No, refineries are very expensive to operate so having one for Jet, one for Esso, one for Shell and one for BP etc. to cover a single area would be impractical and unprofitable for anyone, not to mention building something that big and potentially dangerous tends to be unpopular with locals, so ALL the brands of fuel you buy usually come from the nearest refinery.

All the different tankers go in, each driver has a card (they used to be plastic punch cards but I suspect that may have changed by now), they all (except for Shell vpower) get fuel from exactly the same silos, based on the card they swipe the correct amount/formulation of additive is dispensed. It's the custom additive package that makes the difference.

To use your analogy imagine a thousand pairs of identical underwear, made in the same factory by the same person using the same materials at the same time, 500 are to have an M&S label in and 500 for Asda, at random a pair is taken out and has a 'cheap' Asda label put in it, the next random pair is M&S and gets a slightly nicer looking label.

Oh ok, so you are sure the silos will only have single quality of fuel?

I know that refineries make different grades of oil for different purposes (tarmac, fuel, lubricants etc), they're kept in a single container if you like while refining. Once refined I would've thought they make another separation for the good stuff and the mediocre stuff for different quality within the silo.

If branded and non branded fuel are same except additives. Would that also mean engine oil and other lubricants are the same?

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I use BP Ultimate majority of the time, results in less DPF regens and you get double nectar points!

As for MPG and performance, I really don't know, car seems to run better on Ultimate

In the Fabia I use Tesco Momentum 99, it seems to like it and the car runs well, I did try normal Tesco stuff and had to call Skoda Assist out as it made the car drive really badly, as though there was a misfire. I went for a long drive to use the half a tank up and put some 99 in it and it was ok after.

I drive about 1500-2500 miles a week. I've tried the premium fuels and simply get less miles but more kick and expense.

Every car I've had prefers a different garage. Current works car likes Sainsbury city derv, previous one ran like nails on it and only ran well on BP. Previous one esso.

You could line up 10 identical cars and each will run better on a different fuel to the next.

From my own experience I find a fuel the car likes, and if that's more expensive locally have a 2nd preference.

Oh ok, so you are sure the silos will only have single quality of fuel?

I know that refineries make different grades of oil for different purposes (tarmac, fuel, lubricants etc), they're kept in a single container if you like while refining. Once refined I would've thought they make another separation for the good stuff and the mediocre stuff for different quality within the silo.

If branded and non branded fuel are same except additives. Would that also mean engine oil and other lubricants are the same?

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Not sure how else to put it, at the stage where its dispensed to the tankers petrol is petrol, it's solely down to the detergent and additive package that's added to it at that point that makes it Esso, BP, Jet, Shell etc. The only exception to this that i'm aware of is V Power which is stored and dispensed separately. I can't see diesel being any different but anything is possible.

Lubricants (and in fact most products you buy from computer parts to electrical items to car parts) are similar. Oils are blended from the same base stocks by a small number of manufacturers who work for a large number of brands.

Take Quantum for example, it's a VAG own brand which is produced by Castrol, you pay more for 4ltrs of Castrol Edge at retail than you do for 5ltrs of Quantum Long-life 3 despite it being widely accepted that they were the same product for many years. Now Castrol have 'FST technology' in it's retail offerings, I'm not sure if that's been pushed out to the bulk trade buyers (non retail), I suspect it's yet another example of marketing at work.

Ohh ok, so the 'fuel' has a base compound and branded additives are blended into the mix, be it to increase octane levels and/or lubricating agents.

In effect it's just a professional way from turning cooking fat into fuel for car by adding correct additives.

If that is the case though I wouldn't conclude 'fuel' is just fuel. In theory any would do but probably not great for the car.

Bit like saying tesco value chicken is no different to organic chicken..

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My local 3 she'll garages haven't had vpower since before Christmas.

So I have been using fuelsave. I refuse to use any supermarket fuel because of things I have read in the past and I like my car lol.

I have read there is a replacement for vpower that is either out or coming out very soon.

Possibly called "Nitro" but not 100%

Edited 20 April, 201313 yr by MattH

I think it's a con.

My local 3 she'll garages haven't had vpower since before Christmas.

So I have been using fuelsave. I refuse to use any supermarket fuel because of things I have read in the past and I like my car lol.

I have read there is a replacement for vpower that is either out or coming out very soon.

Possibly called "Nitro" but not 100%

I've been seeing shell v power nitro + fuels advertised on sky sports f1

Over c.20 years driving diesels, everything from Mercs, Volvos, Citroens, Audis, BMWs, Peugeots, Skodas covering c. 800,000 miles I have tried all the different fuels, why not they were charged to expenses.

My conclusion, the expensive, higher profit, fuels make no difference to performance, economy or reliability of your car.

For the last eight years or so I have used supermarket own label were possible both here in Spain and the UK

Regards all

Juan

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My local 3 she'll garages haven't had vpower since before Christmas.

So I have been using fuelsave. I refuse to use any supermarket fuel because of things I have read in the past and I like my car lol.

I have read there is a replacement for vpower that is either out or coming out very soon.

Possibly called "Nitro" but not 100%

Most shell and BP forecourts I've been to lately have very few pumps for premium fuels.

At one time you struggled to find a normal pump.

I've just brimmed my tank with BP ultimate, cars' probably still pulling through some of the remnants from my last ASDA fill up, but already it does feel like its running abit smoother..

<opens door, walks in, sits down, looks bitter>...

It depends what you want... I used it from day 1 (48k) on my vRS.. I think a grand total of 3 non ultimate tanks have gone through my car since then... It's now on 87k...

I bought it for 2 reasons.. It "cleans" as it goes.. and, I'm adamant that in 2nd gear it pulled more smoothly.. initially it feels slower because it doesn't shove.. but you soon realise it's because it has a little more push lower down... Shark recently had my turbo rebuilt for me. Ben drove the car and commented that the push lower down made him a little suspicious of a previous map.. on further inspection, it was the stock map..

So.. I put the health of my engine down to using ultimate... Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything for the life of your turbo.. DOH!

Ohh ok, so the 'fuel' has a base compound and branded additives are blended into the mix, be it to increase octane levels and/or lubricating agents.

In effect it's just a professional way from turning cooking fat into fuel for car by adding correct additives.

If that is the case though I wouldn't conclude 'fuel' is just fuel. In theory any would do but probably not great for the car.

Bit like saying tesco value chicken is no different to organic chicken..

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No. Petrol is Petrol. Shell Fuelsaver petrol is petrol + Shell's additive and detergent package, Asda petrol is petrol + Asda's additive and detergent package etc. it's the specific formulation of the additives and detergent that makes the difference. Branded fuels tend to have a higher concentration of detergent, supermarkets tend to have less.