Hope this is ok on as not strictly a truck question…
Fuel… When filling up you vehicle (work or personal) which fuel do you use?
I don’t mean diesel or petrol I mean supermarket or one of the main stream garages?
I usually use supermarket purely due to the cost but since the recent drop in prices I’ve used BP a lot more. I really do think I can feel a difference in MPG (I do have a Eco diesel car anyway) for the better, it seems a bit smoother and more responsive.
So just wondering if it genuinely is better to use main stream fuel stations or if it’s more of a ‘I want it to be better, so it must be. Mind over matter thing’
My cars don’t like BP. The galant likes murco but that garage is a bit out of my way now so I use supermarket 95 RON with the occasional super unleaded. The legnum gets supermarket or SHELL super unleaded. That car has to have the highest octane I can get since its designed to run on 100 RON
I thought most fuels come from the same terminals but the differences were what additives are included.
I too believe ‘branded’ fuel is better than supermarket fuel and for 1-2p a litre difference (80pence - £1.60 difference a tank) id rather use the local BP than tescos.
Shell unleaded and occasionally the Shell Nitro+. I don’t know if it makes much difference but there’s not a lot difference in price around here. I mostly use Shell Diesel as I have a points card. Boss wont use fuelcards, likes the flexibility of using company debit cards as it means we can use any local garage, rather than driving out of the way to find keyfuels.
Note to Keyfuels users if in Oxfordshire; The Texaco garage near Yarnton has stopped taking Keyfuels now. Hardly anywhere in Oxon now accepts it, save M40 Oxford and BP at Eynsham.
Supermarkets use the sludge that the like of BP and Shell don’t. They ship it to Holland,turn it into fuel and bring it back. This is cheaper for them to make then it costs the big boys which is why it is cheaper. But using it constantly in your car is a bit like you trying to live on take aways every night. Bad for the system. With repairs etc it is false economy to use the supermarket stuff.
Supermarkets use the sludge that the like of BP and Shell don’t. They ship it to Holland,turn it into fuel and bring it back. This is cheaper for them to make then it costs the big boys which is why it is cheaper. But using it constantly in your car is a bit like you trying to live on take aways every night. Bad for the system. With repairs etc it is false economy to use the supermarket stuff.
That’s why I only use a BP or Shell if at all possible.
I find a tankfull of s/market diesal gets me 580/590 miles, a tankfull of b.p. gets me 650/670 miles. Down this way the s/market prices are dearer than some of the main suppliers,so no brainer really.
I’ve heard about supermarkets fuel not being the same standard as major brand fuel from many people for years, even this week a friend of mine says he gets worse mpg when he fills up with supermarkets fuel. I don’t know how true it is, but plenty do believe it.
In the town I live, there are only two places to buy fuel one supermarket the other independent. I tend to use the independent garage but mainly because if you don’t use it you lose it and then we’d have lost another high street retailer because of the supermarkets, they tend to only be a 1p a litre more and sometimes they’re the same price the difference isn’t even the price of a bar of chocolate.
I use Tesco petrol, I would use their Momentum petrol as it does give slightly better MPG, however since they’ve done a minor refit to the pumps, the Momentum nozzles don’t fit in my tank…
Tesco at the moment because I get a nice discount off the price with the fuel points thing they have at the moment. I’ve got 12ppl discount waiting to use tomorrow when I fill up and when I drove past on my way to work this morning it was 108.9 so if it doesn’t change I’ll get it for 96.9ppl, I’ll be going in on fumes to squeeze as much in as I can. I pretty much always used supermarket fuel ever since I’ve had this car, which is over 5 years, and it’s a 2.5lt V6 engine and I’ve had no issues. It’s not required anything other than it’s normal services in that time. On occasions when I’ve put a full tank of non supermarket fuel in it the mpg has been the same give or take a mile.
You lot are absolute fruit cakes, it all comes from the same refineries! Yes some garages like shell and BP might add some additives to their branded fuel so they can sell for a few pence more but their base fuel will be exactly the same as a tesco pump or asda pump. It all has to meet the same British regs, it is not the sludge at the bottom of the barrel nor does it get shipped to bleeding holland the costs involved in shipping fuel to and from holland would be astronomical without a pipeline.
Until someone can come up with conclusive proof not assumptions that supermarket fuel is inferior to the mainstream boys I shall continue using it with no apparent loss of power, less miles per tank and more repair bills etc etc etc.
The-Snowman:
Supermarkets use the sludge that the like of BP and Shell don’t. They ship it to Holland,turn it into fuel and bring it back. This is cheaper for them to make then it costs the big boys which is why it is cheaper. But using it constantly in your car is a bit like you trying to live on take aways every night. Bad for the system. With repairs etc it is false economy to use the supermarket stuff.
That’s why I only use a BP or Shell if at all possible.
Are you certain that is absolute fact, and if so what are your sources, do you know somebody in the fuel industry for instance. I’m not being arsey it’s just that I have also heard this a lot (not the Holland bit) but always put it down to urban myth and would like to know.
The-Snowman:
Supermarkets use the sludge that the like of BP and Shell don’t. They ship it to Holland,turn it into fuel and bring it back. This is cheaper for them to make then it costs the big boys which is why it is cheaper. But using it constantly in your car is a bit like you trying to live on take aways every night. Bad for the system. With repairs etc it is false economy to use the supermarket stuff.
That’s why I only use a BP or Shell if at all possible.
Are you certain that is absolute fact, and if so what are your sources, do you know somebody in the fuel industry for instance. I’m not being arsey it’s just that I have also heard this a lot (not the Holland bit) but always put it down to urban myth and would like to know.
It is urban myth. As ive said and another poster has pointed out, the difference is the additives mixed into the fuel, not the fuel itself.
The-Snowman:
Supermarkets use the sludge that the like of BP and Shell don’t. They ship it to Holland,turn it into fuel and bring it back. This is cheaper for them to make then it costs the big boys which is why it is cheaper. But using it constantly in your car is a bit like you trying to live on take aways every night. Bad for the system. With repairs etc it is false economy to use the supermarket stuff.
That’s why I only use a BP or Shell if at all possible.
Are you certain that is absolute fact, and if so what are your sources, do you know somebody in the fuel industry for instance. I’m not being arsey it’s just that I have also heard this a lot (not the Holland bit) but always put it down to urban myth and would like to know.
Well to be fair I should have put I only have someone elses word for it too. But I do feel I get more miles from a tank when using a main garage as opposed to a supermarket.
But it was my CPC instructor told me this during the economic driving module so it must be true…
N/B At least you quoted my post then asked diplomatically. Thanks for that instead of getting all shirty and full of chest puffing arrogance like some others I can see…
scanny77:
My cars don’t like BP. The galant likes murco but that garage is a bit out of my way now so I use supermarket 95 RON with the occasional super unleaded. The legnum gets supermarket or SHELL super unleaded. That car has to have the highest octane I can get since its designed to run on 100 RON
Funny enough, Tesco momentum has the highest readily available RON @ 99. V-power i think is similar. Most are 95 and the likes of BP superior is only 97.
IIRC there was a BP on the A2 approach into london that had 103 RON but it was stupidly expensive.
My old fella used to work for Shell (when they had a terminal in Reading, many years ago) and he regularly went in to the old Jet/Conoco place in Padworth for a reload and there was normally a tanker from Esso or the like in there reloading. Obviously this was way before the use of additives! I only use Shell diesel in my 2.2 Mondeo (it’s on the way to/from work) and not the overpriced, over hyped V-Power…fell for it when I first got the car but mpg was no different…it’s still crap! Have never used supermarket stuff, even in previous cars.
