Shell V Power or BP Ultimate diesel fuel, does it make any difference?

Well their marketing blurb will obviously say it does but in the real world is it worth the extra pennies per litre? My local BP is flogging it at 4p a litre more than normal diesel so now on my 2nd tankful in a 10 year old van. I’m sure it really does now run smoother, quieter, less smoke (haven’t measured mpg economy yet) – Mrs says it’s because I want to believe it and it’s the placebo effect. Anyone else use it?

I think the petrol V-power only really makes a difference if the engine is tuned to make the most of it.

Yes it does in my 1998 VW passat 110 tdi it used to give me an extra 100 miles per tank and made the engine run quieter and cleaner!

Didn’t notice any difference when I tried the premium stuff.

I once destroyed the engine of a Sierra hire car by using higher octane fuel than was recommended, apparently.

It did go a lot quicker for a little while though.

The pair of them have “get clean” treat rate additives in them vs the “stay clean” of their normal counterparts. Both will have same “base” diesel as any other brand/supermarket. The only way of really altering performance figures in diesels is to change the hco* ratio of the fuel, stick in some very high cetane product (**gtl) then remap.

*Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen

** gas to liquid / Fischer trops

I honestly believe it allows a little more power out of my 10k old golf. I can recall a test saying an extra 5% power is available when using it. Is that noticeable? Well, I think so. Is it worth it? Probably not.

Gave me better mpg in my Seat, possibly cheaper overall.

Response, noise, mpg all improved. Maybe a placebo!? Either way; never, ever fill up at a supermarket. My folks took their car in with coughing \ spluttering, apparently their not alone. Mechanics suggested impurities (including water!) Throughout the system. From the big T (not Topman) if you were wondering…

When shell had the lego Ferrari model offer I was “obliged” by the kids to use the v power. Over a month of use I clocked at 48mpg on v power. After the model collection was complete and back to regular fuel, a month of use acheived 41mpg. Peugeot 1.6tdi 110bhp.

Oh..that’s over about 20000 miles per month.

Gave me better mpg in my Seat, possibly cheaper overall.

Same for me and my Seat.

Vpower (or Optimax as was) definitely makes a difference in my bike, but then it’s a little highly strung. It runs alright on standard pump fuel but it’s not delighted about it. The economy’s worse but that’ll be the “feels good, rev more” thing.

In the car, I can’t feel a performance difference with posh diesel, there might be one, but it’s beneath my tolerances. It does seem to get better mpg but not, I think, as much as the cost difference between that and asda’s finest. THen it is only mildly tuned

I notice a difference with v power diesel, I get another 50 or so miles out of a tank. But it’s still not quite enough to justify the extra price, but it definitely works.

i use it in my bmw 330 & also notice higher mpg

ages ago used the diesel and got better MPG in my Audi (n reg) and Transit, however it worked out to be about the same p/mile. It just meant I didn’t worry when I lined up at the wrong pump at the busy garage near work.

there a perceptible difference when I’ve accidentally put it in my company car

Injectors are incredibly receptive to quality of fuel. Different additive packages can have a massive impact on the quality of the fuel spray, atomisation and then combustion. The additives can also affect the fuel burn pattern. The “branded” fuel generally will have v good additives in, but can vary between regions depending on the feedstock of the base diesel/gasoline. Most of the “effect” is the car/bike running at its optimum design.

The petrol has a different octane rating so there are differences in how it burns compared to normal unleaded. That being said you will only notice the difference if relatively high performance engines. Think hot hatch rather than Nissan micra. Whether it’s worth the extra money is however another question.

I’ve no idea about the differences in the diesel.

The actual, proper answer is this:

Higher octane fuels will indeed make a difference, but only if the engne has knock sensors fitted. Knock sensors allow the fueling and the detonation to be changed to make use of the higher octane fuel.

Most engines with Turbos have Knock sensors. If you have, for example, a Subaru Impreza WRX, then yes the higher octane fuel will allow the engine to generate more power.

If you have a 1.2 naturally aspirated Clio or similar, forget it.

never, ever fill up at a supermarket. My folks took their car in with coughing \ spluttering, apparently their not alone. Mechanics suggested impurities (including water!) Throughout the system. From the big T (not Topman) if you were wondering…

What do Shell snd Tesco have in common?

Neither have a refinery in the UK! That fact alone should dispell most of the myths about the differences between fuels.

Oh..that’s over about 20000 miles per month.

Which airline do you work for?

Tinas we hae had this debate before (me and you)

We had a transit that would hunt at idle when filled on tesco fuel.

When filled with shell or asda it ran like a dream.

Are all the companies using the same amount of bio diesel ? Tesco are at 6 or 7 % biodiesel. – this shit likes to sludge up and cause water in tank if left for long periods- not that our transit was it would just run like a bag o spanners once it got to the tesco fuel.

Anecdotally,

When I had the bike, I found that it ran better (smoother, more responsive) on the rocket fuel stuff; however, it continued to do so for a while afterwards if I went back to the regular fuel, gradually tailing off back to ‘normal.’ I found that the best performance / price trade-off was to put the ZOMG MAX POWER stuff in every four or five fills or so.

Could easily have been placebo / confirmation bias of course, but that was what (I believed) I’d observed.

We had a transit that would hunt at idle when filled on tesco fuel.

Anecdotally again; back in the early 90s, before the rise of Supermarket forecourt dominance, I found that my car (a 15 year old Mk1 Fiesta Rustbucket) simply wouldn’t run properly on Texaco. Anything else was fine, put Texaco in and it felt like it was running on three cylinders.

Chaps, just to clarify (I work in this industry).

Base diesels in the UK are by far and large the same between all brands/supermarkets. There are regional differences, but that’s about it.

Branded fuel (Shell, BP, Philips etc), have proprietry additive packages in. These add packs are designed to “enhance” characteristics of fuel, such as fuel spray pattern, anti-coking, cold flow improver, detergent (for removing coking). These things have a large impact on performance of the engine..

Supermaket fuels, whilst they do have some additives in, they are generally “off-the-shelf” at minimal cost, so will not give the same performance.

Gasoline is slightly different, in that V Power is a different base gasoline from one refinery in the UK.

Engine Oils, are a similar issue as well.

End of lesson.

edit – bio diesel is currently capped at 5%, this will rise to max 7% when the new EN590 is ratified by all member states. The quality of Bio that ends up in fuel (irrespective of where from) is largely economically decided – suffice to say a lot of used cooking oil ends up in UK diesel which is SH!T..

Sui

posh stuff that you described as “get clean” – how often might a chap use that to be sure that there’s no shite in there (diesel) ?

ALso, what do you think of additives like Millers ?

(for teacher) :

I had a Smart Fortwo for quite a few years with a stage 1 map on it (changed airfilter and slight remap) and I only ever put 97/98 in it. I ran really well for a 600cc turbo and it was recommended and it ran really well indeed. Once in a while I would put in 95 and it ran markedely slower and sluggish.. but then it’s a teeny car and teeny fairly high strung engine..
As for my BabeMagnet I have now I only fill with 97/98, comes recommeneded by the Manufacturuer and I can get 350/360 to the tankful, I have run it with 95 in it (local garage only sells this stuff) and I get about 320 per tank.
So do I notice the performance? I think so, I think it picks up better and sounds better, but is it worth it cost wise? I think so, it’s only a few pence differance.
I’ve also owned a Pius Hybrid and that ran better on 95…
I’ve also a diesel van that wouldn’t/couldn’t care less what you put in it and makes no marked differance..

sui

so any named garage will, in general, have better quality additives in their diesel?

basically, morrisons is just over the road from bp, they’re typically within 1p of each other, is it worth buying at bp in preference?

basically, morrisons is just over the road from bp, they’re typically within 1p of each other, is it worth buying at bp in preference?

At 80p a tank for my old transit in difference it would be whichever was easier to turn into.

SP

“Posh Stuff”, depends what you’re replacing it from – Supermarket, probably every other tank. If Branded, then you don’t really need to, though it will work better than an after treatment type.

MMF

1ppl you will benefit from Branded. Consider that a REDEX cost £7 a bottle – over 50 litres that’s 14pence per litre a tank – the sums speak volumes, you’d have to look at using it over min 7 tanks to break even.

Remember it’s not just an increase in fuel economy (as the engine will run more towards it’s manufacturing output), but consider wear and tear on parts as well as OIL!!

On our car – 1.8T mk1 TT – the ‘premium’ fuel makes about 10-12% difference in average MPG over a month.

If the premium fuel costs less than 10% more than regular fuel, I’m better off (financially).

It’s well maintained, serviced every 6-8k (currently on 92k).

You can hear the difference in engine note, so I can easily tell if mrs xiphon filled the car up with ‘cheap’ petrol.

I was sceptical at first……

“Oh..that’s over about 20000 miles per month.”
O_O

Sui – I want to believe…but what exactly do you do “in the industry”? You could sell petrol and Mars bars at a service station!

Are benefits of using the go go juice likely to accrue on motors that have used the supermarket stuff for years or only if you use it from new?

cb – that’s what most people actually say I do 🙂

Sales/Consultant on ‘fuels technology and impact on automotive (and aviation) systems/engines/components/additives/lubricants’ is the easiest term.

In terms of additives, I found that filling the tank of my diesel T5 about a quarter full of unleaded, then topping up with diesel, did, luckily, nothing at all 😐 *phew*

I always think R&D costs money and am happy to pay a modest premium for it (e.g. proper Scotch tape, but generic paracetamol). One tank in four is a reasonable rate for the effects of engine cleaning additives.

Weight of right foot and traffic have a much greater bearing on fuel economy than fuel additives. Air temperature is also a covariate, as my long-term commuting statistics used to show. 20,000 miles/mo is about 16 days a month – perfectly doable for a professional driver at 8 hours per day for 20 working days/mo. When I stopped commuting by car I was driving 2400 commuting miles/mo. I drove that for ten years, and yes, I kept a record of every tank 🙄 .

Well spotted, I meant 2000 miles per month.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

What do Shell snd Tesco have in common?

Neither have a refinery in the UK! That fact alone should dispell most of the myths about the differences between fuels.

Sui – Member

Chaps, just to clarify (I work in this industry).

Gasoline is slightly different, in that V Power is a different base gasoline from one refinery in the UK.

Who’s right?

It would seem to be the case that Shell do not have any UK refineries any more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_refineries#United_Kingdom

However, according to various sources online V-Power comes from the Stanlow refinery, which used to belong to Shell but they sold it a few years ago.

MrOvershoot – Member

thisisnotaspoon – Member

What do Shell snd Tesco have in common?

Neither have a refinery in the UK! That fact alone should dispell most of the myths about the differences between fuels.

Sui – Member

Chaps, just to clarify (I work in this industry).

Gasoline is slightly different, in that V Power is a different base gasoline from one refinery in the UK.

Who’s right?

ME

packer – Member

It would seem to be the case that Shell do not have any UK refineries any more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_refineries#United_Kingdom

However, according to various sources online V-Power comes from the Stanlow refinery, which used to belong to Shell but they sold it a few years ago.

you are bang on with that one (I did already say that about VPower). Total are the only people in the UK with their own refinery. HOWEVER exchange agreements exist, where every brand can draw of every other terminal irrespective of brand. The terminals will hold tanks with the “proprietry” and bog standard add packs for different Brands.