97 92 95

Nope, not a measurement of a human body. That is the RON rating of fuels in Malaysia. Before this there was only RON 97 and RON 92. Everyone fuel up RON 97 because there was false belief that RON 92 was those leaded fuel (which was banned in the 80s or early 90s). Its still unleaded fuel like RON 97, but at a lower RON rating. According to most car manual except for high performance cars and some European cars, most cars can run well on RON 92, since it can run as low as RON 91. Now RON 92 was phased out and replaced with RON 95, which is what most cars still can use. The current price of fuel at the time I wrote this entry down is RM 1.85 for RON 95 and 2.10 for RON 97. There has been reports circulating that RON 97 price will be given an adjusted "float" which means it the price will almost match the world fuel price (it might go up and down periodically).

My sister, dad and many other people have sworn that RON 97 was much better for their cars as it gives them more pickup (acceleration) and economy than RON 95. I tried to fill it up in my humble Viva. At first, it seems that it does feel a bit "light" it seems that the car response better. Perhaps its just my mind playing tricks on me. I wanted to try it for the whole week before fueling it up, however my brother, as usual left me with an almost empty tank. So I decide to fill it up with RON 95 again.

Surprisingly, the car felt "heavy". That lightness that I got from RON 97 was not there. I to press the accelerator pedal a bit more to get to the speed I want.

Hmmm there is not enough scientific evidence to compare between the two fuel, except for that first moment when you press on the accelerator. Mind you, when I filled up my car with RON 97, it was RM 6 more expensive than RON 95. Hmm.. no wonder some people swore on using RON 97 only, my family uses only Petronas, but some of the newer Petronas station does not even offer RON 97, which leads to some of us refuelling at other petrol station.

Hmm.... I seriously don't know anymore what to believe. The manual says the minum RON, the Viva can use is RON 91, but gut feeling tells me RON 97 makes you go faster, but mind says RON 95 is RM 6 cheaper per full tank.. OWh decisions....