Shell vs Super market petrol !!

[tranceporter]

Petrol designed from the ground up? By who?

No, Shell. Fun stuff,
Shell V-Power for older cars - Overclockers UK Forums

[doodab]

It does seem to make my old Audi run a bit sweeter.

[bluetoaster]

I can be pedantic and have done some tests as well. I tracked economy/cost per mile on an android app for a while. I find shell basic gives about 10% better economy than Morrisons or Sainsburys fuels, and V-power or Tesco momentum gives a bit more again. The car drives better as well on the higher octane fuels, though this could well be placebo.

My findings are that the actual cost/mile is close between shell basic and tesco momentum, v-power is a little more expensive. I avoid the supermarket basic fuels if I can as the cost/mile goes up simply because economy goes down.

It will very much depend on the driver, the vehicle etc etc and my testing wasn't exactly scientific.

[stek]

Shell vs Super market petrol !!

My old Alfa loved V-Power but the CTS doesn't care, and neither do I since it only uses petrol to start. At 40c the LPG kicks in.

[Troll]

When I fill up at some pumps it jumps to 60p before any fuel comes out. Sometimes the pump has a lot of air inside. On one fill up at Tesco I got 72 litre in a 65 litre tank, that tells a lot. Some garages even put water in the fuel.

I have noticed that - might be time to fill from the pump into a measured container and thence on into the car tank...might be an interesting exercise I'll report back

PS I did see a Yankee car program top tip - their weights and measures regularly check the pumps over there and leave a sticker with the variation from standard measure listed- the trick is to inspect all the pumps before filling and find the one over pumping the most

[doodab]

Fuel pumps are calibrated and sealed by trading standards, they are supposed to be accurate to within 2p or something. If they aren't the retailer can get a big fine, so worth reporting.

[darmstadt]

My car should only take 98 octane but will take 95 at a pinch but I think it screws up the lambda sensor but I try not to use Shell V-Power (around €1.85 - €1.90) as its bloody expensive so tend to try and use Aral Ultimate 102 (€1.70 - €1.80) or find a garage that has at least 98 octane. When driving in the UK this is not too easy as I found a lot of garages have 97 octane! I find the car goes much better with 98 or 102 than 95 but wouldn't have a clue how much I use as theoretically I should be getting around 28mpg but according to the computer I'm getting 94mpg!!! Actually it does vary a lot so if I drive a nice solid speed, say 80-100 mph then I'm getting around 30mpg but as I don't (120-150mph and having to accerlerate past Audi drivers) then I'm only getting around 18-20mpg (although I did once register 34mpg!)

[EternalOptimist]

ah, i knew i'd seen this somewhere bio additives now compulsory

[SueEllen]

Fuel pumps are calibrated and sealed by trading standards, they are supposed to be accurate to within 2p or something. If they aren't the retailer can get a big fine, so worth reporting.

They are definitely NOT that accurate.

The Shell garage near me was definitely giving me a generous amount of fuel for my money for a good 6 months then they went and recalibrated it so it was reading the same as the supermarkets/Esso.

[ctdctd]

I'm not a tester but a bit anal about recording stuff - maybe I should become one.

Old car got better petrol consumption wise over the 75K miles and 8 years I had it - started at 37 MPG and ended at about 43 MPG - averaged 42 MPG over the 75K miles. Small petrol engined warm (ish) buzzbox.

Current similar car has only done 4.5K but started at 41 MPG, dipped to 37 MPG over the winter and is now doing about 41 MPG again.

So, in answer to the OP, cold weather may well account for some of those 80 extra miles.
School holidays help as well and we've just had easter - less traffic so fewer holdups.
And the heart attack induced by paying for a visit to the petrol pump may have resulted in more economical driving!

HTH