Millbrook Report: Tesco petrol vs Premium

s_b

facade wrote: »

Sorry, I already knew that some engines require higher octane fuel, I'm fairly sure my P6 needed 5 star (was that 105 octane?) in The Olden Days.

I also remember some Olden Days Proper Car having a plug you turned over to run on pool petrol (stuck out of the wiring running along the flitch panel IIRC) that altered the timing, but I can't remember which one it was.

The only significant thing I noticed in the report was that there was a trend for the cooking motors to use a bit less fuel with the 99 RON, which is what I hit on, as if you are running a quadcam supercar you are hardly going to be thinking about putting pool petrol in it from Tescos in the first place

mk3 cavalier had the facility to do this on my sri

AdrianC

motorguy wrote: »

No, thats incorrect.

The car gets its promoted BHP based on running on 98RON.

The sub text - which if you want to nit pick which you usually do - is the car requires 98RON (to make its promoted BHP figure) .

That's a fairly major difference from simply "requires"...

facade

s_b wrote: »

mk3 cavalier had the facility to do this on my sri

I did have a mk3 cavalier with fuel injection, must have been that one.

photome

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

A report published in 2012 backs up the fact that, basically, there's no really meaningful difference between Tesco's fuel and someone else's fuel.


Hold the front page, I've said that many times on this forum, based on actually working with fuel companies and distributors.

doent matter what anyone says it wont stop people paying more for the same product,if they pay more , they think its better so it must be.

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

That's a fairly major difference from simply "requires"...

In your mind, yes it probably is.

However the reality is - the car requires 98RON to perform as designed and as built and to make its promoted BHP.

From the Mercedes handbook "you can use 95RON Unleaded in the event 98RON is unavailable, but should expect lower performance and poorer economy as the ignition will be !!!!!! when using the lower quality fuel."

In other words, the car is more advanced than simply "sorry i cant run on this". It makes adjustments so it can function with the 95RON fuel, at least on a get you home basis.

But you know all this - as usual, you've found something small to pick at so you can have an argument on the internet. Again.

AdrianC

Simple question: Will it run perfectly well, with no damage (and no major driveability compromises), on a given fuel?

No? It requires a different fuel.
Yes? It does not require a different fuel.

motorguy

photome wrote: »

doent matter what anyone says it wont stop people paying more for the same product,if they pay more , they think its better so it must be.

Agreed.

The basic fuel is the same - comparing Tesco 95RON to any "premium" brand 95RON. Its whether or not you buy in to the additives / cleaning agents being worth the premium.

If i've a car that can run on 95RON unleaded then yes i'll cheerfully run it on supermarket fuel. My Volvo 2.5 T5 for example gets almost exclusively ASDA fuel.

Diesel fuel too. When i was doing 30K pa in a 1.6TDI golf i was getting at least as much MPG from supermarket fuel as i did from premium brands. And that was brim to brim calculations, stored in a spreadsheet over the lifetime of my ownership so not back of a fag packet one offs.

I personally stick a cleaning agent in to the diesel fuel if its an older diesel - something like Millers - and then just use supermarket diesel. That way i'm getting the cleaning agents, but for a fraction of the price of the extra cost of premium diesel.

Usually this stuff..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Millers-Oils-Diesel-Power-500ml/dp/B002WCAISS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491295534&sr=8-1&keywords=millers+diesel

Havent needed to run a diesel in a couple of years though

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

Simple question: Will it run perfectly well, with no damage (and no major driveability compromises), on a given fuel?

No? It requires a different fuel.
Yes? It does not require a different fuel.

Agreed

Thats why i run the A45 on Superunleaded. And we did exclusively with the 370Z too.

AdrianC

...despite the fact the answer is clearly "yes".

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

...despite the fact the answer is clearly "yes".

:rotfl:

Stop it!

You're just getting silly now!

Why ON EARTH would you buy a car, designed to run on 98RON fuel, with specific instructions from the manufacturer to run it on 98RON fuel and only to use 95RON fuel if you have no other choice, because if you do "have" to run it on 95RON the car is forced to adjust the timing to prevent damage AND it will use more fuel AND you will lose a percentage of your power.

WHY would you do that??? :eek:

Genuinely - i'm laughing out loud here. :T

So go on - WHY would you do that?