Guess Petrol Does Make a Difference
Guess Petrol Does Make a Difference
Author
Discussion

hutchingsp

Original Poster:

68,037 posts

240 months

Wednesday 21st March 2007
quotequote all
2.7L 987 Boxster and I've always filled up with V Power from new and averaged 27.7mpg (and found the onboard computer to be very accurate).

The last couple of weeks I've ran a couple of tanks of Sainsbury's Super Unleaded as it's cheaper (87.9p vs. 92.9p for V Power) and supposedly BP fuel.

The car did feel more sluggish/less responsive on the Sainsbury's. Anyway I ran the tank low and went back to V Power and right away it feels like the car is back to how it's been from new, it's too early to confirm the mpg will creep back up.

Could be my imagination I suppose but I was certainly surprised at the difference.

slippydiff

16,455 posts

253 months

Wednesday 21st March 2007
quotequote all
It does indeed make a difference. I took a detour to go to a garage I know has BP Ultimate this morning. When I got there they'd run out ! As the car was running on fumes I ended up putting in £15 worth of "standard" unleaded to get me to the next available Shell garage.

The difference was clear pretty much immediately, the car felt unresponsive, lacking in boost and unwilling to rev at the top end.

I ran the car till it was practically empty again ( it didn't take long !!) before brimming it with Shells finest. Everyything is now back as it should be driving rotate

Maverick73

107 posts

239 months

Wednesday 21st March 2007
quotequote all
For what its worth my OPC told me that regular 97 is fine and will make no difference. I've yet to fill up since I picked the car up last week, but maybe I'll give it a go......

john ward

118 posts

246 months

Wednesday 21st March 2007
quotequote all
944S2. Tank of Sainsburys gives 400 - 420. Tank of V-power gives 440 - 460. The decrease in consumption outweighs the increased cost. As for performance, well that doesn't interest me, sorry. Also, recently the car conked out twice whilst running low on Sainsburys fuel. Sweet as a nut, or as a 160000 mile nut can be!

hutchingsp

Original Poster:

68,037 posts

240 months

Thursday 22nd March 2007
quotequote all
Maverick73 said:
For what its worth my OPC told me that regular 97 is fine and will make no difference. I've yet to fill up since I picked the car up last week, but maybe I'll give it a go......


All I can say is try it. As I said I'm prepared to accept it could be placebo but I'm pretty sure it's not, especially as the trip computer now shows around 28mpg and every time I've used a "proper" mpg calculator it's shown the computer to be spot on.

willdew

2,138 posts

294 months

Thursday 22nd March 2007
quotequote all
john ward said:
944S2. Tank of Sainsburys gives 400 - 420. Tank of V-power gives 440 - 460. The decrease in consumption outweighs the increased cost. As for performance, well that doesn't interest me, sorry. Also, recently the car conked out twice whilst running low on Sainsburys fuel. Sweet as a nut, or as a 160000 mile nut can be!


Yep, I get about 10% more miles out of a tank when on Tesco's 99 RON than on standard stuff, so the 5% more it costs is money well spent.

floordoc

457 posts

237 months

Thursday 22nd March 2007
quotequote all
I could not agree more the fuel makes a massive difference, I always try and use Tescos 99 at around 0.91p. But recently since they had there problems this fuel was not available in our local garage so Ive had to use normal stuff, great exercise you really can feel the difference.

Mattt

16,664 posts

248 months

Thursday 22nd March 2007
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I was told that Sainsburys Super was Ultimate?

AJAX50

418 posts

270 months

Thursday 22nd March 2007
quotequote all
For fuel economy you want maximum weight of fuel, the density of petrol can vary from 0.72 to 0.76. Higher octane fuel is usually higher density. This may change as more ethanol is included in the blend. So, for the time being, go for higher octane for mpg and mph.

peterpeter

6,438 posts

287 months

Thursday 22nd March 2007
quotequote all
not sure about ecomony but my GT3 feels noticable more rapid when on V power.

9hellheaven

1,595 posts

239 months

Thursday 22nd March 2007
quotequote all
Bit like corn flakes..same stuff but in different boxes!
If its called V-power it sounds faster thats all..heay mum I CAN RUN REALLY FAST IN MY NEW PUMPS!!

peterpeter

6,438 posts

287 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
9hellheaven said:
Bit like corn flakes..same stuff but in different boxes!
If its called V-power it sounds faster thats all..heay mum I CAN RUN REALLY FAST IN MY NEW PUMPS!!



dont agree.

My GT3 really doesnt like tesco 99. for some reasons it feels lumpier and doesnt have the high end kick that shell optimaxor vpower had.

It really is quite noticable.

abarber

1,712 posts

271 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
peterpeter said:
9hellheaven said:
Bit like corn flakes..same stuff but in different boxes!
If its called V-power it sounds faster thats all..heay mum I CAN RUN REALLY FAST IN MY NEW PUMPS!!



dont agree.

My GT3 really doesnt like tesco 99. for some reasons it feels lumpier and doesnt have the high end kick that shell optimaxor vpower had.

It really is quite noticable.


My 993 was poorly on Tesco 99, bad hot idle from cold. Took about 3 tank fulls of shell to get it back to normal.

hutchingsp

Original Poster:

68,037 posts

240 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
9hellheaven said:
Bit like corn flakes..same stuff but in different boxes!
If its called V-power it sounds faster thats all..heay mum I CAN RUN REALLY FAST IN MY NEW PUMPS!!


It's only been a couple of days since switching back but I disagree.

The car does feel more responsive than on the Sainsbury's, basically it's exactly as I remember it being before.

Also if it is in my head the trip computer is also imagining it as it's consistently shown higher mpg despite my doing exactly the same route.

Obviously I'll have a better idea when I use more fuel and have to fill up and can do the mpg calc properly.

leosayer

7,838 posts

274 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
The differences are so subtle for me, I wonder if I'm imagining them

I think the only true way is to do a blind test, where someone else fills up your car. Seeing as I won't let anyone else drive mine, that might prove difficult.

9hellheaven

1,595 posts

239 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
Well for the sake of the test I will switch to Shell V power, I have ran my 997 2s on all the fuels no probs..but ile give it a go for 2 or 3 tanks..Sadly ime off to Mexico next week for my hols but I will repost in a few weeks and if I am wrong..HANDS UP!

polarexpress

6,796 posts

257 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
There's a small difference between V-Power and BP Ultimate. But there's a much bigger difference between V-Power and other super unleaded 97s - even main stream branded fuels like Texaco etc.

I arrived at Brands running V-Power and it was great. Midway through the day had to go to refuel at the Texaco around the corner (high volume turnover). There was an immediate difference when I went back on track... it felt like the car had lost 20-30hp, and it was sluggish at every point on track.

More significant since the ECU had adjusted itself to WOT on track and was running at full potential. These cars have very high compression engines and are very sensitive to fuel octane/quality.

egbert

449 posts

251 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
the biggest difference I ever noticed with fuel was running the car nearly dry then filling up with Vpower 100 octane in Germany, that stuff was like rocket fuel.

I use V-power BP or Tesco and feel that Tesco is probably the best by the butt dyno.

john ward

118 posts

246 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
quotequote all
If anybody is interested, while we're on petrol, the Shell station by J19 of the M6 has now changed to Esso. Just incase you had it on your list of V-power pit-stops. The nearest one is in the middle of Knutsford, about two miles from J19.

jonzo

163 posts

290 months

Friday 23rd March 2007
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Forgive me for my ignorance, but can i run V-power, ultima or premium unleaded on a (1990) 964 C4 ?
Also, does it cause any problems to switch between normal unleaded and the premium fuels, ie perhaps ending up with a mixture of the two in your tank?

Quite interested in finding out if i can notice the difference.