Surprised by Tesco fuel

[Hamster]

5 minutes ago, Westward said:

One of my sons worked with an ex tanker driver. The additives are supplied in plastic drums and it's part of the driver's job to tip the drum into the tank before delivery to the forecourt.

Hmmm, so they DO evenly distribute themselves, how come they don't advertise on telly and tell us they do this so we stop buying fake supermarket fuel ? Incidentally I've been tipping huge quantities of substandard supermarket diesel and unleaded in fairly decent cars for years, I wouldn't bet a packet of crisps that I could detect the difference and the puters on my cars always display the same mpg regardless ! 

Edited July 28, 2018 by Hamster

[bostonmick]

There are strict controls on fuel. You cannot go around pouring chemicals into tankers. Where would you do it. Not in the terminal that's for sure. Not in a lay by. And drivers no longer camber up onto the top of the vehicle. This goes back to the days of 2-3and4star.yes supermarkets had tanks containing octane booster that was added to two star so at the point of delivery the octane was that of the higher grade. However once in the ground for a few days it had reverted back to original. However if you believe you are getting extra mileage etc from your non supermarket fuel then crack on and good for you. Incidenly the red diesel that my tractors run on comes out of the same tank as the white in my trucks and cars. 

[Westward]

Okay where are we?

It all comes from the same tanks at the refinery and you can't add anything because there are strict controls. So BP, Esso, Texaco etc are all lying. That makes total sense.

Please understand I wasn't ever looking for an argument when I opened this thread and I don't want one now. My petrol car is definitely more responsive and goes a little further on Tesco Momentum and I wondered if anyone else, particularly with turbo petrol cars, had found the same thing.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

This is not an argument, if you believe your car is better suited by a certain fuel, then use it, we however cannot see how it can possibly be, but none of use can argue as we have no scientific proof!

[GingerCat]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talk-nitrogen-enriched-gas/

https://www.esso.co.uk/diesel 

https://www.bp.com/en_za/on-the-road/south-africa/products-services/fuels/bp-ultimate-unleaded-with-active-technology.html

https://www.allstarcard.co.uk/this-matters-fuel/fleet-news/supermarket-fuel/

Given that all major fuel makers say on their websites that they add various detergents and additives to help fuel burn cleaner and more efficiently. And given the amount of litigation that would follow if this were untrue. We can reasonably assume they are right in what they say and they do infect add those items on top of the en590 fuel standard (diesel) which makes sure the base product is the same. 

Some notice better mpg with branded fuel over supermarket fuel. I do. Others don't. I suspect it's down to driver style and use, after all I don't tow livestock with a 4x4 or go cross country in low gear. Others do. I imagine the savings would be insignificant to notice in those examples. 

Is supermarket fuel that bad? No.  I've used it for years but as I said previously the car performs better with esso fuel and i get better mpg from it and that's a fact. Either that it magically my journey is shorter when I use esso.

[Hamster]

I used to check the trip computers on various brand new cars belonging to both customers as well as the demo and company cars we ran, the thing that used to baffle and impress me in equal measure was how stable and predictable the ACTUAL true mpg of various models tended to be. Forget what the brochure says the car will do, the real figure is 20% less, for example the Scenic 1.6 petrol auto would usually hover around a tad under 30 with the very best driven going a couple more, the 1.5 diesel would read 46.5 etc, and the 2.0 litre would drop as low as 38 something.....you get the picture. 

Two things spring to mind, firstly that there is next to no detectable difference in individual engines performances (not surprising given the sophisticated manufacturing today) and secondly that if there really was a tangible difference in supermarket V branded fuel then how come the cars didn't notice ? I mean they can't all have been using the same source ?

[GingerCat]

1 hour ago, Hamster said:

I used to check the trip computers on various brand new cars belonging to both customers as well as the demo and company cars we ran, the thing that used to baffle and impress me in equal measure was how stable and predictable the ACTUAL true mpg of various models tended to be. Forget what the brochure says the car will do, the real figure is 20% less, for example the Scenic 1.6 petrol auto would usually hover around a tad under 30 with the very best driven going a couple more, the 1.5 diesel would read 46.5 etc, and the 2.0 litre would drop as low as 38 something.....you get the picture. 

Two things spring to mind, firstly that there is next to no detectable difference in individual engines performances (not surprising given the sophisticated manufacturing today) and secondly that if there really was a tangible difference in supermarket V branded fuel then how come the cars didn't notice ? I mean they can't all have been using the same source ?

I have no idea. I do know that my actual mpg is higher with esso fuel.

We all know the real mpg is somewhat lower than manufactures claims as per the vw scandal.