Supermarket petrol okay for our car?

Joe_Horner

bigjl wrote: »

Same silly argument due to not being able to understand a simple concept.

They all run on it.

But cheap fuels with minimal additive packages will always be better for a vehicle long term.

Stick to your Asda/Tesco Beans if you think they are the same as Heinz then.

They are both beans after all.

And if anybody can tell the difference that you are unable to then try to divert the blame on them, eh.:rotfl:

Why will it "aways be better long term"? You only have the fuel companies' word for the fact that their extra additives make any practical difference, and "long term" is so open ended that such a comment is meaningless.

I'm currently driving a 1996 Pug 405 diesel that I happen to know both of the two owners from new, and I happen to also know that they have both used supermarket fuel in it from new unless they happened to need some as they were passing a "branded" garage. So the car has effectuvely done it's whole 192000 miles on "Tesco beans".

It still starts first time every morning, still doesn't use excessive oil between services (I may have to top up 1/4 litre or so) and it still averages 45mpg with high 50's on a good run. Given that those are virtually the figures quoted when it was new, how much better do you really think Exxon Snake Oil might have made it? Alternatively, if it had been run on branded fuel all those miles, just how much longer past its expected life would I need to keep it to see the supposed benefit of that "better fuel"?

As for the beans analogy, it entirely misses the mark I'm afraid because, judged as what they are (ie: food) the value beans are just as good as the others. They will all nourish you the same, they will all make you fart the same, and (because they all meet the same food standards) none of them will give you long term medical problems any more than the others.

Taste in food is entirely subjective and (almost) entirely learnt, which is why things that are considered delicacies in one culture can literally turn the stomachs of people from another. If you grew up on Tesco value beans it's very likely that you'd find Heinz "worse" because they're not what you're used to. But that makes no difference at all to their quality as food.

A._Badger wrote: »

Thank you for conveniently excising the second part of my comment. Tesco's business model is completely different from that of the oil companies. You can't infer anything useful about the quality of fuels from a company that makes its money by enticing people into its stores by its petrol prices.

The only way of working out whether supermarket fuel is as good as that from a major petrochemical company is to test it in a laboratory. Anything else is guesswork and that's what all these threads on this forum are.

I didn't quote the second part because I agree completely that fuel quality can only be determined in a lab.

But my point was that Tesco, with it's undoubted predatory pricing and the cost benefits that come with holding the larges share of the market, are still unable to undercut the branded fuels in areas where the branded fuels decide to match them.

Which very strongly suggests that all these expensive snake oils in the branded fuels probably don't cost all that much really - in fact, as bulk chemicals, there's a good chance they're actually cheaper than the % of base fuel they replace

I accept that all that is (logical) supposition, what is not supposition is the established fact that some people will "pay for the name", whether that's in petrol, trainers or jewellery. If that "brand value" is not factored into the (usually higher) price of branded fuels then the oil companies must be the only "names" out there not doing so. What saints they must be!!!

sinbad182

bigjl wrote: »

Same silly argument due to not being able to understand a simple concept.

They all run on it.

But cheap fuels with minimal additive packages will always be better for a vehicle long term.

Stick to your Asda/Tesco Beans if you think they are the same as Heinz then.

They are both beans after all.

And if anybody can tell the difference that you are unable to then try to divert the blame on them, eh.:rotfl:

Spot the mug who's been wasting his money by insisting on BP Ultimate (or whatever it's called) for his 2 litre mondeo :rotfl:

misterbarlow

In October we went down to Cornwall for halfterm holidays..
I filled up (a 1.8 petrol) at Tesco and £50 brimmed it to the line..
We drove down and only got 230miles out of it (shocking I know, btw we have now sold it and have a 1.6tdi), anyway, coming back I again put £50 in at Shell as was the nearest local station, and this didn't fully brim the tank, it was quite a bit short of the full line, but, we got 270miles out of it coming back....
So paid more, and thus got less, but actually did better mpg on the shell fuel, than the tesco!!

5557223

For me, supermarket fuels are false economy. I get 10-15% better fuel consumption with BP regular diesel than any other brand and the price difference, well there isn't any where I live.

Ultrasonic

5557223 wrote: »

For me, supermarket fuels are false economy. I get 10-15% better fuel consumption with BP regular diesel than any other brand and the price difference, well there isn't any where I live.

I do believe that there are benefits from the cleaning properties of better diesels, but I'm afraid I don't believe you truly get anything like 10% to 15% better fuel economy from BP over 'supermarket' diesel. That is a HUGE difference, and one that if it really did exist BP would be promoting like crazy. They make a much more modest claim for the fuel economy improvement from BP Ultimate Diesel (which I currently use).

But the OP asked about petrol...

Southend1

Tesco fuel is consistently one or two pence a litre more expensive than Esso and Shell where I live. I use tesco because of the clubcard points but even taking these into account the fuel is roughly the same price.

gasmanmartin

Just to add even more confusion to the mix ......

I drive a high performance car running 290 BHP, i sometimes use ASDA fuel and i sometimes use BP fuel.
In all the time i've owned it (4 years) i have not noticed any difference in MPG figures depending on what fuel i use.

Also, i've not had any engine problems.

as others have said, it's your money so go wherever you want, i go to whatever one im passing when i need fuel, a fool proof solution when needing petrol :money:

reddwarf2002

misterbarlow wrote: »

In October we went down to Cornwall for halfterm holidays..
I filled up (a 1.8 petrol) at Tesco and £50 brimmed it to the line..
We drove down and only got 230miles out of it (shocking I know, btw we have now sold it and have a 1.6tdi), anyway, coming back I again put £50 in at Shell as was the nearest local station, and this didn't fully brim the tank, it was quite a bit short of the full line, but, we got 270miles out of it coming back....
So paid more, and thus got less, but actually did better mpg on the shell fuel, than the tesco!!

There are a few things that could have affected your MPG figures and meant that the comparison was unfair.

1) Although to the naked eye it wouldn't appear so, your outward journey may have been slightly downhill and therefore the return being uphill and using more fuel.

2) The first part of your journey may have cleaned out the engine/exhaust/injectors etc (due to long run) and therefore the return journey resulting in improved MPG.

Although it is entirely possible for some fuel to give better MPG, it would be very unlikely to give roughly a 20% increase. So other factors have to be considered.

andygb

5557223 wrote: »

For me, supermarket fuels are false economy. I get 10-15% better fuel consumption with BP regular diesel than any other brand and the price difference, well there isn't any where I live.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Oh my word, we have a live one;)