Premium petrol/diesel - any difference?

[Monkey Nuts]

For what it's worth and having done a lot of driving, for some reason my car always seems to return better results with Shell fuel than other brands.

Many, many people report the same.

[mike-b]

shell v power all the way!!!!!!!! i use it in both my skoda pickup and double cab hi-lux and although there is no real performance diffrence i get arround 60-100 miles more per tank of v power as apposed to super market fuel in the skoda and 50-70 in the lux! so for the matter or a few pounds it costs extra per tank to fill up you get far more miles out of it so well worth putting it in! and in performance cars it makes a huge diffrence!!!!! also a point to add it is essential to use premium fuel in japanese imported cars as there ecu's are mapped to use japanese fuel which is far better quality than ours! there regular is like out premium! and on turbocharge petrol jap import cars if you dont use it then dont expect your engine to last long is all i will say!!!!!!!! from previous experence shell and bp are the ones to use! never never never supermarkets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! some will run better on bp ultimate and some will run better on shell v power from previous experence jap cars tend to run beter on shell and ford and european on bp but every car is diffrence!!! and as for additives such as cleaning agents its not nessasery with premium fuel as they already contain much better lubracants and cleaning agents!!!

[aris]

shell v power all the way!!!!!!!! i use it in both my skoda pickup and double cab hi-lux and although there is no real performance diffrence i get arround 60-100 miles more per tank of v power as apposed to super market fuel in the skoda and 50-70 in the lux!

Diesel or petrol?

[ack-ack]

I had an old (but mint) mk I gti and decided to do a fuel trial on super for a week when i was commuting. 150 miles / day on standard cost me £18/ day and that was neither thrashing nor hanging about, with super it was £20/ day. Had slightly better pickup but no cost benefit. My old audi 90 used to love the stuff. When i could lay off the pedal it was more economical but it pulled like a chuffing train so that never happened and thus there was no cost benefit.

[Paul T]

I try to use the more expensive diesel whenever I can - usually every 2nd or 3rd tank.

 

My Squashqai revs more freely, picks up better and does more MPG.

 

I reckon the marginal extra cost is very worthwhile.

 

Shell is the best by quite a margin and I NEVER fill from supermarket pumps.

[Amazed]

We have had a lot of trouble with our Astra estate over the last few years and it been put down to dodgy fuel. Egr valve then injectors it only being 1.3t it needs all the help it can get. So I banged some shell premium in. It's about £5 more to fill up but lasts 50/60 miles longer. Gets near 600 miles to a tank it's ace.

Well sort of thrust bearing rattling and some new boots now :( but it's a good bus.

[mike-b]

Diesel or petrol?

both are diesel!

[AVB]

There are loads of people with opinions on the Internet but not much scientific evidence. Found this though http://www.carpages.co.uk/motoring-news/fuel-performance-07-01-10.asp

 

I get mine from Tesco because it's cheaper and nearer.

[HW682]

There are loads of people with opinions on the Internet but not much scientific evidence. Found this though http://www.carpages.co.uk/motoring-news/fuel-performance-07-01-10.asp

 

I get mine from Tesco because it's cheaper and nearer.

Interesting read

[aris]

Interesting, but omits a lot of information. Diesel or petrol? Sounds like petrol was tested. Methodology for testing? What about premium bends? 22mpg? What were they doing?? What about long term benefits (or pitfalls).

[overandunder2012]

 

 

For what it's worth and having done a lot of driving, for some reason my car always seems to return better results with Shell fuel than other brands.

my wife also says this

[figgy]

Shell diesel has a higher cetane than other brands, that's why your car runs better on it.

 

Figgy

[bakerboy]

I drive a 2.2 litre deisel and use the cheapest fuel in the area, BUT every now and then, I put a bottle of engine cleaner in the tank and get somewhere in the region of 75 MPG.

That is a fantastic result for a 2.2.litre engine, 75mpg. What car is it?

 

I am just about to try a Millers type of product, I will let you know how I get on.

[steve_b_wales]

I'm not sure where I heard this from, but I was told that Murco (which I think is Texaco)? has better quality (standard) diesel than others. Not sure if this is true though.

[Mungler]

I like to get the BP super duper version diesel.

 

I drive my car like it's stolen and the mere notion of extra performance is irresistible.

[krugerandsmith]

I am trying premium diesel at the moment. The way I see it when fuel was cheaper in percentage terms the premium fuel was quite a lot more. But these days when filling up is £1.43 and premium is only a few pence more, it's got to be worth a try. It would only need to deliver a couple of percentage points more economy/performance depending on what you are going for. As far as I know they are taxed the same, so you are just paying a bit extra for the better refining.

 

For what it's worth and having done a lot of driving, for some reason my car always seems to return better results with Shell fuel than other brands.

 

 

I agree.

[THE AD]

I drive a 2.2 litre deisel and use the cheapest fuel in the area, BUT every now and then, I put a bottle of engine cleaner in the tank and get somewhere in the region of 75 MPG.

what car is it

[Hamster]

Fifth Gear did a test and some of the more expensive fuels gave less bhp, the results were at best non conclusive but I just cannot believe anyone could detect a 3 bhp increase in power without measuring equipment.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Hamster

[TIGHTCHOKE]

what car is it

 

 

Citroen C5 Estate, AKA Dad's Shooting Bus!

[aris]

Fifth Gear did a test and some of the more expensive fuels gave less bhp, the result were at best non conclusive but I just cannot believe anyone could detect a 3 bhp increase in power without measuring equipment.

 

This one?

 

They used a dynamometer right on the wheel hub. They got 6BHP more out of the premium fuels - about 4% in this case. Not sure how that equates to economy, but assuming you don't drive like stink I'm going to assume it is a 4% increase in economy.

 

There are lots of variables here though - so quite literally - YMMV.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2013 by aris

[88b]

Where does all the fuel come from ? About four refineries in the country. Tesco and Sainsburys used to come out of BP at Coryton later to become Petroplus but it's now just a storage facility.

[figgy]

I've worked on a tank farm where the fuel tankers fill up.

 

Some supermarket fuels are cheapo tail end type stuff when they can get it not the best quality,others are just the same base fuel but without the additives that the big main players put in. Shell use some stuff that is that flammable it has to be put in off site now as insurers won't allow it on site.

 

Found this out off workers on site as we were working there, usual question where do you lot fill up.

 

Answer was any of the main ones like Shell BP etc,and one or two supermarket stuff isn't to bad a few told me but can't remember which ones. So I don't use any supermarket forcourt.

 

Both my wife and myself have noticed with our diesel car we use local shell station that the car seems to become used to it and loose any benefit, put a tank full of cheaper lower cetane rated fuel in and it seems to give back the benefit of premium fuel when refilled with it.

Weird I know as notice next to no difference on change to lower but by a big difference going back to top stuff.

 

Think it must be the management systems get used to a fuel and wind back on the fuelling.

This is on a performance 3.0 engine. A 2.0 Peugeot we have it don't make any real difference apart from smoother bit quieter.

 

 

Figgy

Edited September 5, 2013 by figgy

[aris]

Been investigating it a bit - seems that Shell V-power uses a blend of diesel and GTL - gas to liquid fuel. Basically they take gas, and turn it into liquid fuel.

 

http://www.shell.com/global/future-energy/natural-gas1/gtl/products.html

 

This is what Wikipedia says:

 

V-Power Diesel is Shell's version of an enhanced diesel fuel, similar, say to BPs 'Ultimate Diesel'. Like BP Ultimate Diesel, Shell V-Power Diesel is designed for modern compression-ignition diesel engines, to facilitate enhanced engine performance along with increased engine protection, for more consistent operation and engine longevity.

 

V-Power Diesel is a blend of regular petroleum-based diesel and synthetic diesel, created using gas to liquids (GTL), along with some extra additives designed to clean the injection system and improve injection pump and injector lubricity.

 

One characteristic of V-Power diesel is that it is a lot clearer and odourless than normal diesel, mainly due to the synthetic GTL component.

 

The fuel is slightly less dense than regular diesel so, per volume, the unit energy is actually lower than regular diesel. This is offset, as the fuel tends to ignite more readily (and thus has a higher cetane rating) than regular diesel, and a side benefit of this is that it tends to produce less soot during combustion.

 

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like it is more suited to modern high performance/efficient diesels.

[Hamster]

 

This one?

 

They used a dynamometer right on the wheel hub. They got 6BHP more out of the premium fuels - about 4% in this case. Not sure how that equates to economy, but assuming you don't drive like stink I'm going to assume it is a 4% increase in economy.

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure why that assumption would be correct ? If for example you took a car and increased it's bhp by modifications then it would almost certainly give less economy !? Without meaningful tests you just don't know if you're getting better fuel consumption and for the record even if you did get marginally better results, superdooper stuff costs up to 10p more per litre in the first place !

 

It's basically called Badge Engineering in marketing terms, the whole retail scene is littered if you look carefully enough. Wines that are sold in fancy looking bottles can command higher prices compared to identical non frill bottom shelf stuff, guns are no different, you can buy a winner for a grand or be told £10k is where it's at, performance depends on the operator. Chocolate, clothes, watches, you name it.

 

Oh I nearly forgot cartridges, open up a game shell with fooiber and compare the insides with a club fooiber clay load, apart from one having 7.5 and the other having 6.5 shot size they'll be the same yet one will be dressed in gorgeous packaging with regular magazine adverts showing the squire ejecting a pair into the heather making you want it.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Hamster

[aris]

You have a point - it doesn't necessarily mean you will get 4% increase in economy - which is why I included the caveat 'you don't drive like stink'

 

It would require you to modify your driving style slightly to take into account the extra power, and not use that extra power to drive more aggressively, but rather to lay off the accelerator to achieve the same speed/acceleration you had before.

 

There seems to be such differing opinions on this. The above test in the 5th gear video at least demonstrates that the premium fuels make _some_ difference using the same engine and measured in a consistent way. YMMV.