Fuel: Supermarket -vs- Branded

[carriageline]

When I had a Ford diesel (never, ever again...) the diesel specialist I used said never use the supermarket fuels, and swore by BP Ultimate.

My large engined petrol runs quite bad, and gets less MPG on 95 ron petrol, but I imagine it has been mapped for the premium stuff.

But whether or not it's the snake oil affect I will never know! All I know is the premium stuff does give me a few miles more per tank, and the car 'feels' better.

 

[IanD]

OK now for some facts.

All petrol and diesel has to meet a British Standard.

For unleaded it's BS EN228. http://www.mabanaft.co.uk/Mabanaft/images/pdf/prodspec-Regular-unleaded.pdf

For Diesel it's BS EN590 http://www.ipu.co.uk/en590/

That's the base fuel and every fuel depot across the country will pump this stuff into the tanker. However the tanker then has additives added, and these are specific to the fuel company.

Super Unleaded/Diesel has a higher octane/cetane than the standard (IE it exceeds it) and has different additives.

did you spend two years at Newcastle Uni, by chance?

Nick? Is that you? How're you doing, mate?

 

[Condor7]

Diesel at the Shell garage a short walk from here was 111.9p last night, Tesco on the other side of the road was 107.9p so no contest for me, I will just fill up wherever it's cheapest when the car needs fuel.

I must admit I had not thought much about this subject until I read this thread, and it has made me think more favourably regarding using branded fuels.

You say you "just fill up wherever it's cheapest" but I am just wondering which that is? Not knowing what car you drive doesn't help, but even at 4p a litre difference that is only a saving of around £2 to £3 pounds on a full tank of petrol depending on the size of your tank. Therefore if the Shell gave you more mpg, that could in fact be the "cheapest"

Just a thought!

 

[crispy1978]

I don't drive - but my parents generally use which is cheapest or most convenient.

Where they live there isn't a massive choice - 1 supermarket and a handful of small garages, but as they are all competing with one another prices aren't too dissimilar. OK, Sainsburys might be 1p/2p cheaper per litre but as my Mum says "You can soon lose that by doing a 10 mile detour".

What I found more interesting is 10-15 years ago in my previous marriage, I was with a woman from Northern Ireland (Armagh). Now, if you were close enough to the NI/RoI border, there were definite savings to be had there, and there were reasons that just over the border there were so many fuel stations. I think that gap has significantly closed now, and it's nowhere as beneficial as it used to be, so a lot of those fuel stations probably aren't there anymore - but you were always saving vast sums per litre v UK prices!

 

[richw]

Our berlingo van is always a lot more smoky on tesco diesel compared to shell diesel. Can't say I've noticed any performance difference and mpg remains around the same.

Our 1.8 Seat Toledo does around 30-31mpg on shell normal unleaded but only around 27-28mpg on tesco unleaded.

We only have a Tesco and shell garage locally that I use- the Texaco garage is around 4p a litre dearer so don't go there.

 

[Donny Dave]

I tend to use Sainsburys whenever I fill my car, as it's the most convenient for me. I do use Shell occasionally, but I find I tend to get somewhere between half and 1mpg less than Sainsburys petrol.

However, when I used to work in Gainsborough, there was a Texaco garage which I filled up at every week until it closed. Yes, it was a penny or 2 dearer than other garages, but the car I had at the time went so much better (very noticable when I had to switch), and I got better milage out of it as well.

 

[33056]

You say you "just fill up wherever it's cheapest" but I am just wondering which that is? Not knowing what car you drive doesn't help, but even at 4p a litre difference that is only a saving of around £2 to £3 pounds on a full tank of petrol depending on the size of your tank. Therefore if the Shell gave you more mpg, that could in fact be the "cheapest"

TBH, we rarely use the car so it doesn't get filled up that often, usually at an Esso garage en route to work which is often cheaper than any fuel locally and I drive right past it - I won't go out of my way for any cheap fuel. The car is a 1.6 diesel and shows a fairly constant 50 to 52 mpg regardless of what is put in it though another variable factor is that two people drive it in roughly equal measure so that may also be a factor in fuel consumption.

 

[cb a1]

I always just fill up to the brim at the local Tesco and being a bit of a number lover, I record the mileage, fuel used, etc.

Over the last two years ['03 plate 1.8l petrol Mondeo], I get an average of 26.5 mpg but the variation is between 20mpg if I've been doing mainly urban driving and 34mpg if it's been mainly inter-urban driving.

Given that variation, I'd have to go for a pretty long-term switch to a branded fuel to know if it made a marked difference.

I live in a city and next to a trunk road. Most of the branded suppliers have closed down operations since I've been here (9 years). Just done a quick Google and there appears to be just 2 Shell and 1 Jet left in the city now.

Given how far out of my way I'd have to go to change from Tesco and the relatively low distances I drive (~7,000 miles p.a.), it's not worth my while trying.

 

[Busaholic]

Around Penzance there are 3 supermarkets with filling stations and the occasional small garage which obviously are pricier. What I have noticed over the last few years is that, driving to London once or twice a year, except at a time when petrol prices are falling, I can rarely find cheaper petrol on my journey than I paid for in PZ, and that includes driving through swathes of South London as well as the A303 etc. It used to be that PZ was at the dear end, but I guess competition between three supermarkets within a half mile of one another has brought some benefits.