Marketing trick or real advantage?
Since the rise of so-called enhanced fuels marketed as Ultimate, V-Power, G-Drive, Pulsar, or Ecto, marketers have tried every tactic to blur facts and mislead consumers with questionable claims.
Foreign companies have often been especially aggressive. Instead of clearly outlining tangible benefits, their briefings tended to compare the improved 98 octane fuels with the standard 95 octane variant, which contains no premium additives.
They urged drivers to abandon the familiar 95 fuel and switch to the higher-octane option and to the enhanced formulations, usually the more expensive choice, save for the rare 100 octane option.
A fragment of a typical presentation promising extra mileage. The industry has faced persistent accusations of misinformation.
Professional petrochemists reiterate that the core effect of most enhanced fuels lies in detergency. Regular use helps remove deposits and prevents new ones from forming. In older engines, these fuels can clean the fuel system and help restore engine behavior closer to factory specifications.
Written not to believe?
Today, several foreign fuel brands have exited various markets. Yet the myth persists. A quick check of official manufacturer sites can reveal the ongoing rhetoric around these fuels.
Statement 1: Pulsar fuel meets uniform quality requirements for branded fuels across all locations.
Expert opinion: misleading. The specific quality criteria for such fuels are not clearly defined in technical regulations or current standards. Vehicle manuals rarely mandate the use of these fuels, and the claims often resemble general statements rather than verifiable, location-specific guarantees. In practice, Pulsar is treated as equivalent in quality to standard fuels.
Statement 2: Pulsar-100 improves engine performance, reduces fuel consumption, and lowers emissions due to a higher octane rating.
Expert opinion: does not align with reality. Engine performance is not directly determined by octane alone. Even with a higher octane, speed or acceleration should not be expected to increase solely on that basis. Octane primarily guards against knocking in high-compression situations, not a general power boost. In warm conditions, higher octane can help prevent detonation, but this does not translate into sustained power gains. Emissions relate more to overall fuel quality than to octane level alone.
Octane is not a measure of energy content. In hot weather, higher octane might reduce the risk of engine knock, which can help maintain smooth operation, but it does not inherently raise energy output. Emissions are influenced by fuel formulation and combustion efficiency rather than octane alone.
Theorem 3: Pulsar claims the fuel delivers extra energy through the engine’s internal dynamics.
Expert opinion: this is technically inaccurate. Internal engine energy comes from combustion, not from the fuel label itself. Such wording often aims to confuse readers with pseudo-technical language crafted for marketing.
Statement 4: The main advantages of the updated Ecto PLUS fuel are an 11% reduction in fuel consumption and a 13.8% increase in power.
Expert opinion: stay vigilant. The fine print often mentions an “instant effect” tied to a single data point. It is noted that a sustained increase of 13.8% is not guaranteed and may be shown as a maximum figure under specific test conditions. Comparisons often reference a non-standard benchmark and may not reflect real-world results on common engines.
Statement 5: Using “enhanced” fuel allows drivers to travel several extra kilometers per tank compared with regular fuel.
Expert opinion: this claim is not reliable. A modest improvement, if any, tends to vanish once engines reach a steady state with deposits addressed by maintenance. Real-world tests on two nearly identical engines show little to no difference in energy output after initial conditioning. In most cases, results align with the passport data and manufacturer specifications rather than marketing promises.
Which fuel should a driver choose? The option may be more expensive, but the consumer deserves clarity on what is being paid for.
To fill or not?
Occasional use of detergent-containing fuels is reasonable. In practice, these additives help maintain cleaner fuel systems and may reduce deposit buildup over time. There is no evidence of negative effects on modern engines from such fuels, and many drivers report smoother operation when switching to fuels with proven detergents.