Is supermarket fuel lower quality than BP or Total

skybluesaver

Hi folks. I've been using Tesco fuel in my Ford Focus for the past year or so. It was particularly rough at starting up on this so i decided to put a tank of BP Ultimate in it after the contamination scare. Well its running well rough on the BP Ultimate so i can only assume it doesn't like the higher octane fuel.
Generally speaking, do the likes of BP or Total ordinary unleaded fuels fare better than supermarket fuels?

balsingh

This question gets asked quite a lot. Apparently, some of the supermarkets share the same fuel as the bigger forecourt eg. Sainsburys fuel is supplied by BP. However, I am told BP then add extra additives at the pump which Sainsburys don't - hence the price difference. Also, based on you situation, you need to run the car on a different fuel for at least 1000 miles to see if there is any difference. BP Ultimate is meant to be better for the car but you wouldnt notice a difference after 1 tank.

anewman

I filled up at Tesco York just before the news about the silicon contamination. The car was relatively noisy and I found I got poor MPG. Filled up at Shell and the car was instantly quieter, and I think I am getting better MPG.

student100

anewman wrote: »

I filled up at Tesco York just before the news about the silicon contamination. The car was relatively noisy and I found I got poor MPG. Filled up at Shell and the car was instantly quieter, and I think I am getting better MPG.

I would have thought that the perceived differences here are partly psychological (placebo effect), partly maybe to do with the different journeys or driving style you took on the Shell fuel etc.

As an earlier poster said I would imagine you have to use much more than one tank of fuel to make any kind of sensible comparison.

However this is all wild conjecture.

anewman

student100 wrote: »

I would have thought that the perceived differences here are partly psychological (placebo effect), partly maybe to do with the different journeys or driving style you took on the Shell fuel etc.

As an earlier poster said I would imagine you have to use much more than one tank of fuel to make any kind of sensible comparison.

However this is all wild conjecture.

The difference was instant. Filled up with shell petrol, turned on the ignition, and I was surprised at how quiet the engine had become. Not that I used a decibel meter or anything and can give precise measurements but there was an obvious difference.

chuckles1066

anewman wrote: »

The difference was instant. Filled up with shell petrol, turned on the ignition, and I was surprised at how quiet the engine had become. Not that I used a decibel meter or anything and can give precise measurements but there was an obvious difference.

Indeed.

We regularly do booze cruise daytrips across to Calais. On UK fuel with two passengers and an empty boot motoring quickly upto Dover (M5, M4, M25, M26, M20) we get 35-37mpg.

Fill up with French fuel and make the same journey back (except loaded right up with booze which should have a seriously detrimental effect on fuel consumption).........43-44mpg.

Don't know why it is but we've done the journey at least a dozen times and the results are the same every time.

UK fuel must be very poor quality compared to what our French cousins are using.

Cumbrian_Male

Fuel is different in other countries.

for example shell v power 99 ron here 101 ron in germany.

I usually use shell but was heading the opposite direction today and used bp which run suprisingly well for normal unleaded, wonder if they mixed up the ultimate.

I usually put a tank of v power in once a month to clean the injectors and valves.

gazhawkins

I tried BP ultimate (petrol) in my 1.6 toyota corolla, and yes, I got better performance and about 2mpg extra.

However, it costs anywhere between 7-10p a litre more than standard BP low sulphur unleaded - which makes it a decidedly uneconomic prospect.

With long term usage, say over 100,000 miles - the benefits of a cleaner engine (as per Cumbrian Male) might even out the economics.

Hintza

Have alook at this HERE