WTF is with the price of V-Power at the moment?

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I usually stick V-Power in my Focus ST as it makes it a bit more responsive and nicer to drive but just went to fill up now at Shell at Morley, Leeds and it's 120.9 whereas normal unleaded is 102.9 !! For as long as I can remember there's always been about 7-9ppl difference between the two so why is it suddenly 18ppl?

fk the responsiveness! It's getting normal unleaded in til the price comes back down!!

Is it roughly the same price difference in your areas too?

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Wills2 said:

V-power is 109.99 at the Shell station in Saltaire, that's a silly price you're paying.

I didn't pay it as I noticed the price next to the nozzle just before I picked it up. To be honest I usually don't bother looking at the price at all and have always assumed that the price will be around 8p more than normal but I definitely need to pay more attention in future!

Regarding filling up elsewhere, it largely comes down to convenience for me. My route to work doesn't go past any garages at all but there's a bunch of BP garages and Shell garages slightly off route. BP fuel has always had the BP "tax" applied it where they charge about 5p more per litre than anyone else so I won't use them out of principle but Shell is usually a sensible price and I use that much of it that the £4 off fuel vouchers they keep sending me keep me sweet.

Things may have changed but when I was a site manager for Repsol many years ago we were not allowed to change the price of the fuel as it's set by the petro co, not the franchisee, so the 120.9 at that site is (probably) set by Shell.

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giblet said:

What number did you call? The Kirkstall Road one is right near my office, used them quite a lot but today is probably the last time. I guess it helps that we are moving offices soon. Horsforth one is closest one to my house so I might just stick with them. Dewsbury Road one will be closest one to work once we move, will have to see what their prices are like in comparison.

The Regent St one is where I'm filling up at the moment as I've got a contract over at Cross Green so go right past it. Prices there are "normal" as you say, just watch out for the collapsed drainage channel as you're leaving as it's pretty deep!

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philmots said:

Just got off the phone

As expected, the 2 garages I mentioned, Garforth and Kirkstall Road are franchises. There is an RRP (that she wouldn't disclose) that Shell give to the garages but ultimately they can still charge what they like.

I mentioned Regent Street and the one in Wakey I used were both 8p more and surprise surprise these are both company owned stations! So I'm guessing 8p is the RRP but as fuel is relatively cheap these days the franchise owners are just taking the piss knowing us 'enthusiasts' will pay it.

Annoyingly for me i'd probably spend what I'd save going out my way to Regent Street but I think I'm going to vote with my feet tbh and start filling up there, I'd feel better knowing someones not taking the piss out of me.

Filling up at a company owned station was actually her suggestion, but she'd noted the 2 Stations I mentioned and it will be passed on as a complaint.. but she couldn't promise any changes.

I may be due a tin foil hat but I swear there's a difference in the V-Power unleaded quality at Regent St and Kirkstall Rd. Over the past 6 months I've had V-Power from Regent St my Focus ST has run like a bag of st, worse than it runs on normal unleaded, but whenever I filled up with V-Power at Kirkstall Rd it ran sweet as a nut and went like a rocket. I stopped filling up at Kirkstall Rd because of their crazy V-Power pricing but I was on fumes this morning and stuck in 25 litres of V-Power there (at an eye-watering 124.9 - unleaded 110.9) and surprise surprise, car totally transformed and running beautiful again.

It runs rough on V-Power from Low Lane as well and if I recall correctly that's a Shell run station with cheaper V-Power. Conspiracy?

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giblet said:

Thought I would reply to this now that I'm back in a car with forced induction. I usually fill up at Horsforth but stuck a tank in at Regent Street at the start of this week. 70 miles in so far and I've not noticed any issues. V power is down to 122.9 at the moment, I pray it keeps dropping as the Evo has a drinking problem.

I always fill up at Horsforth Low Lane these days and it's good stuff from there. Runs really swwet.

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benjijames28 said:

3 months ago I could get v power for 114 per litre!

Think I will stick to my 107 per litre 95 RON from Costco! Or splash out and pay 114 for Costco 99 RoN.

Nearest Costco with a fuel station is about 50 miles away from here in Oldham.

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HannsG said:

The wife's MK3 ST-3 Estate used to be filled with super. But as it's her car she now fills it up with normal unleaded.

Looking at the prices. Is it any fking wonder?

The 2.0T engine in the ST is st on fuel eitherway also!

I would argue that 30 mpg for a 250hp turbo petrol motor is fairly acceptable imho.