Unleaded

[dieselfan]

I see all this discussion of leaded vs unleaded, which Southern Africa countries don't have unleaded? What would happen if the new 4.8 (2007+) digested leaded...?

[ricster]

Your catalytic converter will block up... had this problem with my BMW .... was an expensive exercise... I think BMW wanted about R11000 for a new one, about 7 years ago. I stand corrected but if you have the catalytic converter removed then you should have no problems....except maybe the Nissan warranty

[Saltman]

Availability of unleaded fuel in Africa is fast becoming a non-issue.

We travelled from Cape Town to Kenya via Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and back via Malawi and Botswana during June - July 2008 and in all places where we refuelled (I was driving a diesel at the time) I made a point of confirming availability of unleaded fuel. The only places where diesel was more freely available were at non-commercial fuel suppliers such as industrial sites (factories, sawmills, commercial farms etc) in the country side.

I now drive a 4.8 petrol and would do the same trip again without problems.
Where availability does become an issue is if you stray off the beaten track and end up in the boendoes. Then you will need a range of at least 750 km.
Not many of the villages and settlements you are bound to encounter will stock any form of unleaded. Friends of ours bought 50 litres directly out of a car's tank!
Mind you, you will be hard pressed to find diesel in those areas as well ...

Angola of course makes the stuff and therefore around the major centres there is no problem. Zim is always a risk as a result of availability.
Further north of Kenya and west of Tanzania I cannot comment.

So don't let the fuel issue be your deterrent! Enjoy Africa!