Optimax, BP Ultimate, Tesco 99 ("Tesco Finest")

[magriggs]

Decent article in this month's Evo about the different premium fuels on the market. They went through a pretty in-depth dyno testing of them all. Also compared against a race-quality fuel, which is an eye-popping £3.50 a litre.

[kiko]

What was the outcome?

[gmmk]

BP Ultimate and Tesco 99 were the best.

[leeme3]

How did the Esso one do? I'm not a big fan but no Tesco / Shell / BP near me!

[verysideways]

Wasn't there some comment about "freshness"? I seem to remember someone else did a test recently and (Tesco 99 not included) Optimax won by some margin.

I've read somewhere that Tesco 99 and Optimax 98 are more sensitive to freshness (so buy from a busy petrol station) whereas BP Ulimate 97 is more stable over longer periods of time.

[barry_j]

gmmk said:

BP Ultimate and Tesco 99 were the best.

Best on what grounds? Performance or fuel economy or engine protection
...or all of the above?

Was there a big margin between them and Optimax?

[peterpeter]

i found the result pretty surprising becasue I was always under the impression that BP ultimate was shite.

Tried it about a year ago..perhaps it was becasue I bought from a quiet petrol station ( as EVo warned against)

Mind you, I filled up my STI with tesco 99 ron this weekend for 89 p a litre.

Nearest BP was charging 97p for their ultimate...so there's no comparision really.

[egbert]

Interesting-I look forward to reading it. My TT certainly seems to like the Tesco stuff after a couple of tanks.

[dealmaker]

peterpeter said:

i found the result pretty surprising becasue I was always under the impression that BP ultimate was shite. Tried it about a year ago..perhaps it was becasue I bought from a quiet petrol station ( as EVo warned against) Mind you, I filled up my STI with tesco 99 ron this weekend for 89 p a litre. Nearest BP was charging 97p for their ultimate...so there's no comparision really.

Back to back tests in a couple of my fleet concluded that, indeed BP Ultimate is Shite!

I'm not convinced that Shell is always consistent, batch to batch, either. Total do a Super unleaded which always seems good but not quite as "potent".

One of my cars (a tuned Evo) is very fuel sensitive - I would love to try the Tesco 99Ron stuff.

I wrote a few e-mails to Shell asking them to bring in the 100 ron stuff our European cousins get - but no joy.

Is there a site where I can establish which Tesco stations stock 99 ron? I'd like to show Shell my displeasure with their narrow mindedness by voting with my feet (or my "wheels" in this instance!).

[flemke]

dealmaker said:

I'd like to show Shell my displeasure with their narrow mindedness by voting with my feet (or my "wheels" in this instance!).

Are Shell really being narrow-minded? After all, following the oil companies' coordinated reduction from 98 to 97 a few years ago, you couldn't get 98 anywhere until Shell offered Optimax. The reason why BP, Tesco and Esso are now offering a performance-orientated fuel is that Shell made the effort to create or at least to uncover the market first.





>> Edited by flemke on Monday 5th December 19:04

[carconnoisseur]

dealmaker said:

Is there a site where I can establish which Tesco stations stock 99 ron?

clicky
so basically, if you're not in the SE.... Hopefully in time it will be country-wide but not holding my breath!

edit to add the link, oops!

>> Edited by carconnoisseur on Monday 5th December 19:47

[dealmaker]

carconnoisseur said:

dealmaker said: Is there a site where I can establish which Tesco stations stock 99 ron? clicky so basically, if you're not in the SE.... Hopefully in time it will be country-wide but not holding my breath! edit to add the link, oops! >> Edited by carconnoisseur on Monday 5th December 19:47

Bugger - so if you ain't a Southern Softy Shandy drinker you can't buy Tesco 99Ron !

[magriggs]

verysideways said:

Wasn't there some comment about "freshness"? I seem to remember someone else did a test recently and (Tesco 99 not included) Optimax won by some margin..

That was Evo again, I think, about 9 months ago?

[dealmaker]

flemke said:

dealmaker said: I'd like to show Shell my displeasure with their narrow mindedness by voting with my feet (or my "wheels" in this instance!). Are Shell really being narrow-minded? After all, following the oil companies' coordinated reduction from 98 to 97 a few years ago, you couldn't get 98 anywhere until Shell offered Optimax. The reason why BP, Tesco and Esso are now offering a performance-orientated fuel is that Shell made the effort to create or at least to uncover the market first. >> Edited by flemke on Monday 5th December 19:04

Good point - but Audi uncovered the Four Wheel drive, Turbo performance Coupe market - doesn't mean I still drive an 89 Quattro! Time marches on, as, invariably does competition, in a free market economy - so whoever is first on the market with a viable 100Ron fuel might "uncover" an even newer market!

[flemke]

dealmaker said:

Time marches on, as, invariably does competition, in a free market economy - so whoever is first on the market with a viable 100Ron fuel might "uncover" an even newer market!

Let's hope so.
By the way, in Germany V-Max 100 RON (in Belgium it's also called "V-Max" but it's only 98 RON) costs 3 cents/litre more than 95 RON. That's something like 2.4% more. In the UK Optimax seems to cost around 4-5 pence/litre more than 95.
To paraphrase what they said at the Bauhaus, in the UK, less is more!

[markmullen]

I find that BP Ultimate feels less edgey and slightly smoother than Optimax but is slightly slower.

When I had an RX7 which was quite picky on what you fed it Optimax was essential, anything else ran lumpy.

[kiko]

"Old" BP ultimate was crap but a new formula (3 weeks ago here in Portugal) has come out and the results are incredible! Even better the Shell.

[bins]

Very interesting.
I saw a tv program (think it might have been 5th gear) with petrol comparison between 3 different high RON products, including Optimax on 3 cars. 2 normal and 1 performance.
Final outcome was that not much performance difference on the standard cars but Shell won easily on the performance cars

Anyone else see it?

[peterpeter]

kiko said:

"Old" BP ultimate was crap but a new formula (3 weeks ago here in Portugal) has come out and the results are incredible! Even better the Shell.

That makes sense....

Might give ita go...but its pricey compared to tesco99

[JT944]

i run my 944 on optimax but it makes it run hot. so mutch so that the first time i used it i thought the stat had stuck.it took a while to find that it was the optimax.but it does run better if a bit hotter