Supermarket v Petrol Station

[Richard137]

An aaaaage old question here please.
Since getting my X5 every time she needs a drink I go to my local Shell Station and let her drink until she's fully hydrated.
Does everyone else take the lady to all the upmarket places and are there pro's & con's of taking her to the local greasy spoon?

[Greydog]

Supermarkets buy on the spot market so often it is coming out of the same refinery as the BP tanker so apart from price there should be little difference.
As a petrol user I do see a little more mpg when using Momentum but with a V8 it gets filled up where and when I need to.

[grumpywurzel]

I doubt if there is much difference in diesel mate, some posh makes put a little more detergent in but that's about it.

Running a petrol engine, now there's a minefield..... All depends on what the car has been mapped to run on

[X5Sport]

There are several threads on this subject on the forum.  The basics don't change.  ALL fuel comes from a limited set of refineries that all make it the same way (to a set UK/EU Standard).  The ONLY difference is in the additives usually put in by the tanker driver and depend upon the name of the fuel on the side.

[toonarmy]

Supermarkets are allowed to cut deisel with bio to a certain percent because they aren't an official like bp texaco etc so you will see a difference in mpg

[X5Sport]

All diesel is B8 by law and has been for several years.  You can't sell non-bio diesel.

[shadrack]

Not this argument again )  my two view i always fill my van with petrol from local independent retailer as there are perks with no issues, my car i fill anywhere and everywhere, only car ive ever tried super unleaded in was my ml63 and i think it possibly did more mpg but these figures companies quote of improvement in mpg by 2/3 etc are so small they could come from anywhere, i believe its al same and don't care

[Richard137]

My query came about as I seem to get more miles to the tank from my local Shell than my local Supermarket, plus it seems to run quieter! (I have a local Costco which is neither Supermarket/Petrol Station, but they do have some very cheap fuel!)

[bluestreak56]

Always used Shell regular. I dont pay for my fuel now but I still use it to gain points and reduce the price of everyone elses fuel there.

[garysan]

I worked in the Petroleum industry (family owned forecourts) for a few years and it was common knowledge back then, maybe 22 years ago, that additives were the only real difference between cheap and expensive fuels.

I ran my (now sold) 335d E92 on Shell VPower/Nitro Diesel and although I didn't notice any gains in economy, it certainly ran quieter after the first few tank fills. Now I have an X5 40d, I'm doing the same. This time the car has done 45k when I got it as opposed to 23k with the 335d but already have noticed the engine starting to get a little quieter. Hopefully it will get quieter still as it burns through another half a dozen fill ups. I imagine the longer it's been run on 'lesser' quality fuel, the longer it will take to reach optimum.

Can't really say I've noticed any gains in performance in either vehicle but am a firm believer in "the best is good enough!".