Petrol costs

[Tumble]

Ignore me I'm an idiot..

[Butuz]

Yes ya git

I drove round in a 3.5 v6 people carrier for an entire day in vegas and when i went to fill her back up it only cost $18. So thats 10 quid for a days driving in something that weights 2 tons and eats petrol. Grrr.

Butuz

[McMav]

76.9 shell ul and 80.9 for diesel at shell think optimax was 83.9

[Grey M@a]

Total 24 hour garage round mine is 76.9p for unleaded and 86.9 for deisel whereas the morrisons garage down the other end of the road the Shell garage is 75.9p for unleaded and 82.9 for deisel

[Vimeous]

My route between MK and Gloucester :

76.9 BP MK
79.9 Esso Bicester
82.9 BP Gloucester

Erm usually it's the further EAST the higher the price! What goes on here?!

[Rave]

Not that it makes much difference, but even Super Unleaded in the states is lower octane than our standard unleaded which is 95 RON; our Super Unleaded is 98 RON or more.

Remember folks, unless your car is either turbocharged or highly tuned, Super Unleaded/ optimax etc. gives you no performance advantage at all. It's just a waste of money.

As for supermarket fuel being not as good as branded stuff- I highly doubt that to be honest. If you look at who runs refineries in this country, the smallest operator is Jet who have (although this info is a few years old now) one refinery of their own. The supermarkets must get their petrol from one of the big companies, otherwise where else would it have come from?

Rich :¬)

[Lowe]

82.9 for Optimax

[Lowe]

Not that it makes much difference, but even Super Unleaded in the states is lower octane than our standard unleaded which is 95 RON; our Super Unleaded is 98 RON or more.

Remember folks, unless your car is either turbocharged or highly tuned, Super Unleaded/ optimax etc. gives you no performance advantage at all. It's just a waste of money.

Two large portions of WRONG I'm afraid.

The USA measures their octane in a different manner to the way we do. We measure octane using RON (Research Octane Number). There is another slightly less known measurement called MON (Motor Octane Number). They're measured under slightly different conditions, but essentially give you a reading as to how likely the fuel will detonate under pressure. MON ratings are typically about 80ish for SUL.

In the UK we just use the RON rating. In the States they measure the RON+MON / 2. This gives them a much lower rating for the same fuel - hence why their normal unleaded is 92 and premium is 95. If they were measured in the same way their SUL would be about 100RON on our scale.


Secondly, with a modern car being able to advance and retard the ignition by the use of sensitive knock sensors and clever ECU, SUL fuels DO make a difference. It's not always hugely noticeable, but the difference is there no less, and they can return higher MPGs if you don't use the extra performance.

[Rave]

I stand corrected on the American ratings. Are many cars fitted with knock sensors as standard? I knew about them, but didn't realise that they were widespread.

Anyway, my car sure as hell hasn't got one. Since it can apparently run down to about 90 octane fuel, I was wondering if I could advance my ignition timing a smidge to get slightly better power/economy out of the 95 we get here.. Anyone know? It's a Mk1 MR2 BTW.

Rich :¬)

[RVF500]

All I know is the cynical b@stards realised more people were using diesel so it went from less than unleaded to significantly more than unleaded. Not sure who did that. The oil companies or the govt levied a higher tax. Not that it really matters I loathe both organisations almost equally.

[Vimeous]

RVF I believe it twas a govenermental change a good few years back now, aroundabout the time of the early VW 90bhp TD in Golf and Audi 80.

[RVF500]

Sounds about right for those robbing gits

[CocoPops]

I don't really take notice of petrol costs....
I get a Petrol card that covers ALL of the petrol I use, so no more wincing when I fill it to the brim with Optimax.

[Firelord]

I use optimax in my little 214Si and it makes a big difference in my car... Needed 3-4 tanks of the stuff to really make a difference (has to line the bores etc) but it cures a couple of flat spots in the rev range, it makes for better 5th gear acceleration on the motorways (and 1st 2nd gear get aways ) and gives me an extra 30-40miles over normal rating fuel.... Optimax/BP Ultimate is great stuff!

Anyway Optimax on the M275 as you come out of pompey is either 81.9 or 82.9p

We use BP Ultimate in my Dads XC90 D5 and they also makes a big difference in such a big car....

Also don't know why diesel is more expensive considering its not as well refined as petrol

[Rave]

I use optimax in my little 214Si and it makes a big difference in my car... Needed 3-4 tanks of the stuff to really make a difference (has to line the bores etc) but it cures a couple of flat spots in the rev range, it makes for better 5th gear acceleration on the motorways (and 1st 2nd gear get aways ) and gives me an extra 30-40miles over normal rating fuel.... Optimax/BP Ultimate is great stuff!

No offence mate, but people say the same about those fuel catalyst things which provably do nothing at all. If your car has a knock sensor like Lowe said then fair enough, but if it doesn't it's hard to see where the extra power is coming from.

Also don't know why diesel is more expensive considering its not as well refined as petrol

It is as well refined, it's just a heavier fraction of the crude oil. It's more heavily taxed I guess because 1 litre of diesel contains more carbon than 1 litre of petrol. Diesel engines burn fuel more efficiently, but part of the reason they return higher MPG figures than petrol engines is that there's more energy in the fuel to start with so you need less.

Rich :¬)

[Firelord]

No offence mate, but people say the same about those fuel catalyst things which provably do nothing at all. If your car has a knock sensor like Lowe said then fair enough, but if it doesn't it's hard to see where the extra power is coming from.

It could just be that although the 95ron stuff was working that maybe it wasn't getting the best from the engine and switching to the higher rating has just made it perform as it should so to speak

Either way it has made a difference for me, not only that but the engine is smoother less jerky at lower revs (a common K series engine problem, they don't do well at low ie below 1500 rpm) which means smoother town driving

I'm sticking with the stuff It has made a difference in all our cars (Rover 214si (mine), Diesel Volvo XC-90 D5 SE (dads, he won it ) and my mums Classic Saab 900 Turbo Convertible. )