what petrol do you use and trust?

[dazc]

out of the super unleaded brands available, optimax (or whatever they call it now), ultimate, excellium, tesco super,

[Zippee]

Personally I use Tesco 99 or Shell V-Power whenever I can.
For some reason though my car hates BP Ultimate and tends to run very rough on it.

[FUBAR]

Luckily, I live within a 7 mile radius of 3 Shell stations, a BP and 2 Tesco garages.

Mainly Optimax, occasionally Ultimate (greedy robbing bds) and sometimes Tesco's Super or whatever its called.

But 80% Optimax

[s5tuart]

I use Shell V-Power. I have never had any problems with it at all. The Shell stations can be quite sparse so I also use, in emergency, BP Ultimate which seems to suit my 500 Chim (with Marks Adams Tornado, K&N and ACT wide smooth bore hose) except that it feels "slower" on hard acceleration.
I always avoid supermarket petrol as I am told there are fewer UCLs etc. to keep the engine pristine.

[mightymouse]

s5tuart said:

I always avoid supermarket petrol as I am told there are fewer UCLs etc. to keep the engine pristine.

I have heard this, but is it actually true as all fuel in the Uk is made to a British Standard ?

[NTEL]

mightymouse said:

s5tuart said:

I always avoid supermarket petrol as I am told there are fewer UCLs etc. to keep the engine pristine.

I have heard this, but is it actually true as all fuel in the Uk is made to a British Standard ?

In my industry, we use British Standards as a minimum standard

[Cerberowner]

I had always used Shell V Power, but recently had to fill up with Tesco's 99RON and I'm sure that my Cerb runs better on it.

[blueyonder]

BP Ultimate or Tesco Super...my 400 runs fine with both. Put a tank of V-Power in once and it ran rough for some reason and it's bloody expensive. Since then I've had a new MC1 cam fitted so I might try a tank of V-Power but is the extra oomph noticeable and worth the extra wonga?

[T_Pot]

lot of people seem to be using tesco super, i was led to believe it was poor, but am going to try a tank now.
i use v power, and i cant see any change when using it to ordinary 95ron, apart from my wallet closes easier on way back to the car

[LastCerbera]

I personally would never put Tesco fuel (super or otherwise) in any of my cars. Don't forget the contaminated fuel issue last year that Tesco categorically denied saying it was impossible, blah, blah, blah.... until trading standards tested a batch and said it was f'king ste!! A lady who I know had her Boxster off the road for about 2 weeks as a result (and a £2k bill).

Keep it real, stick to V-Power.

[eliot]

LastCerbera said:

A lady who I know had her Boxster off the road for about 2 weeks as a result (and a £2k bill).

Keep it real, stick to V-Power.

She was ripped off then. The fuel contained silcone, which kills lambda sensors. Which is the same reason you should use "lambda safe" silcone sealant anywhere on the engine.

The different grades of fuel give better resistance against detonation, so unless you have switchable ignition tables or a an ecu that can learn from knock or ion sensors - then in my opinion you are wasting your money (assuming your engine will run on std unleaded without knocking)

[LastCerbera]

Apparently and I say apparently as it isn't my car so frankly have limited interest in the matter, but it wasn't just the Lambda sensor that ended up knackered and I doubt that a Porsche main dealer would take the proverbial especially knowing the 'sensitive' situation that existed at the time. Anyway, regardless of your 'expert' opinion, Tesco's eventually paid the bill anyway, which I would take as an admission of guilt.

A few years ago one of the mags did a 1,500 mile test on a few differen't cars. From memory, they inserted a camera into the engine on each car and took pics before the test, they then drove for a fair few miles on supermarket fuel and took pics, did the same with V-Power (then Optimax) and again did the same with normal 'branded' fuel. The pictures made interesting viewing. The V-Power test resulted in by far the cleanest internals. So, regardless of knock sensors, supposedly increased power or not, etc, i'll stick with it thanks very much.

Edited by LastCerbera on Sunday 2nd March 22:53

[over_the_hill]

NTEL said:

mightymouse said:

s5tuart said:

I always avoid supermarket petrol as I am told there are fewer UCLs etc. to keep the engine pristine.

I have heard this, but is it actually true as all fuel in the Uk is made to a British Standard ?

In my industry, we use British Standards as a minimum standard

They will all be up to "basic standard" but the major brands will include better quality additives and detergents. This is how the supermarkets keep the price lower by not including the extras.

I started using Total Excellium in the shopping car some time ago. Not that it needs super as it's just a boggo standard car, but as noted above the cleaning agents are better for the engine and the extra cost isn't that much due to fairly low miles covered each week. At first I did notice improved mpg as claimed in the adverts but now the mpg sems to have slipped back to where it was before. I'm just wondering if they have changed the "blend" to something cheaper after the initial marketing campaign.

[dazc]

tescos werent the only people affected by the silicone in petrol thing.

and as far as i know there fuel carries the highest octane rating of any of the pump fuels, being 99 ron, most of the others are 98 and excellium is 97. Not sure what the v power is.

Not that octane rating will affect the performance of the car unless the ecu is able to adjust timing to compensate for increased det resistance.

I wonder if there is a variation in the heat content of the different fuels, which gives them a better feel, wonder if this info is available anywhere?

[97octane]

Shell V-Power - most of the time, but there are frequent supply problems and our local Shell stations are often out of stock or closed!
Esso Supreme (97) - no problems at all, runs fine and have a local Esso station
BP Ultimate - fine but always more expensive, so last resort when the others not available
Tesco 99 - no local garages, which is a pain when you are clutching a voucher for 5p off a litre!!! Nearest Tesco filling station to my home is 18 miles!

[rev-erend]

After what Tesco did with their petrol - I'll never use their cheap stuff again.

Talk about in denial - they were like a politicain - in denial until there really was no way expert to admit the problem.

[julianc]

FUBAR said:

Mainly Optimax, occasionally Ultimate (greedy robbing bds)....

My nearest Shell station, half a mile north of M55 J3, is charging 120.9p - yes, 120.9p - per litre for V-power. The day before, I paid 110.9p in the depths of Scotland. When I asked why the price was extortionate, the guy said the garage had a new owner (so clearly Shell garages are not all owned by Shell) and that he was ripping people off - also overcharging on sandwiches, pies, etc. I told him he wouldn't see me in the garage again.......

So BP doesn't have the monopoly on being greedy robbing bds.....

[thegreengoblet]

Never had any problems with Tesco 99Ron in my Cerb 4.5. Just pick a garage that is always busy and you then know that the fuel must be reasonably fresh.

[Cerberowner]

97octane said:

Tesco 99 - no local garages, which is a pain when you are clutching a voucher for 5p off a litre!!! Nearest Tesco filling station to my home is 18 miles!

and it'll only save you £2-3

[FUBAR]

julianc said:

FUBAR said:

Mainly Optimax, occasionally Ultimate (greedy robbing bds)....

My nearest Shell station, half a mile north of M55 J3, is charging 120.9p - yes, 120.9p - per litre for V-power. The day before, I paid 110.9p in the depths of Scotland. When I asked why the price was extortionate, the guy said the garage had a new owner (so clearly Shell garages are not all owned by Shell) and that he was ripping people off - also overcharging on sandwiches, pies, etc. I told him he wouldn't see me in the garage again.......

So BP doesn't have the monopoly on being greedy robbing bds.....

I blame it all on the Government