vehicle’s manufacturer) before saying something recklessly.
This confusion is pretty much the same like engine lubrication oil. Everybody thinks that full synthetic oil is the best for all car as it is lighter and more durable. Not necessarily, friends. For vehicles 10+ years old, full synthetic oil will only fork your money more and more. It does not lubricate your engine enough and does not transfer the heat efficiently. Moreover, the thin profile of the oil will easily leak out through minor openings of the old engine. And we actually don’t need those super duper 5W-50 full synthetic rating for our cars, practically in Malaysia’s climate. 50 means that the oil can ‘tighten up’, not to be too thin in a 50 degree Centigrade or above, while 5W means it can actually ‘loosen up’ to be as thin so that it can flow nicely at minus 20 degree Centigrade or lower.
Now guys, tell me, where the hell in Malaysia can we find a place as hot as 50 degree Celcius or as cold -20 degree Celcius? You’re actually spending more for nothing, thinking that you car has increased its power by using more expensive oil, yet you actually doing silly thing by unnecessarily damaging your cars internal parts. A mere placebo indeed. P/S: Just my two cents. Correct me if I’m wrong.
PS: My two cents. Let me know if I’m wrong.
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This was it. Notice the dent at the center. That was where it hit the stopper bar. Good job, Mitsubishi engineers. You guys seems to know well where to put that bar. Bulls-eye!
Selepas dibogelkan. Oh sedihnya pemandangan ini. Can you see the stopper bar that points downward beneath the headlamp? Well, you won’t see that on the other side as it was bent inside. 
Dah nampak dah ciri-ciri keganasan tu. =)
Finally. Sexier than Megan Fox in Transformers. Tougher than Gerrard Butler in 300. Priceless.
