Tesco Diesel

[mjr600]

I know there are many debates regarding fuel but just a quick note regarding my experience.

I had to put 1/2 a tank of Tesco diesel in recently and the stuff is awful. I used to notice a marked difference with my last car which would only run on 98 Ron petrol but did not expect it to be the same with diesel.

I'd been running BP Ultimate and as soon as the Tesco stuff went in the car changed, there was a reluctance to change up (2.0 DSG 'box), it stuttered, it was less responsive and it smoked.

So it's back to BP but the extra pennies are well worth it.

 

[adt]

I wouldn't want to put supermarket fuel in my lawnmower, let alone my car.

Can't understand anyone with any sort of decent or cherished motor wanting to do it.

Junk food for cars.....

 

[Tell]

Well I think blue label tomatoes or whatever label it is, is fine for pasta sauce but best to stick to fuel companies own for the car. The additives they put in, in the tanker as they pick up, which is more hit and miss than elsewhere.... I do remember the days when I use to fill up on Tescos petrol with my high compression Uno ES, it pinked and it turned out that Tesco didn't put any additives in since they said you didn't need them.... yeah well.

I have found that BP diesel fuel use to give me the best umf, but I won't pay the extra and go for Shell or Esso using

http://www.petrolprices.com/

to select the best option onroute using the local supermarket / fuel prices wars to buy the non supermarket fuel.

 

[Rallye Dale]

Only ever use Shell and nothing else

Use cheap fuels and we all know what happens

 

[Wilson]

I only get about 90 something miles from Tesco petrol, BP gives me about 150.

 

[Tell]

Divide by infinity and take the square root ?.

 

[PhilOfCas]

I only get about 90 something miles from Tesco petrol, BP gives me about 150.

A full tank ?, Christ !

No seriously, i reckon you mean on fifteen quids worth ?

 

[Tell]

I took it, that it was the normal jokers that arrive when discussing fuel economy, although yesterday my 2 hour averaged or whatever the read out MPG was showing 50+. Think it's the hot weather and related slippery viscous oil in the engine. I don't use the read out as the actual MPG I'm doing but look at it out of interest.

 

[Nathanio]

I personally use Shell and Millers PowerPlus for the best economy and power in my TDI. Tesco, sainsburys or asda fuel makes my car smoke and economy go through the floor.

 

[Wilson]

A full tank ?, Christ !

No seriously, i reckon you mean on fifteen quids worth ?

I only ever put in £15-20 at a time!

That was on £15 worth I think (measuring miles from filling up till the fuel light came on)

 

[PhilOfCas]

I only ever put in £15-20 at a time!

That was on £15 worth I think (measuring miles from filling up till the fuel light came on)

Good guess by me !!

 

[mjr600]

Tank emptied so brimmed with BP Ultimate and a good dose of Millers, take mate with an ST out for a spin, he is stunned at the way it pulls, it's difficult to believe the difference good fuel makes, now if only I can get a 185hp remap for a price I'm willing to pay........

 

[loadswine]

My fuel consumption has been really poor this tank full, and thinking back, its had a tank of Tesco stuff in. I'll chuck some BP in and see if it improves.

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Interesting posts, I'm gonna try a tank full of BP next time and see if there any noticable difference.

 

[bobrob]

What a load of tosh

1, The calorific value of fuels is controlled and tested by her majesties revenue and customs who just love to test and fail a hydroscopic fuel like diesel (its true, a garage owner could chuck SOME water in with very lttle to spot it apart from testing.)

2, The calorific value determines its power. Thats a fullstop.

3, Added ingredients to distilate do make a huge difference ... to the calorific value, and make it cheaper to make so are always added.

4, Visit any refinery and watch the tesco shell eso etc etc tankers arrive and fill up from the same tank. The differences is the cocktail of additions added at the tankerside, the ones available depend on the refinery (for diesel there are about 15) so in truth shell in Aberdeen aint the same as shell in London in terms of ingredients, though the calorific value will be identical. NB Distillate itself isnt all distilled crude oil, all sorts of chemical residue and used solvents are chucked in, sniff (safely) ICI petrol in Cheshire, its like cleaning fluid.

5, Add champagne to sparklng plonk and it could well improve, but can you tell the difference ? Your diesel engine can, so long as its mapping is dynamic (dont know but i strongly suspect my altea FR is), but then you will have paid more for the champagne than you would have paid for more plonk, and believe me the oil companies do understand the laws of diminishing returns. If they could cheaper add a drop of champagne to get the calorific value they would. If mapping isnt dynamic its a total waste and may even damage the exhaust.

6, If diesel has too high a calorific value it can proveably damage some engines, so even if you pay for a premium product, its higher value has to be a really small deal or they are going to get sued.

So - errors in the refinery aside, it makes zero difference, its how you drive it in terms of keeping the exhaust filtering in good nick, and whats in your head.

Regards Bob, Esso/Exxon research, Oxfordshire.

 

[Nathanio]

So bob how do you explain the lower mpg people are seeing and more smoke between the different fuel suppliers? I get almost 100miles less on Tesco than shell driving the same roads....So please do explain for me

 

[mjr600]

Rarely do I ever ignore a post and although bobrob makes some points with which I agree there is absolutely no doubt that a premium fuel makes a positive difference to the way my diesel engine operates.

He argues that the difference is in my head, well this isn't the placebo effect with some chalk tablets, my head tells me of the difference becuse my foot, body, nerves and ear collect information which is different to that which was collected whilst the car ran on non premium fuel. My eyes show me that the Tesco fuel caused excessive smoke to be seen in the rear view mirror.

My previous car would ONLY run on 98 ron or higher fuel out of the factory, when I had to use cheap fuel it ran like a dog.

bobrob, whilst you roll out old arguements and claim to be involved in 'research' in the real world without lab conditions there are noticeable difference hence the reason for this thread.

regards, mjr, real world, uk

 

[bobrob]

Still tosh

In the real world i do IT for a humungous fuel research lab. I am surrounded however by real experts, and i do ask questions. In the real world you cant objectively test fuels easily, its done in a lab, using calibrated engines over tens of thousands of miles in effect, THEN LATER ITS GIVEN (THATS RIGHT, FREE FUEL) to loads of joe public who blind (they dont know what they are given) fill up at the lab and are asked to score it against the free fuel last week for up to 3 months.

As its mostly really established science, most of it is about doing it for less cost, or making a blend that works properly with some cra* eastern european chemical byproduct thats available in 10,000 tonne loads. Incidentally our north sea oil is amongst the best light sweet crude, its lower in sulphur than most.

Ultimately im truly objectively told, no-one can really tell the difference between plonk and champagne whilst driving unless its track conditions or the car is very special. BHP at the wheels can vary slightly but less than it does on a hot vs a cool day.

If you do give someone something very marginal and then next wek give them the ultimate, they will notice something, but probably not power, possibly it'll start differently or pull away from the lights differently. Old cars often run smoother on plonk i'm told.

If you want to make it go faster or more smoothly spend the money wisely, buy a better car (BMW Merc Audi and Skoda do nice bigger 6 or 8 cylinder diesels.) I however love the altea FR as it is, i have tried one mapped to 210bhp but i didnt really find it much different in my real world. VAG however would do well to make it as well trimmed, user maintainable or as reliable as Toyota are now making their vehicles (dont you just hate VAGs attempts to stop you servicing them), 175BHP diesel toyota auris or verso anyone ?

 

[mjr600]

If there is such little difference between fuels why is there a 'humungous fuel research lab' and why the need to test fuels on the public if you already know the answer ?

 

[Viking]

Because when the dino fuel runs out, all the research done will help you and me keep driving our motors by running them on alternative fuels such as Biodiesel. And new found oil reserves will need to be tested to make sure that the refined fuel they provide actually works when we put it in our tanks.

Also, every time the Government (and Europe) decide that we really need less sulphur or more perfume etc. in our fuels, someone has to work out how to do it.