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Petrol Brands - Any difference? - peteH
Has anyone (Which maybe?) ever done a proper scientific test on various petrol brands.

I assume that the petrol itself is more or less identical, and any difference comes from the use of additives.

Are some brands really better than others? ie Shell better than Tesco etc?

If it comes down to additives, are the additives in Esso/Shell etc as good or better, then using something like redex as an additional additive?
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - Rich Mixture
Pete,

I'm not aware that any consumer or motoring organization has conducted any formal tests on petroleum brands. However, this subject has been discussed at length in the old forum. Try a search under 'petrol', 'fuel' or 'Optimax'.

Personally I buy Shell whenever I can, but that's more to do with their Pluspoints loyalty scheme than the quality of their fuel/additive package. I seem to recall that HJ feels that he's always had good experiences with Shell and Texaco.

Rich
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - Godfrey H {P}
I would love to see some scientific back to back tests to nail the question of whether supermarket petrol is inferior to well known brands. Personally I won't take the chance especially as the BP garage opposite the local supermarket matches their prices. I am only missing out on supermarket points which doesn't bother me.

I reckon the car division of Which magazine could take this on if they wanted to as they keep their test cars for quite some time and if I remember correctly they have access to technical facilities
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - Edd
I don't know hwo thoughtful this si but a friend of mine works ata cheap fuel gatrage and says the fuel lorry is a proper premium label fuel truck. However I cannot agree and when i went to fill the car (97 ford escort 1.4 8v) up with fuel the engine kept pinging when u wanted any power to accelerate so I have had to keep with esso from now on and I have had no pinging so there must be something in it (or not) which more expensive companies use.
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - Dynamic Dave
the engine kept pinging.......


Pinging? I think you mean pinking :o)
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - Edd
Yep ur right pinking not pinging. My only excuse was it was late at night.
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - ian B
The only supermarket brand I have tried recently was Tesco and that was only because I was so low I couldn't make it any further. It did not agree with my car, acceleration was down and it sounded rough. By comparison, I have just recently filled up with Shell Optimax and noticed an almost immediate improvement to the smoothness of the engine compared to BP's normal and super unleaded. Acceleration is a bit better and if it returns at least an extra 7% on the mpg to cover the extra pump price it is worth buying.
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - Godfrey H {P}
Interesting. As an experiment I tried Shell Optimax for a while. The car didn't run as well on Optimax as my usual BP unleaded. I certainly didn't see any measureable improvement in mpg.
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - Ian (Cape Town)
Fascinating.
At present, the local fuel price is government-controlled [1], so the various filling stations rely on SERVICE [2] to attract customers.
(I suspect that all the juice we buy is identical, anyway, as I have never had a bad experience using one fuel or another)
However, there are ongoing calls for deregulation of the industry, many of them led by food retailers (similar to Tesco etc)
Given the various threads about fuel quality at these discounters, I shall definitely be more wary, should deregulation occur...


[1] The price came down by about 4% last week, on Wednesday. Bozo here, who had been busy with SWMBO having a baby, hadn't seen the news, so didn't know about the reduction, so filled up on MONDAY at the old price ...
[2] Great stuff. Filled up, oil and water checked, tyres checked, windscreen and rear window squeegeed clean, vaccum cleaners at some places... all for free.
Some stations get really clever, and hand out free screenwash sachets, replace lost dustcaps etc
Petrol Brands - Any difference? - THe Growler
Same here, like as not with a bimbo or three to do the filling and polishing as well. What a pain in UK/US, all that getting out, dirty hands, cold weather etc etc. There are usually several attendants to each customer as well. With the gov't fixing the price, they have to compete on service so tend also to have very useful shops, hot food, internet, while you wait service & lube etc.

Tough in the tropics. Shell Optimax is here and costs as of today p18.25/liter, or pretty much 25p. The Growlers are too mean to spend the extra (!) so use the cooking stuff instead.


Petrol Brands - Any difference? - ian B
I guess it's horses for courses. My cars handbook recommends high octane fuel, although it will run at reduced performance on lower octane ratings. I have always been a BP fan so I tried their super unleaded once, but was so unimpressed I didn't bother again. Maybe my car is just happier with the higher octane rating of Optimax, it might not have anything to do with additives etc? I can't give any figures for the improved acceleration and smoothness but with the mpg, the trip computer usually reads around 30 mpg, currently it is hovering around 33 mpg. It is still early days though and I think I will need to report back after about a 1000 miles of running Optimax to give a fair evaluation.