DazN wrote:I wondered this after religiously using V Power on all my cars I was surprised inside the filler cap it says 91-95 for the S4. I thought all performance engines would benefit from higher octane fuel?
Higher octane fuel doesn't have any more "bang" than normal petrol (in fact, all the additives can reduce it). However, with fuel that is more stable under pressure and temperature it is more resistant to knocking allowing the optimum ignition advance. Fuel burns at (for all purposes here) a constant speed so the optimum timing is to have the mixture fully ignited at top dead centre and as such this is almost completely dependant on RPM.
However if the engine isn't knocking under any circumstances then you won't get any benefit from higher octane - the timing will be at the appropriate for the rpm.
So if with the S4 even though it is forced induction there is no part where the engine is retarding ignition due to knocking then you won't see anything.
This is quite possible based on the above as it appears the stock S4 is in a very mild state of tune. Once you remap and fiddle a bit then yes, I would say 460hp+ would cause a few knocks with 95 ron fuel so there would be benefit.