|
Is supermarket fuel good enough?
I fill my car with Petrol at Tesco and some people have been saying that every so often I should fill up at a station such as Shell, BP, Texaaco, etc as the fuel is better and it is good to give your engine some better quality fuel.
How true is this? Is the higher octane stuff such as that offered by Shell any better for the engine and prolonging my cars life? Thanks, halcyon. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Sounds like complete bull to me.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
If I remember correctly the fuel supermarkets buy is no different from Shell, Esso or Texaco as they buy the cheapest on offer and use their own tankers.
The High quality fuel is supposed to be more beneficial for use in high performance vehicles but considering the price difference I would stick with standard fuel as with everyone else. More answers here.http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...7021537AA9SNSx |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
I have been told the same thing by a mechanic , i use diesel and use a diesel additive which does improve performance in my van .As for using named brands then yes i would agree that they are better quality and since supermarket fuel is priced the same (shell is actually cheeper at the moment near me i use shell and don't need the additive |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Thanks. I definately think I'l stick with supermarkets then if it makes no difference.
It's a lot cheaper than the other petrol stations. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
I have never so much crap in my life, I buy fuel from various garages, including supermarkets.
Its like saying, don't take a rolls to Tesco's as they do a better fuel than if l took a Ford to Shell. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
I saw an old Fifth Gear episode today in which they compared BP Ultimate, Shell Optimax and regular supermarket unleaded. They tested each fuel on each of 3 cars (a family runaround, a mid range car and a high powered model) under controlled conditions and found the higher priced fuels made no difference to performance in the low spec car but did make a significant improvement to power output and torque in the higher powered cars.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
So by not having a high performance car (my little 1.25 Fiesta), it will be fine on the supermarket stuff then. Yay :)
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
The main difference as far as i know is the additives that shell ,esso, texaco ,ect put in their fuel ,they all have a secret formula .Carbon build up on the piston heads is much less with premium fuels (especially with diesels)
There is however a "urban myth" that supermarket fuel is sold so cheap because it is close to its sell by date .I know that petrol does lose some of its octane power with storage but i wouldn't imagine fuel is stored that long so i have no idea as to the validity of this myth |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Would the occasional use of injector cleaner or other additive be of use in the average runabout?
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
i dont think a runabout has that kind of injectors, they do have antimatter injectors tho..
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Danube_class :-D |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Thanks mate :scratch:
:D |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
I've been using supermarkets to get my fuel for at leat 15 years and have never had any problems.
I think it is just a ploy by the oil companies to scare you in buying from them. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Petrol is petrol is petrol. I used to work in a supermarket petrol station and we used to buy our petrol from Texaco, Amoco and Total. It all comes out of the same pipe at the terminal. The supermarkets are able to charge a little less because they (well used to) market it as a loss leader.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
I heard that some garages make more money from the goods in their shop than the fuel. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
From what I know there is very little profit in petrol, profits are from the random stuff you are tempted with in the shop.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
Get two diesel cars and run them for 10,000 miles, one on Supermarket fuel and the other on branded like Shell or Esso. Take apart the high pressure diesel pumps and notice the damage to the one that's been running on Supermaket fuel. I've got a Mercedes S320 CDI and I wouldn't dream of using Supermarket fuel, I'd sooner drive the extra 5 miles to get a branded fuel. I laugh when I see the ques at the local Tesco for so-called cheap fuel @ 2p cheaper a litre than a braned fuel up the road, all they are saving is 8p per gallon, 8p's worth of petrol isn't going to get them far. :dunce: |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Dazzer, do you have any evidence to prove this?
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Supermarket Fuel is the same as any other fuel. Tesco actually source their fuel from Esso Fuels. I'm not sure which fuel companies are used by the other supermarkets though.
Dazzer: Where do the supermarkets get their "lower grade" fuel from? Answer: The same refineries that the branded fuel stations do. The difference with branded fuel stations is (especially BP) they rip you off. The Branded stations are just franchises, so they aren't owned by the actual fuel companies, but independent dealers who get to set their prices etc. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
well supermarket diesel does contain a percentage of bio diesel ,i know this because it tells you the percentage on the pump ,i also know that some diesel cars/vans cannot use bio diesel but i dont know if that means 100%bio diesel or the mix that supermarkets sell
I had heard that by 2010 all diesel in the EU had to contain a percentage of bio diesel can any one confirm this |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Most forecourt diesels are now 7% bio. I believe that this is due to an EU ruling, although I've not been able to track the linkage down yet.
---------- Post added at 22:06 ---------- Previous post was at 22:04 ---------- Quote:
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
The Only people i will never fill up with is ESSO and thats through personal prefernece from years ago. Years ago there were Two Esso garages in our town and my dad would obviously use the closest one and started having a lot of problems with his car and so did quite a number of people who used there start having problems. Turns out it was linked to high water content in the fuel. Not long after this Esso shut up shop on that garage and was completly demolished with nothing said by them even though there were a number of complaints.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
yes that is percentage of FAME added to all diesel sold in the EU now regaurdless of the seller so the answer is that basically all EU diesel is the same doesn't matter if it's shell ,texaco or morrison .Having said that there are other additives that premium brands may add to give a enhanced product that differs to other brands but they all have to meet the same minimum standard EN590 |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
This remind of the myth where idiots think pubs water down their beer LMAO
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
I think it's one for Mythbusters :) there was another myth that Ansells beer went downhill when the stopped using canal water to make their beer ,it must be true my grandad told me :D |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Only difference between sellers of petrol is additives, the petrol is the same no matter where you buy it from as for example in Manchester it'll all come from the Irlam depot.
I notice though a lot of people on here are getting confused between regular and super which is purely the octane rating. Supermarket petrol will have less additives in it (added when it's pumped into the tanker) which may be detergents or a better lead alternative. Over a 1000 miles it won't make much difference but over 100,000 you may see a difference but then again it all depends on the state of the engine, oil used, last serviced, style of driving..etc.. but on a test bench there are noticeable results.. So in short buy cheap and there shouldn't be an issue, in fact buying cheap at a supermarket where there's high demand is likely to give you fresher petrol (it does have a shelf life) than buying from a branded garage in a smaller part of town. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Unless he has performed experiments in controlled conditions, I can't see how his status as a garage servicing mechanic qualifies him to make an authoritative statement about the fuel.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
Gee Diesels are Delphi agents and have all the technology in their garage to monitor wear and tear on fuel pumps, turbos and injectors. He's not a bad mechanic, he's got the contract for the Ambulance service in Nottinghamshire and is the local agent for Venson, the company who supply Nottinghamshire Police with all their vehicles. :rolleyes: |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
I never said he was a bad mechanic.
I said, unless he has performed experiments in controlled conditions, he is not in possession of the information needed to state that supermarket fuel has caused the damage he has observed. You say they 'see the damage done to high pressure fuel pumps and turbos by supermarket fuels on a daily basis' - not correct. They see damage. They do not see what caused the damage, unless they have exhaustive data over an extended period, for example two pumps side by side, one known to have been run exclusively on supermarket fuels (or even mostly), and one exclusively run on branded fuels. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
Anyway, I notice you're no longer complaining about supermarkets putting bio in their diesel. Could this be because you are now aware that your favourite branded diesel is also 7% bio? Given the care you claim to take over what you put in your Merc's fuel tank, I'm surprised you didn't already know that all diesel is now up to 7% bio. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
At the end of the day I'm saving a few pounds when I fill up at Tesco and get club card points too so that is a good thing.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Of course it is.
I have opted for supermarket fuel at every available opportunity since I got my first car, and that's nearly 20 years ago now. I have never experienced a damaged fuel system or had any other part wear out in a way attributable to inferior fuel. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
As it has already been said in this thread all tankers fill up from the same bunkers and the is no difference in the quality if the was it would have been on the lies of Watchdog by now.
Supermarkets would not do this as the bad publicity would affect instore sales. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
I agree ,remember this ,and the lengths that tesco and morrison went to ,to compensate the customers affected even though it wasn't their fault Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Now imagine if they were thought to have damaged engines with by adding Bio Fuel to the mix.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
All the pumps will also also have a sticker next to the nozzle confirming the EN/BS standards number that applies to the fuel.
The tank monitoring equipment in the garage will monitor the water content of the under ground tanks. Also, water and petrol don't mix, the petrol will float (or the water will sink) in the tank. The weights and measures people will also sample the fuel as well as ensure the pumps are callibrated correctly. The only damage I saw in 5 years at working at a filling station was when people put the wrong fuel in their car and drove off without realising. There were times when the wrong fuel was dropped by the tanker, but the internal controls and procedures would pick this up before we re-opened after a delivery. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Right, I know alot of you are saying its Bull-****
But, we have a Renault Clio Dynamique (06 plate) 1.6 litre + a Smart For Two 0.8 litre (05 plate) and they both seem to be affected when we use supermarket petrol, Well Morrisons petrol to be precise. The renault clio, when we fill up at esso averages 45 - 48 MP/G and generally feels relatively responsive for a car of its size + engine size, when we've used morrisons fuel, we're lucky to get 35 - 37 MP/G, and there seems to be almost a lag from when the accelerator is pressed to when the car actually does anything, this has been tried a couple of times switching fuels. On the smart car, using esso fuel we can achieve around 52 - 60 MP/G or about 250 miles per tank (20 litres) On the morrisons fuel it drops sharply to 35 - 50 MPG and we achieve about 150 miles per tank of petrol. and the car seems much less responsive. Now i'm not saying this is the case with all but for the extra bit of money you usually have to pay verses supermarket from my experience is actually worth it. Plus, we actually pay less for esso then we do for morrisons, £1.25 per litre V £1.32 last time we filled, but I think thats an unusual case because the esso garage is on a main road through our village with morrisons being the next one down so they under-cut to stop people filling there as much when doing shopping :p: |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Your experience would be way, way beyond what even the branded fuel suppliers would claim as a benefit of using their product ... I think you need to look a little more closely at the type of driving you did in the week after each fill and approach things a little more scientifically if you want to arrive at a valid comparison of the quality of the different fuels.
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
In the 4 years that I have owned my 55 plate Mondeo Ghia X TDCi, and I have only filled up at the supermarkets.
Only twice have I used shell and that was on holiday in Cornwall as it was the nearest fuel station, and no local supermaket fuel stations. I have never encounter any problems in the 30,000 miles I have driven. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
the smart car has the same driving each time to work and back, or into town, but the difference is really noticeable, on the esso fuel it gets up to national speed limit fine and within an acceptable time about 11 seconds or so, on the morrisons fuel it just seems to hover around 55 MPH and struggle to get up to 60, and seems to use a lot more fuel doing so. The cars automatic so gear changes aren't the issue and its regularly serviced at mercedes so no problems.
The clio is used for all kinds of driving so i suppose that one isn't quite so accurate of a comparison. ---------- Post added at 15:02 ---------- Previous post was at 15:01 ---------- Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Sounds like a good time to remind members about this UK Fuel Prices search site that can be set to give you a run down of the cheapest fuel/suppliers in your area.
http://www.petrolprices.com/ Oh ...and I have never had cause to suspect that this site generates any spam. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
Now that's interesting ,i own a transit van for my work and always fill up at morrison because they are usually cheaper ,but recently i noticed that Shell is about 4p a litre cheaper so this week (tuesday) i filled up with Shell regular diesel and noticed a big difference in the power and smoother running compared to what i normally get from morrisons.Since my van always runs heavy at about 3-3.5 ton then it is easy to notice the difference For those interested and with petrol cars shell petrol is currently at 127.9 against morrison 132.9 |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
:) |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
---------- Post added at 06:07 ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 ---------- Quote:
Oh dear and again, I rest my case. ---------- Post added at 06:08 ---------- Previous post was at 06:07 ---------- Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Our old petrol focus (52 plate) was always filled up with tesco fuel, never saw any issues with it, when we got our 08 plate Diesel fusion we continued to use supermarket fuel to start BUT after a long road trip one day we were nowhere near a supermarket and needed to fuel up. After filling with Shell standard diesel we were surprised to notice a response difference in the engine, it always seemed a little laggy previouosly but now was pulling lower range revs easier and building up speed faster.
We thought it was coincidental but allowed the fuel to run down and then filled up again with Tesco, the lag returned. Since then we have always used Shell and have seen a slight increase in MPG and an increase in performance. We don't know how true the anecdotal information online is but some are saying that the newer diesel engines (the ones with lower emissions) seem to struggle with supermarket fuels due to particulate sizing. |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
BUMP!
Yeah I know, it's a topic I posted back in 2011.... But...I was wondering, does anyone use major big petrol stations for the fact their fuels are meant to contain better engine cleaning chemicals and are said to be better for cleaning out the engine? |
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
Article from Which from last year says not much difference between supermarket and brand petrol.
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/new-...ium=ForumLinks Personally, I fill up at Costco (Skoda Kodiaq 1.5SE) https://www.costco.co.uk/fuel-q-and-a Quote:
|
Re: Is supermarket fuel good enough?
I always use supermarket petrol. But one place I use had severe problems with its diesel due to contamination when the tanks were refilled. Quite a few breakdowns due to it.
|
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:01. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.