
Originally Posted by
pingpongdad
the euro ratings (euroII, euroIII, euro IV, etc) refer to standards which are increasingly becoming strict (read as cleaner) regarding the amount of pollutants in the emissions of new vehicles. euroII compliance (dated 1996) means a new vehicle after standard testing of its emissions has met the max amount of nitrous products, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, particulates (read as pollutants) allowed. in 2005, the euroIV comes into effect (which further limits the allowable pollutants in the vehicle's emission).
vehicle manufacturers improve the emissions of their vehicles by modifying their engines (e.g. the ecu, turbo-charging, etc) and correspondingly label their vehicles as such. hence the labels euroII compliant, euro IV compliant etc. newer vehicles with fancier engines have higher euro ratings. our laws require a euroII compliance for new vehicles. it is said that by 2014, this will be improved to euroIV compliance. vehicles already on the road are not covered by the newer euro compliance, it is only for new vehicles.
engines of higher euro compliant vehicles do not do well with lower compliant fuels ("dirtier fuel", more sulfur, etc), they encounter problems with their catalytic converter. lower compliant engines can use higher compliant fuels. our monty is euroII compliant thus it can use euroII fuels or better (euroIII, euro IV).
in fuel, higher euro compliance means "cleaner fuel". using a euroIII or euroIV fuel results in emissions which are more friendly to the environment as it has less sulfur etc. but the Monty should have no problem at all with the EuroII fuels of the big 3. it is the contamination of the fuel in the station that is more of a problem (e.g. flooded station, etc) thus be extra careful in loading up in provincial stations and frequently flooded areas.
in earlier posts, an executive of Mitsubishi motors responded to a tsikoteer query about the use of regular diesel vs "special diesel" (regular diesel vs petron turbo xp or shell v-power, etc). he said he noticed "no difference between the 2 in his Monty and is not worth the extra cost". so here, its personal preference.
what do the others think?