Tesco 99Ron Fuel

[Condi]

Interesting report on the benefits of their premium fuel.

http://www.tesco.com/Momentum99/productBenefits.as...

It indicates that they get over 25% more MPG in a 1.6 Focus compared to using boggo Tesco fuel. Personally I find that pretty hard to believe, but cant find any obvious problems in their logic or method. Maybe standard Tesco fuel is really crap, or are premium fuels in general really that much better for 'average' cars?

[Golaboots]

Surprised by that. In my experience the higher octane stuff may give an extra few miles, but probably not enough to warrant the extra expense.

Definitely never noticed extra power though, in any car I've tried it in.

Would be an interesting legal position if someone claims it doesn't do as they promised and wants a refund/to being it back!

[intrepid44]

In cars where the ignition can advance to suit the conditions/fuel then yes it is beneficial and will provide a more efficient combustion and hence more power for less fuel used, and thus increased fuel economy. So basically it depends on the car.

[StuB]

My BMW likes Tesco 99 but as said it has knock sensing, so can take advantage of 99 RON fuel.

Why don't you believe it's better than 95 RON fuel?

EVO have done a number of tests on premium petrols and they're known to work well.

[Puddenchucker]

I've always looked at it the other way around - if you have an engine configured to run on 97-99RON and you use 95RON instead you'll see a drop in MPG (and power), rather than saying if you use the 'correct' grade of fuel you'll see an improvement.

Most of the manufacturers blurb that I've seen suggests around a 5% difference between 95 and 98RON.

[Condi]

StuB said:

My BMW likes Tesco 99 but as said it has knock sensing, so can take advantage of 99 RON fuel.

Why don't you believe it's better than 95 RON fuel?

EVO have done a number of tests on premium petrols and they're known to work well.

I do believe its generally better than 95RON, but a 25% increase in MPG for a 1.6 Focus??

[intrepid44]

Condi said:

I do believe its generally better than 95RON, but a 25% increase in MPG for a 1.6 Focus??

I doubt a 25% increase in effiency, very unlikely as mentioned before more likely a sub 5% increase. I doubt for instance that 99 RON is 25% more resistant to detonation than 95 RON is, also I'm sure that wouldn't equate to a 25% increase in efficiency anyway.

[AreOut]

hmm might be 2.5% but misinterpreted without point...that sounds much more real

[theironduke]

My Tiv runs noticeably better on higher RON stuff but it tends to dissapear faster as a result

[DavidCane]

It definitely depends on car, but my old Z3M would get 10-15% more mileage from a tank of Tesco 99RON than Shell 95 RON. The difference between the Tesco 99Ron and Shell Optimax/V-Power was less obvious tho, I couldn't say if either was superior or not.

[Condi]

AreOut said:

hmm might be 2.5% but misinterpreted without point...that sounds much more real

Indeed, but why not read the report before commenting, eh?

[AreOut]

OK seen the graphs now, the only thing I can think of..standard fuel is ste

[intrepid44]

Another point to mention is that generally higher octane fuels have a lower energy density, so unless the car is mapped to suit or has a clever ECU that can "learn", then it will in effect decrease the fuel economy.

It would be interesting to know just how much more resistant to detonation it is than 95 (is it linear the rating?), and also the fuel energy densisty, with some comparisons to other fuels.

I'm willing to bet that they choose those cars for reasons other than in the interests of a fair experiment, and also to add it would be more of a fair test if they used an engine dyno, but I doubt this would come across well to the average driver.

Having said that I think 99 is a pretty good fuel and I would use it on my Starlet if there was a station with in reasonable distance.

[anonymous-user]

I don't notice any difference between this and Shell VPower in the 997

Anything else I have tried (no 95 ron stuff but BP Ultimate, Total Excellium etc.) are noticeably disappointing in comparison

[R300will]

If this study was sponsored by tesco, which it looks like it was, then you cannot trust the results or the method they used for accuracy.

[FamilyDub]

Can't tell a difference in running my car between Momentum 99 and V-Power.

CAN feel a difference to 95RON, though - made the car run rough as f00k (and worse economy; 2-3mpg).

[anonymous-user]

Funny thing is,95 Tesco fuel IS ste. I'm not surprised they're seeing this difference between the two! My car is useless running on that muck.

Shell 95 vs. Tesco 99 would be a dead heat.

[cerb4.5lee]

theironduke said:

My Tiv runs noticeably better on higher RON stuff but it tends to dissapear faster as a result

I second this, i feel mine runs better on 99 & pops & bangs more, but it could be all in my mind & it certainly doesnt last long if your having a good time.

[StuB]

Where's the claim of 25%?

Edited to add report read and base comparator for 1.8 focus 29 mpg looks flawed.

Edited by StuB on Saturday 24th March 17:49

[R300will]

Also if you look at the full test details the 320 M-sport appears to be an anomaly.