Shell V Power for both my cars
Shell V Power in my ND 2ltr Sport and Suzuki Swift Sport. Fairly low annual mileageĀ in both cars so not overly concerned about the extra cost.
Both cars definitely run better and achieve higher mpg on the V Power.
Luckily the Shell station is only 2 miles from my home.
Here too. Same price or less than the branded standard stuff. Is it any better, donāt really know but seems to give good mpg and runs great. Bit like the old dayās 5 Star
My first experience of an MX-5 was my wifeās previous company car, a 2.0L Powershift Roadster Coupe, and that seemed quite happy on ordinary petrol. Her fuel consumption was generally around 32 mpg, which, not knowing any different at the time, assumed that was normal.
A change of company car, and we decided to get another 5 as a second car, a fair-weather fun car really I guess, and got this 2.0L Sport last year. It however, didnāt seem to like the cheap stuff, and ran rather unevenly - tickover was eratic - it kept surging. We were surprised though that we got on average 34 mpg, which we put down to the fact that this ānewā car had a manual transmission.
After reading various posts on this forum, we decided to try the āhotā stuff, and almost immediately noticed an improvement in performance (more zip), and the uneven tickover disappeared completely and became much smoother. The bonus was that our fuel consumption improved to around 37 mpg - this we put down to not having to hit the āgoā pedal quite so hard !
Another experiment followed posts extolling the virtues of Shell V-Power. As previously posted, using this, we found no improvement in performance or mpg over Sainsburyās Super Unleaded, so we have gone back to that now.
We would thoroughly recommend you try super unleaded for a while - you may be surprised.
Perhaps I am driving too much like a Granny because, with VPower, Iām getting 35.5 mpg in my 26 year old VSpec Auto (according to Fuelly).
Mind you, Iām lucky in that I donāt do much urban driving, and I suppose that I tend towards smooth rather than racy, being a former Rolls-Royce
Chauffeur and all that! Ā
Ā P.S.Has anyone heard anything about these Super grades being too astringent for old engines? Someone told me years ago that such fuel had purged the oil from his Jag engine!
With so many here saying their car runs better with more mpg on fuels such as Vpower Iām inclined to think there must be something in it. So why is it my car runs the same whatever fuel I use and has always done just under 40mpg on long journeys
Ā
Gra
I think you may find the Sainsbury super is produced by Shell. May not be to the same spec as V Power, but the Sainsbury trucks come out of the Shell distribution depot around here.
Steve
Since buying my mk2 in February Iāve been running it on Tesco regular unleaded. After following this thread Iām considering trying a higher grade fuel
My runs are invariably short, 6 miles there, 6 miles back, annual mileage about 1200, average 47 mpg. Ā Fuel Shell V Power or Tesco Momentum (supplied by Shell with Tesco additives) if needs must. Ā Pretty good I think.
Iāve been reading this thread and others about which fuel, best MPG and what is good for your engine etc.
All I can say is I went into a BP (it could have been Shell) it was a while ago and pulled up intending to fill up with their super unleaded, the best stuff. I chickened out and just put the 95 RON in, after all it does say I can use that on the fuel lid.
Also I was thinking of my pension payment, would I be able to sustain this lavish lifestyle and let my baby drink this wonder juice? I think I can just about eek out enough pennies to keep it mobile, even go further if I spend less on filling the tank
Ā
I think my answer is it aināt worth it, or Iām a tight git
1 Like
Also I was thinking of my pension payment, would I be able to sustain this lavish lifestyle and let my baby drink this wonder juice?Ā I think I can just about eek out enough pennies to keep it mobile, even go further if I spend less on filling the tankĀ
Ā
I think my answer is it aināt worth it, or Iām a tight git
Ā
Just make sure that the super unleaded is no more than 12p per litre, more expensive, than what you normally pay for the standard fuel. That way there are no pennies lost. Sainsburys sells it for 6p extra p/l so mx5 owners will actually make money. Ā
Hmm, I tried V Power in my Puma back around 2001 and it did make sufficient difference in the mpg. Since then Iāve tried it in my MK2.5,3 and 3.5 and it has made little or no difference in any of them not tried in the mk4 but Iāve averaged 42mpg in that so maybe I donāt drive it hard enough to show an effect, then again maybe itās just snake oil!??
I live in Southern Scotland and make regular trips to Essex. As my NC is my only transport it gets used, on most fill ups it gets Sainsbury Super, its only 5p dearer, it does seem to run a bit smoother but, Iām not convinced on the performance angle.
Oh, my MPG measured full to full, never seems to drop below 38, up to 45 on A1 trips!
I must be doing something wrongā¦
I filled up the Mazda3 an hour ago with V-Power at the local Shell a third of a mile away, and noticed that at 122p it was only 8p more expensive than the regular at 114p.Ā That is about 7% more expensive per litre but we get about 10% more mpg on each car compared with when circumstances force us to fill with regular, so it is slightly cheaper as well as making both the cars more flexible in the rev range.Ā
Also as a member of the Shell Driverās Club, with two cars I can sometimes take advantage of their bonus points offers to save 2p a litre or more on top of the usual points depending on when I fill them. V-Power also always has double points.
The Mazda3 has been steadily improving its mpg from new, the first few tankfuls I put in were close to 40mpg, but now after a year it is usually around 44mpg; this is a 2 litre 120ps Skyactive on local roads with mostly 30 limit and SWMBO driving with a fairly heavy right foot and not much anticipation.Ā Iāve done three tankfuls on trips with a fully loaded car and they were between 48 and 50mpg, so the overall average from new is about 43mpg.Ā The two times itās had regular was the supposedly full first tank from the dealer (35mpg) and then recently when the local Shell was closed for new tanks and the next nearest was out of V-Power and it did 37mpg.
By contrast the MX5 is steady between 38-42mpg on V-Power and did approx 33 and 35 on its only two tanks of regular, and this is mostly touring or motorway and very little stuck in local traffic.
But neither car is doing a high mileage so the absolute cost of petrol is not so significant when all the other expenses are reckoned up.
I use Esso Synergy Supreme+ in my mk3.5 2.0 sport roadster
97 octane I think and also according to Esso advertising contains twice the amount of detergent additives as their normal unleaded,
Iām hoping that will do more to keep the injectors etc clean.
Just averaged approx 43 mpg on an easy 4 days around Wales and along the M4 taking it steady roof down enjoying the scenery.
Paul.
Sorry but I have done back to back accurate tests on both diesel and petrol in a variety of vehiclesĀ with NO discernable difference in MPG. I have used supermarket fuels throughout my life and experienced no problems. (I am 67)Ā Ā The marketing men have done an excellent job and deserve all the moneys they have earned.
Are there any āclinicalā test out there to help with this question?
Ā
I believe that there is no more energy in the higher octane fuel, it just supports a higher compression ratio which our 5s donāt have.Ā
I have tried V Power a few times and log mileage with every tankful but it made no difference to my mpg which is generally 28-34 according to mode of use.
It costs almost Ā£50 to fill up with V-Power around here so I am sticking to Regular Unleaded.
A lot depends on the car, and a lot depends on the driver.
Some cars become more flexible at the lower revs with the higher octane, allowing earlier up changes still with a happy engine, less slipping of the clutch at take off, less kangarooing, easier starting. However to take the best advantage of this, it requires one to adapt the driving style. One should remember that for daily motoring, off the race course and in normal traffic, it is impossible to use the full performance of the car, and so being smooth and gentle with the throttle and revs and brakes with good anticipation of traffic movements can reap great benefits.
If one drives the car in exactly the same way in the same rev ranges using the same amounts of power (not maximum and not minimum), then I expect almost the same amounts of fuel will be used regardless of the octane.
Horses for courses.
I remember from my days as a mechanic, that an engine with retarded ignition timing, will not have as much power as one with the timing set correctly.
As I understand it, the knock sensor, which is part of the engine management system on cars such as the MX-5, will retard the ignition timing on a car which is using low-grade fuel to prevent this āknockingā, or āpinkingā as we used to call it in those far-off days. Ā So, it naturally follows, that if you use higher grade fuel, the engine management system will advance the ignition timing, and hence give you more power and better performance.
However, to get better fuel consumption, a driver has to be alert to the increase in power at his disposal, and drive accordingly - basically, not being so heavy on the throttle, when it is not needed because of the increase in power.
Of course the margins we are talking about here can be quite fine, and some drivers will be sensitive to this change and some not - thatās life. Ā If your particular driving style is to floor the go-pedal regardless, you will not get better fuel economy from using better petrol.
Having said all that, these cars are āsportsā cars, which encourages us to drive with a little more spirit than we would in a run-of-the-mill family saloon, so we all have to make up our own minds, considering our own personal needs etc, as to how we drive them.
Our 5 is our āsecond carā, our āfair-weather fun carā if you like, and does low mileages, compared to the car my wife uses to go back and forth to Bristol for work every day. Ā So the fact that it costs a little more to fill it up each time is rather immaterial - in the grand scheme of things, it isnāt costing that much more over (say) a yearās motoring. Ā And if, on a long run, we drive sensitively, the better fuel consumption evens things out in the end.
Ā
Horses for courses is correct. Some engines need higher octane fuel, some donāt. Just as in earlier years when we could buy 2, 3, 4 and 5 Star fuels.
My MX5 doesnāt seem to mind the standard unleaded but I have another car with an experimental setup that definitely canāt use it. I built the other one myself, itās a trials/sports with a 1 litre, 3 cylinder, supercharged engine running standard compression ratio, rather than a lowered ratio as it perhaps ought to have.
If I put standard unleaded in it and use full boost (11 psi) it pinks and could quickly destroy its pistons. I was using Shell V Power by choice but unfortunately both of two local garages I bought it from no longer sell it. I now put any of the other higher octane fuels in it and it seems OK.