Tesco petrol vs Shell petrol

Alechjo

Dear All,

I have checked my car consumption figures and decided to share them with the community. Since I bought my first car, a 1.4 Nissan Almera, I always used Tesco's petrol because of clubpoints. It did 29.5-30.3 mpg in urban cycle and around 36 on a motorway journey. Accidentally I filled up at Shell station and did 43 mpg on the way back. Now it seems that it does 35 mpg in urban cycle. This is about 15-18% economy that dwarfes any clubpoint advantages! I do not do many miles, so of course thats approximate, but I see nothing else that could cause such great difference (the car was not serviced, did not get new tyres, tyre pressure was always kept normal).

Has anyone experienced the same?

vansboy

Congratulations on discovering that supermarket & Shell (or Texaco & BP Ultimate) are NOT the same!!

Don't forget to sign up for Bonuspoints card in Shell - worth around 1p/ltr, or more, depending on their target amounts set, for you to buy!!

Now try Shell Optimax & see if that 'feels' different, too!

VB

plane_boy2000

Now I always thought that tesco fuel was cheap nasty stuff, but filled my car upa coule of weeks ago with Tesco stuff as I was near. Same route and driving patter returned 52mpg instead of usuall 49 on optimax. may just be a coincidence, but will swap back and forth to guage any difference.

tomstickland

I too have a feeling that Texaco/Shell/BP petrol gives me a few more miles per gallon (around 20 miles per 10 gallon tank). I've never bothered to measure it yet, but I will do soon. Once I have a lot of data then I should be able to look for a statistically valid correlation.

hammodt

Excuse my ignorance, but isn't all petrol the same? I thought it had a BS number, so had to be the same "homogenous" product?

David

plane_boy2000

The BS number dictates a minimum standard, and we are lucky in the UK that this results in good quality fuel whever you buy it, however each retailer may or may not add their own detergents etc which can improve economy / performance etc.

photome

When is the additive added..if there is any....as all tankers fill up from the same depots

vansboy

There's loads on this on http://www.honestjohn.co.uk clik The Backroom Discussion.

The additives are indeed added, by the selection process, made by the driver, when he loads, at the terminal.

Apparently they use an electronic card to 'order' the correct mixture at this point, depending on the fuels destination.

VB

Lady_S

I switched to shell fuel after my sister noticed a better return mpg.However, recently my partner my mum and I have had problems with our cars being a bit hesitant at times.

We all use the same shell station because we liked the benefits of increased mpg. Anyway, my bloke then started going somewhere else as it was more convenient on his way to work and the problems resolved themselves.

My mother and I have now both done the same and our problems have cleared up aswell. I think there must be some kind of contamination there.

balsingh

Having tried a mixture of different fuels, I have found Sainburys fuel to be the best compromise between price and mpg. I have no idea whether Sainsburys use the same fuel as other supermarkets but my car seems to always give better mpg when I use it. I found the mpg dropped a few mpg when using Esso and I gained 1-2mpg when using Shell but as the Shell fuel is pricier, I have stuck to Sainsburys for many years.

cougar_3

balsingh wrote:

Having tried a mixture of different fuels, I have found Sainburys fuel to be the best compromise between price and mpg. I have no idea whether Sainsburys use the same fuel as other supermarkets but my car seems to always give better mpg when I use it. I found the mpg dropped a few mpg when using Esso and I gained 1-2mpg when using Shell but as the Shell fuel is pricier, I have stuck to Sainsburys for many years.

Petrolprices.co.uk suggests that it is BP who supply Sainsbury's petrol - did you notice any difference between them?