Our tips for choosing the right type of fuel

By Steve George

October 10, 2013Cars

petrol-pump

With so many types of car fuels available these days, a thorough research is sometimes needed to decide which one should to use. Maybe this wouldn’t have been such a problem 20 years ago when gas prices were very low and no one really cared about fuel cost efficiency. However, today fuel efficiency have become one of the many characteristics that drivers are looking for in a vehicle. Therefore, car manufacturers are trying to serve all customer needs and are constantly improving and developing new types of fuel systems such as petrol, diesel, Bio-diesel, auto-gas (liquified petroleum gas), ethanol blend and hybrids. These types of fuel differ from one another in many aspects and according to log book service, even the cost of certain car services depends on the type of fuel a vehicle uses. Aside from this, rising petrol prices in some sense force car owners to do LPG conversion in Melbourne auto shops. In this article, we’ll explain differences between most commonly used fuel types.

Petrol

Petrol was first used as a fuel for vehicles in 1986 by the popular Karl Benz. Unleaded petrol is today the most known commercial type of fuel. It comes in different variations all available at any gas station – Unleaded, Premium Unleaded and High Octane 98. Because vehicles were made with internal combustion engines, car owners were able to ‘feed’ their cars with petrol only. And it was Premium unleaded and High Octane petrol that were used for sports cars and high performance vehicles only. But due to the many studies and researches which showed that petrol is a very polluting type of fuel, fuel and energy scientists started to create new alternatives.

Diesel

Diesel is the most known alternative to petrol that proved to be a cheaper solution which also proved to be lower in harmful emissions. With the invention of new car models which featured increased emission, finding a less harmful fuel like diesel seemed inevitable. Cars that run on diesel fuel are also more cost efficient and get better mileage than petrol cars or cars that have undergone LPG conversion.

Bio diesel

Bio-diesel, as the name implies, is cleaner fuel compared to regular one. It is made out of natural vegetable oils which is why it causes less emissions than petrol and regular diesel fuel. However, not all cars are bio-diesel compatible so drivers need to access their log book service records to see if they can use it.

Auto-gas

Like we said, many car owners are turning to LPG conversion as a cheaper alternative. Aside from being cleaner fuel when compared to diesel and petrol, LP gas is not prone to various tax rates imposed on other types of fuel. Consequently, it is cheaper and saves more money to car owners.