Supermarket Fuel vs Premium Diesel

[Bailey 15]

Who only uses premium diesel rather than ordinary diesel?
Any difference do you think ?

Who don’t buy their fuel from supermarkets ?

Just a thought as recovery guy said he wouldn’t touch supermarkets fuel

 

[Odd-no-more]

I have a diesel pickup, the one I have, has a problem with the DPF blocking and damaging the engine. I run on premium diesel from Costco and so far no problems. I believe the cleaners in premium diesel help. Even if I'm away from Costco, I buy premium fuel. I hope I'm not wasting money

 

[Just smiffy]

Does everyone think the delivery vans and courier vans all run on premium fuel..

These vans are thrashed every day and still do 300-500k, and that’s what most of us drive, A delivery van in disguise.

The best thing you can do is give your van an Italian tune-up every 3rd tank full…

 

[Onemanandhisdog]

Oil refineries are quite big obvious things, none are branded Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons etc, so obviously it's all coming from the same places!

 

[sandiesdad]

I worked with petroleum vehicles and Tesco Morrison’s Sainsbury’s all comes out of the same storage tanks

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[Shortap]

Both my Freelanders had to have new EGR valves at about 50k miles, independent repair guy said:
1 never use supermarket fuel
2 every 4 tanks treat it to premium branded
3 give it a good thrashing regularly
4 this will stop things sooting up

Don't know if he was right, but that's what I'm doing on my new van, especially as we have diesel heating and it might stop that from gumming up ( give that a good full throttle burn occasionally as well).

Years ago I had similar problems with a Saab and was given the same advice which I’ve followed ever since and it appears to have worked, over 60,000 more miles of driving before getting a new car. Only 16,000 on this motorhome though at present.

 

[Tony50]

As we are running the latest Transit based motorhome , I'm hoping that premium fuels with their additives keeps it oit of a garage, but in my old Volvo XC 60 I put in the cheapest diesel I can buy and it's done 80 + thousand miles never missed a beat.

 

[ArchieDog]

Here in France we fill my V8 3.6 Range Rover Sport 250k, my wife DS5 1.8 170k and our Fiat based Burstner Motorhome 40k with supermarket diesel and we’ve never had a problem. I don’t believe there’s any difference in quality unless you want to. All these so called experts usually have a vested interest. If you constantly pay extra for premium diesel you must have money to waste.

 

[tonyysue]

Both my Freelanders had to have new EGR valves at about 50k miles, independent repair guy said:
1 never use supermarket fuel
2 every 4 tanks treat it to premium branded
3 give it a good thrashing regularly
4 this will stop things sooting up

Don't know if he was right, but that's what I'm doing on my new van, especially as we have diesel heating and it might stop that from gumming up ( give that a good full throttle burn occasionally as well).

Ive always used supermarket fuel only 4 vehicles which includes my now 30 year old Hymer with 345,000 on the clock which has had diesel heating for the last 8 years (Ive had it for 25 years) - still has the original engine c including pump and injectors with never a problem!

 

[Mark1965]

My wex card is only showing the normal 4p, where do you find the 12p discount

Also you collect Necta points with Esso. Plus there are usually bonus points with Esso Premium Fuels.
I use my Wex card every time. 2 cars, 2 motorbikes, and PVC. It makes a difference.

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[Fazerstorm]

Also you collect Necta points with Esso. Plus there are usually bonus points with Esso Premium Fuels.
I use my Wex card every time. 2 cars, 2 motorbikes, and PVC. It makes a difference.

Nectar points are a bit of a waste of time. I can never find any good deals for spending them. You get a lot better discounts on things using tesco points. Never had an issue.

 

[Bailey 15]

I love motorhome fun to death but these supermarket fuel threads are such a waste of time. It turns out everyone has their secret formula: avoid like the plague .. driven a million miles with no problems .. recovery guy said avoid (!!) .. detergents... but NO DATA at all. Just opinion, and speculation, and this is what happened to my auntie.
Bottom line is that nobody is selling you diesel that doesn't work. I have run maybe 15 vehicles over the years on supermarket diesel with no problems at all.
If it worries you, try one of the magic redex lookalikes or similar. But only when Capricorn is in Virgo, or it won't work ;-)
"Real science" not often seen hereabouts!

I’m sorry you feel it’s a waste of time, however I value and greatly respect everyone’s view on here as I have for many years.
You are fairly new here so mayb you just might miss a thread one day and post something on here for information that’s already been discussed! Then we could all just scroll on

 

[TinaLes]

Well What do ya know, The You Tube link to the test lab results (see post 73) on fuel additives does work if you click on the view in you tube link. Go in at 16mins onwards and they reveal the test lab results on 6 different fuel additives off the shelf in The US. Shame they didnt do RedX or Whyns that we can get easily over here, but you will get the gist of whether they improve engine longevity and MPG.
DuxDeluxe will appreciate the time and costs involved in performing these tests, and will hopefully confirm their method & findings.
LES

 

[Russ N Tracey]

As a petrol tanker driver delivering an unleaded, super and diesel for Sainsburys, I can confirm that Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all use the same fuel, we all load at the same places, on the same loading racks with no additives, all the other mainstream fuel companies (BP, Shell. Texaco etc) use there own additives for there "super" brands. there is only Shell (that I'm aware of) that make and use there own fuel, made to there own specifications. Most of the diesel in the uk is made by 1 company and then it's moved around the country to what used to be the refineries which are all but gone now and are now fuel storage facilities
I can also confirm Costco do use diesel with additives.

 

[Alexvan]

Who only uses premium diesel rather than ordinary diesel?
Any difference do you think ?

Who don’t buy their fuel from supermarkets ?

Just a thought as recovery guy said he wouldn’t touch supermarkets fuel

It all comes from the same place just in different trucks!! Myb the premium diesel has additional things added but standard diesel is no different.

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[DandJ]

So...from what I can gather from experts on here, or those who have family that are experts, or those that have mates that are experts, or.......Is that :

1. Supermarket fuel is rubbish/the same/great *delete as appropriate.
2. Additives are/are not needed * delete as appropriate
3. You will destroy your engine if you use/don't use posh fuel *delete as appropriate
4. Costco is cheapest but if you have to drive 100 miles each way to fill up...it will/may negate any saving.......

 

[VXman]

Delete

 

[VXman]

I've worked in main dealerships all my life and have seen the expensive damage supermarket diesel does to fuel systems. My customers don't like £4000 bils for new high pressure pump and a set of injectors.

I must be really lucky. 30 plus years of super market fuel and never replaced an injector or fuel pump. Done 90,000 miles in 2 of my present cars too. Always had high mileage cars.

 

[VXman]

A mate of mine has a tasty BMW 5 series.
He has to run on the “better” petrol as he says the car doesn’t run properly on the cheaper fuel.

Exactly as you said.

Only if it states it in the manufacturer handbook or maybe a sticker by the fuel filler. It's unlikely if it is standard as it comes out of the factory as they will have to be manufactured to,run on normal fuel.

My VX220 is modified and tuned to run on 97 minimum.

 

[Richard n Ann]

I must be really lucky. 30 plus years of super market fuel and never replaced an injector or fuel pump. Done 90,000 miles in 2 of my present cars too. Always had high mileage cars.

The additives sound like they are for the customer, not the engine

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[Jaguarcat1]

Thank you for all replies

I am a qualified mechanic and I always put a shot of Diptane in with my fuel petrol or diesel and it helps keep all fuel parts lubricated as that is the problem with cheap fuel

 

[Jerrywh]

I’m sorry you feel it’s a waste of time, however I value and greatly respect everyone’s view on here as I have for many years.
You are fairly new here so mayb you just might miss a thread one day and post something on here for information that’s already been discussed! Then we could all just scroll on

That's not what I was complaining about. The point, specifically with fuel threads, is that everyone has a pet opinion, but nobody has useful data. So for any given form of fuel there is a range extending from "wouldn't touch it with a bargepole" all the way to "Wouldn't dream of using anything else."
Which is not all that informative, wouldn't you say?
As for being new here, that is true, for this account at least. But even newbies may have a valid point of view occasionally, seems rather unfair to single them out. And I repeat, I'm a great fan of MHF overall.
Has no motoring magazine ever conducted any proper tests, I wonder? The only thing I have ever found is Which? Magazine specifically stating their tests indicate premium fuels are a waste of money in 99% of vehicles.

 

[bigwood]

Slightly off the original issue of fuel from different suppliers but my point about the same tankers delivering to multiple filling stations sets off something that I will never understand.
Two Shell filling stations on opposite sides of a road charge different price. In this area the same company charging different prices within the same town. There has to be some logic to this and I will be opening a can of worms but fixed price and make up the difference by selling other things is my way of thinking.

 

[Carpmart]

So...from what I can gather from experts on here, or those who have family that are experts, or those that have mates that are experts, or.......Is that :

1. Supermarket fuel is rubbish/the same/great *delete as appropriate.
2. Additives are/are not needed * delete as appropriate
3. You will destroy your engine if you use/don't use posh fuel *delete as appropriate
4. Costco is cheapest but if you have to drive 100 miles each way to fill up...it will/may negate any saving.......

Clear as mud…

It’s a strange topic! There is often a convergence of views on many topics on MHF… this one, it seems there are 100 different views.

The reality is, in ‘normal’ operating conditions the fuel consumers on here cannot feel any difference in performance from one fuel to another. With my background with performance cars, I am very sensitive to performance changes in all vehicles. In my recent experience, filling with the cheapest diesel in Spain a few times, definitely shows me the difference between ‘bunker’ low quality basic diesel (likely no additives) and diesel from Repsol (likely with enhancement additives). I can feel the difference in a 7T plus motorhome with a puny 3.0 engine; plus I 100% get more MPG on Repsol than generic fuel. I do not notice this change with UK supermarket fuel vs say Shell.

I suspect my driving style (throttle position) is modified with ‘additive enhanced’ fuel leading to better MPG.

Based on other posts, I’m sure many will disagree.

 

[Clive Beeza]

Who only uses premium diesel rather than ordinary diesel?
Any difference do you think ?

Who don’t buy their fuel from supermarkets ?

Just a thought as recovery guy said he wouldn’t touch supermarkets fuel

There has been a previous article on this subject and the reply I really remember was from a petrol tanker delivery driver who told us all that there are FEWER ADDITIVES put in to supermarket petrol
So I have never purchased from supermarkets since,
as you pays your money and takes your choice
and with todays vehicle engines being so efficient on fuel and designed for modern fuel why use an inferior fuel to save a few pence and lose out on the safeguards provided by the additional additives in the main brand fuel stations

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[Rugbybull]

At the risk of going ‘off topic’, we have recently signed up for a UK Fuels card through Radius. 5p off a litre at a range of fuel retailers (local to us it’s Texaco, Esso, BP but Apple Green further afield) and 0.5p a litre off at supermarkets (Tesco’s Sainsbury’s and Morrisons locally). There’s an e-route app which tells you which fuel retailers are participating. No fees just a direct debit to bill you for the fuel purchased with the card. Strangely enough, if I’ve read it correctly, premium diesel is charged to the card at forecourt price plus 10p. Has anyone any experience of using this card and is the 10p premium on premium diesel correct?

 

[meanders]

There has been a previous article on this subject and the reply I really remember was from a petrol tanker delivery driver who told us all that there are FEWER ADDITIVES put in to supermarket petrol
So I have never purchased from supermarkets since,
as you pays your money and takes your choice
and with todays vehicle engines being so efficient on fuel and designed for modern fuel why use an inferior fuel to save a few pence and lose out on the safeguards provided by the additional additives in the main brand fuel stations

But another fuel delivery driver in this very thread said in effect that with the exception of Shell it's only ever the 'premium' fuels that have the additives. To say that base diesel that fully meets the internationally agreed specification and for which 99% or more engines have been designed to run on is somehow 'inferior' is simply untrue unless you are prepared to always pay out for the premium versions at inflated prices. Yes highly tuned engines in performance cars generally need a higher octane petrol, but for the other 99.9% of everyday vehicles, you may as well replace the engine with a steam boiler and engine, and burn the cash.

 

[Carpmart]

But another fuel delivery driver in this very thread said in effect that with the exception of Shell it's only ever the 'premium' fuels that have the additives. To say that base diesel that fully meets the internationally agreed specification and for which 99% or more engines have been designed to run on is somehow 'inferior' is simply untrue unless you are prepared to always pay out for the premium versions at inflated prices. Yes highly tuned engines in performance cars generally need a higher octane petrol, but for the other 99.9% of everyday vehicles, you may as well replace the engine with a steam boiler and engine, and burn the cash.

The OP’s question was, is premium fuel worth it! The question should have really been, are the additives in premium fuel worth it?

No one (I don’t think) is disputing that all vehicles will ‘run’ on the lowest grade fuel, even high performance ones. The question is more, is that the optimal fuel to run on?

This thread shows that 80% of people think it’s fine, from their experience and for their application, to use the cheapest fuel compliant with basic fuel standards, which leaves the other 20% suggesting different fuels can provide different outcomes, which the 80% are basically saying don’t be an idiot to!

No one is right, no one is wrong and credible research does not exist to prove it either way, or so it seems!

The ‘great fuel debate’ a unicorn as it will remain a rare unanswered question on MHF.

 

[Just smiffy]

Clear as mud…

It’s a strange topic! There is often a convergence of views on many topics on MHF… this one, it seems there are 100 different views.

The reality is, in ‘normal’ operating conditions the fuel consumers on here cannot feel any difference in performance from one fuel to another. With my background with performance cars, I am very sensitive to performance changes in all vehicles. In my recent experience, filling with the cheapest diesel in Spain a few times, definitely shows me the difference between ‘bunker’ low quality basic diesel (likely no additives) and diesel from Repsol (likely with enhancement additives). I can feel the difference in a 7T plus motorhome with a puny 3.0 engine; plus I 100% get more MPG on Repsol than generic fuel. I do not notice this change with UK supermarket fuel vs say Shell.

I suspect my driving style (throttle position) is modified with ‘additive enhanced’ fuel leading to better MPG.

Based on other posts, I’m sure many will disagree.

I always get better mpg in a warmer climate….

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

But another fuel delivery driver in this very thread said in effect that with the exception of Shell it's only ever the 'premium' fuels that have the additives. To say that base diesel that fully meets the internationally agreed specification and for which 99% or more engines have been designed to run on is somehow 'inferior' is simply untrue unless you are prepared to always pay out for the premium versions at inflated prices. Yes highly tuned engines in performance cars generally need a higher octane petrol, but for the other 99.9% of everyday vehicles, you may as well replace the engine with a steam boiler and engine, and burn the cash.

It's like vitamins for engines. By and large, the majority of people who have a balanced diet get more than enough vitamins, [ science fact]. However, some people still purchase extra supplements which whilst mostly benign can in some circumstances have a negative effect. It's your engine and your moneys treat it and spend it how you like,it just doesn't need to be a straw poll every few months.
Mike.

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[Carpmart]

I always get better mpg in a warmer climate….

An interesting observation as on the fuel side of things, you get less for your money buying fuel when it’s warm.

Is it density of air (warm vs cold) youre driving through being thinner providing better fuel efficiency? No idea?

Edit: I’ve googled and warmer weather = better fuel economy!