Go further on expensive fuel

basill

I have a company car and get my fuel paid for at a per mile rate for business miles. Private miles I am expected to pay for. My firm update the per mile rate every three months.
Its generally pretty fair and covers most of my private miles as well. However when the price of unleaded shot up to 96p my reimbursement failed to keep up and I was gagging for the next review.
As I was almost paying to go to work I tried driving like a pensioner, 60-70 mph on the motorway no zooming away from the lights etc, journey times did not increase hugely (work anyway so doesn`t matter until going home!) and lo and beholdat least an extra 50+ miles per tank was possible.
To be honest I didnt think it would make such a difference.

I`m not convinced that any of the premium fuels will give enough extra to justify the price, some of my best mpg figures have been achieved with a tankfull of sainsburys.


The rate has gone up now to cover 96p/l and wahey Shell was 83.9/l in Milton Keynes yesterday so back to zooming about and free private miles!!

B

wolvoman

Wig wrote:

wolvoman wrote:

That means fuel economy is 3.65% better.QUOTE]

No it doesn't because you have to do atleast 5000 miles on each fuel type. Having a couple of tank fulls of the cheaper stuff to begin with. Is not a useful measure for comparison IMHO.

I have done about 10 tankfuls of each type. I wish my car could do 5000 miles on just a couple of tanks!!!

superscotsman

It is difficult to measure performance between different brands of fuels. What may seem to be a difference in fuels during the same journey on different days might be the wind blowing in a different direction, the traffic speed being 2 or 3 kph lower than the first da, a wet road, or the fact you might be carrying an extra passenger.

I agree that the fuel at the supermarkets is of the same quality as elsewhere.

Back in the 1970s, Elf was supposed to be a better quality fuel. I do not know about now.

Don't forget the tyre pressures. They are important.

shona_2

The computer in my car doesn't agree...
more miles from Shell and BP (stabndard) diesel than Asda certainly...

Wig

None of you will convince me there is any difference unless you either set up a controlled test in laboratory conditions.

Or you do at least 5000 miles (I'd prefer 10,000) on each fuel type. Not just a tank full here and there.

If you like why not ask Topgear to run a proper test.

And what you interpret from your onboard computer which itself is interpreting lots of different variables, is imo a waste of time.

iluvmylexus

lcharm wrote:

Hi guys first post on this website, thought i'd make a contribution.
Cheaper petrol from tescos/sainsburys etc... are cheap for a reason, there are a lot more impurities found which can be harmful to your engine due to inefficient fractionation at refineries or something like that. Not sure where and how they get there petrol, but it does seem like a leftover job, (i.e. all the crap that BP, esso, shell don't use.

I think the best options are to keep tanks full (rather than half) regularly from a major supplier in different and cheaper areas, which may involve a bit more travelling than ur local but ends up worth it.

Hope someone finds this info usefull!

The fuel used by supermarkets comes from the same refineries as the major petrol suppliers (ie: shell petrol could be supplied from an esso refinery) and is identical. The difference between supermarket fuel and the branded suppliers are the additives that each individual company adds as their unique selling point, (ie: bp ultimate, shell optimax etc.)

modern petrol is crap and deteriorates very quickly, from my experience with a mildly tuned motor bike that is often left standing for prolonged periods without use. the difference in performance is quite staggering, in my opinion i would leave the tank with very little fuel and top up with fresh petrol regularly

tomstickland

You are not alone in finding this. Optimax, for example, is known to lose its Octane rating if left standing in a tank for a long time. Engine tuners https://www.sbdev.co.uk have a whole section about it and problems they had with head gasket erosion as a result.

spinkle

Hi i have used total exelium diesel and put in my car the exact same amount in price as standard diesel and I get roughly 250 moles out of 20 ltrs 23 pounds worth but when I put 23 pounds worth of exelium in I only get 200 miles out of it a loss of 50 miles for my moneys worth .You might get more miles per gallon but the extra cost just leaves you worse off I even contacted total to explain why but guess what "no reply " its just another way to for greedy fuel companies to get us to part with even more of are hard earned cash they are not interested in saving us money they just want even more of it bring in cars that don't need to run on oil what will they do then ! try to stop it from coming reality !

cajef

Hmm! may be useful information for someone but this thread is nearly 5 years old.

Also interesting to see how you get 250 moles:rotfl:

clever_username

spinkle wrote: »

Hi i have used total exelium diesel and put in my car the exact same amount in price as standard diesel and I get roughly 250 moles out of 20 ltrs 23 pounds worth but when I put 23 pounds worth of exelium in I only get 200 miles out of it a loss of 50 miles for my moneys worth .You might get more miles per gallon but the extra cost just leaves you worse off I even contacted total to explain why but guess what "no reply " its just another way to for greedy fuel companies to get us to part with even more of are hard earned cash they are not interested in saving us money they just want even more of it bring in cars that don't need to run on oil what will they do then ! try to stop it from coming reality !

You must've gone back dozens of pages to find a five year-old thread!

Don't waste your time or money with special fuels that claim to increase your mpg, nothing will have anywhere near the impact on fuel economy as simply altering your driving style.