Tesco petrol - Unleaded (95 octane) or Momentum99 (99 octane) for a 1.2TSI?

[docc]

Received wisdom indicates that petrol is petrol, regardless of brand.  It all comes from the same refineries, it all meets British Standard specifications, and the only difference (apart from differing grades) is the additives used.

 

Tesco Unleaded has a minimum octane rating of 95 so it meets the required specification for the 1.2TSI.  That ought to be that, but the Tesco website makes all sorts of claims about the superiority of their Momentum99 (around 5p per litre more), including this:

 

"Looking at the Emissions Analytics results across all vehicles the tests showed that, on average, the miles per gallon (MPG) that the vehicles travelled improved by 6.2%* when using Tesco Momentum⁹⁹ compared to Tesco Unleaded."

 

http://www.tescopfs.com/our-fuel/testing_results

 

 

Does anyone have any views on whether it's worth the extra?  I'm guessing it isn't but the Tesco claim surprises me.

 

 

 

[Zib]

Received wisdom indicates that petrol is petrol, regardless of brand.  It all comes from the same refineries, it all meets British Standard specifications, and the only difference (apart from differing grades) is the additives used.

 

Tesco Unleaded has a minimum octane rating of 95 so it meets the required specification for the 1.2TSI.  That ought to be that, but the Tesco website makes all sorts of claims about the superiority of their Momentum99 (around 5p per litre more), including this:

 

"Looking at the Emissions Analytics results across all vehicles the tests showed that, on average, the miles per gallon (MPG) that the vehicles travelled improved by 6.2%* when using Tesco Momentum⁹⁹ compared to Tesco Unleaded."

 

http://www.tescopfs.com/our-fuel/testing_results

 

 

Does anyone have any views on whether it's worth the extra?  I'm guessing it isn't but the Tesco claim surprises me.

 

No noticeable difference on my 1.2 TSI in every day driving.

[Kenny R]

I must admit, I put Tesco 99 in my 1.8 Yeti. With the current petrol promotion I don't notice the slight price increase, and any increase in mpg would take care of that anyway.

It's not just Tesco that says using higher octane fuel could improve mpg. This is from owners manual...

"

On vehicles using prescribed unleaded petrol of min. 95 RON, the use of petrol with a higher octane number than 95 RON can increase the power and reduce fuel consumption."

[spottydog]

Various TV car shows and magazines have done comparison tests and the difference in both mileage and performance is not worth the extra cost of the fuel.

[Paulbrown]

I have to disagree here.

Most modern cars will adjust the air to fuel ratio to suit which fuel you use the higher the quitily of fuel the better the burn.

I wouldn't say there's a huge difference to power or mpg but it will help no matter how slight.

If you can get the higher/better fuel for not much more then why not

[Specky]

I use Shell Vpower in all our cars and have to say it does make a difference ! We notice it more in my wifes Mini Cooper S (supercharged) It runs and performs so much better on Higher octane IMHO. I personally would not risk supermarket cheap fuel in my Quattro !

I'm also very happy with the performance and economy from my Yeti 1.2.

But i see some folks dilema...... Cost !!

 

Specks

[spottydog]

Each to their own conclusions but I've tried it in various cars of differing performance and never noticed any discernable difference.

[DonjSZ5]

Been using Tesco And Sains fuel for 40 years without problems.

Sent from my GT-S5830 using Tapatalk 2

Edited 28 July, 2014 by DonjSZ5

[Huskoda]

Tesco Momentum is made by Greenergy and is an entirely different fuel from their regular petrol. It has a higher percentage of ethanol than the regular fuel and as ethanol burns cleaner and you get less carbon buildup, which is an issue with direct injected engines.

[docc]

Tesco Momentum is made by Greenergy and is an entirely different fuel from their regular petrol. It has a higher percentage of ethanol than the regular fuel and as ethanol burns cleaner and you get less carbon buildup, which is an issue with direct injected engines.

Doesn't that same higher proportion of ethanol produce engine damage in certain circumstances (or so I've read)?

[speedsport]

My experience with Tesco fuels.

Absolutely no difference in mpg in urban driving.

On a long steady speed motorway run (eg 200+ miles trip up to Scotland from Manchester area using cruise control) I get a 4 to 5 mpg improvement when using 99 octane compared with regular 95 octane.

 

I reckon that the 99 octane produces more power (as you would expect) so at a constant speed that's governed by the car's own electronics rather than my right foot, a smaller throttle opening is needed to maintain the set speed, hence the better fuel economy. However, around town in stop start traffic there are far more variables that influence economy so the advantage of using the higher octane fuel is lost.

 

Having said all that, when the price is right, I periodically use Shell fuels in the hope that their additives help keep the engine/injectors etc cleaner - as recommended by Honest John.

[Microlite]

I haven't recorded MPG figures recently but as you can see from my post in 2011 (#87) I got a 3 MPG increase on switching to Momentum.

The original post was related to Maxidot accuracy...mine seemed pretty accurate.

I'm still getting 43 to 44 averages on the Maxidot using Momentum, and 46-47 on motorway cruising within legal limits.

 

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/156147-12-tsi-real-mpg/page-3?hl=%2Bmicrolite#entry2540136

[Grumpy Geaser]

Couple of years ago one of the car mags ran a specific test - back to back using regular and premium fuels. Some cars showed a difference in mpg/ performance and others did not. I had a Merc C180 at the time and it showed absolutely no difference under test. I guess it will all depend on the ECU and, over time the effects of the extra additives/ detergents in the premium fuel??

[JCP]

Agree it is very vehicle dependent as the electronics may or may not adjust it's tuning to take advantage of higher octane fuel. VAG tfsi engines -in my experience-can.