supermarket fuel

[Bill Wright]

An expert that I trust says that supermarket fuel isn't as good as other fuel. He says it's all down to the additives.

Comments?

Bill

[dennis]

Ask the expert what the others put in that the supermarkets don't and you will have your answer.

[NY]

Has anyone (eg a motoring organisation) done any comparisons on mpg and general smoothness of engine (difficult to quantify the latter!) for various brands of supermarket fuel versus various brands from named fuel chains (Jet, Esso, Shell, Texaco etc)?

The only time I've noticed a slightly smoother engine (though no significant improvement in mpg) was when I accidently filled up with premium diesel instead of standard diesel - and a lot of that may have been wishful thinking to compensate for paying through the nose for the "gold plated" fuel :-) I wouldn't have minded quite so much but I'd driven past loads of garages on my journey, holding out for the cheapest garage that I happened to pass, and then when I found a cheap garage I went and used the premium holster instead of the standard one. Shame they aren't different colours (eg black versus black with yellow stripes, or something like that).

[Bill Wright]

He says it's additives that clean the engine, but it takes three tankfuls to get the full effect.

Bill

[Tim Watts]

I knew someone who worked for Fina once. Yes, it is true that bulk fuel is "bland" and certain additives as specified by the customer are added at the point of delivery (as least with Fina).

So it is quite possible to have a "special blend" for some pump and "plain vanilla" for the supermarket down the road.

Personally, at least with modern cars, fuel is fuel - I use the basic grade of diesel and see no particular point in the "ultimate" versions.

[dennis]

They all add additives which ones does he think the others have that the supermarkets don't?

[Andrew Mawson]

Many years back, the father of my then current girl friend was adamant that he would only use Shell, and never BP as his Rover 110 went so much better on it. I wasn't popular when I pointed out that (at the time) they shared a delivery fleet and the same tanker delivered both so they were the same.

Point of the story - it's very subjective and the judgement is coloured by preconceptions.

Andrew

[charles]

Like the Austin/Morris arguement

[Fredxxx]

The Morris / Austin argument was also fuelled by having differing ranges of accessories.

[michael adams]

Additives in fuel as touted by the major brands were simply a means of product segmentation. Basically Shell say could sell the same fuel to two different types of customer - Premium fuel to those in search of the "best quality" product, and "ordinary" to customers who were a nit more price sensitive. However as with Coca Cola, the additives - which in the case of petrol have never been much of a secret cost say Ip per gallon to add, whereas the petrol sold at say an extra 5p or 10p per gallon at the pump. Because people who want the "best quality" actually expect to pay a lot more. The bigger the price differential in fact the happier they are, within limits

However nowadays with supermarkets having such a large share in the market, and thus able to beat the wholesalers down on price, while employing their own chemists there's no reason they shouldn't be adding any additives, at a cost of a penny or two per gallon which they think will improve the quality of their product as against that of their rivals

michael adams

...

[Brian-Gaff]

I heard a talking head the other day saying that as supermarket fuel is bought on something called the spot market, it can vary, and is often quite old and thus its octane value can be depleted. Perhaps someone can tell me how old fuel loses its octane value? Storage of fuel surely has to be nailed by now. Brian

[Adrian]

Quite the opposite. Modern fuel is more volatile than it used to be, and "goes off" more quickly.

Supermarket fuel comes from the same small handful of regional distribution depots as any other fuel. Their tanks are fed from the same pipelines from the same tiny handful of national refineries as any other fuel.

The ONLY difference is the almost homeopathic buckets of additive poured into the tanker at the time of filling.

Remember - the basic diesel and 95RON Premium Unleaded petrol are governed by international standards. If it doesn't meet that, it can't be sold. Cars are developed to run perfectly happily on that basic standard of fuel.

[Jethro_uk]

That sounds dangerously close to quoting something he was told ... possibly by a salesman.

[NY]

Or the non-homeopathic buckets of highly non-approved additives added by the forecourt :-(

There was a story in the local paper about 40 years ago about a garage owner nearby who had been prosecuted for adding buckets of *water* (yes, water!) to his forecourt petrol tanks to make the delivery go further!!! People had been complaining that their cars misfired after filling up at his garage. The tank was dipped and the petrol was found to be contaminated with water. He tried to claim in court that rainwater had been leaking into the tank - until an undercover photo was produced showing him pouring a liquid from a bucket into the manhole of the tank...

[Robin]

Subtle is good :)

[therustyone]

might depend on the car's sophistication. A quality engine will monitor pinking and adjust the timing and fuel ratio to optimise burning with the better quality (petrol anyway) it finds. An older car will just be set to run on the worst fuel around.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes, but within that basic spec there are subtle variations depending on the refinery and the crude pushed into it.

I have definitely had diesel that is a little worse than elsewhere - and even diesel that was so bad that the trick barely ran till it was refuelled. That was a real outlier though. I suspect it was a hone brew and illegal.

[The Natural Philosopher]

However a car adjusted to run on low grade fuel either by fixed design or automatically will still run better on better fuel.

[Nightjar]

This article gives as good an answer as any:

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In the '90s, BMW had problems with some of their engines which had ally bores 'coated' with Nikasil. Some petrol attacked this coating - but not all. It was thought to be imported stuff which used a high sulphur base rather than the crude used in UK refineries. Mainly sold by supermarkets in the north of England, and some other low cost outlets.