Petrol - MPG Thread

OddballJamie

Morrisons using Fuel Save if I have a voucher. If not which ever I'm passing that isn't a Texaco.

No one on their deathbed will be staying "I wish I had travelled a bit further to save 1p a litre".

Value your time people.

BeenThroughItAll

fivetide wrote: »

Out local Esso is filled up by Greenergy tankers - the same people who supply.... Tesco!

Bearing in mind that Greenergy supply over 20% of the UK's road fuel (by volume), there's a very good chance of that.

BeenThroughItAll

spikyone wrote: »

@fivetide and others - the company that delivers the fuel has no bearing on the composition of the fuel.

In reference to this, Greenergy was the example used and they don't just deliver fuel, they actually supply it. It's blended in and taken from the exact same storage tanks for supply to their customers from a number of storage locations, including Teesside and Thurrock, and will also be from another site in London in the near future.


I've done business with all the parties involved.


There are additives injected or added later for certain customers' fuels, but the quantities are tiny - as little as .25L (yes, 250ml) in a 6000L tank on the tanker; the basic unleaded or diesel you buy from different stations will be the same stuff.


It's only when you get to the 'premium' HO or HC stuff that you'll see any real differences. Between 'basic' brands, the additives are differing amounts of detergent and stability optimiser rather than anything that will enhance power or consumption.


Fact is, if you fill up one week at Sainsbury and the next at Tesco, the basic juice is identical and any differences will be so small you would never see an immediate MPG/power difference as a result only of the fuel composition (unless it was very badly contaminated, for example).


Environmental and external factors like temperature, air pressure, humidity, traffic levels, and driving profile will explain the difference.

JethroUK

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

.... recently I've filled up at Tesco, rather than my usual Esso, .....

fairly confident that Tesco actually use Esso

forgotmyname

SoulUK wrote: »

I have recently changed the petrol station i use to Sainsburys (as it has become very cheap) and have been plesantly supprised that my car seems to run better with it.

Whats everyones car, and which companys fuel do you believe runs best?

I'm currently useing Sainsbury fuel in a Hyundai Coupe.

I have used Tesco & Esso in the past, which dont seem to last as long

Its all in your mind you dreamt it. You say its didnt seem to last as long. So you have not tested it out properly.
Since you filled up there have been changes in the weather and traffic.

CKhalvashi

Interestingly, my car (diesel) did 964mi on the tank of Tesco fuel I did part of the latest journey in, still shows quarter tank (computer said 7mi to empty when I filled up), and this is 812mi later, with about 100 of those being done in Malta (so short journeys). 301mi to empty, according to the car.

On a side note, Italian diesel is bl!!dy expensive!

JustinR1979

Couple people I know with diesels say they go much better on esso than Tesco.
I use Tesco only for the pay at pump.
From what I know Esso is one of the best along with Shell.

BeenThroughItAll

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Couple people I know with diesels say they go much better on esso than Tesco.

They're almost certainly imagining that.

JustinR1979

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

They're almost certainly imagining that.

Quite possibly.
I always thought diesel was diesel, any they run on any old crap.
Guess the cetane rating can vary though?

BeenThroughItAll

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Quite possibly.
I always thought diesel was diesel, any they run on any old crap.
Guess the cetane rating can vary though?

Nope, all comes from the same tanks. Additive packs are added as I say, but that's based on injecting different quantities of additive at the point of filling. Additives are things like this (this is one actually added to fuel supplied by a customer I've worked with):

https://www.aftonchemical.com/ProductDataSheets/Fuel/HiTEC-4691_PDS.pdf

And the quantities are, as I said above, tiny. The cetane rating varies only where the base stock is a bit duff one week to the next (some weeks the 'basic' fuel comes out of the tanks considerably above minimum standard, other weeks just scraping the required level).

In that situation, you could encounter the duff fuel at any of the stations you might visit, just depends if they happen to have had a delivery of the duff stuff that's not been sold out yet.


All of the above is just as relevant to petrol as diesel, and concerns the bog-standard 95 RON you get at any petrol station. Once you get to the Momentum 99/Optimax/Ultimax stuff, the additive pack includes some added niceties, but the basic difference is that the base stock is a higher octane/cetane rating. As an example, Shell Optimax starts life in the same tank as Momentum 99, but is blended with bog-standard 95 RON to get it to ~97 RON.


Best road fuel by octane rating for sale in the UK today is, if you can get it, Momentum 99, as that comes straight from 99 RON base stock + additives.


Optimax has a more advanced additive pack, but if all you want is high octane and your car can adjust to run on it in the optimum way, Momentum 99 is what you want.