Shell V-power nitro+ VS plain old cheap petrol - My experience and thoughts

mike_l

Hertz32 said:

I wasnt aware they mix cleaning agents in, but higher octane fuel alone shouldnt make a difference to any engine that doesnt have a high compression ratio? 

Everything I say is speculation and isnt to be taken as fact but...
My understanding was higher octane meant that you can run a leaner mixture which leads to the alleged milage benefits. If the ecu automatically adjusts the mixture in a fuel injected engine, then this makes sense. But for a Carbed engine it would require rejetting to run the leaner mixture happily. 
I'm sure it's making a difference for a bike, as the engines are built differently. But for a car, I cant see any advantage over standard fuel with a bottle of RedX every 20k miles. 

I do know that there are cars out there that absolutely MUST have 99oct+ (mostly hypercars and supercars) otherwise they wont run due to the compression ratio being so high that standard octane isnt combustable enough. 



Higher octane burns quicker, giving the power quicker. The "supercars" will have a higher revving engine which needs the quicker fuel/air mixture burn.  

When I did 40 miles/day commuting, I did notice the difference in the top-spec petrols and the lower range (all brand, usually Shell or BP). I gave up with supermarket petrol years ago, when my old Astra SRi ran like a bag of shite on SM petrol, but was sweet as a nut on Shell/BP. 

lustycourtier

I've only used it for past decade. G60 scirocco, Audi s3, skoda vrs, fiat 500 (2 cyl .8l) and most recent seat exeo. When ever I dabble to 95, it's been noticeable in everything from economy to performance. The rewards far outweigh the cost increase. Last week I got 700 miles from a full tank (£70) in the diesel exeo, motorway and city driving. 

Clarky

hmmmm… I think I'll have to give this a try..
I've got a VW Passat [3.2FSI, which is I think about 250 PSI]

ThePrettyDamned

I've got a 1.7 99 ford puma - I wonder if getting premium is worth it? 

It's expensive as hell though. I get about 290 miles from a tank on bp regular, and that's about 117p per litre. 

On tesco fuel, I get about 265-270 miles per tank before the fuel light is on, at 111p per litre iirc. My fuel price memory isn't great though.

Troy

RaymondLin said:

I have been using premium since getting my car mainly because the manual says so, thus I have no idea.  Although I've been using V-power the last month.  Truth is I don't push the car enough to really warrant it between supermarket 97ron to V-power.

You actually read the manual?  

gubble

Made a massice difference on my Suzxuki RF600 and my GSXR-400. Both old carb fed bikes, yet the increase in power and range was very blatant.

RaymondLin

Troy said:

RaymondLin said:

I have been using premium since getting my car mainly because the manual says so, thus I have no idea.  Although I've been using V-power the last month.  Truth is I don't push the car enough to really warrant it between supermarket 97ron to V-power.

You actually read the manual?  

I was bored at work Plus I need to find out what oil it takes. 

Moe_Zambeek

I don't use supermarket fuel. In my higher power Subarus (now gone), the Vpower / Super did make a difference but it needed at least a tank or two for the ecu to do anything different. In the end I decided that non-supermarket regular was fine and I've stuck with that since.

Ford used to deny diesel injector warranty claims if the owner coughed to using supermarket diesel. They used to claim the 'poor quality fuel' was what caused the problems rather than their shite fuel delivery systems. Not sure if they still do that...

thisisguitar

@Boogieman - Fifth Gear did a test, came out in favour from a power point of view For most people it's down to whether your ECU will recognise the change in octane rating. I run a MK2 2.0 Audi TT, always put VPower or Momentum in it.

Mkjackary

Little update, continued using it, filled up and used a few tanks, now getting a consistent 160-165 from full to reserve, up from 150 with my first tank of v-power and 125 with plain old fuel. Very happy with it.

Jalapeno

I get a bit more mileage from V-Power Diesel.

My mate had a supercharged 4+ltr Jag - got through 4 catalytic convertors in 2yrs by putting no-additive supermarket petrol in it.

Gassage

Deffo agree. In the Chariot of Power I get 4mpg more approx (38 v 42 at 80/82 mph)

Strangefan

Hmm I wonder if it will transform my w reg 1.3 fiesta bD

Mkjackary

Strangefan said:

Hmm I wonder if it will transform my w reg 1.3 fiesta bD

Only one way to find out run it untill it is very nearly empty and then fill it up, it will cost 10% more than your standard stuff. It will be worth it least for one tank as it has cleaning and lubricating properties that will probably do your engine some good.

Then when you use that tank you can see if the mpg/performance benefits are worth it for your specific car/driving.

lustycourtier

Moe_Zambeek said:

I don't use supermarket fuel. In my higher power Subarus (now gone), the Vpower / Super did make a difference but it needed at least a tank or two for the ecu to do anything different. In the end I decided that non-supermarket regular was fine and I've stuck with that since.

Ford used to deny diesel injector warranty claims if the owner coughed to using supermarket diesel. They used to claim the 'poor quality fuel' was what caused the problems rather than their shite fuel delivery systems. Not sure if they still do that...

 Taxi drivers I know refuse to use mortisons fuel. It's the worst of the worst dregs by all accounts. 

RaymondLin

I am on my 3rd V-power tank now and just got 36.86mpg from a 200 miles motorway run with some traffic thrown in.  I've never got this high in the past 5 months of ownership.  Literally about 10% more mpg increase.  This kind of thing I like, power can be placebo but mpg is real.

Mkjackary

RaymondLin said:

I am on my 3rd V-power tank now and just got 36.86mpg from a 200 miles motorway run with some traffic thrown in.  I've never got this high in the past 5 months of ownership.  Literally about 10% more mpg increase.  This kind of thing I like, power can be placebo but mpg is real.

So it at the very least pays for it's self in mpg, (10% more expensive, 10% better mpg) any added performance/engine health benefits are just a bonus.

What car do you drive/what size engine?

RaymondLin

Mkjackary said:

RaymondLin said:

I am on my 3rd V-power tank now and just got 36.86mpg from a 200 miles motorway run with some traffic thrown in.  I've never got this high in the past 5 months of ownership.  Literally about 10% more mpg increase.  This kind of thing I like, power can be placebo but mpg is real.

So it at the very least pays for it's self in mpg, (10% more expensive, 10% better mpg) any added performance/engine health benefits are just a bonus.

What car do you drive/what size engine?

Volvo C30 T5 auto.  2.5L turbocharged petrol.

Ive been using sainsburys, Esso, BP, Tesco since I bought the car at the end of February.  Only started using V-power this month in July and I use an app to track my running cost and have been getting between 30-32mpg.  During which time I've done airport runs to cross country run for business purposes.  I do very little town driving.

Stevepage

I've got a 2.0 tdci Mondeo and noticed that I did'nt get any more noticeable power but certainly had smoother acceleration and a bit more mileage out of the V Power stuff. That and a bottle of diesel system cleaner and I've just got around 45 mpg out of a 200 mile journey doing typical motorway speeds.

Definitely worth doing, at least once in a while.

Roland

ICBM said:

 supermarket petrol is a false economy. It was about 2% cheaper, but 3% worse in mpg. Those additives that the supermarkets don't pay for do make a difference. So it wouldn't surprise me if there's an equivalent trade-up between the standard stuff and the fancy stuff.

What's slightly frustrating is that the people who can least afford to pay more than they need to for petrol usually use supermarket petrol because "it's cheaper"...

A couple of years ago I was making the same motorway journey each week in a 4lt V8 Jaguar, using cruise control to get average consumption up to 26mpg. Supermarket petrol was about 2.5% cheaper to buy, but the car used 5% more fuel.

This year I've been making the same 200 mile journey every month in a 2lt diesel, with all the computerised gadgets for measuring and recording consumption and managing efficiency.  With this car I'm getting 50 mpg. Supermarket diesel has been between 5% and 10% less efficient than the standard stuff.