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.

[Hom3r]

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.

[TJS]

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 ----------

Originally Posted by roger skillin

Blimey when did you last fill up? Wish i had somewhere within a 200 mile radius that supplied petrol at £1.25 per litre

1 1/2 weeks ago

[joglynne]

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.

Originally Posted by TJS

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

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

[Hom3r]

Originally Posted by martyh

For those interested and with petrol cars shell petrol is currently at 127.9 against morrison 132.9

The cheapest near me is Petrol 132.0 and Diesel 137.9.

Originally Posted by Hom3r

The cheapest near me is Petrol 132.0 and Diesel 137.9.

Thats what you for living on a moonbase

[TJS]

Originally Posted by martyh

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

I'm glad im not imagining it our smart car really seems to hate the morrisons petrol, you can accelerate and it just seems as though its doing nothing then judders to life, using just standard esso it seems to start accelerating the moment you put your foot down

[dazzer89]

Originally Posted by TJS

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

I rest my case.

---------- Post added at 06:07 ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 ----------

Originally Posted by martyh

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

Oh dear and again, I rest my case.

---------- Post added at 06:08 ---------- Previous post was at 06:07 ----------

Originally Posted by TJS

I'm glad im not imagining it our smart car really seems to hate the morrisons petrol, you can accelerate and it just seems as though its doing nothing then judders to life, using just standard esso it seems to start accelerating the moment you put your foot down

My my my and again.

[Paul K]

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.

[dazzer89]

Originally Posted by Paul

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.

The DPF should clear itself out Paul when you floor the motor. Some cars now don't have the DPF, my Merc doesn't have a DPF.

[Halcyon]

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?

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

There are two aspects of fuel quality which depend on the fuel brand and the individual retailer: deposit control additives and forecourt maintenance.

Deposit control additives:
Every grade of Kirkland Signature™ Fuel contains deposit control additive that keeps your engine protected and running like new.

Variations in deposit control additive formulations are the main difference between brands of fuel. Kirkland Signature™ Fuels have been proven to clean deposits and restore dirty engine components to like-new performance.

Station Maintenance:
Good station operation and maintenance means the fuel is filtered and that contaminants, such as sediment and water, do not find their way into our members' vehicles. Costco fuel stations are well-maintained by our capable attendants so you may be confident that the fuel going into your car is clean.

Costco uses fuel filters in the petrol pumps to catch particles or debris larger than 10 microns in diameter. For comparison, the average human hair is seventy microns thick.

Costco uses ethanol-compatible filters designed to catch sediment, water, or phase-separated ethanol and water mixtures.

Costco's electronic sensors continuously monitor our underground storage tanks for water.

[Taf]

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.