A few weeks ago, Total Liban introduced its “Effimax” fuel. The fuel is said to contain cutting-edge additives that are supposed to give you more kilometers for the buck. It also helps keep your engine clean and healthy, according to Total. Read up on plus961.com for more details on the launch of this product in Lebanon.
Naturally, I wanted to test that out, and over the past two weeks, I’ve experimented with our usual 95 octane fuel, and the 95 effimax octane fuel from Total.
Here are the results:
Details About the Experiment:
- Car used: Renault Clio 3, 1.6L, Tiptronic
- Amount of Fuel Filled Each Trial: 10 Liters
- Number of Effimax Trials: 2
- Number of Normal Fuel Trials: 2
- Type of Route: 92% flat road, 8% incline
- Trajectory: AUB-Awkar-Zgharta
- AC: on for 33.73% of the time in one trial for each fuel type
- Gas Stations: Total behind CityMall, Medco on Dora, Wardieh on Dora
The Results
- Normal Fuel Trial 1: 86.7km/10L – 8.67 Kilometers for every Liter
- Normal Fuel Trial 2: 88.4km/10L – 8.84 Kilometers for every Liter
- Effimax Fuel Trial 1: 72.25km/10L – 7.23 Kilometers for every Liter
- Effimax Fuel Trual 2: 87.02km/10L – 8.7 Kilometers for every Liter
Probable Error Sources
- The huge weather fluctuations
- Slightly varying traffic conditions
- The well-documented tendency of different gas stations to tweak their gauges. So, I might’ve paid for 10 L, but I most certainly didn’t get 10 L thanks to our crooked gas station operators. I did fill up from the main Total station behind CityMall, just to be as accurate as possible.
- I can’t really know if it was better for my engine in the 2-week period, it might be better in the long-run though.
- The fuel might not be Effimax at all, after all, it disobeys the no-competition norms in Lebanon (thanks to Gilbert Eid for pointing this out to me)
The Conclusion
Total aren’t really ripping us off, after all, it’s at the same price. However, the efficacy of Effimax is not clear, and in fact the results I obtained were slightly unfavorable for Effimax (especially the first trial, which pushed me to try again in disbelief).
I would love it if you guys would try this too, and help me gather more data from a wider range of trajectories, cars and routines.
Verdict
Just keep using the pumps you usually use, from the gas stations you trust, cause unfortunately, Effimax is not the savior we are still awaiting in Lebanon…
so i was waiting for someone to try this effimax thing, and now after reading your post i think ‘No deal’
and honestly i think it sounds too good to be true, so probably its a bit cleaner 95 octane benzene
Can’t tell for sure about economy. I filled my mrv three times consecutively. And while the difference if any on economy is minimal i did notice a huge difference in power. I apologise to the porche boxter who was trying to show off at the traffic light at ain el tineh, i did not know that kickdown would make you look like you were in a lada
Now in all seriousness, it is highly unlikely i will be able to control my right foot long enough to do a proper fuel test, but with cruise control engaged on the jounieh highway this morning i did notice the rev counter was about 200 lower so it may indeed be more fuel efficient over long distances. If only i can avoid traffic long enough to test it properly. I will repost next fill up as i remembered to zero my km today. On regular 98 octane i can do 315 + or – 10 from full before the yellow light usually comes on
Thanks Nour, and looking forward to your next results, when Effimax will be definitely available in all Total stations!
aaah i love the “experiment” Thanks! pretty useful, we’ve all been waiting for some1 to give it a try!
The fuel sucks
My clk has myateriously lost power when i kick down
Next week im going to try a non total gas to see the diffsrence
i was curious to see a blog about the Effimax fuel, i have a 2005 Kia Cerato & i’m looking forward to try this fuel technology. what i always do on each fill up is reset my odometer..so i’m gonna make sure to try the Effimax fuel & get back to u guys! hope i’m gonna find a difference
I haven’t tried it myself. I was wondering if the effimax was anything like E85. If other comments bare weight, then it is possible the ethanol is an additive. Cars with direct injection get a good deal more torque. It also tends to give slightly less mileage in exchange for much better engine efficiency and emissions