Is it my imagination

[AndyJudge]

Totally Agree Harvey1512 there seems to be an almost constant movement of all types of tankers in & out of the depot.

The dregs must indeed be pub talk as the other day an Asda Tanker entered directly behind a Shell one & the place isn't big enough for all the vendors to have a specific tank.

Agree the additives may well be added at the manifold at the time of filling, I guess the delivery of the fuel is all computer controlled so tanker A gets additive A,B & C because it's Shell & Tanker B gets a different set because it's ASDA.

As far as I know the fuel pretty much all arrives by rail, I think there's 3 trains a week that Trundle along the freight only branch to Pelaw.

[AndyJudge]

OK I did the run at the weekend.

Saturday filled up with £60 of Derv at Morrisons & then drove 165.1 Miles to Grantham, according to On-Call App I used 4.3 Gallons & got 37.5mpg for the run at an average speed of 68mph (Cruise set to 75 on A1 & stuck to limits where required)

Sunday did another 64.8 Mile run from Stevenage to Southend & the App is showing as 46.1mpg (I didn't go above 70 the whole drive).

Sunday Evening Topped the tank back up with Shell Fuel Save at a Garage on the A1 (Just Near Wittering) did a Single run of 191.3 Miles home, On-Call reports using 4.9 Gallons at an mpg of 38.5 but I would add the average speed was a bit higher than the long trip down.

So the non-Scientific outcome was I was getting marginally better Mpg on the Shell Fuel Save stuff, I also got it at a fairly good price 131.x p/l.

Vpower diesel was 141.9 p/l & I don't think the cost would outweigh any benefit from it.

In conclusion the Shell Derv is worth putting in the car if the cost of it is reasonable.

[S60RDesign]

Originally Posted by AndyJudge

OK I did the run at the weekend.

Saturday filled up with £60 of Derv at Morrisons & then drove 165.1 Miles to Grantham, according to On-Call App I used 4.3 Gallons & got 37.5mpg for the run at an average speed of 68mph (Cruise set to 75 on A1 & stuck to limits where required)

Sunday did another 64.8 Mile run from Stevenage to Southend & the App is showing as 46.1mpg (I didn't go above 70 the whole drive).

Sunday Evening Topped the tank back up with Shell Fuel Save at a Garage on the A1 (Just Near Wittering) did a Single run of 191.3 Miles home, On-Call reports using 4.9 Gallons at an mpg of 38.5 but I would add the average speed was a bit higher than the long trip down.

So the non-Scientific outcome was I was getting marginally better Mpg on the Shell Fuel Save stuff, I also got it at a fairly good price 131.x p/l.

Vpower diesel was 141.9 p/l & I don't think the cost would outweigh any benefit from it.

In conclusion the Shell Derv is worth putting in the car if the cost of it is reasonable.

Shell Fuel Save is Shell's standard 95 RON fuel, it would be worth trying with V Power 99 RON which is supposed to give added goodies, if you believe the marketing

*Edit - I've only ever owned petrol, the above RON may be irrelevant to diesel...*

[Harvey1512]

Andy, not looking to scupper your experiment but Honest John reckons it takes 3 tank loads of fuel before any changes kick in. The chances of the Shell fuel impacting on your journey are probably quite limited. I suspect to do it properly you would need to do the journey there and back with supermarket fuel, move across to Shell and then do it again purely with Shell after running Shell for a bit.

My own view is that using regular Shell against regular supermarket fuel will give marginal gains but the difference will only work for you if the price difference is slight. If you pass a supermarket garage on the way home and it is 3p a litre cheaper then stick with it. If you pass both and there is 1p in it then go with Shell. Reading your post again, that fits with what you said. Well done that man.

Good fun to do though, for all us mpg efficiency nerds.

[AndyJudge]

Originally Posted by Harvey1512

Andy, not looking to scupper your experiment but Honest John reckons it takes 3 tank loads of fuel before any changes kick in. The chances of the Shell fuel impacting on your journey are probably quite limited. I suspect to do it properly you would need to do the journey there and back with supermarket fuel, move across to Shell and then do it again purely with Shell after running Shell for a bit.

My own view is that using regular Shell against regular supermarket fuel will give marginal gains but the difference will only work for you if the price difference is slight. If you pass a supermarket garage on the way home and it is 3p a litre cheaper then stick with it. If you pass both and there is 1p in it then go with Shell. Reading your post again, that fits with what you said. Well done that man.

Good fun to do though, for all us mpg efficiency nerds.

Agree I wouldn't expect that a single tank would make a great deal of difference. It's strange though how the journey back was at a quite considerably higher average speed than the trip down & I got a slightly better Mpg. Maybe there was less traffic on the way up so got to a speed & then stuck to it for longer hence burning less fuel. The only reason I ended up filling at the Shell Garage was it was only a couple of pennies a litre cheaper than the Asda at Grantham I've used before. I did look at the Extra services at Peterborough but they wanted to rob me of 142.9 per litre for regular Shell Derv. No way was I paying that & literally as I was about to pass the Shell garage at Wittering (It's fuel only while they redevelop the site) I spotted 131.9p & thought go for it, saves me a 15min divert from the A1 to refuel.

Maybe the XC60's fuel sweet spot in 6th with the polestar map is a slightly higher MPH than the Non-Polestar example I had before.

[Grimble]

Originally Posted by AndyJudge

Agree I wouldn't expect that a single tank would make a great deal of difference. It's strange though how the journey back was at a quite considerably higher average speed than the trip down & I got a slightly better Mpg. Maybe there was less traffic on the way up so got to a speed & then stuck to it for longer hence burning less fuel. The only reason I ended up filling at the Shell Garage was it was only a couple of pennies a litre cheaper than the Asda at Grantham I've used before. I did look at the Extra services at Peterborough but they wanted to rob me of 142.9 per litre for regular Shell Derv. No way was I paying that & literally as I was about to pass the Shell garage at Wittering (It's fuel only while they redevelop the site) I spotted 131.9p & thought go for it, saves me a 15min divert from the A1 to refuel.

Maybe the XC60's fuel sweet spot in 6th with the polestar map is a slightly higher MPH than the Non-Polestar example I had before.

When we are talking such small margins, I would suggest that wind speed and temperature have as much, if not more, impact upon fuel economy than slight variations in fuel.
I have a very long and monotonous commute on the motorway and find that the difference in MPG in one direction can be as much as 5mpg as going in the other. Given that the road is an an identical distance, and I keep the cruise at the same point, I can only conclude that the direction and strength of the wind is what is making the difference.
Only extensive tests on a rolling road can prove fuel efficiency one way or another, as that will rule out all environmental factors. I suspect that, as previous posters have said, there's not a lot between 'standard' fuels from any manufacturer, other than marketing claims and of course price.

[GreenBrick]

A colleague used to always use the high octane petrol in his GTI as he said it went better and so he didn't need to put his foot down as much, so in the end he saved fuel. I cannot remember if he ended up saving money or not, but I guess it was running better, his engine will be happier and should cost less in maintenance in the long-run.

[Turbodave]

Originally Posted by Grimble

When we are talking such small margins, I would suggest that wind speed and temperature have as much, if not more, impact upon fuel economy than slight variations in fuel.
I have a very long and monotonous commute on the motorway and find that the difference in MPG in one direction can be as much as 5mpg as going in the other. Given that the road is an an identical distance, and I keep the cruise at the same point, I can only conclude that the direction and strength of the wind is what is making the difference.
Only extensive tests on a rolling road can prove fuel efficiency one way or another, as that will rule out all environmental factors. I suspect that, as previous posters have said, there's not a lot between 'standard' fuels from any manufacturer, other than marketing claims and of course price.

Finally, some logic!

I'm of the same opinion... frankly suggestions that running X fuel for one tank and then Y fuel for another and returning 1.2mpg more over several hundred miles is at best, hopeful.

My wife has a V50 2.0D and I have a V70 D5, we regularly do a 120 mile round trip to the folks and no matter how many times I rest the trips on departure, I've yet to get the same figures... in fact, I can average nigh on 10mpg more on average than my wife, in either car so is that technique, traffic, temperature, wind direction...

So yes, whilst I appreciate certain fuels are superior... when it's arguing over single figure MPG improvements and such like, it's just too granular to be accurate in my opinion. As an aside, mate works for a breakers... regularly tips old, reclaimed fuel in to his buggered old S60 diesel, probably has water, brake fluid, ****, Irn Bru and whatever else mixed in and his has run for 3 years and knocks on to 50 to 60mpg and drives fine.

It's become a national obsession... but in reality there are just too many factors that contribute to MPG but it positive or negative to stand and claim a tank of Shell got 2.2mpg more than a tank of Asda home brew. The fact you paid more may make you press the throttle 0.036% less and that could be enough to improve matters. Then there's the added consideration of the extra weight and the detour to get posh fuel...

This will rage on for years!

[AndyJudge]

I totally agree It's not worth the bother travelling for miles searching out branded fuel & paying a premium for it.

If my car needs a fill it gets it from normally whatever is closest. Morrisons is normal a preferred option as I drive past on my way to/from work & I collect the points to give me vouchers.

If I'm out & about the car gets fed with whatever there is, only exception is If I'm on the Motorway I'll come off at the next exit & find a garage.

[GreenBrick]

Whatever I drive returns about 10mpg less than anyone else driving it.

I wonder why????