Supermarket fuel v the rest

motorguy

vikingaero wrote: »

If you are happier running your car on branded fuel, despite all the naysayers on here, then do so.

Absolutely. If someone is happy running on premium fuel and believes it makes their car run better then great, however please dont tell me (with 30 years of driving under my belt and being a car enthusiast) that they are in some way more "in tune" with how their car runs and other people just arent.

motorguy

Robisere wrote: »

I cannot be bothered to read any more arguments against. It's my choice and I am sticking to it.

If I see another Thread like this I shall ignore it.

As i wholly your prerogative. Did someone previous insisit you read and comment as it was my impression that its entirely optional?

oscarward

Oh dear, and we were getting along so well.

Jackmydad

I always feel that the car goes better in some indescribable way when it's just been washed.
I have a feeling that the "benefits" of one source of fuel over another reside in the same part of the twilight zone.

The only way to prove that one fuel was "better" than another would be to do a test with the engine out of the car running against a known, and measurable load. Or at least with a car on a rolling road. Too many variables otherwise.

oscarward

Jackmydad wrote: »

I always feel that the car goes better in some indescribable way when it's just been washed.

And I thought it was just me that thought that.

Rover_Driver

Some people have found an improvement using branded fuel, others have found no difference just using supermarket fuel.
A problem is that some of those who have found no improvement, will not accept that there can be.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Rover_Driver wrote: »

Some people have found an improvement using branded fuel, others have found no difference just using supermarket fuel.
A problem is that some of those who have found no improvement, will not accept that there can be.

Some of that can be down to the electronic ignition and the design of the engine. Some petrol engines are designed to run on premium fuel but can run on anything, others are optimised for the basic fuel and aren't going to achieve much.

Also, you need to consider whether you are really comparing apples and pears - often people seem to discuss comparing supermarket fuel with a branded premium fuel, not a branded basic fuel. I'd say a base fuel from a brand isn't going to be much different from supermarket fuel (and often isn't priced much different depending on location either to be fair).

Rover_Driver

IanMSpencer wrote: »

often people seem to discuss comparing supermarket fuel with a branded premium fuel, not a branded basic fuel. I'd say a base fuel from a brand isn't going to be much different from supermarket fuel (and often isn't priced much different depending on location either to be fair).

Some compare supermarket premium branded premium, some with basic supermarket with basic branded.
The base fuel can be the same, apparently it is the additives that the branded fuel has that the supermarket fuel may not have, that makes the difference.

Joe_Horner

Rover_Driver wrote: »

Some people have found an improvement using branded fuel, others have found no difference just using supermarket fuel.
A problem is that some of those who have found no improvement, will not accept that there can be.

Equally, some of those who are convinced of an improvement are convinced by entirely subjective matters like "it feels smoother" and / or by changes in fuel consumption that are well within normal variability.

Even driving the same route under (apparently) the same conditions carries far too many variables to meaningfully judge a change of a few MPG.

Slightly drier, slightly warmer, slightly colder, a bit ore windy, a bit calmer, a little more traffic, a little less traffic, a couple of minutes late, a couple of minutes early, feeling relaxed, feeling stressed - all those and more can make differences to fuel consumption that will swamp the claims the fuel companies make - and you can be sure they're claiming the most they can get away with.

As an example, BP's claim of "up to" 21 miles extra per tank for their Ultimate translates to just over 1.5mpg on a 12 gallon tank.

That's about the same as dropping from 60mph to 55mph in a car doing 45mpg, or of driving into a "light breeze" on the Beaufort scale.

Nobody has a daily commute that's unchanging enough to reliably judge that sort of "improvement" on!

Rover_Driver

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Equally, some of those who are convinced of an improvement are convinced by entirely subjective matters like "it feels smoother" and / or by changes in fuel consumption that are well within normal variability.

I agree that some claims may be optimistic, but there are still those who won't accept that some people have found an improvement, and are convinced there is no difference between using supermarket and branded fuel.