Supermarket Fuel - Bad Buy?

spacey2012

11 regional fuel storage centres in the UK.
They pull up, fill up who's ever tanker and drive off.
Everything else is hot air, advertising and traders puff and any additives are put in after they leave the depots.

Strider590

Urgh...... I didn't want to get into this.

All fuel comes from the same place.

Additives are added afterwards, supermarkets use cheaper additives.

But it's not the additives as such that are the problem, it's the fact that brand petrol stations are centrally run by companies that know about petrol.

Supermarkets know about food, bread, milk, eggs and lettuces, they use graduate managers to manage everything regardless of what they do or don't know. Overall, it's the supermarkets that mix fuel most often, dropping diesel into petrol tanks and vice versa.

worried_jim

Since it all comes from the same depots the calorific value must be the same, only the additives are formulated to each brand and how much difference there can there be? If I had a Porsche 911 turbo I would use Shell V-power. I don't so it's the cheapest outlet every-time and Tesco is 1k away and in 23 years of using supermarket not one problem.

cardinalbiggles

Strider590 wrote: »

All fuel comes from the same place.

Additives are added afterwards, supermarkets use cheaper additives.

First bits true. Second bit is a bit misleading. They all use additives, some may even be the same ;-)

Wh05apk

88,000 miles on mine, runs perfectly, only ever had one problem, and that was after using 3-4 tanks of Shell, used some cheapo supermarket fuel after, and ran perfect again. Shell does seem better initially but after a couple of tanks, it seems their "additives" build up and cause problems, this seems to be a known problem - or at least it was when I had my issues.

Strider590

Wh05apk wrote: »

88,000 miles on mine, runs perfectly, only ever had one problem, and that was after using 3-4 tanks of Shell, used some cheapo supermarket fuel after, and ran perfect again. Shell does seem better initially but after a couple of tanks, it seems their "additives" build up and cause problems, this seems to be a known problem - or at least it was when I had my issues.

Or perhaps they just removed/purged the junk from the cheap fuel you'd been using for years?

When you descale a kettle, do you blame the distilled vinegar for all the junk that comes out?

poppasmurf_bewdley

We did discuss this on these forums about nine months ago. I found using Morrisons fuel dropped the mpg of my Mondeo MK4 auto estate from 43 to 36mpg. It immediately reverted to 43mpg when I filled up with Esso fuel. Asda fuel bought in Poole keeps my MPG at 43.

OddballJamie

They both taste the same.

Prothet_of_Doom

not all fuel is the same.

I was working for an automotive supplier, and we had a 'few' litres of deiesel calibration fluid. Same taste and smell as deisel, but nothing like as flamable or as potent. We had it in a cupboard outside in a can marked Deisel and some scroat, robbed it. I'm guessing that his car was very slow after that. As in the engine would not go.

andygb

OddballJamie wrote: »

They both taste the same.

They do, but I have to say that I prefer a '61 Lafitte;)