Shell Fuel

DragonQ

JP08 wrote: »

Even the markup for branded fuel can be reduced if you keep you eyes open -*** MONEY SAVING TIP : in my local area (Cambs / Beds border) the local papers carry coupons for BP garages - 3p off per litre. *** The local BP garage is 4p per litre dearer than the local Tesco, but is only 200 yds from home as opposed to a 7 mile round trip in a direction I don't often head. Guess where I fill up ?

I also record petrol consumption every time I fill up - the last time I was using petrol (from 2007 to 2012 - then a diesel car) got the following result (car was a Mitsubishi Galant 2ltr). The results were not too conclusive re Supermarket / Branded.

BP 30.2mpg (24 fill ups) home town
Tesco 27.78mpg (12 fill ups) home town
Morrisons 34.7mpg (13 fill ups) girlfriends town (Lincolnshire) - cheap petrol, just not always in the direction of travel.
Esso 35.3mpg (8 fill ups - so getting a little low as a statistical sample, and was very dear in comparison), half way between the two.

My diesel years (2012 - recently) however were a little kinder to Tesco, with BP averaging 40 mpg and Tesco 42.5 in a Skoda Octavia 2ltr

Unfortunately, such a comparison is meaningless unless you do almost identical driving no matter where you fill up. Even the amount you fill up will make a difference, so you can't really conclude anything from these numbers alone.

There are 3 petrol stations clustered about 2 minutes from my house on the way to work and I fill up at the cheapest when I need to. I don't see any need to make it more complicated than that.

bugslet

motorguy wrote: »

Fuel cards mean you get a discount / pay a standard price no matter where you go.

Keep up at the back please.

Correct! We get a weekly price e-mailed to us and it's then standard across all Shell fuel stations - it doesn't reflect whatever the board price is.

bigjl

DragonQ wrote: »

Unfortunately, such a comparison is meaningless unless you do almost identical driving no matter where you fill up. Even the amount you fill up will make a difference, so you can't really conclude anything from these numbers alone.

There are 3 petrol stations clustered about 2 minutes from my house on the way to work and I fill up at the cheapest when I need to. I don't see any need to make it more complicated than that.

I did the same journeys day in and day out in my mk3 Mondeo TDCi and I noticed a significant difference in fuel consumption, smoke and the car felt sluggish on supermarket fuel. Tried Asda, Morrisons and Tesco.

Up until that point I just filled up as and when.

Probably more significantly that was my first Common Rail diesel. Can't say I noticed much on my Legacy, my WRX only ever got BP/Shell.

I personally think diesels might be more sensitive to fuel quality. In Ghana a lot of people stick with petrol cars due to the low quality of diesel. The family I have that have recent diesels(common rail) tend to use Shell, though that might just be because it is nearest to the house.

Each to his or her own at the end of the day, I only post from my experience, I am not going to be swayed by people saying I am wasting money (especially since the price is near identical near me)

If you want Tesco Clubcard points then simply fill up at a Tesco attached to an Esso station as they tend to be priced either the same as nearby Supermarkets or within 1p a litre.

You pays yer money and makes yer choice as they used to say.

bigjl

bugslet wrote: »

Correct! We get a weekly price e-mailed to us and it's then standard across all Shell fuel stations - it doesn't reflect whatever the board price is.

I thought that would be the case with fuel cards but I wasn't sure as I have only used them not had one.

I wonder if the availablity of a discount is linked to fleet size and annual spend?

bugslet

bigjl wrote: »

I thought that would be the case with fuel cards but I wasn't sure as I have only used them not had one.

I wonder if the availablity of a discount is linked to fleet size and annual spend?

Probably - we are only a small fleet, weekly usage about 4000 litres. If I was Eddie Stobart, I'd be on a less I'm sure!

OnanTheBarbarian

Modified turbo car here. With shell v power the !!!! dyno notices a distinct difference to the other premium unleaded fuels. Also with v power the clutch slips if i give it the beans at 90mph+ where as this doesn't happen with other fuels

d0nkeyk0ng

98-RON car that has been remapped
V-power means it's "aggressive"
Tesco Momentum-99 meant good mpg
A couple of times I had to resort to BP 97-RON stuff and the car didn't make as much power.

motorguy

almillar wrote: »

I've got a 350Z and I buy all my super unleaded at Sainsburys - Sprucefield doesn't have super unleaded (at one of the busiest junctions in NI, I find that very surprising) but I can confirm that Forestside, Holywood Exchange, and Falls Road AT LEAST all do stock SU, generally 2p more expensive than their 95 RON. I think their super is 97 RON though...
Can anyone add to this?

Yes, the highest rated RON you can get here is in super unleaded - which is 97RON. We add a Millers Octane booster to take it up to 98RON.

On the mainland you can get 99RON in some Tescos, but not over here sadly.

It runs fine on 97RON however the car retards its ignition to prevent pinking and thus reduces power. Probably not noticably in the real world, but hey we paid for them all!!

bigjl

bugslet wrote: »

Probably - we are only a small fleet, weekly usage about 4000 litres. If I was Eddie Stobart, I'd be on a less I'm sure!

4000 litres is not insignificant !

I was told that BO give the Met Pol and LAS a discount on fuel but I don't know how much it would be.

I was told the fuel spend for the LAS is more than a £1million pa. never looked into exact figures though.

Interestingly the fuel cost increases when they first got the diesel Mercs, if you drive an automatic turbo charged diesel hard it will use a lot of fuel. I had suggested going for LPG on the V8s and CNG on the Mercs but I digress....

Strider590

d0nkeyk0ng wrote: »

98-RON car that has been remapped
V-power means it's "aggressive"
Tesco Momentum-99 meant good mpg
A couple of times I had to resort to BP 97-RON stuff and the car didn't make as much power.

Placebo effect..........

Fuel octane doesn't equal power.
That's all just marketing rubbish.

Octane is purely about the fuels stability under compression and therefore a high compression engine needs high octane fuel to obtain it's specified output, whilst preventing damage to it's pistons, that would be caused by pre-ignition.

Running a high compression engine on lower octane fuel requires the ignition timing to be !!!!!!, thus reducing power.

Also 95ron fuel does contain bio-ethanol at 5% and bio-ethanol has a lower calorific (energy) value than the petrol is replaces. As such high octane fuels that have no bio-ethanol, will give slightly better mpg when used in a normal car.