Hi I’ve resently discovered sainsbury’s super unleaded fuel. I knew the mazda engine ran much smoother and was more fuel efficient on this stuff, but with the inflated price, was it worth it?
Whilst running the engine on premium unleaded I get a consistent 34 mpg. And running on super unleaded the engine returns 38 mpg.
From a touch of mathematics I’ve calculated that, if a litre of super unleaded was 12p more than premium unleaded, there is no mpg gain in monetary terms.
This where the Sainsburys comes into play because their high octane fuel is between 5 and 6p more than the premum stuff. So I’m getting 38 mpg 13.8 per mile plus the 2.0 engine is noticeably smother.
When I got my current MX-5, a 2.0L Sport version, I started by using ordinary Sainsbury’s petrol (my nearest filling station). But after reading a number of posts on this forum, I changed to their high-octane stuff, and I too noticed a marked improvement in running and fuel consumption - like you around 4 mpg better on the ‘hot’ stuff.
I am currently though, as an experiment, on my fourth tank of Shell V-Power, which is even more expensive again, and to be honest I can’t tell the difference between it and the Sainsbury’s super-juice. OK, so the extra additives that are apparently in Shell might be keeping my engine / fuel-injection system in better condition, but there is no way of knowing that - it’s something one has to take on faith !
So next time I fill up (only about once a month, because the 5 is our second car, our fair-weather fun car) I’ll be going back to Sainsbury’s.
BP Ultimate here. It’s 10 or 11p more but it works out cheaper for me because the nearest Sainsburys is a lot further away. My 2.0 definitely runs better and does more mpg than with the regular stuff, and no, it isn’t placebo.
I didn’t know that Sainsburys offer a Super, so thanks for that
I’ll give it a try - currently using VPower , which I do find better than Regular in performance and mpg (or am I a sucker for that Ferrari link marketing hype?!)
Just filled up this morning, with Sainsbury’s super-juice - £1.18 per litre. My last tank of Shell V-Power cost £1.28 per litre, and I had to make an 18 mile round trip to get it. Not too much of a chore of course, on a nice day when I can get the lid off, but I didn’t have the time today, so Sainsbury’s it had to be, and with no perceived advantage with Shell…
Shell V-Power for us as well for both the MX5 and the Morris Minor. We do similar mileage to Countryboy in each off these cars and so even at 20p/litre premium it is only an extra £31 per year per car. The Shell garage is only about a mile down the road as well.
Sainsbury’s super for most fills as it’s the closest, v-power when I can get it though nearest Shell stations are a twenty mile run away. Tesco now sell a high Ron unleaded though I’ve not yet had any experience of using it.
As an aside I called into South Mimms service station yesterday for a quick splash and dash on my way home, Ultimate, £1:41 a litre ???
£1.41 - Yikes, I thought my BP Ultimate expensive at £1.29 per litre and that’s from a 10 mile out of town station who are always a few pence dearer than supermarkets.
