Shell Petrol Stations

[BensGrandad]

I went to the one by Princess Royal Hospital as I saw the desiel was only 113.9 per litre but when I started filling up I noticed I was putting in V Plus Super Desiel at 122.9 per litre so quickly stopped.

Does anybody use this and if so is it better for the car and in what way better mpg , speed, less engine ware etc because at 9p a litre dearer it is a sizeable amount. Is it worth the extra money somebody on NSC must have some knowledge of this.

 

[User removed 4]

I went to the one by Princess Royal Hospital as I saw the desiel was only 113.9 per litre but when I started filling up I noticed I was putting in V Plus Super Desiel at 122.9 per litre so quickly stopped.

Does anybody use this and if so is it better for the car and in what way better mpg , speed, less engine ware etc because at 9p a litre dearer it is a sizeable amount. Is it worth the extra money somebody on NSC must have some knowledge of this.

It improves speed etc if you've got a high performance car, if you havent its a waste of money.

 

[beorhthelm]

dont know about the diesel, but the Vpower petrol is 98 octane verse standard 95, so should be 3% more efficective, if the engine can tune itself to suit the fuel (most performance cars do, probably most modern injection can too). some bikers swear by it for performance and engine cleaning properties.

is it worth 9p more? probably not.

ive got a suspicion knock isnt a problem in diesels and octane isnt relevent, so its probably not any different other than engine cleaning? in which case its a bit of a rip off.

 

[gullshark]

dont know about the diesel, but the Vpower petrol is 98 octane verse standard 95, so should be 3% more efficective, if the engine can tune itself to suit the fuel (most performance cars do, probably most modern injection can too). some bikers swear by it for performance and engine cleaning properties.

is it worth 9p more? probably not.

ive got a suspicion knock isnt a problem in diesels and octane isnt relevent, so its probably not any different other than engine cleaning? in which case its a bit of a rip off.

V-Power is 99 Octane, and it won't be 3% more effective (i,e you won't get 3% more MPH or MPG out of it). Octane is just a measure of how resistant to detonation (or 'knock') a particular fuel is. If you put 95 RON in a tuned engine that requires something higher then you risk engine damage as the fuel could detonate before it's supposed to blowing chunks out of your head.

I think V-Power diesel is simply of a higher quality with some additives in it that help clean the crud out of your fuel system. It's probably worth using it 1 in every 5 fillups to help clean the engine but to be fair unless you're running a more powerful diesel car then it's probably not worth it.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

I went to the one by Princess Royal Hospital as I saw the desiel was only 113.9 per litre but when I started filling up I noticed I was putting in V Plus Super Desiel at 122.9 per litre so quickly stopped.

Does anybody use this and if so is it better for the car and in what way better mpg , speed, less engine ware etc because at 9p a litre dearer it is a sizeable amount. Is it worth the extra money somebody on NSC must have some knowledge of this.

It's a synthetic/petroleum based diesel mix that is designed to produce less soot and better lubricate the engine thereby increasing its longevity and performance. I've a Golf IV 130bhp TDI and it runs noticably quieter on V Plus and the BP equivalent; I seem to get about an extra 2-3mpg more than with Shell's "standard" diesel.
122.9 is a bit steep though, it was 118.9 earlier in the week at the Shell garages at Broadbridge Heath and Hop Oast but they do have to be competitive with the Tesco muck just down the road.
Hope this helps.

 

[skipper734]

Shell garages are the cheapest for any fuel. Fact.

 

[beorhthelm]

V-Power is 99 Octane, and it won't be 3% more effective (i,e you won't get 3% more MPH or MPG out of it). Octane is just a measure of how resistant to detonation (or 'knock') a particular fuel is. If you put 95 RON in a tuned engine that requires something higher then you risk engine damage as the fuel could detonate before it's supposed to blowing chunks out of your head.

higher octane, more knock resisitance, means leaner mix can be used. in a decent electronic injection system the fueling can be adjusted in real time by feedback from the lambda (others?) sensor, so use of better fuel leads to using slightly less fuel for same performance. 3%? probably not really, but its quantifiable in those sorts of terms. i did get noticably improved mpg on motorway driving (and to notice 1mpg on high 30's means its about....) on optimax and it had a much sharper throttle responce and pickup. i stopped using it when the cost went 5p more as there seems little point other than occasional clean through purposes. any engine with modern injection that cant cope with 95ron has probably been overtuned using mapping that doesnt take that common fuel into account. Carbs dont have the running adjustment potential, so they would be prone to problems.

 

[gullshark]

any car that cant cope with 95ron with modern injection has probably been overtuned using mapping that doesnt take that common fuel into account. Carbs dont have the running adjustment potential, so they would be prone to problems.

Exactly, my car has been tuned and mapped for 98 RON, if I put standard unleaded in I have to drive off boost and *very* carefully.

Can't tell you on the exact MPG increases on VPower or anything like that as I don't have a fuel computer and pickup seems no different (well, perhaps I'm just used to turbo lag)

 

[Icy Gull]

If you use V power over a number of fillups you are likely to notice better performance and better fuel consumption imo. I have used the better diesel and petrol in my cars for a few years now and definitely do not find it a waste of money. But then I wouldn't fill any of my cars with supermarket fuel as I am convinced it is not of the quality of Shell, but that's another arguement.

 

[beorhthelm]

Exactly, my car has been tuned and mapped for 98 RON, if I put standard unleaded in I have to drive off boost and *very* carefully.

now turbo is whole other kettle of fish, with the lower compresion ratio and much tighter control for boost/non-boost rev ranges.

 

[BensGrandad]

But then I wouldn't fill any of my cars with supermarket fuel as I am convinced it is not of the quality of Shell, but that's another arguement.

Thanks for the input it would appear from most that it is better but not 9p per litre or 40.5p approx per gal in ' old money'.

Is there evidence to support the view that supermarket fuel is inferior to Shell or BP or any other

I went on petrolprices .com and they showed that the cheapest fuel within 15 miles of Haywards Heath is Asda. I remember the days when you didnt even notice the price just stopped when you needed it and said fill it up or put in a tenner.

 

[beorhthelm]

Is there evidence to support the view that supermarket fuel is inferior to Shell or BP or any other

its all the same, coming from the same refineries. BP delievers to all in one area, Shell in another, etc. just the colour of the lorries that changes.

having said that i dont trust supermarket petrol either. i dont think they add any additives to the basic unleaded/diesel, hence the lower price. few stories in the past of dodgy fuel getting in their tanks too (stuff that should have stayed at refinery, not the RON indicated sort of thing). all abit apocryphal but enough for me to avoid. usualy find non-BP garages near super markets are same price. BP seems to not care about price competition.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Is there evidence to support the view that supermarket fuel is inferior to Shell or BP or any other

Firstly, it's not manufactured to the same specifications.
Shell, BP, Exxon manufacture their end products at the refinery and then ship it out to the petrol stations - they know the content of each batch, they know their product and the batches are traceable.
Supermarkets buy the base fuel from any refiner that has some spare and then have it shipped to a third party to be blended with their additives (eg detergents); it's then delivered direct to the supermarket forecourts. If something goes wrong, as it did a few years back when diesel additives were blended with unleaded petrol then they don't have a clue; they have no technical knowledge of the product and ended up calling Exxon at Fawley for advice. This was given, the problem is obvious to anyone with some petrochemical knowledge, but it took Tesco over two days to announce this. Conveniently, and as they didn't know where the fuel had been delivered, most of the dodgy stuff had by then been sold through the supply chain so they didn't have to shut down the petrol forecourts and drain the tanks. Hive the claims off to a third party company to handle and wait for it all to blow over. The repair bill for my wife's Saab was just under £3K and it was off the road for 5 weeks - every little helps eh?

 

[beorhthelm]

Firstly, it's not manufactured to the same specifications.
Shell, BP, Exxon manufacture their end products at the refinery and then ship it out to the petrol stations - they know the content of each batch, they know their product and the batches are traceable.

that does make more sence than what i've been told.

 

[Icy Gull]

Thanks for the input it would appear from most that it is better but not 9p per litre or 40.5p approx per gal in ' old money'.
.

If you have a high performance car it is worth the difference imo, if it's a regular car then probably not worth the extra, I'd agree

 

[Icy Gull]

Firstly, it's not manufactured to the same specifications.
Shell, BP, Exxon manufacture their end products at the refinery and then ship it out to the petrol stations - they know the content of each batch, they know their product and the batches are traceable.
Supermarkets buy the base fuel from any refiner that has some spare and then have it shipped to a third party to be blended with their additives (eg detergents); it's then delivered direct to the supermarket forecourts. If something goes wrong, as it did a few years back when diesel additives were blended with unleaded petrol then they don't have a clue; they have no technical knowledge of the product and ended up calling Exxon at Fawley for advice. This was given, the problem is obvious to anyone with some petrochemical knowledge, but it took Tesco over two days to announce this. Conveniently, and as they didn't know where the fuel had been delivered, most of the dodgy stuff had by then been sold through the supply chain so they didn't have to shut down the petrol forecourts and drain the tanks. Hive the claims off to a third party company to handle and wait for it all to blow over. The repair bill for my wife's Saab was just under £3K and it was off the road for 5 weeks - every little helps eh?

That is interesting

 

[BensGrandad]

You have Beorhthelm and Alex, Alex Dawson giving completely different views as to thr origination of the fuel at supermarket pumps so how does an outsider with no knowledge whatsoever decide which is in his best interests.

Incidentally we have a Skoda Octavia Ambient 1.9 TDI so it probably wouldnt beneift us to use the higher priced.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

This whole thread might as well have been written in GREEK, for what I've understood of it.

Luckily mine is a company car, so it gets repaired by MAGIC if anything goes wrong.

 

[Jam The Man]

This whole thread might as well have been written in GREEK, for what I've understood of it.

Luckily mine is a company car, so it gets repaired by MAGIC if anything goes wrong.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

You have Beorhthelm and Alex, Alex Dawson giving completely different views as to thr origination of the fuel at supermarket pumps so how does an outsider with no knowledge whatsoever decide which is in his best interests.

Incidentally we have a Skoda Octavia Ambient 1.9 TDI so it probably wouldnt beneift us to use the higher priced.

My best mate is a senior exec in Exxon's European business. The info on the Tesco fuel shambles a few years back comes from him and our direct dealings with Tesco at the time as my wife's car was immobilised by the fiasco. Our son also worked for Tesco at the time and their Broadbridge Heath petrol station continued to receive deliveries throughout the day after Exxon had advised them of the the likely cause. The following day the local announcements admiting problems with the fuel, temporary forecourt closure etc were not inititated until the tanks wee empty
The same process was followed at the Camberley, Holmbush and Weybridge stores.
Double clubcard points anyone?

PS you look to have the same engine in your Skoda as I have in my Golf.