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

koneguitarist

So, not a car man in any sense, would my wife's petrol Renault Twingo 1.0 or my Citroen dispatch 2l diesel benefit more than the other? 

RaymondLin

Try it for 3 to 4 tanks and keep track and see.  If
it does nothing for you then go back to regular stuff.  No harm in trying.

joneve

Quick question for the fuel gurus - Does the Supermarket "premium" fuel count as better quality stuff? Specifically the Tesco "Momentum"....

I ask because Tesco is the closest petrol station by a long way (it's 500m from my house) - but I don't want to pay the extra there if it's not worth it - I'll take a detour to use Shell fuel - but I don't want this to counter balance the extra efficiency. 

I have to say, I filled up from nearly empty (15 miles left on the "range") using Momentum and the MPG and fuel range seems to be better than the last 3 tanks on Tesco standard fuel. Can't say anything about the responsiveness and won't have definitive answers until I've used a full tank, but signs so far are good! 

This is in a Lexus NX, which is a 2.5 petrol engine. 

speshul91

Might put some in the punto. Worth a try. 

Mkjackary

joneve said:

Quick question for the fuel gurus - Does the Supermarket "premium" fuel count as better quality stuff? Specifically the Tesco "Momentum"....

I ask because Tesco is the closest petrol station by a long way (it's 500m from my house) - but I don't want to pay the extra there if it's not worth it - I'll take a detour to use Shell fuel - but I don't want this to counter balance the extra efficiency. 

I have to say, I filled up from nearly empty (15 miles left on the "range") using Momentum and the MPG and fuel range seems to be better than the last 3 tanks on Tesco standard fuel. Can't say anything about the responsiveness and won't have definitive answers until I've used a full tank, but signs so far are good! 

This is in a Lexus NX, which is a 2.5 petrol engine. 

Momentum is pretty good actually, very similar quality to v-power.

Any slight increase in mpg would be negated by the extra journey.

I think from everything I have read v power is the best, then momentum, then bp's equivalent premium

joneve

Mkjackary said:

joneve said:

Quick question for the fuel gurus - Does the Supermarket "premium" fuel count as better quality stuff? Specifically the Tesco "Momentum"....

I ask because Tesco is the closest petrol station by a long way (it's 500m from my house) - but I don't want to pay the extra there if it's not worth it - I'll take a detour to use Shell fuel - but I don't want this to counter balance the extra efficiency. 

I have to say, I filled up from nearly empty (15 miles left on the "range") using Momentum and the MPG and fuel range seems to be better than the last 3 tanks on Tesco standard fuel. Can't say anything about the responsiveness and won't have definitive answers until I've used a full tank, but signs so far are good! 

This is in a Lexus NX, which is a 2.5 petrol engine. 

Momentum is pretty good actually, very similar quality to v-power.

Any slight increase in mpg would be negated by the extra journey.

I think from everything I have read v power is the best, then momentum, then bp's equivalent premium

Good to know! Cheers - I'll try it for a few tanks and see how we get on. If we're averaging nearer 450 miles a tank (rather than 400 that we get now), it'll be worth the extra £3ish per tank, also good to know that the additives help clean the engine.

Dominic

My moped isn't fussy

Troy

speshul91 said:

Might put some in the punto. Worth a try. 

Worth a punt 

grungebob

The higher octane ratio shouldn't really affect performance. It just means it has a lower flash point and will ignite at a lower temp. So it must be the additives cleaning ports etc. 
Uk refineries produce a winter and summer blend that has slight octane differences more so for the winter when a lower flash point is a real bonus. 

thisisguitar

According to wikipedia, "Higher octane ratings correlate to higher activation energies: the amount of applied energy required to initiate combustion. Since higher octane fuels have higher activation energy requirements, it is less likely that a given compression will cause uncontrolled ignition, otherwise known as autoignition or detonation."

RaymondLin

It's hard to argue with the numbers.

Snap

I have noticed no difference in my BM 3L v6 diesel. Naff all. Same conclusion through the years with various different cars. I think it is total snake oil.

joneve

RaymondLin said:

It's hard to argue with the numbers.

Yup. I'm currently still on track to get 50 more miles out of a full tank on the Momentum fuel, so 450 instead of 400...for an extra £3(ish) to fill the tank....it's a no brainer.

What app is that by the way? 

EDIT: Also - how fecking expensive is fuel round your way??!! :-o £1.23? I thought we had a bad deal at £1.12 for the premium stuff. 

impmann

Interesting to hear some real world experiences... I'm currently doing a 120mile daily commute (yes, really). So I get through metric fuck-loads of diseasel on a weekly basis. The warhorse Golf TDi regularly shows 55+mpg on the display (this morning was 64.4mpg but I was stuck behind a slow moving coach for a long portion of the journey).

What app are you using to track this, btw?

I think I'll give it a go...

doogz84

Mkjackary said:

As far as I know, it just increases performance, so going at the same speeds and accelerating the same amount will use less fuel/be at a lower RPM.

I had thought it was just a con untill a couple months ago.

I must misunderstand. The quality of fuel has no effect on the gearing of the vehicle. If you're doing 50mph with regular fuel, or 50mph with v-power, your engine will be turning at the same speed!

I put Shell V-Power in my car. The sticker on the cap asks for at least 98RON, and my mechanic who used to own one warned me off Tesco and Sainsburys, they don't have the same additives in them.

Still only doing 23mpg average.

RaymondLin

joneve said:

RaymondLin said:

It's hard to argue with the numbers.

Yup. I'm currently still on track to get 50 more miles out of a full tank on the Momentum fuel, so 450 instead of 400...for an extra £3(ish) to fill the tank....it's a no brainer.

What app is that by the way? 

EDIT: Also - how fecking expensive is fuel round your way??!! :-o £1.23? I thought we had a bad deal at £1.12 for the premium stuff. 

The app is call Roadtrip, there are others like Fuelly (?) which does the same thing.

ive filled up in Hereford, Richmond (London) and Colchester and it seems V-power is just around that price at the moment.

Garthy

Snap said:

I have noticed no difference in my BM 3L v6 diesel. Naff all. Same conclusion through the years with various different cars. I think it is total snake oil.

Depends on your engine. If you have a knock sensor and a high specific output petrol  engine you'll see a fair increase in performance. 

Mkjackary

The shell in tiptree (near Colchester) is 1.20.9 and has been for around a month or so.

A higher octane rating means lower ignition temp.
I assume that one of the reasons you get more mpg is less fuel is unburnt as it doesn't need to get as hot to burn it all up.
Also they contain lubricants so the engine will run smoother, waste less energy as heat in the engine (from friction between pistons and engine), more as kinetic energy

At the moment I am doing short 5-10 mile trips in london, so will see what the mpg is like with that.

doogz84

Mkjackary said:

The shell in tiptree (near Colchester) is 1.20.9 and has been for around a month or so.

A higher octane rating means lower ignition temp.
I assume that one of the reasons you get more mpg is less fuel is unburnt as it doesn't need to get as hot to burn it all up.
Also they contain lubricants so the engine will run smoother, waste less energy as heat in the engine (from friction between pistons and engine), more as kinetic energy

At the moment I am doing short 5-10 mile trips in london, so will see what the mpg is like with that.

The oil lubricates the engine. In a diesel engine, the oil is both a lubricant and a detergent.

The fuel does nothing for the friction between the piston and cylinder.

Fuel of a higher octane rating burns more efficiently. That's not to say it burns better, more complete, and don't confuse efficiency with economy. Efficiency is the amount of kinetic energy produced for the amount of chemical energy used.

Premium fuel shows the best gains in cars that are turbocharged, and modern cars with knock sensors, which essentially a little microphone bolted to your engine block (or sometimes cylinder head) that listens for detonation ,and adjusts your spark timing to suit, to give optimum power.

Mkjackary

doogz84 said:

Mkjackary said:

The shell in tiptree (near Colchester) is 1.20.9 and has been for around a month or so.

A higher octane rating means lower ignition temp.
I assume that one of the reasons you get more mpg is less fuel is unburnt as it doesn't need to get as hot to burn it all up.
Also they contain lubricants so the engine will run smoother, waste less energy as heat in the engine (from friction between pistons and engine), more as kinetic energy

At the moment I am doing short 5-10 mile trips in london, so will see what the mpg is like with that.

The oil lubricates the engine. In a diesel engine, the oil is both a lubricant and a detergent.

The fuel does nothing for the friction between the piston and cylinder.

Fuel of a higher octane rating burns more efficiently. That's not to say it burns better, more complete, and don't confuse efficiency with economy. Efficiency is the amount of kinetic energy produced for the amount of chemical energy used.

Premium fuel shows the best gains in cars that are turbocharged, and modern cars with knock sensors, which essentially a little microphone bolted to your engine block (or sometimes cylinder head) that listens for detonation ,and adjusts your spark timing to suit, to give optimum power.

I know what oil does. shell claims to have additives in the petrol that lubricates the engine from the inside. Not the petrol, but the additives in the fuel that don't combust like the lubricants added.

Yes, I am not confusing the two, I am simply saying if there is a lower of ignition temp, chances are more of it will have burnt after a spark from the spark plug as more of it will have heated up to the ignition temperature before leaving the engine.

I would have thought this would happen at higher revs more than lower, as the fuel has less time in the cylinder to heat up when it is at 12k than when at 1k.