Tesco petrol vs Shell petrol

BobToo

The town where I live used to have four petrol stations, three of which were attached to garages. Tesco bought one of the garages and built a supermarket on it, complete with petrol station. It wasn't long before the other three stations closed because of Tesco's low prices. Not only did Tesco then hike the price, they never kept their airline and water facilities, now the only ones in town remember, in working order.

After a bit of public outcry Tesco reduced their prices and bought a new airline but I will never fill my car there again. If I'm running on fumes I will buy 2 litres on my credit card so I can get to another petrol station ten miles away.

balsingh

cougar wrote:

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

I avoid BP cos they always seems to charge much more than the rest wherever I go.

Katgoddess

cougar wrote:

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

I've seen Excel branded tankers delivering at my local Sainsburys occasionally. I don't know if they just rented that while the Sainsburys branded tanker was being serviced though.

tomstickland

A few degrees increase in air temperature can increase the mpg significantly

What makes you say that? Air density?

Cumbrian_Male

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.

Well where I live Shell is the cheapest branded station matching the supermarket prices. All other BP ESSO TEXACO AND TOTAL are 1p/L more expensive.

delorean_2

90% of the time I use Tesco or Shell. The 10% is when I drive to and from the airport and have no choice but to stop at a Texaco or.....*slits wrists* a BP garage. Both Tesco and Shell offer loyalty points so either is fine by me.

I long for the day I can afford a Honda FCX! :rolleyes:

wdyw

tomstickland wrote:

What makes you say that? Air density?

While the air density may be fractionally less the engine cooling required will be higher. One of the basic laws of thermodynamics is in a cycle you always have to lose heat and as your heat transfer is dependent on the temperature difference you are going to have to put more work in to cool the engine. So overall I see reasons why economy may go up or down.... but I'd hate to say which effect would be the larger.

When testing airctart the worst condition is "hot and high", so off to places like Denver and S.A. the companies go to measure performance.

The OH avoids Total garages like the plague. Huge drop in economy with their petrol she reckons.

Crabman

I used Esso for a brief while and noticed a slight improvement in mileage though that was a motorway journey :rolleyes: it did give more mileage as we do that jounrney quite often...

chrisw

I also have my suspicions that cruise control reduces mpg, but it is very difficult to prove that one way or the other without access to a battery powered robotic foot on a test track. The only theory I can put forward to support this, is that anything electromechanical will use some extra energy, and also cruise controlled drivers continue at the same speed up a hill (which uses more petrol), whereas the average driver slows down a bit up hills.

I found that I get much better mpg with cruise control on. I presumed it was down to the small throttle inputs rather than me stepping on and off the throttle to get past people and my speed creeping up in the process.

I guess this adds to the argument that consumption depends mainly on driving style and traffic conditions.

pault49

i use a additive every 3 months after supermarket petrol as my vw runs worse on supermarket petrol